Beauty and the Beer

Beauty and the Beer is a personal documentary produced by Anne Newman Bacal about the iconic Miss Rheingold contest. Begun in 1941 and ending in 1964, the contest was probably the most successful marketing campaign in American history. The film features interviews with former Miss Rheingolds, advertising executives who worked on the campaigns and fans of the contest including novelist Wally Lamb, advertising legend Jerry Della Femina and the writer Ilene Beckerman [Love Loss and What I Wore]. We’ve also collected extraordinary archival film, sound and stills from that period. Ms. Newman was a participant in the contest that shaped her early career. Years later, she looks back at the contest and her own experience as a woman coming to maturity in the 1960s.