I happen to know the guy who put together this classic Olympia beer commercial in the 70s:
Some of the stories surrounding the ad are amusing:
All the extras on the bus were post doc geologists and geophysicists from the UCLA lab that I used to be a tech in when I was a working actor trying to enhance my income. Note that the guy at the bar and the guy napping in front of me on the bus is the same person (Ed Ruth) who I had worked with analyzing moon samples from one of the Apollo missions. The spot was shot on Wilshire Blvd, near Westwood, on one of the coldest days of the year. Vega and I were made to look hot by oiling our faces and then spritzing water on us. A best boy rigged a dichroic light on the end of a long pole that he hung out the window in front of me and then shined the light on my face so that it looked like searing hot sunlight (despite the freezing cold air blowing on my water splashed shirt). The commercial aired on all of the televised Dodger games that year (Oly was Dodger Stadium's beer that year), so that whenever I attended a game, I was instantly recognized...and often cheered. It was my "season of fame".I love the old pop tops, the kind that blew out Jimmy Buffet's flip-flops.
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The president of our company (Terry Fitzpatrick) is in that first commercial, he's the guy diving into the water. The shot was taken on Catalina Island and depending on the where the tide was, the landing was only 5-10 feet deep. That's why he enters the water with his arms and legs out....
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