Blatz Beer ads

[Lee G]

Milwaukee's Blatz Beer was the sponsor for Amos N Andy. Each episode was introduced with the Blatz Beer jingle. The words went like this:

I'm from Milwaukee and I oughta know
It's Blatz Blatz Blatz Blatz wherever you go
Blatz is the name you will always hear
Blatz is Milwaukee's finest beer!

Some of the Amos N Andy episodes you can purchase today contain the Blatz Beer ads. They are a hoot to watch.

I love to see old commercials from the 50's, 60's, even the 70's. It's amazing to see how advertising used to be done. It is so much different than what you see today. The old ads are a lot more entertaining. Like those animated cigarette commercials from the 50's with the dancing cigarette packs. Priceless stuff. Today's commercials have no redeeming or nostalgic value whatsoever.

ME-TV in Chicago shows old ads on occasion. One they have shown looks to have been done in the early 60's or thereabouts. I think it's a pizza commercial. In the ad, there are a group of people/celebrities who are gathered at a party. The commercial is a song done to the Lone Ranger theme which advertises the product. At the end of the commercial, the Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore) and Tonto appear. It's one of the zaniest ads I've ever seen. As a commercial, from a modern point of view it rates pretty bad. But at the same time it's different and entertaining to see it. It's one of those that make you say "What were they thinking???!!!" They haven't shown that ad in awhile, I hope they bring it back again. I'd like to have it on tape.

[vedastone]

Oh those Blatz beer ads! What a riot - almost as funny as the show itself. The announcer addresses the audience as if Blatz beer was the most profound and serious subject on earth. They repeat over and over again how Blatz is Milwaukee's finest beer and Milwaukee's favorite beer, and they show graphs to prove it. And then they have little vignettes about Blatz drinkers - like the guy whose coworkers celebrate his promotion with Blatz. These are very well produced and entertaining, again emphasizing the seriousness of drinking Blatz - yes, judging by these ads, it looks like a very solemn activity. Most bizarre of all is the story that shows the husband and wife drinking with their architect in his office...uh-huh, lotsa fun, let's just hope he's sober when he designs the roof....

[snorlaxnut]

Originally Posted by Lee G

ME-TV in Chicago shows old ads on occasion. One they have shown looks to have been done in the early 60's or thereabouts. I think it's a pizza commercial. In the ad, there are a group of people/celebrities who are gathered at a party. The commercial is a song done to the Lone Ranger theme which advertises the product. At the end of the commercial, the Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore) and Tonto appear. It's one of the zaniest ads I've ever seen. As a commercial, from a modern point of view it rates pretty bad. But at the same time it's different and entertaining to see it. It's one of those that make you say "What were they thinking???!!!" They haven't shown that ad in awhile, I hope they bring it back again. I'd like to have it on tape.

That sounds like a Jeno's Pizza Rolls commercial I saw in a TV commercials special I saw on CBS back in the 90s, hosted by John Ritter.

Is this the commercial you are talking about?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE-NdrzfFOo

[Lee G]

Yes, that's the one. Thanks for posting the link!

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...was obviously looking for a "name" TV series to associate themselves with in 1951 (this was going to be their BIG entrance into network television sponsorship!), and what better series to sponsor every week than the most beloved of all media characters, "Amos 'n' Andy"? They (and CBS) made a BIG deal out of the premiere in June of '51 and the early episodes....but for some reason, the TV show wasn't embraced by those who still enjoyed the radio version on Sunday nights [for Rexall Drugs and their "ten-thousand indepedent Rexall Family Druggists"]. And what's more, Blatz [and their corporate parent, Schenley] made sure their commercials were "segregated"
{that is, not one black face was EVER seen in ANY Blatz commerical during the entire run of the series!}; only white, affluent middle-class people were shown enjoying Blatz beer. That's another reason why the NAACP rejected the TV edition and called for its cancellation AND a nationwide boycott of Blatz beer.

In the end, the ratings and sagging sales of the brew told the story: Blatz cut back its sponsorship (and the show) to alternate Thursdays in the fall of 1952, and cut the series loose in '53. In fact, by 1958, Blatz was sold to Pabst Brewing Company, who quietly discontinued the brand by the early '60s.

[and by the way, the vocal group who "performed" the show's theme ("Angel's Serenade") and sang the Blatz jingle in the commercials, was The Jeff Alexander Chorus- Alexander was musical director of the radio show as well]

[Lee G]

Whether it was the radio show or TV show, Amos N Andy was a show about black people, but intended for white people. That's why they used white actors in those Blatz Beer ads.

As recently as the late 80's/early 90's, Blatz Beer was still available in Wisconsin. I don't know if you can still buy it today, but it was available then.

[vedastone]

Originally Posted by TV Knowledge Fan

...Blatz [and their corporate parent, Schenley] made sure their commercials were "segregated"
{that is, not one black face was EVER seen in ANY Blatz commerical during the entire run of the series!}; only white, affluent middle-class people were shown enjoying Blatz beer. That's another reason why the NAACP rejected the TV edition and called for its cancellation AND a nationwide boycott of Blatz beer.

Originally Posted by Lee G

Whether it was the radio show or TV show, Amos N Andy was a show about black people, but intended for white people. That's why they used white actors in those Blatz Beer ads.

Let's put this in context. We're talking about 1951. This is the era in which Hall of Famer Roy Campanella was staying in a "colored only" hotel on roadtrips while the white batboy was in the deluxe hotel with the rest of the white members of the team. Would we expect blacks to be used in ANY commercials then? If they were at all, I would guess it had to be as servants, train porters or shoeshine boys. A&A was the first TV show (forget about movies) to show POSITIVE images of African Americans, and it did so consistently. Yes, not Kingfish, Andy or Calhoun, but the background characters, among whom were judges, doctors, policeman, business executives and wealthy society types.

