Henry S. Levy and Sons facts for kids

Levy's Bakery, also known as Henry S. Levy and Sons, was a famous bakery from Brooklyn, New York. It was best known for its delicious Jewish rye bread. Levy's became super popular because of its catchy advertising slogan: "You Don't Have to Be Jewish to Love Levy's." A famous writer named Walter Winchell even called it "the commercial with a sensayuma" (meaning a sense of humor!).

The Story of Levy's Bakery

Levy's Bakery started way back in 1888. It was founded by Henry S. Levy, who came to America from Russia. The first bakery was in Brooklyn, New York. Over time, it moved to different spots in the city. For almost 60 years, it was located on Thames Street.

Levy's was known for its "cheese bread." But the bakery's most famous product was its real seeded rye bread. This bread had a thick crust and a heavy texture. When Henry Levy passed away in 1943, his son Abraham took over the business. Later, Abraham's son Nathan became the owner.

In 1979, the bakery's president, Samuel Rubin, decided to sell Levy's. It was bought by Arnold's Bakers, a company from Greenwich, Connecticut. This meant Levy's Bakery moved from New York to Connecticut. Even the special "sour" starter, which was the original yeast used for all Levy's rye bread, moved with the company. Today, Arnold Bread, which is part of Bimbo Bakeries USA, still owns Levy's Bakery.

"You Don't Have to Be Jewish" Campaign

Levy's is most famous for its advertising campaign from the 1960s. The slogan was "You Don't Have to Be Jewish to Love Levy's Real Jewish Rye." Large white posters with this slogan were put up in New York City's subway system.

Each poster showed a big photo of a person who clearly wasn't Jewish eating a slice of rye bread. Some early posters featured a choirboy, a Catholic police officer, and a Native American person. Levy's hired an advertising company called Doyle Dane Berbach for this campaign.

Judy Petras, a Jewish writer at DDB, created the memorable slogan herself. William Taubin, another writer, received credit for the posters. He later became very famous in the advertising world. The photographer, Howard Zieff, went on to direct many successful movies in Hollywood.

This ad campaign made Levy's the top seller of rye bread in New York. It is often seen as one of the first successful ads to use different cultures and identities in a respectful way.

One of the Levy's ad posters showed a Native American person eating a Levy's rye sandwich. This poster was part of an exhibit at the Oakland Museum of California in 1999. In 2022, a reporter found out the model in the photo was Joseph S. Attean. He was a railroad engineer and a member of the Penobscot Nation of Maine. Other posters from the campaign are kept in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Museum.

See also

• List of Ashkenazi Jewish restaurants
• List of Jewish delis