Coral Gables Historical Archive
The Guide
Thursday, April 13, 1961, page 6 (of 28)
The page
The text of this pageRead by computer from the scan, so some words may be wrong. The page picture is the original.
THE GUIDE
6 THE GUIDE Thursday, April 13, 1961
Here's What Mr. G Did When Prohibition Hit
By ROLFE NEILL What do you do with a brewery when Prohibition suddenly comes? Frank M. Gabel can tell you. He was running one of the nation's larger ones in Milwaukee on that day in 1919 when the nation went dry. Things are less tense for the former businessman now. He and Mrs. (Olga) Gabel live at 6300 Caballero Blvd., where they built a handsome home along the canal next to University Court Motel. "I was upstairs reading about how to live to be 100," Gabel said on meeting him on a recent morning. "I will be 85 on my next birthday. "I never took a drink until I was 60. That's the truth. The doctor advised me to then; settle the stomach you know." What did the article say about living to be 100? "Let God do some of the worrying for you. Trust in Him." Gabel invited us into the living room. He lit a filter tip cigaret, resisted the urge to have a go at gin rummy (his favorite pastime), and began to talk about his days with Blatz Brewing Co. "When Prohibition came in 1919 we didn't know what we were going to do. There were some 1,800 breweries operating. "When beer came back in 1932 the number was down to under 500, so you can see what I'm talking about. "We went into bottling soft drinks. We sold tobacco and cigars. We got into any line that we could sell our dealers. "One thing I want to mention about all this is that during the whole time we never borrowed a dollar... But to get back to the story. "A man sold us on the idea of a grape syrup he had patented. We tried it and made a success with that as a soft drink. "A candy man by the name of Morton said he thought he could make a good grape candy out of the syrup so we gave him a quart. My God, the stuff was awful! The girls in the office said you couldn't even eat it. "Morton came back and said he thought he could make it into chewing gum. He asked for another quart of syrup. "The grape gum went like wildfire. We finally had to buy two factories of our own to help supply the demand. "One person chewing the stuff could smell up a whole streetcar! "Along in 1929 when the first pure food and drug enforcement came we had to take the picture of the Concord grapes off the soft drink. Sales stayed up. "That didn't satisfy 'em. "Next we had to add the word 'imitation' over grape. Sales still weren't bothered. "Then we had to make the word 'imitation' as big as 'grape'. "Sales nose dived. People thought they might get poisoned. Mothers wouldn't give it to their children. Then it hit gum. First the word 'imitation' in small letters and so on. Our gum sales dried up, too, in the end. "About that time, however, Roosevelt was elected and beer came back. We sold out everything except our brewery. And that's how we weathered Prohibition." In 1946 when he was 70, Gabel sold Blatz to Schenley Distilleries, which has since sold it to Pabst. The beer company was doing $18 million worth of business then and the man who sold it had begun in Chicago as a Blatz office boy. In the summer the Gabels go to their home at Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin, about 50 miles from Milwaukee where their only daughter and five grandchildren live. Some of Elkhart is here with them. Geraniums from the lake home line part of the front walk on Caballero. On the side of the house, by the air conditioning apparatus, is a pretty flower called "Impatience." "Be sure to keep it in the shade," said Mrs. Gabel as she stopped to cut a plant-ing. "Want a beer?" her husband yelled from the porch.
END OF SEASON... Clearance Sale
SENSATIONAL REDUCTIONS Young at Heart CHILDREN'S SHOP INFANTS THRU JUNIOR WEAR OPEN FRIDAY NITES TILL 9 8241 S.W. 124th St. Shopping Plaza
Do it yourself FREE INSTRUCTION TILE
Vinyl Linoleum 99c sq. yd. All Vinyl 'No Scrub' 12c ea. Vinyl Asbestos 10c ea. New Polymerik 7c ea. FREE ESTIMATES on Wood, Tile, Linoleum, Terrazzo, Vinyl Cerlon, Installation by Experts HAMPTON-ZIROLLI ALL TYPES OF FLOORS 2571 SW 67th Ave. • MO 5-3511 - MO 5-3512 OPEN FRI. EVES. TILL 9
SAMPLE SHOE STORE SPECIALS
RED CROSS and COBBIES $4.99 SAMPLE SHOE STORE 2302 Ponce De Leon Blvd. CORAL GABLES
THURS. THRU SAT. LEE'S PHARMACIES
LIQUID METRECAL 6 Pak 1.49 1.83 GELUSIL TABLETS REPACKED 100's 99c 69c BAYER ASPIRIN 100's 49c FREE DELIVERY DISCOUNT PRICES LEE'S PHARMACIES MIAMI 1270 CORAL WAY FR 9-2836 | CORAL GABLES 401 MIRACLE MILE HI 8-1728 | MIAMI 7880 CORAL WAY CA 1-8222
Your New GUIDE wants to tell all the news about all of Southwest Dade.
Naturally, we can't be everywhere all at once, so we ask that you help us by sending in news about your family, club, church or school. Don't worry about style or writing ability... we want the news. Just drop a note to Box 580, Coral Gables or call HI 3-1661, please.