Vintage Mitchell's Beer Clock

• • Vintage Mitchell's Beer Clock
  • (1945-1951)
  • Mitchell's Premium Beer Clock
  • 15" Diameter
  • Bakelite Body.
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  Vintage Texas Beer Advertising Clock. 

• Biography

  Vintage Mitchell's Beer Clock(1945-1951)

  The Harry Mitchell Brewery
  Chapter 7c – The Harry Mitchell Corporation
  [Much of this was originally published in the American Breweriana Journal as “The Harry
  Mitchell Brewery: The Harry Mitchell Corporation” in 2011 – see Lockhart 2011]
  The Harry Mitchell Corporation (1945-1951)
  The year, 1945, held many changes for the Harry Mitchell Brewing Co. On June 19,
  Dittmar & Co., San Antonio investment bankers (represented at meetings by H.S. Stewart),
  financed Harry Mitchell in his purchase of all of the stock previously owned by Helen Keller and
  Globe-Fico (Figure 7c-1). Mitchell admitted that he had wanted to buy the Keller-controlled
  stock since Will Keller’s death in 1936, but Helen, Keller’s widow, refused to sell until April of
  1945 (Chavez 1988; 1995:4; El Paso Herald Post 6/20/1945).
  The three top stockholders were now Dittmar & Co.
  with 5,168 shares (controlled by Mitchell); Mitchell with his
  own 1,251 shares, and Mrs. Lela Mitchell with 320 shares. It
  is worth noting that Lela was not mentioned in earlier minutes
  either as an attendee or as a stockholder, but, from 1945 on,
  she attended board meetings until the Mitchells retired. In
  addition to the other refinancing, the new board reduced the
  7,000 shares of Class B stock to 5,000 shares “to be hereafter
  known as Common Stock of the Company” and issued 15,000
  shares of “Cumulative Preferred Stock.” Holders of preferred
  stock (as with the older, Class A stock) would be denied the
  right to vote at board meetings (Harry Mitchell Brewing Co.
  [HMBC] 6/15/1945).
  Figure 7c-1 – Harry Mitchell (El
  Paso County Historical Society)
  279
  Reorganization
  Vice president Nicholson, along with O.J. Allen resigned on June 14. The remaining
  three stockholders at the directors’ meeting – Mitchell, Grider, and A.R. Grambling – elected
  H.S. Stewart and Eugene R. Smith as new board members, then both Grider and Stuart resigned.
  No stranger to corporate America, Smith was the secretary for the Magnolia Coca-Cola Bottling
  Co. from 1937 to 1949 and was a brother of Hope M. Smith, Magnolia’s founder (HMBC
  6/14/1945; Lockhart 2010).
  Upon Grider’s and Stuart’s resignations, the new board voted William W. Cunningham to
  return to his seat and Paul O. Sergent as a new director. Cunningham – formerly a vice president– returned to his old position. The directors also authorized a loan of $200,000 from the State
  National Bank and established a repayment plan that would inhibit dividends to stockholders
  until the note was paid in full in 1950. The board earmarked the money, along with an additional
  $12,000 to be placed in a trust fund to redeem all outstanding shares of Class A stock (HMBC
  6/14/1945).
  Despite the decision just four days earlier to inhibit dividends, the board declared a
  dividend on common stock of $10 per share on June 16. Due to his position as President of the
  corporation, Chairman of the Board, and General Manager, the directors set Mitchell’s salary at
  $12,000 per year. Cunnigham became Director of Sales as well as Vice President, and the board
  awarded him a $7,500 annual salary (HMBC 6/19/1945).
  In November, the Board authorized a 6% semi-annual dividend for holders of preferred
  stock. At the June 6, 1946, meeting, however, they reduced the dividend to 3% for that period
  and paid out $10 per share to common stockholders in August. The group elected Lela Mitchell
  to serve as a director in October and agreed to redeem all preferred stock by December 15
  (HMBC 11/15/1945; 6/6/1945; 8/26/1946; 10/11/1946). In the final session for the year, the
  board doubled the number of shares of common stock for each stockholder, effectively creating a
  100% dividend (HMBC 12/16/1946).
