Big Top's Big Burma Comes to Lorain – April 1956

The circus coming to town used to be a big deal in Lorain.

Over the years, both of my parents told me how exciting it was for a circus to arrive in Lorain and set up on the edge of town (near where George Daniel Field is located). It was fun and interesting for kids to watch the animals get unloaded and the big tent put up.

Mills Brothers Circus came to Lorain several times in the 1950s. As part of its visit in April 1956, its star elephant – Big Burma – made a special appearance in Downtown Lorain on April 30th. Here's the full-page ad from the April 28th edition of the Lorain Journal with the announcement.

If Big Burma had the kind of memory that elephants are supposed to have, then she might have remembered an earlier visit to Lorain with the Mills Bros. Circus in August 1951. Here's the article from the August 9, 1951 Lorain Journal with the story.

Big Burma had a long circus career. Here's a nice story about her life that ran in Bandwagon magazine during the same period of time that she visited Lorain in 1956.

****

Burma, a Four-Legged Debutante
By Harry M. Simpson. Bandwagon, Vol. 4, July, 1956, pp. 8-9.

When it comes to celebrities, Burma, star pachyderm now traveling with Mills Bros. Circus, is no different from the Fifth Avenue debutantes or the Hollywood movie stars. She has had her share of publicity plus a long list of impresarios.

When or where she first saw the light of day is not known, but it is believed that she has yet to reach that age of "Life Begins At Forty."

Her debut in the Circus World came in 1921 when William P. Hall of Lancaster, Mo., bought a young female full from Louis Ruhe, New York animal dealer. She was first named Virginia, but was re-named Burma in 1935.

During that same year, Hall sold Virginia to the John Robinson Circus, then owned by the American Circus Corp., and she remained there for several seasons. When first with this circus, she was so small they moved her from city to city in one end of a cage wagon. During the day she would be placed with the herd. Sometime later she was transferred to the Sells-Floto Circus.

With the Sells-Floto Circus, she received her first bit of publicity. While this circus was playing Cransbrook, B.C., Canada, Virginia and six playmates decided that there were greener pastures and took off for the tall timbers of British Columbia. Zack Terrell, then manager of Sells-Floto, was compelled to hire several elephant trainers before the seven ladies were corraled ... this was in August of 1926.

In 1929, Virginia found herself with a mud show having been purchased by E. E. Coleman of Dayton, Ohio. She spent the season on the E. E. Coleman Circus. Then it was back to the Hall farm in Lancaster.

In 1930, she was with the Gordon Bros. Circus, owned by the Brunk Family, then to Fred Buchanan's Robbins Bros. Circus in 1931.

Hall sold Virginia to Russell Bros. Circus in 1934, however, the stay was short and she was traded back to Hall for Margaret. In 1935 she was sold to Nellie Orton and was worked on the Atterbury Circus by Col. William H. Woodcock.

Following the brief stay with Atterbury, she was purchased by Col. Woodcock and Spencer Huntley. Under the tutelage of Col. Woodcock, assisted by Huntley, she made another debut under the name of Burma and was heralded as the finest single-elephant act on record. This was the start of her climb to fame. During this ownership, Burma traveled with Harley Sadler's "Bailey Bros. Circus" and the Goldmar Bros. Circus.

In 1936, Woodcock sold out to Huntley and Burma become the sole charge of the late Spencer Huntley whose name still remains in the "hall of fame" among elephant trainers. Huntley had her on the Joe B. Webb Circus, Bailey Bros. Circus, Kit Karson and others.

Jack and Jake Mills, co-owners of the Mills Bros. Circus, bought Burma from Huntley during the winter of 1942-43 and since that time she has been one of the top attractions of this circus. Under the Mills Bros. ownership she has received column after column of publicity which reached a peak in 1953 when, in all her glory, Burma was a major part of the inaugural parade for President Dwight Eisenhower.

Although her history is long, she is still young and will continue to thrill and entertain the "children of all ages" for years to come. No doubt her name is better known among towners today than any other living elephant.

****

Surprisingly, there are a few photos of Big Burma on eBay right now. The top photo shows Big Burma and Spencer Huntley, who is mentioned in the Bandwagon article.

Mills Bros Circus photo Spencer Huntley & Elephant Big Burma 1944

Mills Bros Circus photo VP Pat O'Brien rides elephant Big Burma 1944

1954 Mills Bros Circus - Big Burma Elephant / Truck @ NY - Vintage Negative

****

It appears that Big Burma wrapped up her career South of the Border, according to the Elephant Encyclopedia.

A Baker's Dozen of Hough Bakeries Clippings

Yesterday's post about Baby Bear Bread and various local bakeries made me realize that I'd never devoted a post to just Hough Bakeries. To rectify that half-baked oversight, here's a baker's dozen of various clippings in chronological order, consisting of articles and ads that tell the story of this beloved institution from his first appearance in Lorain in 1958 to its sad closing in 1992.

March 25, 1958

March 26, 1958

October 1, 1958

Feb. 1, 1961

May 23, 1967

Sept. 19, 1971

Dec. 21, 1976

May 1, 1978

Dec. 15, 1986

May 18, 1987

March 28, 1990

May 10, 1990

Aug. 9, 1992

For the Brady family, the one at Westgate Shopping Center at W. 21st was a regular Saturday afternoon stop for many years, usually to pick up a kuchen for Sunday morning. I myself later patronized the one at Midway Mall.

I can still taste one specific kuchen with a soft, crumbly white topping on it. Boy, was that good!

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, Millbrook Bread and Golden Tiger 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!

****

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