Remember Gray Drug Stores?
You might not. There weren't very many of them in our area. The first one was located in the O'Neil - Sheffield Center when it opened in 1954. Eventually there was one at Oakwood Shopping Center, and finally, at Midway Mall. In the late 1980s, the chain was sold to Rite Aid (my least favorite drug store).
One thing's for sure: Gray Drug had some offbeat Santa Claus characters in its newspaper ads.
Here's one, from the Lorain Journal of December 13, 1954 – 70 years ago today.
A close look at the cartoon menagerie reveals that Mickey brought along his "nephews" of unknown parentage. However, he should be paying more attention to poor Pluto Pup, who is in the line of fire (and in danger of ending up like Old Yeller).
The toy buyer for Gray Drug must have been thinking green, because there's two different frog toys in the ad – Peeper the Frog from Rempel, and Jolly Jumper pull-toy. Both are on eBay right now.
And if you weren't in the mood for froggie fun, there was Mr. Potato Head "in his own li'l house." The famous spud's cardboard domicile is on eBay as well.
4 comments:
I remember the Midway location well. In the early 80s it had a pharmacy and an outside entrance to the parking lot. It’s where Finish Line is now in front of the Penneys near the old Malleys. Rite Aid took over, closed the parking lot entrance and closed the pharmacy then moved the store to Downtown Elyria.
Gray was a much bigger presence in Cleveland. There was one fairly near where we lived, but I don't remember it having toys. Then again, I wouldn't have been too interested in Peeper the Frog and Kocko the Clown - or the metal craft tapping set, which seems medieval. The Revell hot rod kit would have been another matter.
That Mr. Potato Head reminds me of Joe Biden.And that tag line of "Any fruit or vegetable makes a funny face character" is spot on about old fruit cake Joe.
That same face fits on an orange, y'know.
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