Refreshment Through the Years

This industrial film was made by the Jam Handy Organization for the Coca-Cola company. It played at the 1939 World's Fair, and they spared no expense: Technicolor, the recognizable voice of Ken Carpenter -- he spent almost thirty years as Bing Crosby's radio announcer -- to speak the carefully written script.... which never mentions Coca Cola by name. Joseph Priestley is named, and a couple of other early workers, but we never hear Coke mentioned. It's always "The Beverage Industry" and how it brings prosperity to associated industries like glass and steel and sugar.

However, the writers at Jam Handy hadn't fallen down on the job. They relied on the easily recognized visuals: the bright red and Spenserian script name in white letters; the yellow-and-red livery; the unmistakable contour bottle. Anyone who looked at it then or looks at it now knows just what it's advertising.