Thursday’s ad is New York’s Knickerbocker Beer, from Jacob Ruppert Brewing. The ad’s from 1952, and I can’t understand why the New York Knicks don’t wear uniforms like the Knickerbocker (who they were named for) in the ad? It’s a mystery.
Beer In Ads #558: Vigor & Strength In Every Drop
Wednesday’s ad is Rainier Beer, from the Seattle Brewing & Malting Co. Like the other Rainier ad I’ve featured, For Pure Drink, it’s from the early years of the 20th century, probably in the first decade. It’s a simple ad showing a beautiful woman holding up a dainty glass of beer while leaning on a giant bottle of Rainier. And I love the message, which would be illegal in a beer ad today; “There’s New Vigor and Strength in Every Drop.”
Beer In Ads #557: Extra Refreshing Because It’s Extra Dry
Tuesday’s ad is for New York’s Rheingold Beer, featuring two celebrities in the 1960 ad. The celebrities are a famous couple: Geoffrey Holder and Carmen De Lavallade. You probably know Holder, even if you’re not familiar with his name, especially if you’re a James Bond fan. He was originally from Trinidad and played Baron Samedi in Live and Let Die. He’s the one with that great booming voice, which he used years later in a series of ads for 7Up. It was the “Uncola” series and his booming laugh ended each ad and had such memorable phrases as “crisp and clean, no caffeine” and “never had it, never will.” His wife, Carmen De Lavallade, was a famous dancer and in fact they met working on a broadway musical, the House of Flowers. This ad was done when they were both locally famous and just getting started with their careers. The setting seems to be a theater, as you can see the lights in the ceiling behind them. And I’ve played in enough musicals to recognize the object in the lower right, which is a pit orchestra stand to hold your music, with a small light to shine on the music so you can still see it when the stage is dark. And I love the tagline: “Extra refreshing because it’s Extra Dry!”
Beer In Ads #556: Bud’s Hammer Time
Monday’s ad is yet another from Budweiser’s “Where There’s Life ..” series. This one shows a man who’s trying to fix what to my eyes appears to be an old rotary telephone … with a hammer. I’m not sure that’s the right tool for the job. But based on the look on his face, I’m not sure he has his mind on what he’s doing anyway.
Guinness Ad #109: The Cellist
Our 109th Guinness ad is from around 1945, an original by John Gilroy. I’ve never seen a final version of this ad, but I have to assume it was used at some point. It shows a cellist so engrossed in his music, and so strong thanks to the Guinness under his music stand, that he’s sawed his cello in half. I didn’t realize horsehair was so sharp. The tagline is, of course, “Guinness for Strength.”
Beer In Ads #555: A Sunday Supper Success
Friday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1934, with nice alliteration. I like the description of the beer in the ad copy. “Animated amber and old gold, a crown of lacy foam, beautiful to behold, and all that it promises to the palate.”
Beer In Ads #554: Blatz Fashion Design
Thursday’s ad is for Blatz, whose 1949 claims they they were “Milwaukee’s first bottled beer.” It’s also a celebrity endorsement ad, albeit a rather odd choice. Perhaps there was a series of these done with Milwaukee residents, since the top line reads “I’m from Milwaukee and I ought to know…” The endorsement comes from local dress designer La Verne Sunde, whose “good taste” is demonstrated with inset photos of her fitting someone with a dress she’s created. I’m not quite sure how that translates to beer knowledge, but I guess it’s no sillier than a baseball player doing the same thing.
Beer In Ads #553: Budweiser’s Tossed Salad
Wedneday’s ad is for Budweiser, from their 1950s ad campaign “Where There’s Life ….” Like a lot of them, the ad copy talks about whether other brands list the ingredients on their label. While the woman is tossing a salad, the gentleman is pouring a Budweiser. Is is just me, or does he look a lt like Jeff Goldblum?
Beer In Ads #552: Russian Beer Queen
Tuesday’s ad is for a Russian brewer, though which one is a bit of a mystery, primarily because I don’t know the cyrillic alphabet. Though I’m pretty sure “Mockba” is Moscow, so that’s probably where the brewery is/was located. But the woman with the beer looks like she’s wearing a crown and holding a wreath of hops and barley.
Beer In Art #163: Joseph De Bray’s In Praise of Herring
Today’s work of art is by the Dutch artist Joseph de Bray, who’s more famous as the son of Salomon de Bray, also a painter, and for essentially just one work of art, his In Praise of Herring, which is also known as Eulogy to a Herring and Still-Life in Praise of the Pickled Herring. It was completed in 1656.
The painting also includes a poem, also titled In Praise of Herring by Jacob Westerbaen, who was de Bray’s brother-in-law. Unfortunately, I was also unable to find the full text of the poem, either. Say what you will about pickled herring — and I’m certainly not a fan — but if you’re going to pair it with a beverage, you can bet it’s going to be beer.
The Web Gallery of Art has this to say about the artist and his painting:
Fish still-lifes developed as a category during the seventeenth century — not an astonishing phenomenon when we recall that fishing, particularly for herring and cod, was a mainstay of the Dutch economy. A notable exponent of the type is Abraham van Beyeren. As the Dutch love for flowers, their love for seafood is proverbial. The Haarlemer Joseph de Bray, son of Salomon and brother of Jan, celebrated this taste in his picture, dated 1656, dedicated to the apotheosis of the pickled herring.
Resting behind the large, succulent herring and other objects in the painting’s foreground, there is an elaborate tablet, draped with a festoon of herrings and requisite onions, inscribed with a poem by the Remonstrant preacher and poet Jacob Westerbaen: ‘In praise of the Pickled Herring’ published in 1633. After telling of the herring’s delight to the eye, palette, and its other qualities, Westerbaen adds that consumption of it ‘Will make you apt to piss/And you will not fail/(With pardon) to shit/And ceaselessly fart…’ – proof, if it is needed, that plain profane messages are as likely embodied in Dutch paintings as spiritual ones. The painting was evidently a success. In the following year he painted another, somewhat larger still-life, now in Aachen, dedicated to the same subject. It includes the text of Westerbaen’s verse dedicated to the pickled herring, and a brief passage from his poem ‘Cupido’ on the page of an open folio accompanied by an ample display of herrings and onions.
And another source said the following:
Joseph de Bray came from a family of Haarlem painters which included the highly respected Salomon de Bray (his father) and Jan de Bray (his brother). Joseph is known for this curious still life in which the different elements — the jug, the glass of beer, the fish, the bread, the butter and the onions — are organized in a U-shape. In the centre of the composition is a manuscript where one can read a poem by Doctor Jakob Westerbaen, singing the praises of a salted and smoked herring!
To learn more about Joseph de Bray, sadly, there’s not much. There isn’t even a Wikipedia page in English for him, it instead forwards to his father’s page where Joseph is mentioned. There is, however, a short German page for him, and that translates as follows:
Son of the painter Salomon de Bray and brother of Dirck, Jacob and Jan de Bray. He was certainly younger than his brother, Jan, and older than his brother Dirck. Probably trained by his father, he specialized mainly on still life. In 1664, he died of the plague.
The earliest known evidence of his artistry is a small drawing of an Arcadian landscape dated 14th February 1650, classified because of the uncertain lines as an early work. There are only a handful of works that can be ascribed with certainty. The most famous depiction is “Still Life with a poem on the pickled herring” that has survived in several handwritten copies. Recently appeared on the international art market is another picture which is tentatively attributed to him. Besides the few oil paintings, there are some drawings, which are also brought in touch with him.
There’s not much else, beyond this article, Painting Family: The De Brays, about his family.