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Bar statues were produced in significant numbers from the 1930s through the 1960s by companies such as Kolograph, Plasto, Illinois, and W.J. Smith for national and regional brewers and distillers, who would provide figurines and brand mascots to...
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Bar statues were produced in significant numbers from the 1930s through the 1960s by companies such as Kolograph, Plasto, Illinois, and W.J. Smith for national and regional brewers and distillers, who would provide figurines and brand mascots to taverns and saloons as a form of advertising. Typically, these bar statues would be placed on shelves behind a bar or atop a cooler in an attempt to influence the purchasing decisions of patrons sitting on stools at the bar. Originally made of chalkware, ceramic, or wood, bar statues made after World War II were more commonly made of varying types of plastic, ranging anywhere from a couple of inches to a foot tall. Sometimes a lamp, clock, or more traditional type of signage would be integrated into the statue’s design. Among the most beloved vintage bar statues are those made by a mid-20th-century Milwaukee, Wisconsin, brewer called Blatz, whose cartoon-like pitchmen had bodies in the shapes of beer bottles, cans, and barrels. Some of these statues resembled waiters or ice skaters, others held mugs of beer or flags, but the most famous Blatz figures are undoubtedly the trio of baseball players involved in a throw at home plate—the catcher is a bottle, the runner is a can, and the umpire calling him safe at home is a wooden barrel. Two other Milwaukee bar statues were named Joe—for Miller, Joe was a bartender; for Pabst, Joe was a waiter. Putting a logo into the hands of a statue was another common bar-statue trope. The Shakespearean-looking Falstaff man stood proudly holding his namesake’s brand, as did the Carling Black Label man. For Schlitz, statues were often female figures bearing globes—some adorned with the brand’s name—above their outstretched arms. And then there were the adorable animal mascots: For Hamm’s, a friendly bear named Sascha often held a sign reading “Good Friends Meet Here,” while Budweiser frequently re-imagined Spuds Mackenzie and its Clydesdale horses as statues, lamps, or both.

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