From 1990 until 2008, wise-cracking servers in Steak 'n Shake TV ads looked right into the camera and delivered dozens of compact, clever arguments in favor of hand-dipped real-milk Milk Shakes. Well-meaning grill guys came up with new angles to persuade you to believe in real-steak Steakburgers as much as they did. Dishes and coconuts fell. Bean crocks appeared briefly onscreen without motive or explanation. Workaurants were identified, friends bickered, mirrors failed to reflect Halloween Milk Shakes, people coined ridiculous terms and recklessly posed rhetorical questions they themselves could not answer—and every ad brought home aspects of the eccentricities that have charmed America since 1934, and helped explain why the place has always been Famous for Steakburgers. All work displayed here produced by Young & Laramore Advertising.