Lee Rand at the Aloha Lounge – October 18, 1963

Regular readers know I like posting vintage Entertainment pages from the Lorain Journal dating back to the 1950s and 60s. Lorain had such a vibrant nightclub scene back then, with something going on every night. 

Above is the page from the October 18, 1963, with the clubs, restaurants and other entertainment options.

There are the usual ads, for restaurants like Heilman's, Manners, Kenny King's, Vian's, Sherwood Inn, Golden Dragon, Tropicana, and McDonald's. New ads (to my eyes, anyway) include Pool Palace (at 710 Broadway).

It's always fun to take note of the entertainers appearing at the various venues and try to find out if they ever hit the big time or not (such as Woody Earnhart and Zsu Zsa). The ad for Colony Lounge above features Grecian Dancer Katina. I'm not sure if she was a local performer or on a tour.

But at least we know that Lee Rand, appearing at the Aloha Lounge at 651 Broadway in Lorain, enjoyed a fine career as a vocalist during the 1960s and 70s.

One of his early breaks occurred when he appeared on the Jackie Gleason show in October 1962. The story below from the Journal of October 18, 1962 tells the tale. (The article also reveals – Shhhhhh – his real name.)

And this article (below) from September 29, 1962 provides some additional information behind the Klak-Stik (which I first wrote about back here) and how having Lee Rand provide the vocals on the "Klak-Stik Kick" record led to his appearance on Jackie Gleason's show. 

Anyway, here a few of Lee Rand's recordings found on YouTube, including Stagger Lee (1963), You're a Song Within My Heart (1963), Today's Lament (1967) and Love & Her (1962).

Although I was unable to find out what became of Katina, a couple years after the 1963 ad, she was in very good company during an appearance at Benny's.

Feb. 10, 1965 Journal ad

Woolworth Halloween Ad – Oct. 24, 1974

Twenty years after the 1954 Kresge's ad I posted yesterday, the Halloween ad above for Woolworth appeared in the Journal on October 24, 1974.

Like the Kresge's ad, the Woolworth ad included a few generic costume selections, including a devil, a skeleton (with a knife jammed through his, er, skull) and a witch. But the ad is dominated by licensed characters: Scooby-Doo, a poorly-designed Spider-Man, Mickey Mouse (in his "Sorcerer's Apprentice" magician outfit), Batman, a masked Superman, and the Planet of the Apes simian gang.

The Planet of the Apes TV series had just debuted on CBS the week of September 13th.

Perhaps the most well-remembered Halloween item in the ad is the "Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House" record produced by Disney. What trick or treater from the 1960s or 70s didn't encounter it in their neighborhood on at least one darkened front porch with a hidden speaker?

There's also a record version of the classic Donald Duck short "Trick or Treat."

It's a great, cute short, although poor Donald gets the worst of it, thanks to his insufferable nephews (who are just as hard to understand as him) who enlist the aid of a witch to make him cough up some treats. Yes, there's nothing like seeing some Disney ducklings dabble in the occult.

Hey, why not watch the short? Pour yourself a glass of Donald Duck Great Value Orange Juice and enjoy!

I tried to find some of the costumes online. Here's Scooby-Doo. Who would have guessed that the not-so-Great Dane would become one of the most popular and beloved Hanna-Barbara characters? The dopey dog is still going strong after 50+ years (and that's human years).

And here's Mickey. I guess they put him in his "Sorcerer's Apprentice" outfit to give the rodent some personality, as well as a spooky Halloween angle.

And here's Dr. Zaius from the Planet of the Apes collection.

I wonder if the descendants of "Jocko" the organ-grinder's monkey (from the Kresge ad) similarly (or simianly) evolved into one of the inhabitants of the Planet of the Apes?

Kresge's Halloween Ad – October 20, 1954

I've posted many store ads from the 1950s and 60s with a Halloween theme, featuring the latest in costumes for trick or treating. It's always interesting to see what the popular store-bought costumes were for that year.

Above is the Kresge's department store ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on October 20, 1954.

Apparently, it's pretty early in the mass-produced Halloween costume era – or at least Kresge's wasn't carrying any licensed characters that year. There's no Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, etc. Instead we get some generic costumes: clown, devil, skeleton, panda, rabbit, witch, monkey, pirate, red fox (not the comedian), gypsy, frog, dragon, kangaroo, and lion.

What – no cowboy?

There are two fairy tale types: Cinderella, and Red Riding Hood. Walt Disney's Cinderella had come out in 1950, so it might have been a licensed costume – but I doubt it.

