Framed or unframed, desk size to sofa size, printed by us in Arizona and Alabama since 2007. Explore now.
Shorpy is funded by you. Patreon contributors get an ad-free experience.
Learn more.
From San Francisco circa 1940 comes this uncaptioned photo of Joe DiMaggio and friend and at least a dozen cups of coffee. Who can explain what's going on here? 5x7 inch nitrate negative, photographer unknown. View full size.
Vincent Marotta, co-inventor of the Mr. Coffee coffee maker, flew out to California and recruited Joe to do commercials promoting Mr. Coffee in 1973. The man with Joe in this picture sure looks like Vincent Marotta.
[You mean he looks 16 years old? -tterrace]
Nontheless, I have attached a 1973 photo of Vincent and Joe, and Joe wears a tie identical to the one he sports in Shorpy's photo. It is also quite a coincidence that Joe is obviously promoting coffee and/or coffee paraphernalia in both photos, and that the other man in the 1940 photo bears a strong resemblance to Vincent Marotta. Just sayin'.
[Well, you're right about Joe's ties anyway. -tterrace]
This new "Decaf" thing really works. A dozen cups later and my hands are still steady. Now you try.
Guy on left: “Number of fingers equals number of coffee cups on table.”
Joe: “Number of hands equals number of coffee cups I’m holding.”
Both: “Aren’t we just two wild and crazy guys?”
At Joe DiMaggio's Grotto on Fisherman's Wharf, every cup of coffee is personally tasted by Joe himself before it is served to the customer.
Is this a proposed cameo appearance in the Mel Brooks film "Silent Movie"?
Most likely to the restroom.
Have to wonder which one of the nine World Series is that ring from.
A demonstration that, yes, it can brew 12 cups at a time. Amazing.
If this was indeed shot in San Francisco, it probably is at the DiMaggio restaurant that was at Fisherman's Wharf, in which case it's possible that the gent at the left is Joe's brother Tom, who ran the place and was also Joe's manager.
"You see Joe, I got this idea for a new kinda coffee maker that Suzie homemaker is gonna love and I want you to pitch it. You know, like be the spokesman. It's gonna be a drip machine, see, just like they got down at the diner, but it will be real small and sit on the counter just like your breadbox does today. You'll see Joe. If you don't throw in with me now, down the road you're gonna wish you did!"
Before there ever was 5-hour Energy there was 12 cups of coffee. Net effect is the same.
Trying out the various options for the new rage, Coffee Pong.
Dave, you have unearthed the only known photo showing the start of DiMag's record setting consecutive coffee-drinking streak.
A soup-drinking friend has challenged Joltin' Joe to tell which cup of Maxwell House contains the dreaded last drop.
On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5