Christmas – Tidbits and Timemachines

Vintage Ad of the Week – December 2, 2024

Seventeen Magazine – December 1960

Talk about being the cool kid on the block. Holy cow! Where can I get one of these? Can you imagine waking up on Christmas morning and opening this up in 1960? This handheld transistor radio is the sweetest thing. “Sally’s” parents hit the Christmas jackpot when they picked this out. Now Sally can walk around campus playing all the new tunes. She can stroll the halls, causing a ruckus, and drive her teachers mad with latest rock music. When school is over she can be the kid in the back of the bus that’s got everyone covered with the freshest vibes on the airwaves. Little do Mom and Dad know she will play the radio day and night, driving them up the wall with her rock ‘n’ roll. Because, let’s get real – Sally looks like she is part of the in crowd. No Stravinsky or Rachmaninoff for her. Nothing but Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Bobby Rydell, the Drifters and Sam Cooke will be coming out of that magical rectangular box.

If the iPod was the gift to get in 2001, this was the one to get in 1960. While this is by far not the first portable radio Zenith produced (they were making portable radios as far back as 1924), it is a compact version with high aesthetic appeal. The ad states it plays up to 75 hours on just 40 cents worth of batteries. That’s $4.27 in 2024 dollars. It comes in three color options, charcoal, beige or Chinese red two-tones with white. I live a sheltered life. I had not heard of the color “Chinese red”. The Smithsonian National Museum of Art described Chinese red as, “A vivid orangey-red best described as vermilion. Originally made by grinding the mineral cinnabar and later produced synthetically, vermilion can include a range of warm hues, from bright orange-red to a duller bluish-red.”¹ Sounds pretty sweat to me!

Here is a picture of all three Zenith shirt pocket size versions from 1960²:

(The Chinese red one is on sale on Ebay for only $29.99-Click here if you are interested in buying one.)

Zenith was a powerhouse of invention. Check this site out if you want to learn more about the history of the company.

This ad states, “Private listening attachment optional at extra cost.” The Radio Attic has a great picture of the gift set with earbuds:

We’ve come a long way with comfort and technology, but still, there is something ultra sweet about this shirt pocket sized radio. I would have been super stoked, like Sally, too, if I found this under the tree in 1960. Check out the other nifty items shown on this ad. An alarm clock that plays music to wake you up by. Yes, please! That table radio looks perfect for mom, dad or the grandparents. And how about that portable record player with 4 speeds?! That means that little record player could play 45s, 33s, 78s and 16s. It sure is tough to find anything that will play 16 rpm records anymore. Surprisingly, there were some big names that put music out on 16 rpm platforms until the 1970s. The Ventures, Trini Lopez and Jim Reeves to name a few. You could get 90 minutes worth of music onto a 16 2/3 rpm record, because it was so slow.

Back to our shirt pocket sized radio above. Sally is going to be the envy of History class, the gang at the Malt Shop and her after school club. She’ll be tops in her crowd. Everyone will want one!

Zenith gifts are out of this world and really are the most!

Stuart, Jan. “Chinese Red – Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.” Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, 2 Sept. 2016, asia-archive.si.edu/red/.
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“1960 Zenith Royal 50.” Abetterpage.com, 2014, http://www.abetterpage.com/wt/us/Zenith50.html. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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Vintage Ad of the Week – November 21, 2024

Saturday Evening Post – December 12, 1959

In the spirit of the nearing the Winter holidays, I am going to switch gears to festive ads. There are so many fantastic ones to choose from. A person could spend two years highlighting them all.

My, oh my! How cool is this ad? It hits the pulse of the times right on the head, and shouts, “Goodbye 1959, Hello 1960!” From the timeless cocktail glasses, to the exquisitely dressed people mixing it up in the background. The gentleman who is the “bartender” looks like he could have tried out for the part of James Bond, he’s so suave.

