Marshall's Drug Store Easter Ad – March 27, 1963

We'll close out the week (and the month) with this Easter-themed ad for Marshall's, which ran in the Lorain Journal on March 27, 1963. Next week I'll be posting some more Easter ads, since the holiday is coming up fast.

I don't have any warm and fuzzy (or clean-shaven for that matter) memories of Marshall's, which was a big regional drug store chain out of Cleveland. The ad says there were stores at Westgate in Lorain and  Shoreway Shopping Center in Sheffield Lake. (Marshall's became Cunningham's 21 around 1972.)

The 1963 Journal ad is interesting, because it includes the Mafia-sounding "Big Georgi" Easter Bunny promotion that was still going strong two years later (as seen on this blog post with a 1965 ad). 

There's also plenty of other little items of interest, such as the Hoppy the Bunny plastic pull toy. The wheel-outfitted rabbit is on eBay right now, for the hare-raising price of $99.

Our favorite rugged choice of pants – Jeans Dungarees – were on sale at $1.29. And if you were in the mood for mealtime mollusks, the Marshall's Lenten Fountain Special consisted of "New, Tasty, Delicious Clam Roll," described as "a long roll filled with golden clams, served with tartar sauce." By George, those things look like they're still wiggling in this unappetizing illustration. 

And none other than Old Ski Nose himself, Bob Hope, shows up in the ad promoting his longtime radio sponsor Pepsodent and its line of adult toothbrushes – which seems odd, since The Pepsodent Show starring Bob Hope had been off the radio airwaves since 1948. 

Maybe the marketing angle was to tap into the lucrative denture-brushing segment of the population.

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Speaking of Bob Hope (of whom I'm a fan), I remembered that I had this small, well-worn medallion with his likeness that I picked up at an antique shop in Mount Vernon, Ohio. 

It was part of a keychain, one of which (shown below) is on the Etsy website for twelve bucks.

As I mentioned, I've long been of fan of Bob Hope. We watched his TV specials and saw at least one of his 1960s movies on the big screen (Eight on the Lam) and the rest on television. 

I actually saw him in person twice; once, when I was a member of the All-Ohio State Fair Band, and the second time when he came to Columbus to film part of one of his specials (which I wrote about here).