Easter is almost here – so let's take a look at an ample sample of Easter-themed ads from late March 1956 – 70 years ago.
Muir's Cut Rate offered its usual assortment of Easter candy and toys in this ad from March 22, 1956. Our friend the Thrifty Scott offered us a choice of a plastic egg-laying duck, or a "natural" duck – a "once alive duckling, taxidermy preserved. Downy, life-like."
A few of the toys shown in the ad are still available on eBay, including the egg-laying duck and the wind-up bunny.
Rigbee's Kiddieland had already offered its selection of "pre-Easter" toys back on March 15, 1956. Most of the toys don't seem very Easter-like (a telephone, a wheel barrow, a doll house, etc.) but the ad copy explains it away by noting that they are "Summer & Easter Toys."
The traditional Easter parade (which Mom used to tell me about) was still a real thing back then, so many ads were focused on helping people get prepared for it.
March 23, 1956
March 23, 1956
March 29, 1956
There was Easter dinner to think about, and the decision whether to serve ham or perhaps kolbassi, as noted in this ad for Food Center Super Markets.
March 29, 1956
Kids could enjoy an egg hunt at O'Neil-Sheffield Shopping Center on the Saturday before Easter, as shown in this ad that ran on Friday, March 30, 1956.
Lastly, if you didn't feel like preparing an elaborate Easter dinner, you could enjoy a fine meal at Johnson's Restaurant, "opposite Lorain Drive-In Theatre."
(I wrote about Johnson's back here on this 2013 post.)
Well, it's finally Friday. For many of us, that means it's time to start thinking about maybe fish for dinner. I'm not Catholic, but I still like fish on Friday. I haven't been to Slovak Home in recent years, but I've carried out from Chris' a few times this Lent season, as well as once or twice from Long John Silver's.
Sixty years ago, you might have decided to stop at Manners and try their Fish Fare, as promoted in the Journal ad above from March 31, 1966. While Lake Erie perch is usually the popular local choice, Manners was offering a special deal of twelve ocean perch and a pound of French Fries, plus a pint of cole slaw for only $1.95.
Back then, there was only the Manners on Henderson Drive (the former Hoop Drive-in). But within a few years, there would also be restaurants on West Erie Avenue, Oberlin Avenue and near the intersection of Rts. 254 and 57. We would carry out from the one on Oberlin Avenue.
I don't know, but I would have had a tough time back then (or now) walking into Manners and not buying a Big Boy. It's a good thing I'm not Catholic after all.
It's still interesting to me that there were two versions of the Big Boy mascot, the "West Coast" version (the fat one) and the "East Coast" version, which is the one that was used by Manners). (I wrote about them here).
I always liked the Manners version of Big Boy. He's running away with his namesake sandwich and he already took a bite out of it! He's armed with a slingshot, perhaps in case anyone tried to stop him.
If you look on eBay, there are a lot of "East Coast" Big Boy items for sale.
Anyway, I happened to be in Fremont last weekend. When it was dinner time, a Frisch's Big Boy conveniently loomed into view on State Street and solved the problem of where to eat.
Consequently a fine meal of – what else? – Big Boys was enjoyed.
The restaurant manager mentioned that she had been forced to find a new supplier for the trademark Big Boy white sauce. I think she said it was due to some issues caused by the ongoing lawsuit.
Nevertheless, I always look forward to my next Big Boy sandwich, whether it happens to be in Port Clinton, Cleveland, or wherever.
Mickey the Moose statue outside the Vermilion, Ohio store
Keel moose and squirrel.
Those were the sinister orders that the bumbling Pottsylvanian spies Boris and Natasha received from the evil Fearless Leader many times on the old Rocky and Bullwinkle TV show back in the late 1950s and early 60s.
Well, someone is still trying to "keel moose." Only there's no squirrel involved this time – just a beaver. And he's the one trying to do the killing.
I'm talking about the federal lawsuit that Buc-ee's, a Texas-based chain of travel centers/gas stations with a beaver for a mascot, has filed against Coles IP Holdings, a Milan, Ohio based company that owns a gas and convenient store chain with Mickey the Moose for a mascot.
