The HISTORY® Channel to premiere its new series “The Booze, Bets, and Sex That Built America” on Sunday, June 12 @ 8PM ET/PT. An extension of the network’s popular “That Built” franchise, the three-part nonfiction series divulges surprising origin stories of the American alcohol, gambling, sex, and tobacco industries and the ambitiously notorious entrepreneurs who built some of history’s biggest fortunes on the nation’s cravings. Each two-hour episode is packed with scintillating historical facts, riveting drama, expert interviews, and compelling characters who operate on both sides of the law. It’s a little dangerous, a little taboo, and a lot of fun!
Throughout the course of nearly a hundred years in the 19th and 20th centuries, the fight over alcohol, gambling, sex, and tobacco defines the American cultural experience and helps the country come of age. It is a time when condoms are illegal, smoking is pervasive, and alcohol is made illegal then legalized again; the great debate rages between the freedom to indulge and protection from the chaos of debauchery. From the 1860s to the 1930s and beyond, this series looks at innovators like Jasper “Jack” Daniel, Adolphus Busch, Buck Duke, Julius Schmid, Stephanie St. Clair, and others who bring these pleasures out of the shadows and into the mainstream to build some of the biggest commercial empires in American history. Their successes and failures also lay the groundwork for the state lottery system, the Sexual Revolution, and Sin City itself.
The June 12th premiere episode of “The Booze, Bets and Sex That Built America” starts in Tennessee where orphan Jasper “Jack” Daniel, taken in by a local farmer and preacher, works side by side with a former enslaved person in distilling a clear, flavorless corn-based alcohol known today as American whiskey. In St. Louis, a German immigrant named Adolphus Busch takes over his father-in-law’s struggling brewery and sets out to create a better-tasting beer, eventually known as Budweiser. Meanwhile, Buck Duke chases a vision of selling tobacco in every tobacco store, drugstore, and dry goods shop across America on his way to becoming the third richest person in the country, with a novel product called… the cigarette. And, in New York City, sausage factory worker Julius Schmid begins revolutionizing contraception in America by using his company’s natural casings to make condoms, which he must sell underground because they’re illegal. The remaining two episodes highlight Stephanie St. Clair’s story of operating an illegal “numbers” game in her neighborhood of Harlem where it catches the attention of the New York Mafia and goes on to inspire the creation of the state lottery system; Billy Wilkerson who sets out to build a “luxury resort casino” that redefines casinos and creates “The Strip” in Las Vegas; unemployed war veteran Hugh Hefner who creates a new alluring magazine unlike anything the world has ever seen.
Airing right behind “The Booze, Bets and Sex That Built America” are three new episodes of “The Fast History Of…” starting Sunday, June 12 @ 10PM ET/PT. The nonfiction series is a super-charged romp through the histories of anything and everything from iconic brands like Jack Daniel’s and Budweiser to enthralling topics like the mob, UFOs, and the secret lives of the super-rich. From the very beginning through today, it’s all the surprising, eye-opening, and innovative moments that make up their stories all wrapped up in a half-hour!
“The Booze, Bets and Sex That Built America” is produced for The HISTORY® Channel by Lucky 8 and Smash Awesome Entertainment. Kim Woodard, Greg Henry, Isaac Holub, George Kralovansky, and Irfan Rahman serves as executive producers for Lucky 8. Yoshi Stone and Shuli Stone serve as executive producers for Smash Awesome. Jim Pasquarella and Mary E. Donahue serve as executive producers for The HISTORY® Channel.
“The Fast History Of… ” is produced for The HISTORY® Channel by Lucky 8. Kim Woodard, Greg Henry, Isaac Holub, George Kralovansky, Irfan Rahman, and Shari Ortner serves as executive producers for Lucky 8. Jim Pasquarella and Amy Savitsky serve as executive producers for The HISTORY® Channel.
A+E Networks holds worldwide distribution rights to “The Booze, Bets, and Sex That Built America” and “The Fast History Of… “.
For additional information, please visit: https://www.history.com/shows/the-booze-bets-and-sex-that-built-america and https://www.history.com/shows/fast-history-of
