St. Patrick's Day – 1956 and 1966

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

Continuing my look back at the holiday as reflected in vintage editions of the Lorain Journal, here are some ads and clippings from 1956 and 1966.

The Hoop had a nice half-page ad in the March 16, 1956 newspaper promoting its special menu of Irish Stew and Corned Beef and Cabbage. 

The front page of the March 17, 1956 Journal included this look at the various observances and celebrations around town.

As was the custom back then, the Journal managed to slip in a typical 'pretty girl' photo, but with an Irish twist since it ran on the holiday.

Ten years later, the Journal ran this small ad for Lorain Novelty on March 5, 1966 so that its readers could pick up their St. Patrick's Day decorations and other doodads. It used to be fun walking around in the store on Broadway. It was filled with little party favors, wall decorations that you might see in a classroom, etc. I remember buying old time straw hats in there that a few friends and I wore when we performed as a hillbilly band and competed in an Admiral King "Gong Show."

On March 17, 1966 the paper included this great reminisce by its General Manager, James Lonergan, about his trip to Ireland. It's a nice story that might get you choked up if you ever contemplated visiting Ireland to see where you came from (like me).

Two businesses – Sandy's Hamburgers and Sweeney's Buick & Opel – had special promotions that day.

 

And of course the day would not be complete without at least one party.

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For a wee bit more St. Patrick's Day fun, be sure to visit some of my past blarney-filled posts from this day.

St. Patrick's Day – 1926, 1936 and 1946

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day – another holiday that, like Groundhog Day, adds a little fun to our lives.

I've already shaken up my normal St. Pat routine by cooking up my own corned beef this year for a change. It turned out perfect in my o'crock pot so I know I'm going to have a good sandwich. (I already had some of it with cabbage and it was great.)

I'm also making Slow Cooker Guinness Beef Irish Stew for a potluck luncheon at work. I just hope I don't get pulled over on the way home and fail a sobriety test – or it'll be a ride in the Paddy Wagon for me.

Anyway, it's always interesting seeing how the holiday was celebrated in the past. Some years there's hardly any acknowledgement, other years there's dances galore. 

So here are some Lorain Journal ads and clippings from St. Patrick's Day 1926, 1936 and 1946.

March 16, 1926 - Page 1

March 16, 1926 - Page 1

March 17, 1926

The holiday was observed a little more ten years later.

March 16, 1936

March 17, 1936

March 17, 1936 Editorial

March 17, 1936 Editorial Cartoon

March 17, 1936

March 17, 1936. Gee that's not exactly
an illustration of a leprechaun! 

By 1946, the infectious fun of St. Patrick's Day apparently had resulted in many more dances and parties. All the ads are from Saturday, March 16, 1946 since the holiday fell on Sunday that year.

Next: Sure and there's more St. Patrick's Day fun

The Journal Entertainment Page – March 13, 1976

Well, the weekend is finally here – time to think about eating out and finding something fun to do.

Fifty years ago on March 13, 1976 your entertainment choices would be found on the page below from the Journal of that date. I was junior at Admiral King High School then, but not 18 yet. So I wasn't hitting the bars for some refreshing 3.2% beer yet. But I saw a fair amount of movies.

Looking at this page reminds me just how long I've been doing this blog. I've written about most of the businesses listed in the ads! Restaurants that were the subject of blog posts include L-K Restaurant, Arby's, and the Homestead Inn Restaurant.

Remember my post about naming your favorite comedy? Todd's favorite – Blazing Saddles – was playing at the Avon Lake Theatre, which is where he saw it. It was also on the big screen at Tower Drive-In. I saw it in a regular theater, so perhaps I was sitting a few rows behind Todd.

I saw One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (playing at Midway Mall) in the theaters too. I remember being pretty depressed after seeing it. 

But I know I didn't see the latest Disney live-action flick at that time, No Deposit No Return (also playing at the Mall) despite a great cast, including David Niven, Darren McGavin, Don Knotts, Herschel Bernardi (the voice of Charlie the Tuna) and Agent 99 herself, Barbara Feldon (another childhood crush). Gee, I would have thought Dean Jones or Kurt Russell would have been in it!

Car Ads – March 1966

Buying a new or used car these days is a lot different than it was back in the 1960s. Today, most people probably shop online first, comparing deals and deciding on what make and model they prefer, before they head out to a dealer.

