We feature a lot of commercials about beer in our classic animated advertising posts. Why is that? It’s because in the golden age of television commercials there were a Hell of a lot of them. Some claim to be the driest beer. Others claim to be the lightest. Still others claim to have the smallest bubbles. None claim to be the one that gets you blitzed the fastest. Of course cartoon animals love beer, and we will be showing a few of those too. So sit back with your favorite beverage and enjoy this fine selection of premium plugs.
Carling Black Label
Directed by John Hubley. Animated by Rod Scribner and C. L. Hartman.
National Beer
For this and the next few spots we will spotlight films about cute or semi-cute animals selling beer. In this one you get an entire marching band.
Gunthers Beer
Directed by Paul Fennell. Some of Clarence Wheeler’s music can be heard in the background, but it was probably lifted from one of Fennell’s industrial films.
Schlitz Tall Boy
With the voices of Paul Frees and Daws Butler. Marvin Miller can also be heard at the end of the second spot. From Playhouse Pictures. 1956.
Hamms Bowling
Animated by Ed Love.
Old Pro Punt
Featuring the voice of Eddie Mayehoff. Animated by Herman Cohen. From Playhouse Pictures. 1956.
Stag Magoo Contest
From UPA. Featuring Jim Backus. Animated by Gil Turner and Rudy Larriva. 1959.
Mike Kazaleh is a cartoonist and animator whose work can be seen in comic books like Bongo’s The Simpsons, Futurama and Papercutz’ Gumby – and on screen in Warner Bros. Tiny Toon Adventures, Ralph Bakshi’s Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures and Cool World.
what was the antique car that was being given away, what was the winning name, and who won it?
Who produced the National Beer spots?
Mike:
Liked all the spots.The regional ones (National,Gunther) were especially interesting . They all had great jingles,too!
I sorta miss the days of regional brews myself. My town apparently had one that became a victim of buy-out by another bigger brand and after a few decades some new owners managed to revive the brand out of trial and error.
http://www.toledofreepress.com/2013/11/05/buckeye-beer-now-available-in-cans/
Here’s a fun one with with a zingy jingle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls-uhU6W0G8
Don’t know the credits. Never even heard of the beer before.
Paul Fennell knew to put the animation where it did the most good.