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The following image is from the sitcom Cheers title sequence.

Image from title of Cheers

Source: sitcomsonline.com

Can anyone tell me where this image is from and why it is used in Cheers.

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  • There's diddly squat about it on Wikipedia or IMDB. Best guess is that it's a stock photo from a late seventies or early eighties photo library. i.e. Pre digital and pre internet so practically impossible to find.
    – A Pale Shadow
    Feb 7, 2013 at 13:50
  • Someone managed to find it sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=108460 sorry I can't help with much more. According to IMDB... imdb.com/title/tt0083399/faq?ref_=tt_faq_2#.2.1.2 good luck with your search
    – Tony
    Feb 7, 2013 at 16:04
  • @Tony i think Imdb's link is the best answer one can find. I think you should add it as answer.
    – Ankit Sharma ♦
    Feb 19, 2013 at 10:48
  • It shows a very young Winston Churchill.
    – user7733
    Jan 23, 2014 at 7:35
  • I am very curious about the last photo shown during the credits. Two people closely resemble my father and uncle. My father was born in 1904. I would like to specifically when and where this picture was taken.
    – user23959
    Aug 15, 2015 at 15:19

4 Answers 4

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From moviemistakes.com:

Some say it refers to the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series in 1918, others say it refers to winning World War II (refering to the "We win!" headline of newspapers), and there are more random suggestions too. But there is no definite answer to it.

From IMDb-

The images were taken from old archives of photographs, and then treated to look older. The entire sequence was created by Castle/Bryant/Johnsen, Inc. An original, untreated photograph can be seen here: http://www.shorpy.com/node/7798. The newspaper headline "We win!" refers to the ending of prohibition.

There are many similar questions all around the Internet, but there is no answer provided by the officials.

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  • here is some really interesting information about the photos here. And they were not treated to look older. The pictures are actually from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=2087647
    – user8015
    Feb 10, 2014 at 14:39
  • Judging from the clothes, I am sure it's not WWII. I would buy the Red Sox winning the World series in 1918.
    – steelersquirrel
    Dec 13, 2016 at 23:25
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The "We Win" photo is from the September 29, 1948 late afternoon edition of the Boston newspaper. It refers to the Boston Braves clinching their only pennant with a victory that afternoon in Brooklyn coupled with the Cardinals losing to the Pirates. (The line score shown below the headline is from the game in Brooklyn.)

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Why is this picture used in the opening titles of Cheers

The half-hour comedy sitcom was (mostly) about a Boston bar/pub, and the regulars who were there. It was supposedly a bar situated near to Boston's baseball stadium. Sam Malone was an ex-professional baseball player, and the character of Coach was his coach earlier in life. So the initial photo-montage was all related to Boston, baseball and specifically Boston baseball.

This is similar to the photo-montage used in the titles of Southland, a one-hour drama concerning South Los Angeles police precinct and its officers. The photos used there were all related to well known events detected and discovered by the real officers of "Southland."

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I found three pics from the opening credits to Cheers which I Googled it. One is called Saturday night at the Saloon by Russell Lee in Craigsville, MN. That's John Ratzenberger's pic. The other is Rudy John's barbershop in Junction City, KS. That pic came after Ted and Shelley's pic from the first through the third season. Nick Colasanto's pic is from the Irish Lion back bar in Bloomington, IN.

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