Tuesday, March 28, 2023

Grants Easter Ad – March 1963

Fast forward ten years from yesterday's post and you have this ad for the W. T. Grant Company, highlighting its line of Easter fashions for kids. The ad ran in the Journal back on March 14, 1963.

Apparently, 'Grantogs' was the in-house brand for little boys, with selections in tailored matching suits, 2-piece sport suits and dress slacks. I like the illustration of the kid in the sport coat holding a rocket.

And there's even a Boys' Brushed Wool Felt Dress Hat, not unlike the type worn by a much younger Don Hilton during his days growing up in the Keystone State.

So what were the four Brady kids wearing back in 1963? Were my brothers and I decked out in the latest Grantogs fashions? Here's a shot from Easter that year; we were all lined up in front of my grandparents' house on W. Sixth Street in Lorain.

My older brother and I look like TV golf commentators (although if you look closely, Ken is chomping on a plastic pipe). Younger brother Ed at two years old looks the snazziest with his cap.
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UPDATE (April 2, 2023)
Here's the scene two years earlier (below) in 1961. My sister has her Easter bonnet, and my older brother and I have sport coats with the same 'knight in armor' crest. I'm not sure why I was standing that way, but it probably contributed to my weak ankles fifty years later.






8 comments:

Mike M said...

Classic picture Dan. I think I had the same suit younger brother Ed had back in about '68.

Don Hilton said...

Daniel!
Did your mom always dress your and your older brother alike?

My mom did with us and we *hated* it. "Shup up. You're wearing it anyways."

Also...
Looks like my Sunday-go-to-meetin' hat at the bottom-center!

Buster said...

Is that the Brady family crest on your jackets?

Anonymous said...

Just noticed...
The guy with the pipe is also squinting the eye on that side.
Channeling Popeye, perhaps?

Anonymous said...

That boys brushed wool hat for $1.99 is a much better price for headwear than that $10 Stetson from 1953.But still,that's alot of money back then.I remember my mother saying when she worked for Smith & Gerhardt back in the late '50s- early '60s, she made something like .25-.35¢ per hour.I don't think I'd work all day for 8 hours and go buy a childs hat with my hard earned money.Sorry,but little Timmy would have to do without.

Dan Brady said...

Great comments and observations, everyone!
And Don – when it was just my older brother and me, my mother usually had us in the same style sport coat but not the same exact one. But within a couple years of this Easter photo when we started to travel around the country, for a time Mom used to dress all three of us boys in matching shirts and shorts. Years later, I asked her why she did that. Her explanation was that if we ever got separated in a crowd, it would be easier to pick us out.

Buster said...

Yeah, I'd bet she just thought you looked adorable like that!

Don Hilton said...

Dan:
My mom gave the same reason.
Must be a line from the Big Book of Mother's Excuses.