Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #2166: Viscountess Furness For Pabst

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Tuesday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1948. In the later 1940s, Pabst embarked on a series of ads with celebrity endorsements, photographing star actors, athletes, musicians and other famous people in their homes, enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. This one features Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness. She “was a mistress of King Edward VIII while he was still the Prince of Wales; she preceded Wallis Simpson (for whose sake Edward abdicated and became the Duke of Windsor) in his affections.

During most of her relationship with the Prince, she was married to a British nobleman, Marmaduke Furness, 1st Viscount Furness. That marriage ended the year before her relationship with the Prince ended.

Her first name was pronounced in Spanish fashion as “TEL-ma.” Her identical twin sister was Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt who was married to Reginald Vanderbilt and had a daughter, Gloria Vanderbilt.”

In the ad, Thelma, I mean the Viscountess, is being served in “the Drawing Room of her Beverly Hills Home.” Typical of this series of ads, there’s a silver tray with two bottles of beer and two glasses. Although I think this is the only time the glasses look like they’re made of cut crystal. That can’t be a coincidence.

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Beer In Ads #2165: F. Warren Pershing For Pabst

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Monday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1949. In the later 1940s, Pabst embarked on a series of ads with celebrity endorsements, photographing star actors, athletes, musicians and other famous people in their homes, enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. This one features Mr. and Mrs. F. Warren Pershing. He was the son of General John Joseph “Black Jack” Pershing, and the only one of his children who survived a fire at his home in the Presidio in 1915. “He graduated from Yale University in 1931. On April 22, 1938 he was married to Muriel Bache Richards at St. Thomas Church in New York City. During World War II he enlisted as a Private in the United States Army. He asked for no special privileges and to be treated like any new recruit.” Despite this, he eventually attained the rank of Colonel. He also “served in the Second World War as an advisor to the Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall. After the War he continued with his financial career and founded a stock brokerage firm, Pershing & Company.

In the ad, Pershing and his wife Muriel, or “MuMu,” are in their Narragansett, Rhode Island home with a tray of beers between them. Although I must say she doesn’t look particularly happy to be there.

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Beer In Ads #2164: James Montgomery Flagg For Pabst

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Sunday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1949. In the later 1940s, Pabst embarked on a series of ads with celebrity endorsements, photographing star actors, athletes, musicians and other famous people in their homes, enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. This one features James Montgomery Flagg. He “was an American artist and illustrator. He worked in media ranging from fine art painting to cartooning, but is best remembered for his political posters.” His most famous poster was the of Uncle Sam pointing a finger at you, with text that read “I Want You For U.S. Army,” painted in 1917. “Flagg used a modified version of his own face for Uncle Sam, and veteran Walter Botts provided the pose.”

In the ad, “Monty,” as he was known to his friends, is in his “New York Studio” working on a new painting as an admirer looks on. Perhaps she’s the “Cover girl for a popular magazine” mentioned in the text, and she’s seeing if she likes how he’s drawn her? And if she does, maybe it’s finally time to drink those beers.

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Beer In Ads #2163: Charles Laughton For Pabst

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Saturday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1949. In the later 1940s, Pabst embarked on a series of ads with celebrity endorsements, photographing star actors, athletes, musicians and other famous people in their homes, enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. This one features Charles Laughton. He “was an English stage and film character actor, director, producer and screenwriter. Laughton was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future wife Elsa Lanchester, with whom he lived and worked until his death; they had no children.

He played a wide range of classical and modern parts, making an impact in Shakespeare at the Old Vic. His film career took him to Broadway and then Hollywood, but he also collaborated with Alexander Korda on notable British films of the era, including The Private Life of Henry VIII. He portrayed everything from monsters and misfits to kings. Among Laughton’s biggest film hits were The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Mutiny on the Bounty, Ruggles of Red Gap, Jamaica Inn, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and The Big Clock. In his later career, he took up stage directing, notably in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, and George Bernard Shaw’s Don Juan in Hell, in which he also starred. He directed one film, the thriller The Night of the Hunter.

Laughton has been seen by one actor as one of the greatest performers of his generation. Daniel Day-Lewis cited him as one of his inspirations, saying: ‘He was probably the greatest film actor who came from that period of time. He had something quite remarkable. His generosity as an actor, he fed himself into that work. As an actor, you cannot take your eyes off him.'”

In the ad, Laughton’s relaxing, up against a tree, at the Ojai Valley Inn and Country Club. Beer in his hand, he’s in Southern California but still wearing a wool jacket and tie, even though it’s most likely on the warm side. Hopefully the beer will help keep him cool.

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Beer In Ads #2162: Gladys Swarthout

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Friday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1948. In the later 1940s, Pabst embarked on a series of ads with celebrity endorsements, photographing star actors, athletes, musicians and other famous people in their homes, enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. This one features Miss Gladys Swarthout and her husband Mr. Frank Chapman. She “was an American mezzo-soprano opera singer and entertainer.”

In the ad, Swarthout and her husband, also an opera singer, are in their “Connecticut Home,” in what looks like a den or music room. They’re sharing a bottle of beer, although they are two full glasses.