  Mitchell also hired a new brewmaster, Carl Weiss. Weiss may have been hired as early
  as 1944 to replace Albert Braasch who died suddenly that year, leaving the position vacant. Born
  in Bavaria, Germany, in 1899, Weiss received his early training as an apprentice at a nearby
  280
  brewery. For 15 years, he learned the trade including making his own malt. After his arrival in
  the United States in 1913, Weiss worked for several breweries in this country before coming to
  El Paso. The work was difficult. In 1949, a typical day at Mitchell’s began at 3 or 4 AM and
  lasted until 5 PM or later. Like other workers at the brewery, Weiss was on duty seven days a
  week (El Paso Times 12/19/1949).
  Surviving World War II
  Former employee, Alfredo Perea, told three interesting stories about the brewery during
  World War II. The first involved the use of quart bottles to conserve glass and steel for the war
  effort. Mitchell’s was one of many breweries that encouraged customers to buy these “victory
  quarts” in the early 1940s. Second, both beer and the ingredients used to make it were rationed
  during the war. To augment the allotment of resources, bars returned caps to the brewery.
  Working women at the brewery (most men were at war) sorted the caps, straightened out those
  with the least damage, cleaned them thoroughly, and reused them on refilled bottles (Perea).
  The final story may be apocryphal but is nonetheless a good tale. When rationed grains
  ran low, Mitchell would go to “the feed company next door” and buy chicken feed to use in place
  of the normal grains. Perea said sales remained the same regardless of ingredients, so apparently
  the public noticed no difference (Perea). Because of the war effort, 15% of the brewery’s beer
  production went to military use (El Paso County Historical Society [EPCHS]).
  More Reorganizations
  In October 1947, Cunningham, now the last of the original stockholders (excepting
  Mitchell), elected to retire from his position as vice president and was replaced by Charles A.
  Kuper who was then to receive $6,000 per year for his services as vice president and sales
  manager. Kuper, a native of Fort Smith, Arkansas, had served more than five years as an Air
  Force pilot at Houston and the Caribbean before coming to work at Mitchell’s. He had played
  football for and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas. He also
  graduated from the University of Houston (Chavez 1988; 1995:7; El Paso Times 7/20/1951;
  HMBC 10/11/1947; Kuper 1953). Kuper left the company in March 1949 to become the director
  of advertising, public relations, and sales promotion for Lone Star Brewing Co. in San Antonio
  (El Paso Times 7/20/1951).
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  In April 1948, the Board contracted J.E.
  Morgan & Sons to build the new “Bottle House”
  designed by the architectural firm of Trost & Trost
  and engineered by Davis & Foster (Figure 7c-2).
  Built at a cost of $400,000, the 185 by 50-foot
  building contained no posts or other obstructions to
  be avoided by the workers. In addition, a “5-foot
  strip of glass brick at the top of the side and front
  walls of the addition” provided adequate interior
  lighting. The Board also purchased two Emold
  Labelers from the Meyer Supply Co., one Cemco
  Figure 7c-2 – Drawing of the brewery (Wil
  Mitchell collection)
  50 Filler and Crowner machine from the Crown Cork and Seal Co., and a Soaker and Pasteurizer
  machine from the Barry-Wehmiller Machinery Co. (Chavez 1988; 1995:7; HMBC 4/1/1948).
  The Times described the bottling process:
  The very first operation involves soaking bottles to be filled in a chemical
  solution, sterilization, removing old labels and then washing. After that, the
  bottles are dumped on a conveyer and carried to the filler and crowner. Then they
  go immediately to the pasteurizer. The heat is brought to 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
  After that, the bottles are cooled and carried on a conveyor to be labeled. Then
  the bottles go into cases ready for delivery (EPCHS).
