Vintage liquor ad, 1964

I adore the ads that show liquor as having something to do with women. Earlier ads, from the 1950s, often seemed to show just the product, as if no one had any more imagination than that.



The gal in red is Julie London, whom most of us will probably remember as the head nurse at the hospital on the old TV show Emergency! What we might not have known is that Julie London was also a pretty big-name jazz and nightclub singer -- voted among Billboard's top female vocalists for several years in the mid 1950s, with no less than 32 studio albums to her credit -- as well as a movie and television actress. Venture over to the website that tells you all this, and you'll also find an introduction to the book The Cocktail: the Influence of Spirits on the American Psyche, by Joseph Lanza. I feel sure this book is going to be great fun, once I get my hands on it.

Image from AdClassix.com.