NAACP? Here are their "reasons" for calling for A&A's cancellation:

NAACP Bulletin August 15, 1951:
"1. It tends to strengthen the conclusion among uninformed and prejudiced people that Negroes are inferior, lazy, dumb and dishonest.
2. Every character in this one and only TV show with an all Negro cast is either a clown or a crook.
3. Negro doctors are shown as quacks and thieves.
4. Negro lawyers are shown as slippery cowards, ignorant of their profession and without ethics.
5. Negro Women are shown as cackling, screaming shrews, in big mouthed close-ups, using street slang, just short of vulgarity
6. All Negroes are shown as dodging work of any kind.
7. Millions of white Americans see this Amos 'n' Andy picture of Negroes and think the entire race is the same."

Points 2 through 6 are totally false, and put the lie to their whole argument. They simply could not have watched the show and come to those conclusions.
Point 1: Well, sure, "prejudiced people" would of course look for anything to strengthen their prejudices. So is this a reason to lobby for the show to be taken off TV? If we applied this standard to every TV show of the past or present we would have nothing left to watch. There is some idiot somewhere who is prejudiced against any particular race, nationality, religion, gender, etc.
Point 7: This might be true. But "the same" as what? "[T]his Amos 'n' Andy picture of Negroes" did also include very respectable, intelligent and successful "Negroes". And I argue that the benefit of the positive portrayals, being the first widely available positive images of blacks, far outweighs the negative portrayals, and furthermore, any intelligent white could easily figure out that the supposedly negative portrayals were COMIC.

It must be remembered that this is a comedy, which as any comedy uses a comedic vehicle. For instance, if we compare A&A to Burns and Allen, would we then say that Gracie would make whites, blacks, or anyone think that all whites or all white women are unintelligent, lacking common sense, immature, or insane? The same holds for the Kingfish and company. It is their juxtaposition against the respectable, professional and wise Afro-Americans (case-in-point Amos) that makes their shenanigans so hysterically funny and most certainly ATYPICAL.

[Lee G]

I enjoy watching Amos N Andy because the actors who played in the show were talented, played their parts well, and the show is just plain funny. Tim Moore, aka The Kingfish, is the one who really made this show. His character is a hoot! "Now wait a minute, heeah!" "Andy, I dunno what you done done." "Holy Mackerel, Andy!"

The show was more or less geared towards a white audience, thus the reason for the white actors in the Blatz ads. This was the early 50's, I suppose it's also possible the general consenus back then was most blacks were poor, few watched TV or even owned TV sets.

[ercjncpr]

NAACP objections list proves that they never watched a single episode

[Cincy Guy]

In addition to the Blatz Beer ads, some videos of the show have the opening when the show was on the CBS-TV Network that shows famous books from the library of American folklore (Huckleberry Finn, Paul Bunyan and Rip Van Winkle). The announcer names them and Amos & Andy is included. I've always felt that was a correct assessment of those characters in our history. I know this is a TV board, but Amos & Andy is certainly the most famous and popular radio show of all time.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...was seen only in the original broadcasts of the series; I believe the idea was to have a somewhat "classy" opening to lead into the sponsor I.D. and jingle {in the 1952-'53 season, it was "I'm from Milwaukee, and I ought to know/It's Blatz, Blatz, Blatz, Blatz, wherever you go..."}; although I question the part about "the warm, lovable tales of 'Amos 'n' Andy'"- there was warmth and admiration for the characters, yes, but the "tales" were basically variations of the same story: how will the Kingfish put one over on Andy this week? In syndicated prints, the sponsor I.D. was eliminated, and a shortened version of "Angel's Serenade" was used, with "basic" title cards in front of a drawing of the New York skyline at night, sans narration.

[1960'sTVfan]

As far as I know, 72 of the 78 Amos and Andy shows exist. 6 shows are considered lost. Of the 72 existing shows, a few have the original opening credits and ads for Blatz beer.

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...the "master copies" of all 78 episodes are in storage in some vault, somewhere. What's currently available are 72 16mm film prints (syndicated and network editions) that were gathered from a variety of sources [private collectors, traders, et. al.], and duplicated into various VHS and DVD collections over the years. However, CBS officially owns the rights to "Amos 'N' Andy" [having bought the show, and the characters, from Gosden & Correll in 1948], and they have NO intention of ever striking new prints from any negatives they most likely have in storage.

[Zoneboy]

Originally Posted by retroTVfan4ever

As far as I know, 72 of the 78 Amos and Andy shows exist. 6 shows are considered lost. Of the 72 existing shows, a few have the original opening credits and ads for Blatz beer.

There were 7 lost episodes at one point.


"The Lodge Brothers' Complain on 16mm was found in a Chicago pawn shop about 15 years or so ago.

Andy Gets Married turned up about 5 years ago.

73 currently exist with the following still unaccounted for:

The Fur Coat

Sapphire's Sister

Restitution

The Race Horse

Andy Goes into Business

Some brain-dead eBay and ioffer sellers try to fool people into believing that there were more episodes than they're really are. They list the cast introduction, the movie Check and Double Check, The 2 cartoons and the documentary The Anatomy of a Controversy as episodes.

[1960'sTVfan]

Isn't "Sapphire's Mysterious Admirer" a lost episode also? Or has it been recently discovered? Sometimes this episode and "Seeing Is Believing" are confused with one another. Seeing Is Believing is an available episode, but as far as I know Sapphire's Mysterious Admirer is still a lost episode.