21 Brands letterhead

One of the cool items in the Sandy stash was a sheet of letterhead from her father's liquor company. I'd always heard Lee Klein was the upstate representative for 21 Brands, but I didn't realize--even though Walter has it in the manuscript--that this was the same company that ran the legendary 21 Club.

A timeline on the 21 Club history page says that in 1934 co-founder Charlie Berns "creates '21' Brands, a liquor importing/distilling/distributing company; its first salesman is then-aspiring actor David Niven."

Those who have read a draft of the family history manuscript know that the liquor business, before and after Prohibition, plays a big role in the story of the first Walter Ruby. No doubt we'll have occasion to discuss that more in future posts on this blog.