Sunday’s ad is for Rheingold Beer, from 1960. “After The Show, Wherever I Go, I Meet This Old Friend Of Mine — Rheingold Extra Dry, says the great authority on scat, Cab Calloway.” I’m not sure who the other guy looking in the mirror is, although he is sharing a beer with Cab Calloway, so he’s probably a friend or colleague. I guess the show went well?
Today in 1938, US Patent 2108096 A was issued, an invention of James E. Barsi, assigned to Anheuser-Busch, for his “Merchandise Display Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, but the application states that “this invention relates to apparatus of the kind that are used for advertising and displaying merchandise and has for its main object to provide an advertising and/or display apparatus that is of attractive appearance and of such construction that, in addition to holding a plurality of samples of the advertised product in such a way that said samples may be easily handled and inspected by the public, it will also display in an attractive manner other articles or packages containing material that is particularly adapted for use in connection with the advertised product. For example, if the apparatus is intended to be used primarily to advertise a certain brand of beer, it will be equipped with a tray or equivalent part for holding a plurality of bottles or cans of beer and it will also be equipped with a shelf or equivalent part for sustaining packages of various kinds of food that are frequently served With beer, such for example, as pickles, olives, cheese, sausage, crackers, etc.”
Today in 1881, US Patent 237884 A was issued, an invention of William Mainzer and John Singer, for their “Cask for Beer and Other Liquids.” There’s no Abstract, but the application states that “the object of this invention is to furnish casks for holding beer and other liquids, so constructed that they can be safely handled and transported without detaching the faucets, and can thus be furnished to the consumer with faucets applied ready for use, and can be returned to be refilled without detaching the faucets.”
Saturday’s ad is for Ballantine, from 1948. A simple Valentine’s Day ad with a great play on words with the title: “To My Ballantine” and showing a woman cutting out a red heart and leaving the three-ring Ballantine logo as the scraps. Those have got to be the longest scissors I’ve ever seen. They look more like garden shears. But nice and simple, with a great illustration in the center. Happy Valentine’s Day.
Today in 1882, US Patent 253683 A was issued, an invention of Peter J. Catterall and Edward Birch, from Manchester, England, for their “Apparatus for Raising Beer.” There’s no Abstract, but the application states their “invention relates to apparatus for raising valves, through one of which the liquid is admitted to the chamber, and through the other the liquid is forced to the bar or delivery-tap” and there “is a section of the three-way tap that admits and discharges the water used to raise the beer or other liquid.”
Friday’s ad is for Heineken, from 1977. In the year I graduated from high school, Heineken was considered “the good stuff” by my step-father’s friends and relatives, which in retrospect is rather sad and indicative of the state of beer at that time. This is also at a time when Holland seemed mysterious, and people really didn’t know much about the European nation. So using such cliched images in their ads like tulips and windmills probably made sense, but looks really dated now. Even the beer glass has a windmill on it.
Today in 1906, US Patent 812243 A was issued, an invention of Max Stahl, for his “Circulating System for Beer-Filters.” There’s no Abstract, but Stahl describes his invention as an improvement over then-current systems, saying his “invention aims to and does overcome the losses and disadvantages [mentioned earlier in the description], and in brief it consists of providing means whereby the column of beer can be switched off the racking-bench and continuously returned to the filter until stable relations are secured and the beer no longer runs cloudy or contains fibers of filter mass.”
Today in 1883, US Patent 272261 A was issued, an invention of John E. Jeffords, for his “Beer-Mug.” There’s no Abstract, but Jeffords describes his invention as and its purpose “to provide a neat and a cheap form of mug, which is readily cleansed and not easily broken,” adding that it “consists of a beer-mug made of suitable porous material, glazed.”
Thursday’s ad is for Michelob, from 1967. Apparently, in the late Sixties people still had trouble pronouncing Michelob. It reminds me of the packaging on Lagunitas, which includes “Say ‘lah-goo-knee-tuss'” on their carriers because when the brewery first opened, founder Tony Magee worried that most people wouldn’t know how to pronounce the name of the small west Marin town. So okay, it’s “Mick-A-Lobe,” “Now that’s an order.” Also, “In beer, going first class is Michelob. Period.” Sadly, that is how the brand was positioned. It even seemed to work for a while.
Wednesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1950. Here’s a great rule of thumb for living. “Some sort of recreation belongs in every one of your busy days.” If it’s croquet and drinking beer, I’m in. Especially if I get to dress up in the backyard. But I love croquet, used to play it at my grandmother’s place all the time growing up. Curiously, though, she never offered me a beer. I do like that their croquet set appears to have a place on it where you set down your beer. Ours didn’t have that.
