CANVASETTE PRINTS:
1/24/03:
I'm not sure if this is an accurate description of this type of print, "canvasette", but it's what my Dad called them. The term likely was due to the fact that the material has a canvas-like texture to it, almost woven. They were also what Dad called "plasticised", like a shiny gloss coating was sprayed over it to keep it more washable and to protect it from the hazards of hanging in a smokey ol' bar for a year or more. These are 33X27" horizontal prints that started their series in the late 50's and ran in to the late 60's to my knowledge. The were used primarily for assembling "wall displays*". There are around 30 different of these that I know of, mostly of wildlife or cabin scenes. The earlier ones had no GB diamond logo or name on them whatsoever; 2 that I know of. Later came just the wording "compliments of Grain Belt Beer", then later he same with the logo, then just the logo. One of the last must have been the one with the late 60's snowmobiles in it. Some of these scenes were also used in other POS such as on lighted signs as "transparencies", lighted from behind. I am partial to one in particular. It was made in 1960** right here in the Brainerd area with local people in the pictures, on Round Lake. See below.
CABIN ON ROUND LAKE canvasette:
Here to the best of my recollection is the story on this one as told by my Dad. Keep in mind that my recollection is as old as me, and the story as I heard it several times may have been embellished a bit by the persuation of some hops and barley. This story may or may not be accurate, but it will be good!
One day the brewery called Brainerd disrtibutor Will Faust to see if they could do a photo shoot in the Brainerd area for some advertising Point Of Sale (POS). They asked if he thought he could find 3 guys who could take a day or 2 off at $100/day for fishing and all the Grain Belt beer they could drink! Will didn't think that would be too tough.
Being a good businessman, he thought he'd take advantage of the situation and "tap" in to some of his best tap accounts at the time. In those days an account with your brand on tap was a good account indeed, and merited special attention. Will had just come to town in 1955, and had few such accounts. So, he went to his best one and recruited (Hubert) "Andy" Anderson, one of the bartenders. Then he went down the street and enlisted Jerry Larson who was the manager of the VFW. Not to leave out one of the "3.2" accounts, he went up to Merrifield and confiscated (Harland) "Red" Lord, owner of Red's tavern, now The Chaparral. His brother Don was Will's semi driver.
I'm not sure if the shoot took more than one day, but apparently they didn't get much fishing in as the beer was extremely cold. The photo appears to be taken in the summer, and by the angle of the sun you can see it must have been at least 8:00 PM. They started at 7:00 in the morning. Now, upon close examination of the print, a few peculiarities are visible. For one, those fish are trout and there's no trout in that there Round Lake. They had to send someone up to Motley to the fishery to buy some fish. Jerry, on the left is hoisting a huge mess of fish, like a dozen about 2' long. Now, with a load like that and your arm outstretched horizontally, one would certainly have his legs bent and leaning to the opposite side to counter-balance the load. Well, Jerry could only hold the weight so long so they got a broomstick and you can just barely see him holding it in his hand. By the way, 2 interior versions of the shoot exist, one with the fishing theme, and one with Andy holding some ducks up. In the outside version you see Red with the same red duck hunting shirt, flannel I suppose, and a bit hot for summer. Andy and Red also have tall Sorel-type boots on, a bit warm, but they also have on rain gear so who knows? The rain must have just quit as the sky is blue and sun is shining, but then this is in Minnesota. Now look at the angle of the sun and its shadows, yet Red is casting a shadow high up on the cabin 45 degrees away. Not to nit-pick the thing, it's still my favorite print. Besides, if I was really nit-picking I'd wonder where they got dead ducks in the middle of the summer..hmmmm. Were there 2 photo shoots, months apart? I later had the pleasure to work with Andy since he went to work for my Dad in the 70's. We had a lot of fun together on the routes. He used to gob on a vat of Old Spice which smelled good to me, so I figured if it was good enough for Andy it was good enough for me. I've been using the stuff ever since, and look how I turned out!
A few years ago I walked the area of lakeshore on the road side on Ojibwa Road between Round and North Long lakes, of about where I thought the cabin was located. It belonged to at the time John Konshak, who was Dad's neighbor across the alley in Brainerd, and the local Chevrolet dealer. I'm surprised there is not at least a front bumper from a 1960 Chevy Bel Air in the photo! I was able to identify the cabin although it is now a very dark brown, not the very light almost yellow wood log color as in the print. The tip-off was the unique detailing of the facia board above Andy's head. I was unable to locate the present owner for years, until one summer I was at the flea market selling some GB items, this print being one of them. Some guy came along and said "hey, that's my cabin!". Needless to say he bought the print. He knew of the photo shoot by hearsay in the neighborhood, but never had seen the print. He about fell over when I mentioned there was an inside version too. I found it almost by accident in some of Dad's old photos. It was in the form of an 8X10" positive, which I had converted to a negative then a print. The new cabin owner invited me over to the cabin, and in comparing the inside photos, believe it or not it is almost untouched, right down to some of the same furniture!
**The interior duck hunting acetate/transparency is "dated" 6018, which I take as the 18th advertising piece produced in 1960. The exterior fishing transparency reads 611, or the first item in 1961. I am deducing that the hunting scene was for the 1960 fall season, and the fishing scene was saved for the following summer's opening of fishing season.
