The Times, 17 December 1959, p. 4.I'm too young to remember such days, but was it ever that easy to be so effortlessly cool?
I have my doubts.
For you trivia fans: Wikipedia tells us that 'Noilly Prat' was the name that T.S. Eliot gave to his cat.
I feel I have done my educational duty for the day.
5 comments:
John; I'm sure there were some rather good Noilly Prat adverts in the late 60s/early 70s based on the question faced by all Brits*; how do you pronounce the name of this drink? Think you'd find them in what was the then cutting edge/radical Observer Colour magazine or the Sunday Times version. (I think that was the bit that Private Eye called the Sundry Trends).
*Mr Eliot was not, as I'm sure you know, British. Even if he was the last person who actually took the Church of England seriously apart from Rowan Williams. And possibly Mr F Sedgemore in his younger days, although he never did adequately explain neo-Baptism as a trend in the CoE to my satisfaction.
BTW; John Simons, whose gents' clothes shop in Covent Garden has closed I believe, was even more effortlessly cool than the guy in the ad. Cf Paolo Hewitt's The Soul Stylists.
Yes, I can imagine that for Britons the name would pose a few ...difficulties.
Which in some ways makes it even more cool.
'Sundry Trends' is a great name for a magazine section. I think 'sundry' is terribly under-used.
I'll have to check out Hewitt's book sometime, thanks for the tip.
I don't think anyone -- even Herr Dr. Sedgemore -- could explain neo-Baptism in the CoE to my satisfaction...in any case, I'd have fallen asleep long before they got to the heart of the argument.
An oily prat. I think that was the nub of the advert's point. Can't find it on the interweb, but I came across an american site with classic drinks adverts by decade - about 30 pages for the 70's with about 10 per page. Visual social history, well worth checking.
By the way - I always thought Eliot called his cat Macavity, or did I get the wrong end of the stick again. Perhaps it was his mate Sir Lloyd Weber - Max's brother.
Google "Vinatge Alchohol ads" and you'll find the site.
Post a Comment