A-B — The King’s Reign
The past few years I’ve been fortunate to be able to do the picture editing on a few books at the Post-Dispatch. Two on Busch Stadium (old and new) and a third on the 2006 World Series were mostly about Cardinal baseball, and I enjoyed working on them immensely.
Last week, though, we sent a book to the printer on a subject I enjoy just as much — beer! The book is entitled “The King’s Reign”, and is a history of Anheuser-Busch. I’m a huge fan of their flagship product, Budweiser, and as a resident of Soulard, the early morning smells emanating from the mother ship let me quickly know it’s a good day to be a St. Louisan (although I did not go to high school here).
The picture editing involved going through all the Post-Dispatch’s photo files of the Busch families, A-B, Grant’s Farm, the Cardinals, etc. We had a few holes in our archives, particularly from the early years. Amanda Claunch, assistant print curator at the Missouri Historical Museum’s Library and Research Center on Skinker, was incredibly helpful in locating some of the material from that period.
I found their historical material fascinating! Here’s a sneak look at a picture in the book, showing Adolphus I (one of the founders of AB—-he married into the Anheuser family) with his daughter Minnie. The photo was taken around 1910.
And here’s a beautiful color advertisement that came out in 1877, a year after Budweiser was introduced and two years before the company changed its name to Anheuser-Busch. It shows a guy with a crown on his head, racing down a dirt road, holding onto a herd of goats with one hand and hoisting a dark beer with the other. Even if you didn’t know what they were selling, it sure makes you want some of it! Maybe he was the first “King of Beers”?
Lastly, here’s a delightful portrait of August (Gussie) Busch when he was about 11 years old
The book should be available to the public within a couple of months. If you like to pre-order a copy, click here.
Learn more about the history of PICTURES
Dearest Reader,
If you enjoyed viewing these OLD _P-D_ PHOTOs, and reading about the above images, then you might enjoy excellent G-D IMAGES available on a local UM web-site:
St. Louis Globe Democrat Collection
http://digital.library.umsystem.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?sid=0719a8bf297bb5206c49cd85e5ae0efb;page=index;c=mercic;g=vm
There are a few problems with many of the current _G-D_ web-images, for example many are mirror-images of the actual photos, and many of the current attached “captions” are mistaken, misleading, or wrong.
There are hundreds of glass-plate negative _G-D_ images from the 1920’s and 1930’s, reproduced with fine detail (able to magnify to see textures). Many of these G-D images are associated with aviation, 1923 Air Races, 1926 CAM-2 start-up (headed by a very young C.A.L.), and the start-up of T.A.T.
I used a graphics converter to flip those _G-D_ mirror-images, and only then can a viewer make sense of some mirror-images (eg,landscapes, billboards).
LC’s above blog entry, “A-B — The King’s Reign” cites some earlier A-B history and photos. The _G-D_ web-images add to LC’s topic, but sometimes the A-B connection is subtle.
Included in the _G-D_ collection are dozens of images taken during three days in May 1928, eg:
Image GDGPS0155 (similar to image 156): The scene shows August Busch’s Grant’s Farm lodge [???], in front of a fireplace, photo shows the Baron (standing center) with his right arm on the shoulder of Captain Koehl, sitting center is Major James C. Fitzmaurice, and Mayor Victor Miller sitting [right side of photo]. Anyone recognize the man with the Black armband? [The armbands were meant to honor the death of Floyd Bennett during the rescue.] Or the man standing behind Mayor Miller???
I’ve managed to ID more than a hundred of these old G-D images, here are some notes related to St.Louis’ A-B:
Anheuser-Busch products of the prohibition era (G-D images 63, 95, 311, 312, 306, 297):
= = = Excerpt from Time = = =
“…When Prohibition came, President August said:
‘We’ll make shoelaces if we have to, but I’ll never close this plant.’ Anheuser-Busch never had to make shoelaces, but it made “Bevo” (an unfermented, nonalcoholic drink that was supposed to taste like beer), near-beer, ginger ale, Grape Bouquet, root beer, “Kaffo” (a syrup for iced coffee), Busch “Tee,” Carcho (a chocolate drink), starch, dextrine, corn products, malt syrup (for home brewing), and even refrigerator truck bodies and ice cream freezing units. In the end, it was yeast that pulled the company through …”
= = = End excerpt [_Time_, Monday 3Apr’50] = = =
“Carcho” advert’ shown in G-D Image 063, behind “Bird-O-Prey”.
“Purina Chow” sign high on the grain elevator: images 311, 312, 55, 297.
Image 095: “Budweiser” sign on back wall, side wall showing letters “G… B….” [?Grape Bouquet?].
Image GDGPS0306 = August Busch I in Budweiser automobile at an airshow.
QUESTION on G-D image gdgps0175, showing a woman:
???Is this lady [who wears a tiny airplane-shaped pendant and also has a pair of aviator’s wings (metallic emblem)] the WIFE of one of the Busch-men??? [I suspect this photo was also taken at Busch's Grant's Farm while she hosted the Bremen crew.]