This is from an e-mail I got from a guy whose grandad owned the cabin sometime after the photoshoot:
"I have the "canvasette" of the 3 gentlemen at the corner of the cabin outside with the fish hanging in my porch. I got it when my Grandpa died and he bought it from you. My grandparents owned that cabin since I was 3 (61-62) and my Grandma sold it in the late 80's. It was called "Ruff N Knotty" apparently by the 1st owners and since my Grandparents last name was Reeser it became Reeser's Ruff N Knotty to us. I was very suprised to say the least when my Aunt and Uncle stopped by on the way thru a few weeks ago and informed me there was another print by the chimney with them holding ducks as your site verified. I stayed at the cabin every summer and some of my fondest memories were made up there. I'm interested in viewing, hell, buying the other 2 prints as is my brother. Is there any way you could help? You sure have a cool site. We all loved it. I can imagine the tour my Grandpa gave you of the cabin. He was so proud to do so and gave many people the tour. I had put away the canvasette years ago, rolled up and brought it out anf framed it about 6 months ago. Strange how this is all coming together. Almost as if Grandpa had a hand in it. Thanks for your time and please let me know how I can get ahold of a print or the real thing."
Actually it was not his grandad who gave me the tour, but the present owner, in about 2000. This was the first time I'd been inside the cabin.
And from the other brother, Perry Packer, 6/1/05:
"Here are some notes from my Grandma on the cabin: Bought cottage in 1963 for $14,000 with furnishings included. Taxes $222.62.
Sold Cottage May 15, l992 sights unseen for $l25,000 furnishings and boat included. Taxes over a thousand. - Mrs. Grace Reeser."
*WALL DISPLAYS:
As a kid I remember Dad being gone for weeks on end in the spring of the year, past my bed time sometimes. I'd ask Mom where the heck Dad has been lately, and she'd say he's "out putting up wall displays". All of Dad's best accounts gave him a premiere location on a huge wall, sometimes on a backbar, but most often opposite it on the other side of the room, or back on a wall in the ballroom. They were often 30 or 40' long, and incorporated the latest POS items, mostly small wall plaques, and some larger cardboard items such as Stanley & Albert figures and blow-ups of GB bottles and cans. The canvasettes and the entire display was "framed" with a product called Corobuf, a corrugated colored cardboard-like paper that came in huge rolls. It came in 3' widths or any variety of 2 or 3" wavey shapes to create a sort of frame around things. It was stapled on with a tiny 1/8th." staple. These staple guns, like most everything else in those days, was provided by the brewery.
I have no idea just how many of these displays Dad and the brewery man would tackle in a day. Mom always invited the rep over for dinner at least once during his stay. It was big deal, and I always enjoyed talking to them. My most memorable was the first one I came upon, at I suppose 5 or 6 years old in the mid 1950's. His name was George Stramm, a big burley guy with a robust laugh...wore suspenders I think to hold his pants up to his belly. I doubt he was ever the one to go up on the ladder. If Dad was Stanley, George was certainly Albert. We were not told that the brewery rep was coming to dinner, it was George Stramm was coming to dinner, and that meant getting dressed up. I remember being sad when I heard that George Stramm died. The next one was Art Nelson, another great guy and a good friend of our family. I believe he retired and was replaced by Fran Skillings. This must have been in the late 70's, as I went out and made sales calls with him. I thought it weird that he was not beer drinker...bourbon I think.
By the time I went full-time with Dad, in the early 70's, the wall display thing was about done. The only ones I saw on the market were out in the country in out-of-the-way dance halls like Birch Haven, one of those call-in for a delivery joints. The display was up high above the bar 8 or 10', where nothing could get ripped off. Any of these displays left then likely had some collectible POS still hanging, like from the 50's or very early 60's!
GRIZZLY canvasette:
This is one of the 2 that had no indication on them that they were GB advertising. One of these hung in Dad's basement amusement room for as long as I can remember. As a kid I'd lay there on that old burgundy velour wood-trimmed couch, looking at that big grizzly staring at me, with its huge claws, and I was terrified. This must have been in the 50's yet so I'm thinking it was dated 1955 at least, unless Dad brought it up from Des Moines with him, which I doubt. Dad put ALL of the POS out in the market, and saved little.
I've only run across one other than the one I own, and I don't know even if that one was Dad's. I bought it at a junk shop and have since sold it. Of all the prints I have I think this would be the most desireable to reproduce, as it's an awesome painting. It depicts a man in a canoe rounding a bend in the river and surprising a big grizz standing upright. There is no artist listed, but I'd sure like to find out who did it!
If I ever get some time, I'll attempt to list ALL of the Canvassette Prints that I know of. Here's a start, with my own idea of it's "name" and description:
-CABIN ON ROUND LAKE: See photo below.
-CANOE:
-DEER" #1...
-DEER, FAWN:
-DUCKS:
-GRIZZLY:
-HORSES/WOLVES: See photo below.
-SNOWMOBILES:
-WOLF:
-Carl W. Faust
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This is by the famous A. Friberg (Arnold Friberg). He is the artist that did all of those wonderful Northwest Paper Company Canadian Royal Mounted Police calendars. I just got this in Oct. 2004 but had seen it before many years ago, but I don't know where! Perhaps it was next to the Grizzly in my Dad's basment in the late 50's.
See description and story above.
See description and story above.