By Harry McCracken
Back in the mid-1940s, Seagram’s advertised its VO Canadian whiskey with a series of extremely manly magazine ads about “Men Who Plan Beyond Tomorrow”–unspecified futuristic thinkers who liked the fact that Seagram’s was patient enough to age VO for six years. No, it doesn’t make much sense to me, either. But the ads, each of which depicted a different miracle that would transform postwar America, are glorious. They’re entertaining when they sort-of-accurately predict scenarios that eventually came to be, such as the rise of the cell phone. And they’re even more so when they marvel at wonders-to-be such as coin-operated streetcorner fax machines. Herewith, some highlights as they appeared in LIFE magazine–click the dates to see the issues with the ads at Google Books.
Perfected Television & Radio Telephone Combined
(February 1943)
“Perfected television and radio telephone combined!” This is supposedly a Chicago businessman using a videoconferencing system (with color screen, yet) to talk to his rep in London. But I could swear that the art shows Richard M. Nixon conspiring with J. Edgar Hoover. It’s pretty much like Skype, except for the fact that the 1940s conferencing gadgets are way neater looking than any modern PC.
3-Dimensional Movies
(June 1943)
Nine years before the first 3D movie boom and forty-six years before Avatar, Seagram’s told whiskey drinkers that they’d go to 3D movies “more thrilling than any you ever dreamed of!” This being 1943, the movie shown involves fighter jets soaring above the audience and soldiers stomping right through it. I believe that the person to the left dressed like Flash Gordon is an usher, not part of the spectacle…but you never know.
More Men Who Plan Beyond Tomorrow.
[This post is excerpted with Harry’s permission from his Technologizer blog.]
