Big Four Railroad Publicity Stunt – April 1930

Every so often I like to thumb through my dog-eared copy of Looking Back on Lorain County by Ernie Henes for an interesting story that I could use on my blog.

Here's one from April 1930. It's about Lorain County's first railroad – the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati line, better known as the "Big Four" – and a record-breaking run it undertook 96 years ago this month. Ernie tells the story:

Big Four Publicity Run of 1930

To show that the Big Four has been a railroad of contrasts, we recall an incident that occurred in the summer of 1930, eighty years after the maiden run, when train No. 6474 roared through Wellington at 97 miles per hour, making the 138-mile run from Columbus to Cleveland in 115 minutes.

The reason, strange as it may seem, was 50 gorgeous girlies in the “Rarin’ To Go” burlesque troupe which had become stranded in Columbus and was due at 2 o’clock in Buffalo for a matinee performance.

The Big Four arranged a six-car special as a publicity stunt. It was fun for everybody except Fireman Switzer. His wife reported that even the money in his trouser pocket was soaked with perspiration. But he kept up steam.

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So how did this get covered in the Lorain Journal? Unfortunately in just two news briefs (below). The first one appeared on April 14, 1930 and the second one ran a day later.

The story was also picked up by United Press. Here's its version that ran in the Indianapolis Times on April 14, 1930. Note that the engineer's name is spelled differently than it was in the Associated Press report. Apparently one of the two news agencies mangled it!

So what about the burlesque troupe of "50 gorgeous girlies?" It seems that "Rarin' To Go" was really more of a Broadway show that was on the road. Google's AI Overview noted, "Rarin' to Go was a Broadway production featured in the 1920s-1930s era, known for showcasing artists like Edith Spencer."

So it's not like it was a strip show or anything like that.

Anyway, it must have been something to see the Big Four six-car special fly through Wellington at 97 miles per hour. And less than two hours from Columbus to Cleveland is pretty good, it slightly edges the same trip today via I-71.

Old Sailors Reminisce – April 1966

A. F. Harvey, one of the carriers that Lake Captain E. K. Make commanded
 (courtesy of GreatLakesShips.com and Jim Hoffman)

The 1950s and 60s were an interesting time in our local history. Many of the men who spent their careers making steel, piloting ships on the Great Lakes and working on the railroads were retiring. And since their careers dated back to the beginning of the century, they had personally witnessed the incredible changes that had occurred in their respective vocations during their lifetimes. It was the end of an era – and fortunately the Lorain Journal made it a priority to profile these old-timers whenever possible, and let them tell some of their stories.

Here is one of those stories, from the April 6, 1966 Journal. Lake Captain E. K. Male tells some stories and reminisces about some of his ships, including the Freighter Harvey and the Benjamin Fairless.

Benjamin F. Fairless
(courtesy of GreatLakesShips.com and Roger LeLievre)

The continuation of the story brings in John Tromp, who was wheelsman on the Cason J. Calloway. Tromp and Male knew the same men and enjoying reminiscing about the good old days.

Cason J. Calloway in 2020  
(courtesy of GreatLakesShips.com and Roger LeLievre)

Lakeview Park Easter Basket in the News

The Easter Basket in Lakeview Park as seen on Saturday

Here's wishing all of my readers a Happy Easter!

Unfortunately, it's not supposed to be very good weather today, if you were thinking of heading down to Lakeview Park for photos by the Easter Basket. However, I drove by there on Saturday, and there was a pretty good crowd taking advantage of the good weather to get their family photos.

Anyway, here's a nice selection of articles about the famous Easter Basket including its first mention in the Lorain Journal, as it was installed in Lakeview Park in time for Easter 1941. As you will see, it took many years before David Shukait of the Lorain Parks Department was acknowledged at the man responsible for its design and construction.

April 3, 1941

April 14, 1941

May 21, 1941

Sept. 16, 1941

It appears that 1942 was the first year for the huge concrete eggs.

April 4, 1942

April 6, 1942

April 6, 1942

April 10, 1944

March 22, 1956

April 20, 1957

April 3, 1961

David Shukait was finally profiled in a nice article in April 1966.

April 7, 1966

April 9, 1966

May 18, 1976

May 20, 1976

I written many posts about the Easter Basket over the years. They include vintage postcards of the Basket, family photos, other articles, and photos of the Basket as it looked at the time of the blog post.

Easter 1936

There weren't very many ads in the Lorain Journal with an Easter theme leading up to Easter 1936. Perhaps the holiday wasn't quite as commercialized in 1936 as it would be twenty years later. At any rate, the Easter ads were generally pretty subtle with little use of imagery.

One of the few ads with a bunny illustration was this one (below) for Smith & Gerhart, which appeared in the paper on April 7, 1936.

This ad for Peoples Service Drug Store, from the April 9, 1936 edition of the paper, has Easter candy and toys for sale. 

I was incorrect, comrade, when I noted in a previous post that the chain would have been right at home in Moscow with a name like that. It was actually based in Alexandria, Virginia. Click here to read a well-written history of the chain.

There are a couple interesting items in the ad. One is the Donald Duck pull toy for 25 cents. "Dapper Donald Duck rides around on his platform and flaps his wings and quacks with glee, as you pull him," notes the ad.

