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Historic Beer Birthday: Jinx Falkenburg, the First Miss Rheingold

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Today is the birthday of Jinx Falkenburg, who was a minor actress in the 1930s-40s, but a major model. Originally a beauty queen from Barcelona, Spain (some accounts say Chile), her real claim to fame was being chosen as the first Miss Rheingold in 1939. By all accounts, the Miss Rheingold Contest evolved into one of most successful beer promotions of all time, and in its heyday was as popular as the Miss America Pageant. Women would be nominated and whittled down to six. Then the public would vote for their favorite. The winner was then the spokesmodel for Rheingold for the following year and her likeness was on their beer can along with a lot of their advertising.

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The Rheingold Can featuring one of the Miss Rheingolds

This is from her Wikipedia page:

Her biggest breakthrough as a model came in 1940 when she was picked by New York-based Liebmann Brewery, maker of Rheingold Beer, to be the first “Miss Rheingold.” As the face for its marketing and advertising campaign, her image graced countless billboards across the U.S. and she was featured in promotional ads at every store that sold Rheingold. Her face and the campaign were an advertising executive’s dream come true. Rheingold was suddenly the top brand in New York City.

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Falkenburg was probably the highest paid model in the 1940s, and if not the highest, then certainly one of them, making her essentially one of the first supermodels.

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Here’s one of her ads she did for Rheingold beer, from 1941.

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Jinx married Tex McCrary, who “was an American journalist and public relations specialist who invented the talk show genre for television and radio, and appeared on radio and TV with his wife, Jinx Falkenburg.” Below is an ad for Rheingold they did together in 1950.

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The couple actually did celebrity endorsements ads for a number of different products, including another beer company. In 1941, they appeared in this ad for a rival New York beer, the Jacob Ruppert Brewery.

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Beer In Ads #2596: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Hal March

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Saturday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1957. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features American comedian and actor Hal March, along with Miss Rheingold for 1957, Margie McNally. “March was best known as the host of The $64,000 Question, which he helmed from 1955 to 1958.” In this ad, March claims that answering the $64,000 Question is hard, but it’s easy to choose your favorite beer, Rheingold Extra Dry.

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Beer In Ads #2595: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Ray Bolger

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Friday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1957. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features American actor, singer, and dancer Ray Bolger. “He is best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow in MGM’s classic The Wizard of Oz (1939). He was also the host of his own television show, The Ray Bolger Show.” In this ad, Bolger is set fir an evening of fun with a record on the record player and the only beer he pours, Rheingold Extra Dry.

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Beer In Ads #2594: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Leo Durocher

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Thursday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1940. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features American professional baseball player, manager and coach Leo Durocher. “He played in Major League Baseball as an infielder. Upon his retirement, he ranked fifth all-time among managers with 2,009 career victories, second only to John McGraw in National League history. Durocher still ranks tenth in career wins by a manager. A controversial and outspoken character, Durocher had a stormy career dogged by clashes with authority, the baseball commissioner, umpires (his 95 career ejections as a manager trailed only McGraw when he retired, and still rank fourth on the all-time list), and the press. Durocher was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1994.” In this ad, Durocher is pouring himself a Rheingold Extra Dry, declaring “it’s a hit.”

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Beer In Ads #2593: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Shep Fields

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Wednesday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1956. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features American band leader Shep Fields. He “was the band leader for the ‘Shep Fields and His Rippling Rhythm’ orchestra during the Big Band era of the 1930s.” In this ad, Fields is lumped together with all New Yorkers, who inexplicably “are sound judges of food and drink,” and therefore choose to drink the “quicker quencher,” Rheingold Extra Dry.

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Beer In Ads #2592: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Victor Borge

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Tuesday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1956. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features Danish and American comedian, conductor, and pianist Victor Borge. In this ad, Borge shows off his prize chicken, saying he has a lot in common with it, and then sayings he also has a lot in common with humans, too, and specifically “a liking for” Rheingold Extra Dry.

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Beer In Ads #2591: My Beer Is Rheingold Is Cab Calloway

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Monday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1960. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features American jazz singer and bandleader Cab Calloway. “He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City, where he was a regular performer. Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States’ most popular big bands from the start of the 1930s to the late 1940s. Calloway’s band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus “Doc” Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon ‘Chu’ Berry, New Orleans guitarist Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton.” In this ad, Calloway enjoys drinking a Rheingold Extra Dry after his show.

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Beer In Ads #2590: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Gene Sarazen

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Sunday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1940. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features American professional golfer Gene Sarazen. He was “one of the world’s top players in the 1920s and 1930s, and the winner of seven major championships. He is one of five players (along with Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods) to win each of the four majors at least once, now known as the Career Grand Slam.” In this ad, Sarazen mentions that even before Americans played golf, they were making Rheingold Extra Dry beer.

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Beer In Ads #2589: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Paul Newman

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Saturday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1958. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features was an American actor, voice actor, film director, producer, race car driver, IndyCar owner, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and activist Paul Newman. In this ad, Newman states his perfect beer has “taste, character — everything,” and only one beer fits that description, Rheingold Extra Dry.

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Beer In Ads #2588: My Beer Is Rheingold Says Ed Sullivan

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Friday’s ad is for Rheingold, from 1940. In the 1940s and 1950s, Rheingold recruited a number of prominent celebrities to do ads for them, all using the tagline: “My beer is Rheingold — the Dry beer!” This ad features was an American television personality, sports and entertainment reporter Ed Sullivan. He was also a “syndicated columnist for the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. He is principally remembered as the creator and host of the television variety program The Toast of the Town, later popularly—and, eventually, officially—renamed The Ed Sullivan Show. Broadcast for 23 years from 1948 to 1971, it set a record as the longest-running variety show in US broadcast history.” In this ad, Sullivan extolls the virtues of a dry beer, and claims the driest is Rheingold Extra Dry.

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