The Paws of Refreshment: A History of Hamm's Beer Advertising

Rating:
Summary: Barely About the Bear
Review: Well, ja now sure, you betcha, in retrospect the depiction of Native Americans in the Hamm's Beer Commercials is not politically correct. (That "tom-tom" beat on the jingle - c'mon now - you can replay it in your mind:

BMP-bmp-bmp-bm- BMP-bmp-bmp-bm o/~ From the Land of Sky Blue Waters... o/~

was never used in any Native American music.) But darn it, we loved that Bear & his friends! (Not gouche like former ultra-liberal Jane Fonda who shouldda known better- doing the "Tomahawk Chop" at former hubby Ted's baseball team's games!)

So, anyway, back to the Beer (born 1865 in St. Paul, MN) & and the Bear (born 1953 in the Land of Sky Blue Waters.) Author Moira F. Harris says in the Introductions: "This book is not intended ... as a catalogue listing of every sales or advertising item created by and for the brewery not is it a history of the company or its successors. The Focus has been placed on the art of the advertising created for Hamm's Brewery."

That's what she says. But then she slowly ferments on about the Hamm family sold to Heublein sold to the Seven Dwarfs sold to Olympia sold to Pabst traded to Stroh's sold to Kalmanovitz and so on. Through it all, the Bear comes and goes. I was looking for more Bear Bio. I got more Business Administration text - How Not to Run a Brewery - which subject was much better done in Phillip Van Munching's Beer Blast: The Inside Story of the Brewing Industry's Bizarre battles for Your Money.)

When she actually does bear bio, it's worth the price (about a twelve-pack.) And some ads before the Bear are interesting. Here's an ad from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, April 2, 1889: "Two men are shown sitting on the ground in front of a wall. Both are drinking beer and the copy records their dialogue as follows:
1st workman: Hamm's beer is a refreshing drink and helps the stomach digest cold food.
2d workman: Right you are and when the wife is ailing she gets a heap of strength out of it - tonic the doctor calls it."

The glossy front cover of this paperback volume is gorgeous and brings back memories. I wish that there would have been more and better pictures within.

P.S. Happy 50th Birthday, Bear!