Not surprisingly, there's one on eBay right now, although this duck's flapping days are over.

This illustration accompanying the "Dyes for Easter eggs" listing is downright disturbing: an egg-headed uniformed warrior boiling an egg in a cauldron over an open fire, while a rabbit watches from a safe distance. Is that the head of someone he conquered?

Anyway, to close out this post, here's the front page of the Good Friday edition of the Lorain Journal from April 10, 1936, as well as the one from Easter Eve. The Good Friday paper is kinda of chilling, with the story and photo concerning the German dirigible Hindenburg. The tragic accident involving the airship would take place about a year later.

Marsha Hunt, the actress in the choir robe in the Easter photo, lived to the ripe old age of 104 years old, passing away in 2022.

Easter Parade of 1946 Ads

Easter-themed ads in the Lorain Journal during the 1946 holiday season are a mixed bag (or basket if you prefer). The era of the big royalty-free clip art books (like those produced by Harry Volk Corporation) didn't really begin until the 1950s. So some ads have what appears to be artwork created by a professional artist at an ad agency, while other ads seem to have illustrations that were done locally, perhaps by a Journal staffer in the newspaper's art department. 

In either case, it is all fun to look at.

So here is – what else? – an ample sample of ads that appeared in the Lorain Journal around Easter 1946. You'll find ads from Sears, Smith & Gerhart, the Reidy Scanlan Company, Sutter's, and others.

April 10, 1946

April 15, 1946

April 15, 1946

April 17, 1946

April 18, 1946
The name of this drug store makes me think it would be
more at home on Red Square than Downtown Lorain

April 18, 1946

April 18, 1946

Lorain Journal Front Page – Easter Eve 1926

Easter was celebrated on the front page of the April 3, 1926 Lorain Journal – one hundred years ago this week – with a variety of articles and illustrations. Note that reverence for the holiday was maintained by the header, which read, "In Keeping With the Spirit of Easter, Crime News has been Barred from Page One of this Issue of The Journal."

A particularly well-written Editorial near the bottom eloquently notes, "Easter means more than new hats and colored eggs.

"It is a time symbolic of the resurrection in the Christian church and of physical resurrection in nature. It should be a time of resurrection of hope, ambition and confidence in man.

"Tomorrow, Lorain churches will hold elaborate services in recognition of the resurrection of Jesus. Thousands of people will participate in these services.

"If the weather is nice, colors of spring will appear in the costumes of the church goers and those who will promenade the streets in the afternoon.

"But if the sun refuses to shine, or a flurry of snow settles over the city, there is no reason to be gloomy. The resurrection of the trees, the grass, the shrubs, the fish, is at hand. All nature is aroused in new life.

"Bearing this in mind, let us make Easter a season of resurrection. Let us revive our love of man, our patriotism, our trust in God. For it is in doing for our souls what God did for His Son that we can best observe Easter Day."

Also on the front page: "Easter Habits Had Origin in Distant Persia," which explains the history behind many of our Easter customs; an article about how Lorain City Council was originally considering building a High Level Bridge at 14th Street; a weather forecast that included the chance of snow on Easter Day; a short article on Easter fashions out of England; and a report on a Lorain fireman who had suffered a recent head injury and disappeared from his home in Axtel, south of Vermilion.

Here's Page 2 of the same edition of the Journal with  the continuation of the front page stories, as well as the crime stories that had been barred.

But what about the lost fireman? Thankfully he was found, after he wandered for 18 hours and ended up at the home of Charles Hahn on Lake Road. Here's the story from the April 5, 1926 Journal.

Easter Parade of 1966 Grocery Ads

Have you thought about your Easter menu yet?

I'm not sure what I'm doing this year. Last year I ordered a Honey Baked Ham online. But when I went to the low budget 'seasonal' store at (what's left of) Midway Mall, they said, "Sorry, Charlie – no ham for you!" They pointed out that I should have taken a squint at the fine print – that there was something that said they reserve the right to sell my ham to someone else. That literally left a bad taste in my mouth.

Sixty years ago you might have been perusing the grocery ads in the Journal while trying to decide what to serve on Easter Sunday, such as ham vs. kielbasa. (I know a lot of people who served ham for Thanksgiving, so maybe they're stuffing a turkey for Easter.)

Anyway, here's a not-so-ample sample of supermarket ads, all from the Journal of April 6, 1966. They include IGA, Pick-n-Pay, Fisher's, Food Fair and A&P. Most of the ads have some great Easter clip art. And it's fun to compare ham prices.

You hear a lot about food anxiety these days. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot of it in Lorain County right now. In Lorain, the Apples store on Meister Road (Mom's favorite) closed last year, and the brand new Grocery Outlet on Leavitt Road that opened last fall is already shuttered. In Oberlin, the IGA on State Route 511 near my place of employment closed as well. So there are fewer choices than ever. 

I go to a lot of places for particular things – Marc's, Giant Eagle, Walmart, Meijer and even Drug Mart. Once in a while I would go into Lorain to the Apple's and get some of their chicken tenders, which I thought were better than Raising Cane's.