Lorain Telephone Ad – August 5, 1954

We'll close out the week here on the blog with a little reminder of the days when our local utilities – electric, natural gas and water – reached out to the community regularly in the Lorain Journal. The ad above for the Lorain Telephone Company ran in the paper on August 5, 1954.

Lorain Telephone Company ads have been featured on this blog many times. They're a nice mirror of our society and the role telephones play. Over the years, the ads also reflect changes in telephone technology and consumer tastes.

Our old pal – the smiling phone mascot – has appeared on this blog many times as well. But since he's usually just standing around, he often seems to be (groan) just phoning it in.

But not always. In this post, we saw his evolution from a Bell System mascot to one used by local phone systems, such as Lorain's. And this post demonstrated that he worked both ends of Lorain County, appearing in an Elyria Telephone Company ad in the Chronicle-Telegram.

Anyway, the 1954 ad above is kind of interesting with its theme of using the phone to save lives. "Every day, the telephone runs errands of mercy," it reads. "Calls to the doctor, fire department, police, coast guard... emergency calls that are life and death they're so urgent."

But a look at the weak-chinned cartoon trio of life savers reveals a doctor, a fireman and... a life guard? I guess the artist didn't want to draw a policeman. But we get the idea.

And speaking of emergencies, it's a good time to make sure you know how to call 911 on your cell phone.