That wasn’t always the case. I remember my parents in the 1960s having to buy a Cleveland Plain Dealer on Sundays, because the Lorain Journal did not publish on Sunday. It was great for me in a way, because the Sunday edition of the Plain Dealer had a huge comic section that included Li’l Abner, the Wizard of Id, and Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, which became favorites of mine.
But that all changed on August 25, 1968, when the Sunday Journal arrived.
Here’s the full-page ad promoting it that ran in the paper on August 22, 1968.
As you can see, the ad includes the iconic Golden Crescent map and seagull that appeared in miniature on the Opinion page of the Journal for many years.
Anyway – since comics were so important to me as a kid – I seem to recall that the early Sunday Journal had really offbeat comic strips, such as The Strange World of Mr. Mum and Henry.
I also recall that at some point the Journal used to include a small color comic section with strips such as Lolly and Moon Mullins along with its Saturday edition. Does anybody out there remember this too?
Anyway – since comics were so important to me as a kid – I seem to recall that the early Sunday Journal had really offbeat comic strips, such as The Strange World of Mr. Mum and Henry.
I also recall that at some point the Journal used to include a small color comic section with strips such as Lolly and Moon Mullins along with its Saturday edition. Does anybody out there remember this too?
Well, I remember it (of course). But I had to wait until Sunday morning for my Prince Valiant fix.
ReplyDeleteMy memories of the Journal, as a delivery boy, predate the Sunday edition. About 1960 my brother an I had a paper route in Amherst -- and we loved Sunday because we didn't have to worry about delivering papers. At that time the Lorain Journal was an afternoon paper, so whatever you were doing with your friends on a summer day you had to interrupt to deliver the paper. When the bundles of papers were dropped off we would fold the papers, and if there were inserts they came in a separate bundle that had to be inserted in the papers separately. We would then load the papers in our Lorain Journal bag that fit on the handlebars of our bicycles and head out to make the deliveries.
ReplyDeleteFor this service we were paid the "munificent" sum of 2 cents per paper. At that time home delivery of the Journal cost 7 cents per day, or 42 cents a week. The paper boys were also required to collect the money for the week. So every Saturday I would take my ring of customer cards and hand punch and collect 42 cents per customer, of which 12 cents was my pay for the week. To be sure this huge transfer of cash was properly recorded, we would punch our card plus an identical card kept by the customer.
Looking back on this it is a wonder that the Journal could find anyone to deliver the paper.
I remember being very excited about the Sunday paper, because we rarely bought the Sunday PD, and never the Press. I really dug the color comics, and expanded paper.
ReplyDeleteI remember back then The Journal had "The Society Pages." It's kind of hard to believe Lorain had high society at one time. I miss how my town used to be...
ReplyDelete