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Beer In Ads #2161: Jonathan M. Wainwright For Pabst

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Thursday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1948. In the later 1940s, Pabst embarked on a series of ads with celebrity endorsements, photographing star actors, athletes, musicians and other famous people in their homes, enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. This one features the “Hero of Bataan, Defender of Corregidor,” Joseph M. Wainwright. He “was a career American army officer and the Commander of Allied forces in the Philippines at the time of their surrender to the Empire of Japan during World War II. Wainwright was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his courageous leadership during the fall of the Philippines.”

In the ad, Wainwright is at “Fiddler’s Green,” holding a gun while “relaxing in the den of his Texas home.” On a tray in front of him, there’s two bottles of Pabst and two glasses. Another man, who appears to be talking to, has already started drinking his beer, or is at least holding it in his hand. If I were him, I’d be waiting until after Wainwright put down the gun to begin drinking.

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Beer In Ads #2160: Tommy Henrich For Pabst

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Wednesday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1950. In the later 1940s, Pabst embarked on a series of ads with celebrity endorsements, photographing star actors, athletes, musicians and other famous people in their homes, enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. This one features Tommy Henrich. He “was an American professional baseball player, nicknamed ‘The Clutch’ and ‘Old Reliable.’ He played his entire Major League Baseball career as a right fielder and first baseman for the New York Yankees (1937–1942 and 1946–1950). Henrich led the American League in triples twice and in runs scored once, also hitting 20 or more home runs four times. He is best remembered for his numerous exploits in the World Series; he was involved in one of the most memorable plays in Series history in 1941, was the hitting star of the 1947 Series with a .323 batting average, and hit the first walk-off home run in Series history in the first game of the 1949 World Series.”

In the ad, Henrich is showing off his “World-Series home run baseball” in what looks to be his study. I think they’re referring to the 1949 World Series, the year before, when “he gave New York a 1-0 victory in Game 1 when he homered against Don Newcombe on a 2-0 pitch to lead off the ninth inning, the first walk-off home run ever in the World Series.” Shortly before the ad ran, on January 19, 1950, he was awarded “Athlete of the Year,” although I don’t really know who gave him the accolade.

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Beer In Ads #2159: Lawrence Tibbett For Pabst

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Tuesday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1949. In the later 1940s, Pabst embarked on a series of ads with celebrity endorsements, photographing star actors, athletes, musicians and other famous people in their homes, enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. This one features Mr. & Mrs. Lawrence Tibbett. He “was a famous American opera singer and recording artist who also performed as a film actor and radio personality. A baritone, he sang leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera in New York more than 600 times from 1923 to 1950. He performed diverse musical theatre roles, including Captain Hook in Peter Pan in a touring show.”

In the ad, Tibbett and his wife, Grace Mackay Smith, are aboard the S.S. Brazil, a “Moore-McCormick Luxury Liner.” They’re looking at something off in the distance, while a server is bringing them a couple of beers.

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Beer In Ads #2158: Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. For Pabst

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Monday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1949. In the later 1940s, Pabst embarked on a series of ads with celebrity endorsements, photographing star actors, athletes, musicians and other famous people in their homes, enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. This one features Douglas Fairbanks Jr.. He “was an American actor and a decorated naval officer of World War II.” He was, of course, “the only child of actor Douglas Fairbanks and his first wife, Anna Beth Sully.” Mostly for that reason, he was given an acting contract and started in supporting roles, but was elevated to starring by the late 1920s. He moved around a bit, changed studios, and live in the UK, with some of his most memorable parts being in “Morning Glory” (1933) with Katharine Hepburn, “The Prisoner of Zenda” (1937) and “Gunga Din” (1939).

In the ad, Fairbanks is deep sea fishing “off Catalina Island,” which is “located about 22 milessouth-southwest of Los Angeles, California.” Unseen hands deliver him full glasses and bottles of beer, as he smiles during what I presume is a break in the fishing action.

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Beer In Ads #2157: William Bendix For Pabst

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Sunday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1950. In the later 1940s, Pabst embarked on a series of ads with celebrity endorsements, photographing star actors, athletes, musicians and other famous people in their homes, enjoying Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. This one features General William Bendix. He “was an American film, radio, and television actor, who typically played rough, blue-collar characters. He is best remembered in movies for the title role in The Babe Ruth Story. He also memorably portrayed the clumsily earnest aircraft plant worker Chester A. Riley in radio and television’s The Life of Riley. He received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for Wake Island (1942).”

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In the ad, Bendix sits in a barcalounger in his San Fernando Valley home, with a pipe in one hand and a mug of beer in the other. There’s also a sandwich for him on an end table. So if there’s a television in front of him in that room, it’s a pretty perfect setting. This series, with the photos inside a round blue ribbon ran for a few years, and then they changed the format slightly, squaring the photos, getting rid of the ribbon frame, and changing up the text away from talking about where the people were in the photo. Below is the newer version of the same ad, from the mid-1950s, just for contrast.

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