1939 Florida - a Home Movie by Gus Martens

When my grandfather Gus Martens made a business trip to Miami and Key West in the Fall of 1939, he brought his family and sister-in-law along. Gus was a distribution manager for Hoffman Beverages, a line of sodas which included then-popular flavors like Sarsaparilla and Celery Tonic. One of the retailers was a Mr. "Kongocoulus" (pronounced Kong-GAH-kuh-LISS. My spelling of his name is a phonetic approximation) a.k.a. "The Greek" who operated in Key West. Please note that on this video I screwed up the spelling of his name, resulting in a completely wrong pronunciation. My fault!! - - and my apologies to any of his descendants who may be watching this now. Regarding the Horton Beer truck, Horton was not connected with Hoffman Beverages, so why was my grandfather so keen to document its business? Perhaps he was intrigued by its bright coloration. (Can you spot the little Seven-Up logo on its side?) Gus surreptitiously filmed the African-American family from the inside of a car or truck - note the steering wheel poking into the lower right corner. The docked boats at Biscayne Bay are Coast Guard cutters, while the large ship sailing by is a navy destroyer. Gus' sister-in law Eleanor (the lady in the beige overcoat who shows her dress hem) was pregnant with Matthias during the trip. He would be born the following summer. Gus usually flew to his business destinations via DC3 Douglas passenger aircraft, but for the one time he brought his family along, they went by car instead. At 2:52 there is a dark-green car in the background, which I believe is theirs. (It also appears in their "1931 Church Picnic" home movie.) There was no Interstate system back then, so driving from their home in Queens, NY to Southern Florida must have been a real schlep, though not one without enjoyable moments along the way. (Grandpa did produce a travel reel from the journey, but it consisted mostly of b&w, commercially produced travelogues with predictable views that he spliced together.) Gus continued working for Hoffman Beverages until the advent of World War Two, after which he took a job at the Edo Aircraft Corp. Hoffman was bought out by Anheuser-Busch a long time ago, but if you're curious about celery tonic, it's now available as "Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray" in New York City and South Florida - - and, IMHO, it's quite a good flavor, reminiscent of ginger ale with additional spices. Robert W. Martens Queens, NY January 8, 2011