New Aquisitions
John Graf’s Weiss Beer Brewing Co. Advertisement
M2011.012.001
Donated by Judy Randall
Submitted by Emily Teresa, Collections Intern
In the middle to late 1800s, Milwaukee was a booming beer town, with many local breweries dotting the landscape. The first brewery in Wisconsin was opened in 1840 in Milwaukee, and breweries continued to flourish until 1920 when Prohibition came into effect. John Graf was a brewer of beer with Philip Madlener from 1874 to 1883 and then he brewed on his own from 1883 to 1920, until the start of Prohibition. The type of beer that he produced was Weiss beer, which is a light wheat beer. Graf also produced soda and he was famous for his Grandpa Graf’s Root Beer, which is still sold selectively today.
This advertisement for John Graf’s Weiss Beer contains the pictures and words to a famous German drinking song, “Schnizelbank” that is sung in bars and restaurants even today. The song was originally created in the 1800s to teach children German, but it is now mostly known as a popular drinking song. It is sung in the same fashion as “The 12 Days of Christmas” where each phrase is added to the previous one.
The poster begins with the words that start the song, “Ist das nicht ein schnitzelbank?” which translated means “Isn’t that a shaving horse?” The answer to this question is the continuation of the song, “Ja das ist ein Schnitzelbank! O Die Schoen heit ender Wand, Ja das ist ein Schnitzelbank” which means “Yes, that is a shaving horse! Oh, the beauty on the wall, yes that is a shaving horse.” A shaving horse is a bench that is used to repair barrels. These words are sung and repeated with each of the different phrases substituted for “shaving horse.”
The rest of the phrases are as followed, “Kurz und Lang” (short and long), “Hin und Her” (back and forth), “Kreuz und Quer” (criss and cross), “Schies Gewehr” (shooting gun), “Wagen Rad” (wagon wheel), “Krum und Grad” (crooked and straight), “Grosses Glas” (big glass), “Oxen Blas” (oxen bladder), “Hauffen Mist” (heap of manure), “Schnickelfritz” (naughty boy), “Dicke Frau” (heavy woman), “Fette Sau” (fat sow), “Langer mann” (tall man), “Tannenbaum” (fir tree), “Hochzeit Ring” (wedding ring), “Gefahrliches Ding” (dangerous thing). Above or beside each of these phrases is a corresponding picture. The goat that is in the middle of the advertisement is in reference to bock beer, which is a strong lager, and how it was pronounced by Bavarians. They pronounced “Einbeck” as “ein bock” which literally means “billy goat”, so now most bock beer labels have a goat on them.
The reason that this song might have been on Graf’s advertisement poster is because the song is the most fun when one drinks beer. This advertisement shows how a local brewery kept up with the worldly ways of beer advertisements.