MAXWELL HOUSE COFFEE. Print ad mock-up. Composite with gouache, pencil and watercolor on board. 112x110mm; 4 3/8x4 inches, image. Board with glue residue from former matte, some glue bleed-through in yellow background area. Circa 1939.
A mock-up for for the Maxwell House coffee campaign print ad featuring actor Robert Young. Maxwell House, the most widely advertised and popular coffee brand was the sponsor of the radio version of "Father Knows Best" from 1949-54. Each episode began with the youngest daughter Kitten asking, "Mother, is Maxwell House really the best coffee in the whole world?" to which her mother would reply, "Well, your father says so, and Father Knows Best!" Though the stressed-out father replaced his caffeinated beverage with decaf over the years, he remained a brand loyalist spokesman to the end, touting Postum, a "calming beverage that would neither keep you up nor make you jittery" and its related product, Sanka, in the 1980s.
