Wednesday’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. Jean Hersholt. He “was a Danish-born actor who lived in the United States, where he was a leading film and radio talent, best known for his 17 years starring on radio in Dr. Christian and for playing Shirley Temple’s grandfather in Heidi.” So he’s probably not too well known anymore, but apparently was well-known enough in his day that even today the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still gives a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Oscars. In addition to acting, he also translated over 160 fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen into English — such as The Little Mermaid, the Emperor’s New Clothes and The Snow Queen (which Disney loosely based Frozen on — which were published in six volumes as “The Complete Andersen,” for which he was appointed a knight of the Order of the Dannebrog in 1948. And one las bit of trivia, he was the paternal half-uncle of Leslie Nielsen.

In the ad, the Hersholts, Jean and Via, are in their extensive library, sitting at a table surrounded by shelves of books. Two beers are on the table and Jean has a book and his pipe, though he looks much more comofrtable in this room than his wife does. He looks relaxed and is looking at her; she’s sitting up straight and staring into space.

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 Joan Fontaine. She was “a British-American actress, best known for her starring roles in classic Hollywood films. Her big break came when she starred in “Rebecca,” along with Laurence Olivier. It was also the American debut of British director Alfred Hitchcock, and she was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award She didn’t win for “Rebecca,” however one year later, in 1941, she did win a Best Actress Oscar for “Suspicion,” co-starring Cary Grant, again directed by Hitchcock.

In the ad, she’s by her private pool, at her home in Brentwood, California, picking up a beer from the table while talking to presumably a guest. You can see several people around the pool, some in suits and dresses, while others are in swimsuits, so I suspect she was throwing a pool party at her home, or at least that’s what they’re trying to convey. Ms. Fontaine certainly isn’t jumping in the pool anytime soon, not wearing that rock around her neck.

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. & Mrs Edward G. Robinson. He was “a Romanian-born American actor,” and “is best remembered for his tough-guy roles as a gangster, such as his star-making film Little Caesar and Key Largo.” The Robinsons are enjoying some PBRs while playing backgammon in their home. There is some art on the while, which makes sense, since he was an avid collector and built up an impressive private art collection during his lifetime.

Sunday’s ad, and the first one for 2017, 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. I’ll be posting as many ads from this series as I could find all this month, but this first ad is something of a tease, showing ten of the ads to comes, which must have been originally a sort of ‘best of’ ad. But don’t despair if you can’t make out any of the stars in this ad, as I have larger versions of each of the photos shown here so that before January is over, you’ll know who each of them is, and why they were famous in the 1940s.