About those Wolfschmidt Borzoi…

Ed note: As we lack permission to use certain photos still under copyright, we encourage you to click on the links.

We often share instances of the times a purebred dog breed shows up in popular culture, and there are any number of reasons why we do this. Interesting factoids aside, who owns a particular breed offers insights into that person. The popularity of a breed can also give us insight into the zeitgeist of that time.

In the 1920s and 30s, for example, large breeds started showing up in fashion magazines, their leashes held by stylish models. While certain breeds were closely tied to the aesthetic of the times – Borzoi and Greyhounds especially aligning with the silhouettes of Art Deco – it was more than that.

The large and powerful dogs seen in Vogue represented a new feminine independence and strength.  World War I had seen women taking on wartime responsibilities, many of them grim and dangerous. Having done what they had just done, these women were not inclined to resume the ‘delicate flower’ status they had before the war, and the post war period saw women demand unprecedented independence. Fashion magazines reflected this shift by portraying women who could support themselves economically and professionally, and a “power dog” underscored it. There was also subliminal messaging: many of the models appearing in Town and Country or Vogue were socialites, and larger breeds indicated affluence at a time the Great Depression was presenting challenges for the rest of society. If nothing else, a big dog implied: “I can afford to feed this dog.”

If the size of a dog “branded” an era, so did the breed of a dog, as well.  Who among us hasn’t already seen how particular breeds “flavor” the messaging of a TV commercial?  To impart elegance to a product, use an Afghan Hound. For a “friendly” product, get a Golden Retriever or Labrador Retriever.

In this post, we go back a few decades to illustrate this point by covering a brand that had its heyday when many us were either yet to be born, or were still infants or small children – and hardly the demographic of a particular product.

Vodka.

But first, a little history.

Meet Ludwig von Wolfschmidt, a distiller living in Riga, Latvia, in the 1840s.  We don’t know if Albert Wolfschmidt was a relative of Ludwig’s, but we know that the distillery he founded in 1847 was named after Ludwig. The Wolfschmidt distillery was so well regarded that it supplied vodka to Russian tsars, Nikolaj I and Alexander III.

World War I erupted,  and Albert Wolfschmidt was forced to leave Riga.  Soviets occupied Latvia in 1940, and Soviet nationalization took over most factories, including Albert’s Wolfschmidt Distillery. In the 1950s, the Seagram Company established a partnership with Wolfschmidt, and in 1991, Jim Beam Brands acquired the Wolfschmidt vodka trademark from Seagram. In 2013,  Beam Inc. sold Wolfschmidt to Luxco.

Our particular interest, however, focuses on 1955 when Seagram’s Wolfschmidt Vodka introduced Baron and Lady Wolfschmidt to the world as their brand mascots.   It was a time when many brands were using mascots and characters to create distinctive brand identities, and what better way to suggest Russian authenticity than to introduce a brace of Borzoi as the iconic symbols for the Wolfschmidt Vodka brand?

Baron and Lady Wolfschmidt made their public debut on a CBS telecast along with their chaperone, Catherine Dean, a Wolfschmidt secretary and former model. Purchased from Mac and Kay McCluskey of Baronoff Kennels, the dogs served to reinforce Wolfschmidt Vodka’s connection to its Russian origins. They appeared in advertisements, print media, and promotional events. In fact, in 1956, four Russian Wolfhounds (as the breed had been know before 1936) arrived by limousine at the Westminster Kennel Club’s annual Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in New York. Two of them, of course, were Baron Wolfschmidt and Lady Wolfschmidt; the other two were Lady Gretchen and Nijinsky of Barnoff, all owned by George E. Mosley of Greenwich, Connecticut who ensured that his prized hounds traveled in comfort. Cue the limo blanket.

 The Baron and Lady appeared on more than 60 TV shows (including the Perry Como show, Jackie Gleason show, and with Steve Allen, and Ernie Kovacs), but in time, their stint as brand mascots was phased out. After five years of crisscrossing the country on personal-appearance tours and logging 100,000 miles to promote Russia’s favorite beverage, the Baron and his Lady retired to comfort their chaperone’s cousin and her family in High Point, N.C.

We look forward to sharing more such stories in the future!

Image by Karolina Wv

 

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