Baby Bear Bread – April 1936

Bakeries have shown up as a topic again and again on this blog. Lorain and the surrounding area had a lot of popular bakeries over the years: Central Bakery, Spang's, Hough Bakeries, DeLuca Bakery, Nickles Bakery, Bob's Donuts, Young's Bakery and Lakewood Bakery.

Then there were the various breads. Of course, we all fondly remember the great white bread from DeLuca Bakery. (It was so soft and fresh, and made great sandwiches). But there were also the breads that were sold regionally or nationally. Some of these were baked and/or distributed locally (like Hillbilly Bread). Others were just sold in the grocery store (like Hollywood Bread or Millbrook Bread). 

Central Bakery baked at least two different brands of bread under some sort of exclusive license for our area. One of these was Home Leader (which was featured on this post). The other was Baby Bear Bread.

Baby Bear Bread benefitted from a teaser ad that ran in the April 23, 1936 edition of the Lorain Journal. There is it is, smack dab in the middle of the page, next to the ad for Kline's.

Here's a closer look.

The bears' names are revealed as Nip and Tuck. In those days, 'nip and tuck' didn't mean plastic surgery;  the expression was used more to describe a very close race. I guess that's why the cute bruins are running.

Then on April 27, 1936 – ninety years ago today – this ad appeared in the Lorain Journal.

There was a nice little marketing effort that went along with Baby Bear Bread. There was a Nip and Tuck Club for the kiddies, and a free weekly magazine with stories and puzzles was made available. At least one issue survived and is on eBay right now.

 

There are other Baby Bear Bread items on eBay that 'bearly' escaped the landfill.

What's odd is that even though the name of the product is Baby Bear Bread, there is no Baby Bear. Instead there's two adult bears that look more like husky dogs than bears. And speaking of dogs, isn't 'Tige' also the name of Buster Brown's dog?

Central Bank Ad – April 23, 1966

Central Bank, one of the many late, great local banks – has been featured many times on this blog. The bank's freewheeling ad campaigns included a lot of clip art, making them a lot of fun.

And here's an ad that appeared in the Journal back on April 23, 1966 – sixty years ago this week. Do you remember the famous national advertising campaign that Central is parodying here?

Older readers probably have no trouble recalling the well-known "Let Hertz put you in the driver's seat" campaign, with trick photography literally dropping drivers out of the sky and into a Hertz rental car.

Here's one of the commercials. I really like the jazzy melody, as well as the depiction of travel as nothing but fun-fun-fun. (The couple drop into the moving car around the 50 second mark.)

By 1970, the campaign had been running long enough for Hertz to have some fun with it. This commercial features actor and comedian McLean Stevenson.

Ah, I miss those days of truly memorable and entertaining commercials!

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Gene Patrick did his version of the Hertz ad in a Passing Scene cartoon that ran in August 1966 when Joseph Calta was made Superintendent of Lorain City Schools.

Turnpike Lanes Revisited

It might be hard to believe that a bowling alley was once located right at the intersection of Griswold Road  and State Route 57. But that's where Turnpike Lanes was located, right at what was then called Turnpike Plaza.

I wrote about Turnpike Lanes back here in 2019, noting that it had opened back in 1961. Here are clippings that tell the story leading up to the Grand Opening on Nov. 3, 1961.

March 18, 1961

April 22, 1961

June 21, 1961

August 4, 1961

August 26, 1961

Sept. 29, 1961

Oct. 6, 1961

Oct. 20, 1961

Nov. 3, 1961

Nov. 3, 1961

And sixty years ago this month, Meyer Goldberg took over the property, opening the fourth store in his grocery empire.

April 5, 1961

April 6, 1966

Looking at the location today, few Lorain Countians probably remember that Turnpike Lanes or Meyer Goldberg were ever there. They're more likely to remember (like me) when Booksellers Paperback Exchange called it home.

Sept. 2025 view of the property

Uncle Tim Twitter at Januzzi's – April 21, 1956

Northern Ohio Baby Boomers have fond memories of our 'video baby sitters' – the various hosts of children's TV shows who entertained us with gentle banter while showing old cartoons and movie shorts (like The Three Stooges). Who could ever forget Captain Penny, Barnaby, Woodrow the Woodsman, Franz the Toymaker or the rest?  They were grown-ups who were also our friends, talented performers who knew how to connect with their young audience.