This ad reminds me of my grandparents’ household bar. They had a basement bar complete with alternating colored shag rug squares adorning the front. Six chrome legged bar stools, with thick marbled padded seat cushions. The kind you see in old movies. It fashioned a sturdy, yet fashionable Formica table top. It was fully stocked with bottles upon bottles of things with strange, foreign sounding names. My little 10-year old self had no clue what they could possible all be used for. That bar was a fixture of atomic cool. A built in masterpiece of mid-century Americana that spoke volumes.

My grandparents were not raging drunks, but they were part of that generation. The generation of this ad. People drank at parties. Hosts made sure they were well stocked with choices to keep their guests happy. Was my grandparents’ house the party house? Were they unique? I don’t think so. Their best friends had nearly the exact same bar in their basement. Drinking was pretty standard in the 50s and 60s. It was just part of the culture.

Here’s another Heublein advertisement from 1963 featuring Robert Goulet:

I was absolutely amazed when I looked into the Heublein company. This was the first I heard of them, yet they were HUGE. So huge they were included in the Nifty 50. What are the Nifty 50 you ask? They were a group of 50 large-cap stocks the New York Stock Exchange deemed most stable. They helped drive the American economy to the bull market of the 70’s. They were considered very safe investments. ¹

How can a company that sells pre-made mixed cocktails be so enormously profitable? So profitable that when RJ Reynolds Tobacco Company acquired Heublein in 1982, they paid a whopping 1.2 billion dollars for the company and its holdings.². That’s 3.9 billion in today’s dollars. Billion!. My head has a hard time wrapping itself around the enormity of this company. They were such a formidable force because they were diverse. They had their fat fingers in multiple markets. They owned brands such as:

A-1 Steak Sauce (1906)
Grey Poupon (1936)
Smirnoff Vodka (1938)
Hamm’s Brewery (1965 sold again in 1973)
Kentucky Fried Chicken (1971)
Hart’s Bakeries (1972)

They held distribution rights for:

Irish Mist Liqueur
Harvey’s Bristol Cream
Don Q Rum
Jose Cuervo
Black & White
Bell’s Whiskey
Lancer’s Wines
Guinness Stout
Bass Ale
Perrier Mineral Water
Rose’s Lime Juice

It is staggering. No wonder they were part of the 50 most desirable stocks of the 60s and 70s.

Back to our ad above. It is pure class. That suit, the tie, the dress the woman on the left is wearing. You can almost feel the silkiness of his tie and her sash. Let’s not forget to notice the stylish updo she is sporting. The flourish of his hand, as if he is part bartender, part magician. I’m not sure how they suspended the bottle to show it during mid pour, but it’s pretty darn cool and decidedly on-point.

Last, but not least, check out the wrapping paper on the gift. Can I get a roll? It’s out of this world!

I long for the times of this ad. Not so much for the alcohol and what’s in the bottle, but what the ad is selling. Time. No need to spend time mixing drinks, when you can buy Heublein pre-made cocktails. You can have more time to spend with your friends and guests. For all the conveniences we have in 2024, it seems we have less and less time to entertain and just be with one another. Life moves too fast.

I urge you to unplug, by throwing or attending a party this season. Whatever your season is make the most of it. Take time to be with your friends, neighbors and loved ones. It doesn’t have to be a big gathering. It doesn’t have to break the bank. But take time to sit around drinking your drink of choice (no alcohol necessary) and reconnect with our friends, family and neighbors.

Here’s to the holidays! Let’s truly enjoy every minute we can.

“What Was the Nifty 50?” Investopedia, http://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/niftyfifty.asp.
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“Just Pour over Ice – Who Knew? – Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project.” Connecticut History | a CTHumanities Project – Stories about the People, Traditions, Innovations, and Events That Make up Connecticut’s Rich History., 5 Dec. 2020, connecticuthistory.org/just-pour-over-ice-who-knew/. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.
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Tag: Christmas

Zenith Gifts are the Most!

Shaken, Not Stirred -Heublein’s Cocktails