The Lady in the Moon August 27, 2019

The Champagne of Beers aka Miller High Life is one of the most popular beers that are sold at Finn's Corner (660 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn NY (347) 663-9316.) Its not because of the price, that would honor would fall to the $3-dollar can of PBR. Nor because it is the biggest bottle or can of beer sold in the house, that would fall to the $5-dollar tall boy cans of Narragansett and Tecate. No folks, people just like the beer so much that they just order it as a "Champagne." No frills, no fuss and no muss. 

The beer is so popular, that one of our best customers, Karly had the Miller High Life logo tattooed on her arm. You must be thinking to yourself: The red logo? No silly, not the red logo that says "Miller High Life" but this logo which is called "The Lady in the Moon":

Looking online for the history of the logo proved to be quite interesting. With the brief break in brewing due to Prohibition (1919 - 1933) Miller High Life has been around since the first beer debut on December 30, 1903. Since those first beers were served, the image of Miller High Life was represented by what is called the "Miller Lady." Early posters as the one below, shows the Miller Lady standing on a wooden crate of Miller High Life holding a tray of bottles and glasses. She is dressed in what some people believe to be a circus costume of sorts with the whip and hat of the Ringmaster.

 

By 1907, the image changed to roughly the following one.

 

Here the story gets a little less verifiable. The timeline for the History of the Miller Coors Company 1800 on the MillerCoors website states the following:

The Girl in the Moon appears for the first time on a decorative plate, and the public is introduced to one of America’s longest lasting and most iconic advertising images. According to legend, Miller’s advertising manager, A. C. Paul, became lost in woods hunting in northern Wisconsin and had a vision of a girl sitting on a moon guiding him home, and was inspired to place the Miller High Life Girl in a crescent moon for his next advertisement.

Other stories have her being the the granddaughter of Frederick Miller, founder of the Miller Brewing Company. This image of the woman looking at the glass she is toasting was the logo that was used for Miller High Life until 1944.

Now I haven't found the reason why the exact reason why the company changed the Miller Lady to a lifelike version than a just a drawing. I would take a stab in the dark and say that to me, she looks like one of the pinups that could be seen throughout American art during that 1940's. Those proved to be very popular, especially with the servicemen who hung them in their lockers and painted them on planes and vehicles. But that's my theory on it. 

As you can see, the Miller Lady is no longer sitting in profile but now smiling and looking directly at the consumer. She would go though another change or two by the time she disappeared during the 1980's. With sales dropping, the Miller Lady made her comeback in TV spots during 1998 targeting a younger audience. As of 2010, this is what she looks like:

Which leads me back to the tattoo that Karly had done on her arm with the 100-year plus lady. Time has been good to the Miller Lady. She barely looks a day over 23 😉.

So next time you're in Prospect Heights, come in to Finn's and ask for an ice cold bottle of Champagne. Its definitely Miller Time at Finn's Corner.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
SiscoVanilla
#SiscoVanilla
#SiscoVanillaHasABrewski
#SiscoVanillaBeerChronicles

For Further Reading:

• Here's what we know about the Miller High Life lady from the MillerCoors blog
• The Official Miller High Life website
• Miller's High Life Man Makes Room for the Girl in the Moon by Stuart Elliott from the New York Times dated September 9, 2005
• Putting a Woman on the Moon — with Beer from the Bottles, Booze and Backstory blogpage