The Bob Newhart Show (1972-1978) is a half-hour TV series featuring the life and times of mild-mannered Chicago psychologist Bob Hartley. The opening credit sequence, known for its horn-driven David Davis/Lorenzo Music theme, is comprised of sixteen shots, from Bob picking up his phone at his office through his commute home, where he is met in the apartment he shares with his wife, Emily.
Shot 12 is my favourite: zooming-out from a moving "L" train to reveal the BRAUN BOTTLES sign on the city's Canal Street. Apart from the series' titles, this shot carries the only example of text in the landscape.
So who was Braun? I did some looking and came up with W. Braun, a cart pushing Polish immigrant who, in the early 1900s, began a bottle recycling business. Eventually his son Morris took over and the company expanded to include bottle design and distribution.
Here's a link to another Chicago bottle collector -- the Chicago Bottle Digger.
Braun Bottles was also heavily scene in many opening shots of the NBC police drama Hill Street Blues.
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ReplyDeleteExcellent Can you make a blog/page on the complete opening sequence of the bob newhart show ?!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this! I had the privilege of interviewing Zev Braun in 1974 at his father's bottle company on North Canal Street in Chicago about the award-winning film he co-produced together with Maximilian Schell ("The Pedestrian"). Zev, whom I was sad to learn passed away in 2019, impressed me as one of the most decent and gracious individuals I've ever met, a real mensch.
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