Friday’s holiday ad is for Blatz Pilsener Beer, from 1945. A woman in a red dress looks longingly up at a sprig of mistletoe, while a bottle of beer sits peacefully in the corner. I think she’s hoping for someone to walk by. Perhaps the beer is bait? Although it does seem to be just hanging in the air, so maybe it’s a magical bottle of beer.
Thursday’s holiday ad is for Ballantine Ale, from 1938. It’s an extremely odd Christmas ad, with all of the adults standing around the decorated tree, beer in one hand, and with the other, well, holding up the “ok” or Ballantine ring sign. They almost look like they’re part of a cult, don’t they? Merry Christmas. Hail Christmas.
Wednesday’s holiday ad is yet another one for Carling Black Label, this time from 1955. It’s a simple ad showing a bottle of Carling Black Label, a full glass of beer and a small yule log with a candle burning on it, with some Christmas balls and grass surrounding it, and a scroll with the following on it. “May Your Christmas be merry, your New Year full of happiness …” and then it’s signed “from all your friends at Carling’s.” It’s also one of those magic bottles common in ads at that time. Even though the bottle is only about one-third empty, the pilsner glass is filled to the brim. So either it’s a ginormous bottle or a tiny glass. It can’t be both, can it? Happy Christmas Eve. May Your Christmas Be Merry.
Tuesday’s holiday ad is another one for Carling Black Label, this time from 1958, also during the “Hey, Mabel” years, but when they transitioning to “People try it … and they like it!” as a tagline. But I especially love the festive beer glass with the Christmas tree painted on it, complete with presents underneath. Happy Christmas Eve Eve.
Monday’s holiday ad is for Carling Black Label, from 1955, during the “Hey, Mabel” years. “It’s holiday time … season of good eating and good cheer.” Can’t argue with that.
Today is the birthday of Diocletian, who was born in the year 244 C.E. He was a Roman Emperor, whose reign lasted from 284 to 305. During his time in charge and before, runaway inflation was a growing problem, which caused him to put a cap on prices in 301 C.E. Known as the “Ēdictum Dē Pretiīs Rērum Vēnālium” or Edict on Maximum Prices or occasionally the Edict of Diocletian, it set the maximum prices allowed on a variety of commodities, goods and services.
For example, a sextarius (roughly 500 ml, or about a pint) of Egyptian Beer had a maximum price of 2 Denarii. A Denarius was a common coin in Ancient Rome, beginning around 211 B.C. E. during the Second Punic War, becoming “the most common coin produced for circulation. The word denarius is derived from the Latin dēnī “containing ten”, as its value was 10 asses (later “retarrifed at sixteen asses”). It is the origin of several modern words such as the currency name dinar and the Italian common noun for money: denaro.”
Prsumably because it was better, the same amount of Gallic or Pannonian Beer had a maximum price set of 4 Denarii. Pannonia was a Roman province in the northern part of the empire, and was located in “present-day western Hungary, eastern Austria, northern Croatia, north-western Serbia, northern Slovenia, western Slovakia and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Gaul was the area that is modern-day France.
Egyptian beer was sometimes translated as “Zythus” and at least another translation lists the Gallic or Pannonian Beer as “beer called Camus.” These other translations also list something called “Barley wine of Attica” with a hefty maximum price of 24 Denarii. Attica was the area around and including Athens in Greece. I have no idea if that was anything like our modern barley wine, and I can find no other mention of it in a quick search.
Another translation done in 1876 by an Edward Young, entitled “Labor in Europe and America: A Special Report on the Rates of Wages, the Cost of Subsistence and the Condition of the Working Classes” converted the Denarii prices to the then nearest American equivalent, which the author supposed was one-half cent to the Denarius. Using that scheme, the Egyptian beer would have been 7 cents, the Zythus, or Gallic or Pannonian Beer would have been 14 cents, and the barley wine of Attica 84 cents. Adjusting for inflation 138 years, in 2014 prices the maximum prices for a pint of our three beers would be $1.56, $3.11 and $18.67, which would be pretty expensive, even for 16 oz. of barley wine. But overall, those prices seem pretty decent. Salutaria!
A fragment of the Edict on Maximum Prices, on display in Berlin.
Sunday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1944. Since the pilgrims traditionally landed today at Plymouth Rock, in 1620, and established a colony there, this ad by Budweiser during World War II contrasts that event with wartime rationing that was going on through the Second World War. Rationing feels so remote to us, but my mother was a “General” in the scrap metal army, or something like that, because my grandfather was a mechanic and that allowed her to amass a lot of scrap metal, apparently. I have a newspaper clipping reporting on her “promotion.”
Saturday’s holiday ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1941. “Isn’t Christmas Fun?” A frazzled husband responds. “Could Be! If You’d Only Give Me A “33 to 1″ Chance!” Eventually his wife understands, and he enjoys a beer before turning into a decorating demon, prompting her to suggest he may be getting a whole case of PBRs on Christmas Day.
Friday’s holiday ad is for Blatz, from 1952. According to the ad, while many things have changed in the last century (or more), some things have remained the same, including beer and the use of predatory mistletoe. Who uses such a long ribbon to position it directly above the intended victim’s head? And is it just me, or is the ad showing the backwards slide of women’s rights? The 19th century picture depicts a couple courting, but on somewhat equal footing, sitting side by side on a couch. By contrast, the 20th century (albeit the 1950s) shows the woman standing, serving her beau, as a good woman of that decade was supposed to. I’m not sure I’d call that progress.
Thursday’s holiday ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1935. According to the ad, during the Yuletide season “It’s time for Pabst.” Happy Holidays!