I just noticed that Buc-ee wears his baseball cap like Huntz Hall
Buc-ee's – which is in the process of expanding into the Ohio market – is alleging trademark infringement and unfair competition. Buc-ee's says that the design of Mickey the Moose too closely resembles its beloved Buc-ee beaver.
What do you think?
Buc-ee's tactic is simple: sue any competitor with an animal for a mascot and make them spend a lot of money fighting the lawsuit until they give up or, financially drained, close for good. And the strategy has worked so far, laying waste to a whole menagerie of animal mascots including dogs, ducks, chipmunks and alligators.
But the argument that there would be confusion with a beaver and moose both selling gasoline and convenient foods is ridiculous. It's like Kellogg's suing General Mills and Post for using animals as mascots on their cereal boxes. I think grocery shoppers can tell the difference between Dig'em Frog and Sugar Bear. And in this case, most Ohioans wouldn't even know what a Buc-ee's is – or care.
I sincerely hope Buc-ee's lawsuit collapses like a poorly built beaver dam in a heavy storm.
Mickey's was long established before Buc-ee's recently decided to enter the Buckeye State. Mickey's got its name from its founder and owner, Mick Coles, and the stores date back to the early 1980s. How can a Texas upstart beaver come to Ohio and try to bully a company that was already in business?
Mickey the Moose is all about fun. He stars in his comic books, where he is an intrepid adventurer with dinosaurs for friends. He's featured in comic pages in the company tabloid newspaper, The Hoof & Antler. He's also a plush doll, and his likeness appears on cups, mugs, Christmas ornaments, dog toys, shot glasses and more.
And he cheerfully waves to customers in the form of a statue in front of every Mickey's store.
One of the new, modern stores in Norwalk, Ohio. It has a full-size dinosaur in it for the kiddies, with more to come..
As the company website notes, "His friendly grin welcomes every guest who walks through our doors, representing the spirit of the Mickey’s team and the friendly, welcoming environment we strive to create."
Anyway, I think Buc-ee's is going to regret suing Mickey's. It's not going to generate very much goodwill by entering the Ohio market and pompously attacking another company that was there long before they were.
Ironically, I've been familiar with Buc-ee's for a long time since my older brother lives in Texas. Years ago he sent me a cute photo of my nephews as tykes (they're adults now) posing in front of a Buc-ee's statue. So I was genuinely looking forward to visiting one of the stores with the beloved beaver. But not now.
It's a dam shame.
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As a graphic designer for most of my career, I can't figure out how Buc-ee's convinces juries that when two ad mascots use some of the same colors and are drawn looking in the same direction, it automatically means that one of them copied the other. It's insane.
As for Buc-ee's, the fact that they use a bizarre spelling is probably their attempt to distance themselves from Bucky Beaver. He's the Ipana Toothpaste mascot from which the founder got his childhood nickname; it became his company's name as well.
Hilariously, Buc-ee is not the first beaver to be used in gas station advertising. Remember the Eager Beaver used by Cities Service?
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I do a lot of heavy reading (consisting of old Tom & Jerry comic books from the 1940s) and I can't shake the feeling that Wuff the Prairie Dog, one of the MGM-owned characters that starred in his own stories in each issue, bears a resemblance to a certain Texas beaver.Yes, the coloring is a little different. And Buc-ee wears a hat like one of the Bowery Boys. But you get the idea: did the artist who designed Buc-ee use someone else's intellectual property for inspiration?
The Lorain County Business and Industrial Review page was regular feature in the Lorain Journal for years. It was a very handy feature, with well-written business advertisements and company profiles that resembled newspaper articles. The rest of the page was basically a collection of classified ads of various shapes and sizes. They were probably reasonably priced for the advertisers.
The particular page below ran in the Journal on March 16, 1970.
It's interesting to me for several reasons. Being a big fan of Sandy's Hamburgers, it's nice to see the big, gaudy sign with Miss Sandy on it. There's an ad for Chuck's Rock & Pet Shop (where my parents bought me my pet hamster) which was located in the Beulah Beach community. And there's an ad for Burge Building & Roofing, who did some fire damage repair work in my house on Nebraska Avenue in the 1990s.
I don't recall Capy's Pizza Parlor, the subject of another article masquerading as an ad. It was located at 1426 Oberlin Avenue. Does anybody out there remember it?