  The brewery finished out the year with a production of 19,784,296 bottles of beer in
  addition to draught beer sales (El Paso Times 12/19/1949). By this time, 75% of the business
  was in bottled beer.
  Enter the Can Line
  By this time, canned beer had become an important factor in the brewing industry.
  Although canning of beer had been suggested as early as 1909, the first beer cans were used
  commercially for Kruger’s Special Beer in 1933. Initially, many cans were “cone tops” – each
  can having a conical projection extending upward from the cylindrical section of the can to be
  282
  topped with the same crown cap used on bottles. A
  second style was the flattop – cans with a flat
  surface that must be opened by an external device. As
  cone tops gradually fazed out, flattops became the
  industry standard until 1962 when “pull-tabs” or “pop
  tops” became available (Maxwell 1993). Mitchell’s
  cans were all of the flattop variety.
  On December 4, 1949, Mitchell announced his
  intention to join the national trend. The brewery
  installed a canning line, raising its annual payroll to
  $300,000 to accommodate the additional employees
  needed to operate it (Figure 7c-3). The new system would fill 250 flat top cans per minute,
  roughly the equivalent of the bottle production unit which filled bottles at the rate of 220 per
  minute. The brewery installed the canning line in an addition to the bottling house completed
  nine months earlier (Chavez 1988; 1995:7; El Paso Times 12/4/1949).
  Figure 7c-3 – Harry examining the
  first cans off the Line – 1949 (Wil
  Mitchell collection)
  Figure 7c-4 – Inspecting the can line
  (Wil Mitchell collection)
  The line was already equipped with more than
  600,000 cans purchased from the Continental Can Co.
  with an additional 2,000,000 “scheduled for early
  delivery.” Total production at the time was about
  110,000 barrels of beer per annum, and the board
  voted to increase Mitchell’s salary to $25,000.
  Despite a two year sales slump, Mitchell was
  optimistic (Chavez 1988; 1995:7; El Paso Times
  12/4/1949).
  In describing the canning operation, the Times (12/19/1949) observed that “over 500 feet
  of conveyor belts and lines move the cans through a process that is more neatly efficient than a
  railroad man’s model train system.” Throughout the system, the cans were never touched by
  human hands from the time they entered the conveyer belts, through washing, filling,
  pasteurization, and packaging into cardboard cartons, including six-packs, twelve-can cartons,
  and cases of 24 (Figure 7c-4).
  283
  At one point in the operation, the cans would “jog into the closing machine, which has
  seven automatic controls and the latest safety devices. The tops drop on the cans and the first
  operation forms a double seam. The next operation irons out the seam and makes it air tight.”
  Further down the line, another automatic device “kicked off” any cans that were oversized. A
  weighing device then removed any cans that were over- or underweight. The entire system was
  efficient. Unlike the canning operation, human beings visually inspected the bottles for defects
  (El Paso Times 12/19/1949).
  At the same time, the Times described the keg operation noting that
  specially constructed aluminum kegs, featuring the Golden Gate valve system, are
  used exclusively in the distribution of Mitchell’s Premium to draft users. The
  kegs, lined with pitch to prevent the sensitive beer from coming into contact with
  metal, replace the old-type containers which were made with easily removable
  corks. The kegs contain valves, which are kept closed at all times (El Paso Times
  12/19/1949).
  The kegs were more expensive and required more labor cost to use, but the brewery felt justified
  in their use to preserve “the outstanding quality of their beer” (El Paso Times 12/19/1949).
  In July 1949, Mitchell became one of the directors of
  the Texas Brewing Institute (El Paso Times 7/25/1949). He
  was also highly involved in civic activities (Figure 7c-5). He
  was known as “a generous supporter of many worthy causes”
  and was a member of the El Paso Chamber of Commerce,
  BPO Elks, Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion,
  and the El Paso County Sheriff’s Posse (El Paso Herald Post
  5/17/1971).