Back in the 1960s, however, the newspaper still played a major role in the selection process.  The automotive manufacturers such as Ford or GM placed national ads in the Journal as part of a coordinated marketing effort and to maintain the integrity of their brands. Thus the ads in the newpaper supported and reinforced the themes of the TV and radio commercials.

At the same time, however, local dealers did their own thing. Even though they were affiliated with a specific brand such as Pontiac or Buick, they often came up with their own advertising ideas. Looking back at these ads can be fun, as they're all over the place, creative-wise.

Anyway, here's an ample sample of some local dealer ads, all from early March 1966.

Dave Campbell's Lorain Chrysler Plymouth seemed to have the most corporate approach.

March 3, 1966

And these two Pontiac dealers – Ray Faro and Llewellyn Pontiac – both used little car illustrations. I like the map and depiction of the sign in the Llewellyn ad.

March 7, 1966

March 7, 1966

But here's where things get a little more freewheeling. 

Sweeney Buick & Opel was apparently aware that secret agents (such James Bond, Agent 007) were pretty popular in the movies and TV shows. So the dealer promoted its own Special Sales Agent 009 in its ads. The first one is kind of cute with its trench coat-wearing spy with an eye patch and adoring girls. The second ad is a little more bizarre; it looks like some old, smaller ad was just plunked down on the layout.

March 3, 1966

March 7, 1966

Gary Motors – always a strong believer in advertising over the years – used what looks like a piece of Harry Volk clip art as the basis of its ad. (We had a whole collection of those clip books at my old job, all left over from the 1950s and 60s, which I happily used in ads that I was designing in the 1980s!)

March 3, 1966

George May Ford – another strong advertiser – has a virtual cornucopia of clip art in its ad. The concept of night service appointments is a pretty good selling point, though.

Lastly, this ad for Dean Phillips Motors cleverly includes a 'Dean's List' of quality used cars. The little nebbish wearing the mortarboard is kind of funny. He looks like a rolled up diploma himself!

Hart's Jewelry Ad – March 8, 1956

Easter was a little less than a month away back in 1956 when the full page ad for Hart's Jewelry below appeared in the Lorain Journal on March 8, 1956 – 70 years ago this week.

While the theme of the ad was the 31st Birthday Sale, Hart's was apparently hoping that the 27 inch Easter Bunny (free with any purchase of $5.95 or more) would cause shoppers to hop in.

Twenty dollars seems to have been the set amount that Hart's was offering for old watches (which is roughly $239 in today's inflated greenbacks).

Looking at the ad, I wondered if people today still wore a lot of expensive jewelry – and if so, where do they wear it? I used to always wear a watch but when I started working at my present job, I discovered that jewelry of any kind is forbidden because of safety reasons. (It's a manufacturing plant.) So I've gotten out of the habit. 

Anyway – as longtime readers of this blog know – I always try to find out if some featured item in an ad managed to escape the garbage dump and survive, decades later. (Remember ol' Lanky Long?) 

In this case, it was the stiff-legged 27 inch rabbit that I was looking for. Sure enough, there was one on eBay!

In the eBay listing (where his price is $67.50), he's described as "1950's Vintage Plush Easter Bunny Rabbit With Celluloid Plastic Face 24." 

Twenty-four inches? I guess he shrunk a bit due to old age – like me.

Happy Birthday, Ed – March 10, 1961

Today's a special day – my younger brother's 65th birthday! Happy Birthday, Ed!

That's him in the high chair in the above photo taken on his first birthday on March 10, 1962. As you can see, his three siblings are too preoccupied with eating cake to even look up for the photo.

Here are two more photos from that same birthday, showing the ceremonial arrival of his birthday cake (no doubt a Sam Houston cake – Dad's favorite).

What was going on in the news on the day he was born? Here's the front page of the Journal for March 10, 1961.

Ed has the honor of being named after our Dad. But he could have easily been named Louie.

You see, Mom's father's name was Louis, and he had hoped that she would name a boy after him (perhaps because he had always wanted a son and ended up with two girls instead). But Mom evaded naming my older brother Ken and me after him, going with popular names of that time period instead. So when Ed was born, Grandpa's hopes were high that this one would finally be named after him. But he had to settle for 'Louis' being Ed's middle name. (By the way, both my older brother and I have our father's name as our middle one.)