Perhaps you will recognize a favorite company that you did business with.
There's also some regular editorial content on the page, including a continuation of a front page article about hippies hijacking a U.S. cargo ship near Thailand as part of an antiwar protest.
Tiger the Tiger has been the top cat in the cereal aisle for a long time. He's been roaring his trademark "They're Grrrrreat!" as the mascot of Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes since 1952.
And his keepers at Kellogg's are mighty protective of their striped meal ticket.
How do I know? Back here, I wrote about how Kellogg's objected to Exxon using its own popular tiger mascot in signage and advertising for its Tiger Mart convenient stores located inside the oil refinery's service stations. The resulting lawsuit went all the way to the Supreme Court.
Well, forty years ago in March 1986, Kellogg's took on the Seoul Olympic Organizing Committee over the cartoon tiger mascot it selected to serve as the emblem for the 1986 Asian Games, as well as the 1988 Summer Olympics in Korea.
Popular columnist Scott Ostler wrote about the whole affair in the humorous article below, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on March 23, 1986. Coincidentally, the nationally syndicated columnist just announced his retirement just a few days ago, after writing his last column for the San Francisco Chronicle.
I like how Mr. Ostler imagines that Tony the Tiger naturally would hang out with other ad mascots, including Reddy Kilowatt. It's a funny, creative column.
I can see how Kellogg's would object to the cute Korean tiger cub. The Olympic mascot (named Hodori) does seem a little derivative of Tony the Tiger, or at least the fruit loops of his loins. Check out this illustration from the back of a 1968 cereal box with the whole Tiger family, purring with delight over the 1960s General Electric prizes that were part of a giveaway.
Hodori is cute, however. And he has somewhat different coloring etc. And a hat.
But Hodori looks like he was designed by someone who had never seen a real tiger, just a cartoon one on a cereal box.
And note that the designer didn't use this tiger (Cool Cat, a lame late 1960s Warner Bros. Looney Tunes character) for inspiration. Nope, he went with the Grrrrreat One.
Anyway, Mr. Ostler's retirement has really rocked the San Fransisco Bay Area, where he is quite beloved. Here's wishing him a happy retirement!
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Tony has showed up on this blog before – when he was 'freelancing' for the Giant Tiger department store chain.
Forty years ago today, the newly renovated Hotel Antlers in Lorain reopened in a gala affair on Sunday, March 23, 1986. The conversion of the decrepit hotel into apartments, offices and shops was one of the late developer's Jon Veard's many great accomplishments, and his gift to the city of Lorain.
The lead up to the event provided an opportunity for the Journal to revisit the history of the hotel. Here's a great article from March 16, 1986 that provides the comprehensive story of the hotel, from its opening by the Elks, to its ups and downs over the years, to its closing in the 1970s. The article includes the heartwarming story of John and Ruth Howat, who were married there in 1925 and planned to renew their vows as part of the formal reopening of the landmark on March 23rd.
On March 22, 1986 the small article below appeared on the front page of the Journal on the eve of the reopening. It mentions that the Dave Noe Orchestra would be providing music at the event on Sunday. I was a member of the band and remember that day as being happy, exciting and a little emotional. My parents also took a tour of the building that day.
The Journal published an editorial on March 22nd complimenting and congratulating Jon Veard on his accomplishment.
On March 24, the Journal covered and celebrated the reopening of Hotel Antlers with this great article by Darlene Brown with photos of the event by Craig Orosz.
Some editions of the paper printed a shorter version of the article.
Several letters to the editor during the days following the reopening expressed the joy and appreciation felt by the community. Jon Veard also submitted a letter expressing his gratitude that he felt for the public support for the project.
March 26, 1986
April 3, 1986
April 4, 1986
Jim Mahony noted the opening of a radio station in the renovated Hotel Antlers in his column of April 12, 1986.
Finally, the restaurant located in the lower level of the Antlers opened in December 1986.
Dec. 9, 1986
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Here's an ample sample of vintage postcards and photos of Hotel Antlers over the years. I've included postmark and inscribed dates where available. There's also a cool envelope currently on eBay.
1931
1935 Cleveland News photo
1939
1948
1953
(I can't guarantee that the early, undated postcards are in the right chronological order.)
