1944 Budweiser Advertisement: Ye Olde Melting Pot

     Grandpa made several illustrations for Anheuser Busch's classic in the 1940s and 50s.  In this illustration, "Help Your Community Drives ...and You Help America," the advertising company gives an interesting story about how communities during the colonial period (pre-1776) would contribute to a struggling family by setting up a 'melting pot before the door.'  I have no idea if there is truth to this, but it is an interesting concept.  As a father of two small children, this certainly doesn't sound like the safest of fundraisers a community could think of.



     According to the advertisement, during WWII, Anheuser - Busch which was based in St. Louis "supplied the armed forces with glider and bomber fuselage frames, wing parts, gun turret parts, foodstuffs, as well as ingredients for the manufacture of rubber, aluminum, munitions, medicines, B complex vitamins, hospital diets, baby foods, bread and other bakery products, vitamin-fortified cattle feeds, batteries, paper soap and textiles" and more.   

     A very impressive list of contributions.  Good thing we passed the 21st Amendment in 1933 :) 

Budweiser in 1952: The Beer Of Your Lifetime

     

      This illustration Walter DuBois Richards produced for Budweiser in 1952 celebrates 100 years of brewing history of that famous Anheuser-Busch lager beer. 

     

     The illustration is well-composed, depicting a rural 19th-century baseball game behind what appears to be a finely dressed lady tending to a beer keg.  I wonder what Budweiser from an oak barrel would taste like.

     It's not Walter Richards's first illustration for Budweiser, but certainly one of his more interesting ones, tying together two of our countries great traditions: baseball and beer.

     Wally often used photographs of models to help define the positions or composure of a body as well as for the expressions on their faces.   

     One of my challenges is to try to find any photographs or 'provenance' for illustrations like these.  A very difficult challenge, but a potentially gratifying one.