Sealed with a kiss of hops

This 1944 Schlitz beer advert features one of their more interesting tag-lines – “Sealed with a Kiss”.  During the early 1900s, Schlitz surpassed Pabst as the largest brewery in the world and remained that way until they changed their brewing process in the 1970s!  By 1981, it was a dying company … and today it is owned by its once rival, Pabst.

Booth's House of Lords Gin

“A martini is like a play. It can be terribly good or terribly poor.”

So, how do you make the perfect martini?  Well, in 1959, it required Booth’s House of Lords Gin!

1944 Parker Quink Permanent Pen Ink Advertisement

Blond: “Look, Alice, my pen’s done another tailspin and I’m in the middle of a note to the Navy’s best-looking JG!”

Brunnette: “Betty, you’re impossible! I told you to use Parker Quink, the Solv-X in it protects pens”

This is a great World War Two-era advertisement focuses on the shortage of pens and the need to keep them writing!  Additionally, ads from this period always contain a lot of type … much like the advertisement supplements that you find in today’s magazines and newspapers.

A "Double-Rich" Bourbon

A 1940 advertisement for Schenley’s Cream of Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, which was, according to the advert, the “far-and-away the world’s largest selling Bourbon” and “that’s why the price of Cream of Kentucky is so little for such exceptional quality” … if you believe that!

Designed for Better Living

For 1937, Seagram’s Whiskey claims to be good for your health (or at least, not detrimental)!

1955 Dobbs Hats Vintage Advertisement

Over the past few years, I have become increasingly interested in hats.  Now, it is rare that I leave the house without some type of hat on my head!  Growing up and throughout college, I regularly wore a baseball cap (used to a beat-up Duke cap but now it is a trusty Durham Bulls cap) but now I have more options than that in my headgear wardrobe.  My current favorite type of hat is the trusty flat cap … but I don’t like the Kangol-type ones because I prefer the more traditional British designs and fabrics (aka tweeds, tartans, or linen).

Read more »

HEMA is a large dutch retailer.  The first HEMA opened in Amsterdam on November 4th, 1926.  They were originally a price-point retailer (sorta like a Pound Store) but are now one of the most common department stores throughout the Netherlands.  Like many other European chains, they rely on high quality design as one of their main selling points.  For more information about them, see this page.

I have shopped at their original Amsterdam store several times and it is definitely a good place to stop when you visit Amsterdam.  There stores are also good landmarks to know about if you need to pick up travel supplies while in town … my first trip into their main store was to purchase an extra bag for the trip back to Oxford.

Luckily, they also have a sense of humor … click on this link and wait for the fun!

This advertisement is from South Bank Exhibition Guide: Festival of Britain.  If you are interested in learning more about the Festival of Britain (FoB), click here.

This image is under Crown copyright.

This advertisement is from South Bank Exhibition Guide: Festival of Britain.  If you are interested in learning more about the Festival of Britain (FoB), click here.

This image is under Crown copyright.

Buy the whisky taken by Sir Ernest Shackleton on his Imperial Trans-Atlantic Expedition of 1914 ‘for medicinal and celebratory purposes’.

This advertisement is from South Bank Exhibition Guide: Festival of Britain.  If you are interested in learning more about the Festival of Britain (FoB), click here.

This image is under Crown copyright. Read more »