I've tried to figure out who or what 'Jocko' was. I think he's supposed to be an organ grinder's monkey.

Since children's TV shows at that time consisted largely of outer space adventure series, there is one spaceman costume: Planet Patrol. There wasn't a childrens TV show with that name (at that time, anyway) so I'm guessing it's a knockoff of Space Patrol, a show that ran from 1950 to 1955.

Here's what the costume looked like, courtesy of the Halloween Museum website. It's pretty close to what is depicted in the ad.

The name brand Halloween candy selection in the ad is pretty bare bones (appropriately enough) including Baby Ruth Bars, Butterfingers, Tootsie Pops, Hershey Miniature Bars (ugh - miniatures back then too?), Tootsie Rolls, and Chiclets. I'm guessing that most of these would not make the Top Ten list of any candy-munching moppet these day.

I was never a big fan of any of these candies as a kid either, except for Hershey bars. I do remember getting an incredible variety of candies while trick or treating in the early to mid-1960s, and doing the trade thing with my siblings the next day. My favorite was/is Mallo Cups, but I liked Clark Bars, Nestles Crunch bars, Three Musketeers, et. I remember getting odd ones in my bag like Chunky and Turkish Taffy.

Remember this nautical themed Chunky commercial? 

Lorain Journal Front Page – October 23, 1934

Pretty Boy Floyd
Mug Shot

Ninety years ago today, Pretty Boy Floyd, the notorious bank robber, made the front page of the Lorain Journal having been cut down by federal agents in a blaze of gunfire the day before.

Above is the front page of the October 23, 1934 Lorain Journal with the story, and the inside page with the continuation. 

And it all went down in Ohio near East Liverpool.

"Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd, the terror of the Oklahoma badlands, lay on an undertaker's slab here today in expiation of his ten years of crime," the story notes.

"Meanwhile, it was assured that Floyd's pal, Adam Richetti, would be retuned to Kansas City on murder charges in connection with the Union station massacre there.

"His black, patent-leather hair slicked down meticulously even in death, to accentuate the palor of his face, the braggart sought for the infamous Kansas City union station massacre a year ago last June bore the marks of four bullets, fired at his back.

"For the law finally caught up with the desperado, listed as public enemy no. 1, since John Dillinger fell under a rain of lead in Chicago three months ago, on an isolated farm, seven miles north of here, late yesterday.

"For Floyd, who, like his kind, boasted he never would be taken alive, it was an ignominious end.

"An autopsy revealed only four bullets had found their mark. Two tore thru him, back to front, sapping the desperado's life within 15 minutes after he was struck down.

"So lacking in drama, so quick, was the death of the desperado that it shocked the peaceful countryside only after the full import of the slaying became known."

An article on that same page reveals that Pretty Boy Floyd's mother had expected her son to come to a bad end. "For more than a year Mrs. W. F. Floyd has tended a vacant plot in the little Akins graveyard near here, seemingly sure that she would live to bury there her errant son, Charles Arthur Floyd, known to the nation as "Pretty Boy."

""My boy was not bad at heart," Mrs. Floyd sighed yesterday when informed the southwestern desperado had been slain in Ohio.

""He has reaped his reward."

The second headline of the newspaper reported the sighting in Ohio of the stratosphere balloon of the Jean Piccards, which had just passed over Lorain County towards Cleveland. You can read more about this historic aviation event here on the University of Chicago Magazine website.

October Fun with Reddy

As part of my obsessive effort to post every single Ohio Edison advertisement starring our favorite electrical sprite, Reddy Kilowatt, here's an ample sample of some of his October ads from through the years.

Above you see a handsome Lorain Journal ad from October 2, 1950 featuring a great illustration of Reddy coming out of an outlet. Could this ad have been the inspiration for my Great-grandfather Esterle telling my mother (in a thick German accent) something about seeing a little man come out of the electrical outlet? Mom thought he was talking about a leprechaun but we know better.

A few years later, multiple Reddys appeared in a full-page ad for a special promotional event: a four-day cooking school at the Palace Theater sponsored by the Journal and Westinghouse. It may have been a not-very-subtle effort to sell Westinghouse appliances, but it was popular and well-attended, with daily reports in the Journal. This ad ran on October 19, 1953.

As the 1950s were drawing to close, Reddy was still hard at work pushing electric dryers. By this time, he was no longer in bed (with an electric blanket no doubt) with Westinghouse, as other brands were included. This ad ran in the Journal on October 27, 1959. 

Going into the early 1960s, Reddy was still pushing electric clothes dryers. In a campaign that ran in October 1962, the focus seemed to be on showing how electric dryers could guarantee marital bliss. Oh, if it was only that easy. This ad ran in the Journal on October 2, 1962.

