Uncommon Grounds Part 21

51.

The Brazilians also opened coffee bars in Great Britain, France, Denmark, Russia, and j.a.pan.

52.

Though the rebels committed some atrocities, their actions were greatly exaggerated later by the government, which also minimized the extent of the military ma.s.sacre to follow.

53.

Estimates for the numbers killed in the matanza matanza vary from 2,000 to 50,000. In his cla.s.sic 1971 book vary from 2,000 to 50,000. In his cla.s.sic 1971 book Matanza Matanza, Thomas Anderson accepted an estimate of 10,000, but many scholars now agree on 30,000.

54.

Bitter Grounds, by Sandra Benitez, is a multigenerational novel set in El Salvador. It begins with the 1932 matanza matanza and follows the intertwining lives of coffee workers and plantation owners. One of the characters writes, "You say, but for the golden hope of coffee / few men would get ahead. / I say, when the people harvest, / all they reap is bitter grounds." and follows the intertwining lives of coffee workers and plantation owners. One of the characters writes, "You say, but for the golden hope of coffee / few men would get ahead. / I say, when the people harvest, / all they reap is bitter grounds."

55.

Augusto Cesar Sandino, the illegitimate son of a wealthy coffee planter and one of his harvest laborers, led a rebellion against the U.S. Marines who occupied his country, calling them "blond beasts" and "the enemy of our race and language."

56.

By 1927 A & P was buying one-tenth of Colombia's entire coffee production, roasting an average of 4,000 bags of Colombian coffee per week.

57.

The British owned three prime coffee colonies: Kenya grew arabica, Tanganyika produced both arabicas and robustas, while Uganda specialized primarily in robusta. The French, Portuguese, and Belgians owned the African robusta coffee-growing colonies of French Equatorial Africa, French West Africa, Somaliland Coast, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Madagascar, Angola, and the Belgian Congo. The Italians were about to take over Ethiopia, the birthplace of coffee.

58.

Erwin Wasey had taken over the Maxwell House account in 1929 when J. Walter Thompson had to give it up to take on Chase & Sanborn. In the twenties Fleischmann's Yeast and Maxwell House Coffee were two of the biggest JWT accounts. When Fleischmann's trans.m.u.ted into Standard Brands, swallowing Chase & Sanborn, the JWT men had to choose between keeping the huge yeast account and switching coffee accounts or losing all of the Standard Brands business if they stuck with Maxwell House.

59.

Novelist Sinclair Lewis applied for a job, but Benton turned him down, telling him, "I don't want to be the Babbitt or Gantry of your next work."

60.

Through his lawyer, Jerome Kern at first objected to Maxwell House having stolen his theme, but Benton & Bowles's lawyer reported in May 1933 that Kern told him, "He is a regular listener to the Maxwell House Radio Show Boat Maxwell House Radio Show Boat hour, which he not only enjoys but considers the best program ever put on the air." hour, which he not only enjoys but considers the best program ever put on the air."

61.

Del Monte Coffee imitated the Maxwell House Show Boat Maxwell House Show Boat with its own with its own s.h.i.+p of Joy s.h.i.+p of Joy program, starring Captain Dobbsie. program, starring Captain Dobbsie.

62.

The same year they could have had the Coca-Cola radio account if they had agreed to merge with the D'Arcy agency. c.o.ke boss Robert Woodruff, used to instant obedience, ordered the consolidation but the partners declined.

63.

The life of the Depression-era housewife clearly was not easy. On a popular 1932 radio show one commentator advised housewives to "keep a good big supply of coffee in the pantry. You'll find it something to cling to. . . . Otherwise, the day will surely come when you'll sit down in the middle of the kitchen floor and scream and yell at the ghastly, d.a.m.nable futility of it all."

64.

The two original patriarchs, brothers Austin Herbert and Reuben Wilmarth Hills, died in 1933 and 1934, respectively, but their children carried on aggressively. Around the same time the second generation of Folger leaders.h.i.+p pa.s.sed on. Frank Atha died in 1935, followed by Ernest Folger in 1936, leaving third-generation Russell Atha and brothers Peter and James Folger III in charge.

65.

Also in 1933 Hills Brothers took advantage of the jigsaw puzzle craze, giving away 20,000 puzzles featuring a large coffeepot with cartoon characters. That same year Hills Brothers made much of its movie tie-in with Eskimo Eskimo, showing pictures of the cast drinking coffee on the Arctic ice.

66.

In 1909 two sisters in Salem, Ma.s.sachusetts, created the Silex brewer, based on the French vacuum maker created by Madame Va.s.sieux in the 1840s. The Silex used fire-resistant Pyrex gla.s.s, however, making it far more durable, and soon was offered with an electric heating element.

67.

Such practices are still common, with coffee firms paying slotting allowances to supermarkets for shelf placement.

68.

Early pressure-brewers had been invented in nineteenth-century Europe.

69.

The founder's son, Ernesto Illy, a scientific researcher, took over the company after World War II. It is now run by the third generation.

70.

The s.e.xist Hills Brothers ads fit the times. Women were considered to be emotional, vain, insecure, and easily manipulated. "Woman clings to purchasable things more than her husband," advised Margaret Weishaar in a 1937 J. Walter Thompson publication. "They can be a prop for her. They can bolster her courage, help her keep up appearances."