Friday, January 25, 2013

When beer did, and didn't, flow ...



So, I'm going through that stack of 1932-33 Fortune magazines I've written so much about. Now that the covers have been removed, matted and put up for sale - only four left - it seemed time to rifle through the entire issues to see what could be used in collages and what will be set aside for a future sale.


I'll post more images - specifically of the glorious tire, car and, believe it or not, tomato juice ads. Really. Stunning. But, what caught my eye last night was an illustrated feature on the beer business. Each issue of Fortune had special stories printed on thick, creamy paper that differed from the other paper in the issue. Paper that is actually watermarked with the word "Fortune." Whoa. Now that's a publisher that spared no expense.

The brewery pictured is Philadelphia's Bergner & Engel, which at one time in the late 19th century, was the country's third largest brewery. The illustrations are accompanied by a story titled "If There Were No Prohibition ..." that checks "the economic arguments" for and against repeal of the 18th Amendment that established prohibition. Suffice it to say that prohibition was not kind to B&E. Like many other breweries, it folded.


At least this glorious tribute remains. I can see the three pages, which are in mint condition and were NOT printed back to back, framed and hanging in some new brewery. So, they've been spared the cutting board.