Well, here's a children's TV host that I wasn't familiar with until now: Uncle Tim Twitter, played by WEWS Channel 5 personality Bob Dale. According to the book Cleveland TV Memories (1999) by Tom Feran and R.D. Heldenfels, “Bob Dale was one of Cleveland's first and most popular TV personalities. He lip-synched records and hosted the "Dinner Platter" show on WEWS. Dale also wore a whiskbroom-sized mustache to play kids' host Tim Twitter, a somewhat befuddled Civil War veteran.”

The "Civil War" veteran was certainly a different concept from all the other TV hosts across the country, which included jolly policemen, sea captains, etc.

It looks like the studio audience is happily munching on donuts. 

Photo courtesy of North East Ohio TV Memories

Seventy years ago this week, Uncle Tim Twitter made an appearance at the well-remembered Januzzi's shoe store. Two days before the event, the Lorain Journal ran this photo and caption to drum up some interest. Note that the name of Twitter's TV program is revealed as Twitter's Corners.

And here's the promotional ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on April 21, 1956, the day before the event.

The ad mentions free Lucky Jets Trading Coins – a clever tie in with the popular Red Ball Jets shoes – as an added incentive for kids to attend the event.

Several of these Trading Coins somehow survived over the years and are currently on eBay. It looks like they were designed for kids to be able to pop out one of the tiny round panels and put them on a chain.

The Rapier is the same one depicted in the ad

White Men in Lorain Before the Indians? – April 1984 Article

Could the White Man have been in Lorain County before the Native Americans? 

That's a theory that Elyria attorney Howard Saddler was exploring back on April 29, 1984 as noted in the article below, which appeared in the Journal on that day. Saddler based his beliefs on an old article he found in an 1876 edition of the Elyria Republican about a 1603 French expedition exploring the St. Lawrence. According to the narrative, Pierre d'Bois, one of the traders, was captured by Iroquois Indians. After living with the Iroquois for some time, d'Bois was then captured by Erie Indians – who brought him to Lake Erie and possibly to the Black River.

April 29, 1984

Saddler's theory was a tough sell, with various local historians – including Colonel Raymond C. Vietzen – seemingly distancing themselves from it, as noted in the article.

But Saddler was enthusiastic. Not only about his theory, but also a proposal for "an Erie Indian Museum and Patriots Park" along the Black River in Sheffield Village. He spent much of the summer of 1984 trying to sell this idea to the Lorain County Commissioners. 

July 3, 1984

August 1, 1984

His efforts extended into 1985 as well.

Unfortunately, Saddler's idea of a historical tourist attraction died. But it was a great concept, especially his idea of honoring “the pioneers, Indians and patriots."

July 30, 1991

Col. Raymond C. Vietzen and the Indian Ridge Museum Revisited

The wooden arrow from the Indian Ridge Museum –
at its new home in the New Indian Ridge Museum

Back in January (was it that long ago?), Colonel Raymond C. Vietzen and his Indian Ridge Museum were featured in a post that collected several articles about them from the Lorain Journal, dating from 1944 to his wife's passing in 1999.

Since then, I found an earlier article about Vietzen, and the publication of his book, Ancient Man in Northern Ohio. The article by Jean Weaver appeared in the Journal on August 23, 1941.

One of the articles from the earlier post (dated October 16, 1951) indicated that there would be four more parts in the series on the following Tuesdays. However, it appears that the intention to publish that many more articles was overly ambitious. I could only locate one more, which appeared on Wednesday, October 24, 1951 (below). The length of it seems to indicate that it contains the balance of the story. After the publication of this article, the Journal moved on to another multi-part historical series.

Here's another article that missed the cut to be included on the original blog post. It's from June 30, 1965 and promotes Col. Vietzen's latest book at that time, Indians of the Lake Erie Basin or Lost Nation.

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After that first blog post, local historian Col. Matt Nahorn of the New Indian Ridge Museum in Amherst provided me with some great photos to share.

Here's the Colonel, back when he was just Corporal Nahorn, outside the original Indian Ridge Museum. At right is the photo of the Museum from the 1951 article. Note the wooden arrow in the window; Nahorn salvaged it and it is shown in the photo at the top of this post.

Matt noted that the original Indian Ridge Museum was part of a 1920s filling station. The Museum was demolished in 2000, and Matt was able to salvage the original door. Here he is with it.

Lastly, here are photos of the two Colonels – four decades apart – posing with the statue from the original museum that now calls the New Indian Ridge Museum home.