LL/Ballantine - Waiter

Synopsis

A waiter carefully walks past a cat, carrying a tall stack of crockery, so as not to fall over. Once in the kitchen, things go wrong and shards of glass fly everywhere. At first, the waiter is angry, but then letters dance past – LL – they land on a bottle, and with that, the waiter is happy again.

A simple little story, but a seamless link to the other film, which swaps the brand name in the title: “Ballantine / LL” (Hunter and Hare) (1959). That film discusses how two variants of this brand were produced. This is a variant featuring the dancing letters ‘LL’ throughout the set, but there is also one with the rings. To avoid repetition, please refer to the other film
Incidentally, you can see that the letters ‘LL’ are actually incorporated into the set, as the little man is visible through the deliberately placed transparent border.

Floating bottle

The beer bottle is mounted on a movable axis at the back of the neck. The shot is live action and a studio assistant tilts the axis from behind the set. The difference between the Ballantine version and the ‘LL’ version is that the Ballantine glass and bottle are set in a 3D set, whilst the ‘LL’ glass and bottle are in a seemingly empty environment. To conceal the inevitable shadow cast by the axis, various spots of light have been used in the background.

Many hands at work

Various Dollywood staff members worked on the films, including Jószef Misik, Guus Harmsen and Han Mook. Their exact contribution cannot always be determined for each film. Mook specialised in camera effects, an important skill in productions that combined puppet animation, physical lettering and live action.
The adverts are therefore more than just simple beer adverts: they demonstrate how Dollywood used mechanical and photographic techniques to create effects that would now be achieved digitally.