(I did a few posts about Gel-Pak. Back on this post, I noted that the Gel-Pak business was spread out over three different addresses in the 1970s – 1143 Broadway, 1145 Broadway and 1205 Broadway (the former Gel-Pak building).
The photo in the ad reveals a pretty nice selection of fruit and goodies in those baskets: Indian River grapefruit and navel oranges; Florida tangerines; Florida tangelos; Emperor grapes; Calmera grapes; California figs & dates; mixed nuts; Holland Hams; Assorted imported cheese from Switzerland.
It was kind of nice to be able to order and ship such baskets from a Lorain company, instead of Harry & David. I’ll bet it was cheaper too.
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I noted the Indian River grapefruit and navel oranges in the listing of fruits. I remember the annual Indian River fruit sale held by the Admiral King Marching Band, when its members temporarily became teenage fruit hucksters. I remember going door to door in our neighborhood, taking orders. We bought several boxes ourselves, which we stored in the garage.
It was a different time then, when a kid could go door to door peddling something, and believe it or not, we did get a lot of orders. It was a good idea, and at least Lorain was spared a major scurvy outbreak.
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There’s a Fractured Fairy Tale (as seen on the “Rocky & Bullwinkle” TV show) that always made me think of Gel-Pak.
In the story “Snow White Inc.” a wicked queen has her own fruit basket business – called Witchpak. To get rid of Snow White, she doesn’t just give her a poisoned apple. Instead, she decides to deliver one of her “Sleeping Death Apples” baskets to her instead!
And how does it all end? Watch the cartoon below, courtesy of YouTube!