  Still More Expansion
  According to the El Paso Times (12/4/1949),
  Mitchell’s Premium was the top selling beer, not only in El
  Paso, but in a territory extending from “Big Spring and San
  Figure 7c-5 – Harry tests the
  canned beer (Wil Mitchell
  collection)
  284
  Angelo in the east to Tucson in the west and includes all of New Mexico.” The brewery was one
  of only seven at that time operating in Texas (two in San Antonio and one each in Houston,
  Galveston, Dallas, and Shiner). The neighboring state of New Mexico boasted no breweries.
  In February 1950, Bob Dorman, general sales director announced the appointment of
  Farmers Produce Co. as Mitchell’s distributor for Phoenix, Arizona. Although Arizona salesmen
  had been eliminated in 1942, Mitchell had obviously reinstated them by at least 1950. Bob
  Reynolds, special representative for Mitchell’s spoke at a Farmers sales meeting on February 11.
  Other distributors wholesaled Mitchell’s Beer at Safford, Tucson, Douglas, and Winslow
  (Arizona Beverage Journal March 1950:20). On April 3, the Journal also published a letter from
  Norm’s Place – a local beer hall – praising Mitchell’s beer:
  You may be interested in knowing that our customers have accepted Harry
  Mitchell’s Premium Beer beyond our fondest expectations. You will recall that
  our order for 5 cases was placed on February 9th. A few days later we ordered 10
  cases more. We have just looked over our records and find that we have sold
  over 150 cases the first four weeks we have had it. We think this is pretty good.
  What do you think?
  The brewery also continued
  sponsoring radio shows under the new
  management. An ad in the Times on July 3,
  1950, admonished readers to “Listen to
  Elmer Davis and the News Tuesdays and
  Thursdays at 6:15 over KEPO.”
  A Mitchell ad boasted in 1950 that
  “brewing is ‘big business’ in El Paso,
  enriching our community to a great degree
  Figure 7c-6 – Mitchell Trucks at the new bottle
  shop (Wil Mitchell collection)
  and adding much to the industrial growth of our Fabulous Southwest” (El Paso Times 9/3/1950).
  The ad continued: “Here at this modern plant, representing an investment of over $1,100,000.00,
  103 employees draw an annual payroll of $273,000.00. Approximate annual taxes – Federal,
  State, City, Social Security, and other – totals $1,000,000.00.” The brewery was clearly an
  important business in El Paso (Figure 7c-6).
  285
  Sales continued to rise, and the
  directors regularly distributed dividends
  through mid-1951 (Figure 7c-7). Despite
  the increased revenue, Harry and Lela
  Mitchell announced on July 19, 1951, their
  resignation from the Board of Directors.
  The reason given by Mitchell was that he
  and Lela had “disposed of all of their stock
  in the corporation” (HMBC 7/19/1951).
  Figure 7c-7 – Envelope used in 1951 (Courtesy of
  Jim Mitchell)
  Three companies, Harold S. Stewart and Sons, Bassett Towers, and the Russ Co. of San Antonio,
  Texas, had purchased the Mitchells’ share of stock for more than one million dollars (Chavez
  1988; 1995:7; El Paso Herald Post 7/11/1951). A major chapter of the Harry Mitchell Brewing
  Co. was at an end.
  Sources
  Arizona Beverage Journal
  1950 “Future Advertising.” Arizona Beverage Journal March 1950:20.
  Chavez, Richard R.
  1988 The Bell Rings Again (A History of the Harry Mitchell Brewing Co.). Privately
  published, El Paso, Texas.
  1995 “The Bell Rings Again (A History of the Harry Mitchell Brewing Co.” American
  Breweriana Journal May-June:4-9.
  [EPCHS] Harry Mitchell scrapbooks, El Paso County Historical Society collection.
  [HMBC] Harry Mitchell Brewing Co.
  A Record of the Organization and Incorporation of Harry Mitchell Brewing Co., A
  Corporation (including Articles of Incorporation and Minutes of Board of Directors,
  September 14, 1933-December 19, 1956.
  Lockhart, Bill
  286
  2010 Bottles on the Border: The History and Bottles of the Soft Drink Industry in E