The Lorain Public Library has several different limited-run Lorain newspapers on microfilm that, unlike the Journal, haven't been put online. One of them is the Lorain Sunday News.
The Lorain Sunday News was a weekly. It was an odd little newspaper. It usually covered a few local stories on the front page, but much of the rest of the paper was an eclectic collection of ads and filler. Its main selling point was that it was the only paper published on Sunday.
Here's the front page of the May 14, 1950 edition of the Lorain Sunday News.
There was a Buyers' Guide edition that came out on Thursday each week. Here's the front page of the Buyers' Guide for Thursday, May 4, 1950 – exactly 73 years ago today.
That's one prim and proper mother in that ad.
Here's another page from that same edition.
As you can see, there's not much content, and what's there is mostly filler. The sports column is about quail hunting in Florida (not exactly pertinent to Lorainites), and there's a fun little quiz. The best feature on the page is the meager TV schedule, which featured a lot of puppet shows for the kiddies: Judy Splinters, Howdy Doody and Kukla, Fran and Ollie.
Kukla, Fran Allison and Ollie, with puppeteer Burr Tilstrom
There's also Cleveland TV icons Dorothy Fuldheim and Linn Sheldon (who we know as Barmaby), as well as a show from Chicago hosted by a buckaroo (below) named Cactus Jim (Clarence Hartzell) .
And here's a page from the Lorain Sunday News of May 7, 1950. Once again, the page has a little bit of everything: two columns of filler, a Hollywood cheesecake photo, several ads and and local fishing news (although it's all about frogs, possible descendants of the inhabitants of the filled-in East Side frog pond).
For me, the best thing about the Lorain Sunday News is that it featured a lot of ads for the public utilities, including Ohio Edison. That meant – you guessed it – lots of Reddy Kilowatt ads!
Here's one from the May 14, 1950 edition.
That's a great rendering of our favorite electrical sprite posing in front of his transmission lines. But he seems to be dressed for war. We were still more than a month or so away from entering the Korean conflict. Maybe Reddy was preparing to do battle against his arch enemy, Speedy, of the Ohio Fuel Gas Company.
My grandma left behind a bunch of Harmonicat albums. I never knew till I read your blog that they were from Lorain. I like to look up the addresses I see on here. I noticed that 117 West 18th St. where Don Les was born is now an empty lot across from the parking lot of those brick 1-story apartments I pass when I go to Fligner’s. I was curious what WNBK-TV was, that was listed on the TV schedule, so Googled it and got a short vid of Judd Hambrick explaining it was the former WKYC-TV.
Most of the writing has the feel of local reporters picking up a couple extra bucks and sort of having a good time doing it, too.
Kukla, Fran, and Ollie always creeped me out. So did Howdy Doody. Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Moose, too. And don't even talk to me about Fred Roger's "Land of Make-Believe!"
I didn't know that people used to be able to park on East Erie Ave.That would be a little weird with todays traffic.
ReplyDeleteMy grandma left behind a bunch of Harmonicat albums. I never knew till I read your blog that they were from Lorain. I like to look up the addresses I see on here. I noticed that 117 West 18th St. where Don Les was born is now an empty lot across from the parking lot of those brick 1-story apartments I pass when I go to Fligner’s. I was curious what WNBK-TV was, that was listed on the TV schedule, so Googled it and got a short vid of Judd Hambrick explaining it was the former WKYC-TV.
ReplyDeleteWhat! No "filler" news that in May 1950 I was in the 8th month of my gestation?!!
ReplyDeleteHair-do? What hair-do?
ReplyDeleteMost of the writing has the feel of local reporters picking up a couple extra bucks and sort of having a good time doing it, too.
Kukla, Fran, and Ollie always creeped me out.
So did Howdy Doody.
Bunny Rabbit and Mr. Moose, too.
And don't even talk to me about Fred Roger's "Land of Make-Believe!"
Cicero was cool 'cause he was invisible.