Ed is what people sometimes call the "oops" baby - the one that was a little unexpected. He was also in a bit of a hurry to get here and join us, arriving a little early. (I still remember Mom 'not being around' when she was in the hospital having him.)

March 11, 1961 Journal

He ended up staying in the hospital almost a month after he was born. 

March 15, 1961

April 10, 1961

Thank God everything worked out, as I can't imagine what our family would have been like without him.

Happy Birthday, Ed! For Here's wishing you many more, bro!

Daylight Savings Time Confusion 1940s-1950s

A Gene Patrick "Passing Scene" depiction of
Daylight Savings Time from Feb. 1975

Daylight Savings Time went back into effect over the weekend (in case some of you missed it). I'm still not used to it occurring so early in the year. I'm one of those people who dislike it, as it seems to take me a week or two to get used to the change. Plus an extra hour of light doesn't really mean much to me since I have a set schedule.

While most of the country observes Daylight Savings Time (with the exception being Hawaii and Arizona), this national conformance wasn't always the case.

In fact, a review of Daylight Savings Time articles that appeared in the Lorain Journal in the 1940s and 50s reveals that, surprisingly, it was often left up to individual cities and counties as to whether to adopt the time change.

Here's an ample sample of articles and editorials revealing just how confusing it all was. 

This editorial from July 2, 1941 (before we entered World War II later that year) is against the idea of nationwide adoption of Daylight Savings Time. It also reveals that Lorain used to be in the Central Time Zone.

But once we were in the war, Daylight Savings Time went into effect for the duration of the war. As the editorial notes, "For the first time in some 20 years daylight savings time will come to Lorain Feb. 9.

"The new schedule will prevail for the duration of the war and for six months thereafter.

"Prior to the First World War, we were in the Central time zone. Daylight saving was started as a war measure. Then, after the war, it was made permanent by adopting Eastern Standard time.

"This means that the new war time savings plan will actually be two hours faster than the time we had here previous to the First World War. It also means that we will be approximately an hour and a half ahead of the sun, since Eastern Standard time in this area was already a half hour faster than sun time.

"Hence daylight savings will do little to save electricity energy in these parts at this time of year, since the general effect will be to add an hour of darkness in the morning."

In the Post-War era, cities like Elyria had to decide whether to adopt their own daylight savings plans. This article from March 16, 1948 notes that the farmers were against the concept due to the "difficulty in getting men to work late at night and a waste of morning labor hours."

This article from April 3, 1948 notes that Lorain was also trying to decide whether to go on "fast time" – the expression commonly used to refer to Daylight Savings Time. Industrial plants in the area pointed out that they would have to operate on 'fast time' irregardless what the city did, so as to conform to plants and customers in areas that did.

This article also from April 3, 1948 explains why farmers were against Daylight Savings Time.

In the end, as this article from April 22, 1948 observes, Lorain and Elyria, as well as most Northern Ohio communities, went with Daylight Savings Time anyway.

By 1949, the Lorain Journal had settled into a routine of reminding readers of the time change, and following up with an article or two after it occurred.

April 23, 1949

April 23, 1949

April 25, 1949

The Ohio legislature hoped to have a constitutional amendment passed by voters to require "slow time." The lawmakers had already prescribed standard time for Ohio four year earlier, but about sixty cities still went to 'fast time' each spring.

June 9, 1949

By 1950, cities and communities were still deciding for themselves whether to go on Daylight Savings Time. This article from April 28, 1950 notes that all of Lorain County voted to move their clocks ahead one hour. Erie county (with the exception of the portion of Vermilion in that county) resisted, along with Toledo, Columbus and Cincinnati.

An editorial from April 29, 1950 supplied an additional reminder to set the clock ahead that night.

This article from Nov. 6, 1950 is interesting because it explains how Lorain's decision to go with Daylight Savings Time was linked with Cleveland's. Thus when Cleveland decided to put the issue to a vote, Lorain would be watching the ballot results with great interest.

As it turned out, it was a victory for Daylight Savings Time, with the issue winning a 25,000 majority with more than half of the polling places reporting, as noted in an article on the front page of the Nov. 8, 1950 Lorain Journal. 

Love or hate it, it seems like Daylight Savings Time is here to stay.