A week later, this follow-up ad appeared on October 9, 1962. 

That's a lot of sheets. Is the 'family' referred to in the ad actually an Army platoon?

Finally, here's an ad from the Journal's October 11, 1965 edition. 

As you can see, it's the beginning of the end for our pal Reddy. Although he was still hawking electric dryers (as he had been for the last 15 years), he was possibly seen as no longer 'current' – and was being reduced to a mere cameo in some ads.

That's okay, Reddy. You did your job well. I've had both gas and electric dryers over the years, and you were right – the electric one is far superior.

Fall Foliage 2024 – Mohican State Forest

It was a glorious Fall day on Sunday, so I headed down to Mohican State Park and Forest. It had been several years since I made it down there to check out the foliage, so I was looking forward to some great colors.

Unfortunately, hundreds, if not thousands, of other Ohioans had the same idea. 

Consequently, most parking areas adjacent to a scenic vista were choked with cars. There were no parking spaces anywhere. Even the Amish (who apparently all decided to picnic at Mohican today) were stashing their buggies and horses wherever they could. To make matters even worse, a wedding party decided to appropriate just about the entire Gorge lookout area for their festivities, with music blaring away. (I should have crashed the party and swiped some goodies as payment for having to park 1/4 mile away.)

Anyway, it still was the perfect autumn day and I managed to get photos of some of the park's landmarks. I even attempted a few Then & Nows.

One of my first stops was at the Memorial Forest Shrine. It originally honored the men and women of Ohio who lost their lives during World War II, before later expanding its scope to include Ohioans who died in all wars.

Admiral Ernest J. King was at the 1947 dedication ceremony. He wasn't identified in the photo on display, but I knew who he was.

I also made it over to the Fire Tower. I only went up about a third of the way before feeling like James Stewart in Vertigo.

I stopped at the Lodge, where I have stayed many times. It's barely recognizable from when it was new. By the way, it's celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. (Here's its website.)

I found the best color along Ohio State Route 97.

I've devoted several blog posts to Mohican over the years, and covered some of its landmarks (like the Memorial Shrine) before.

Grand Opening of Fisher Big Wheel in Vermilion – October 22, 1972

Remember the Fishers Big Wheel stores?

It was a discount department store not unlike Kmart. Local stores included one in Avon Lake across from Discount Drug Mart on Walker Road, one in the Northridge Plaza in North Ridgeville, and one in Vermilion in the South Shore Shopping Center. 

Above you see the Grand Opening ad for the Vermilion store that appeared in the Journal on October 22, 1972.

According to its Wiki entry, "Fishers Big Wheel, sometimes known as just Big Wheel, was a discount department store chain based in New Castle, Pennsylvania, United States. The company operated stores under the Fisher's Big Wheel and Buy Smart names. 

"Fishers Big Wheel primarily located in smaller towns which were not already served by other discount retailers, while in other markets, it competed directly with such discounters as Zayre, Kmart, Walmart, and Hills Department Store. 

"At its peak, the chain comprised more than 100 stores in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States. The chain declared bankruptcy in 1993, selling some stores to Pamida and closing others. The chain closed in 1994."

The Vermilion store dodged the closing bullet for a while. An article in the July 10, 1993 Morning Journal noted that "The Fisher Big Wheel in Vermilion has survived another round of closings from the Pennsylvania-based regional discount retailer.

"Company officials in New Castle, Pa., announced the company and its wholly owned affiliates filed for protection under Chapter 11 of federal bankruptcy laws yesterday.

"Ten stores will close, according to a company lawyer who didn't name the victims. However, Mike Amantea, manager of the Big Wheel store in Vermilion, said his store was not among them.

"Big Wheel Holding Co. Inc., and Big Wheel of Michigan, Inc. operate 65 retail department stores in eight states.

"Last year, the company slated the Vermilion store for closing. But it changed its mind after an outpouring of support from the community.

"Big Wheel has 23 stores in Ohio, 17 in Michigan, 11 in Pennsylvania, three in New York, three in Connecticut, five in Indiana, two in West Virginia, and one in Rhode Island, according to papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The Vermilion store eventually closed. But the vacant Big Wheel building found new life for many years as the home of Alco, a national discount department store, in October 1998.

Today, the building is home to Harborview Self Storage.

I never shopped at the Vermilion store, but the Avon Lake store was a regular stop when I lived on the east side of Lorain. It was convenient, and I remember some great fireworks there too on the Fourth of July for several years.