Fire Prevention Week Ads – 1950, 1955, 1960, 1965 & 1975

We're right in the middle of Fire Prevention Week 2025, which runs from Sunday, October 5 to Saturday, October 11. So it's a good time to post some vintage ads from Fire Prevention Weeks of years past.

Fire Prevention Week used to really be played up in the newspapers. There were news items about the community outreach efforts made by local fire departments; full page sponsored ads; and individual ads placed by businesses or organizations.

Here's one of the latter from 1950, for Ohio Edison. The ad doesn't feature Reddy Kilowatt, but includes some nice clip art of a young family no doubt getting some fire prevention tips from a fireman. It ran on October 9th, 1950 in the Lorain Journal.

Five years later this ad ran in the newspaper on October 10, 1955, sponsored by the Lorain County Insurance Association. It features some tiny clip art of our pal Sparky the Fire Dog.

Various insurance organizations sponsored the very effective ad below for Fire Prevention Week 1960.

Five years later on October 4, 1965 this full-page sponsored ad included some non-insurance companies as well.

And ten years later, the clip art style may have changed, but the message was the same in this ad that ran on October 6, 1975. Interestingly, Smokey Bear was muscling in on Sparky's turf with a meet-and-greet at Midway Mall.

Hopefully these vintage ads with their timeless message will start a fire under you motivate you to think about fire prevention this week – and every week.

Are they Wright About the Mosher House – or Not?

 

Way back in 2014, I wrote about this house (here), located just south of Wellington on State Route 58. I'd been an admirer of it since the early 1980s, when I first read about it in the Lorain Public Library's copy of Preserving Our Past (1977) published by the Lorain County Regional Planning Commission. The book is an index with photos of historic and landmark buildings in Lorain County.

At that time, the book cited the house as an example of famed Architect Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie style architecture. But it couldn't definitely claim that it was indeed a Frank Lloyd Wright house.  As the book noted, "This is a less ambitious, yet handsome rendition of Wright's prairie style architecture. The eaves of the roof extend out four feet from the exterior walls. Inside, the kitchen and the central fireplace were remodeled by the last owner of the house. The present owners have done a limited restoration of the house."

Then a wonderful thing happened that seemed to settle the controversy once and for all. 

Drawings and plans for a house commissioned by John Mosher (sometimes spelled 'Moser') apparently turned up in the archives of Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin office. A beautiful architectural rendering of what was believed to be the house was even posted on the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy website – and I linked to it on my 2014 post.

But when I tried to re-link it to this post, I discovered that it is now a dead link. And the 'search' comes up empty when you try to find those drawings.

Something's not Wright here. Is that the prevailing opinion now?

Apparently. According to its Wiki entry, "The Mosher House is an anonymous design attributed by some to Frank Lloyd Wright. The attribution to Wright is not recognized by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation or most Wright scholars. William Allin Storrer, who had previously rejected the attribution, ultimately included it in the updated third edition of his catalog, The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. The attribution to Wright is based mainly on superficial resemblance to an unbuilt Wright design for the same client, although there is no evidence connecting Wright to the design of the house that was eventually built.

"The 1979 nomination to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) cites Wright as the architect but provides no evidence linking Wright to the design. Even so, the nomination notes that "It is doubtful that Wright supervised the work or even saw the house."

So we're Wright back where we were, unfortunately. But I still really like the house, and I don't think we've heard the last word on it yet.

2025 Woolly Bear Festival – Wild & Woolly Wrap-up

 

The weather couldn't have been better for the 53rd Annual Woolly Bear Festival on Sunday. Thousands of people took advantage of the perfect weather to visit Vermilion and enjoy some old-fashioned fun.

I parked by the former Burger King on U. S. Route 6 and make the approximately one-mile trek to the festival grounds south of the railroad tracks downtown. "Just a good stretch of the legs," as Sean Thornton (John Wayne) said in The Quiet Man.

Walking down Route 6 gave me the opportunity to grab this shot of the bridge over the Vermilion River.

The festival grounds were choked with people, and it wasn't easy to get around. There were booths set up in the park and everywhere else, with things for sale and a variety of foods, including some old favorites.

I ended up having a great bratwurst sandwich for lunch at the Knights of Columbus booth.

Soon I fought my way up to the main stage where "Little John" Rinaldi was emceeing the show.

Woolly Bear Festival originator Dick Goddard was there in spirit.

Wolfert the Woolly Bear came down off the stage to pose for photos (and possibly terrify young children).

I'm not sure if his tongue was out because he was hot (it was very warm) or if he was ogling his pretty festival handler.

As we all know, Fox 8 in Cleveland is the major sponsor of the festival. So if you are a fan of that news station, you were in luck – and sure to see some of your favorite TV personalities. Mackenzie Bart brought her puppet along to entertain the crowd and posed for photos with fans.

Mackenzie made her way back to the Fox 8 booth, where I was able to photograph the whole gang. From left: Mackenzie Bart, Alexis Walters, lucky Lou Maglio and Natalie Herbick.

Soon it was time for the parade. It was a mob scene up on Route 6; the usual teeming mass of humanity. The Vermilion High School Marching Band led off the parade as usual, and it was great to hear the band members play Anchors Aweigh (bringing back memories of my Admiral King High School Marching Band days).

Parade Grand Marshal Wayne Dawson received a huge, heartwarming round of applause.

And so did Vermilion Mayor Jim Forthofer. I will miss him as Mayor, I think he did a great job.

Looking to the east on Route 6  (Liberty Avenue) you can see how parade watchers were packed like sardines.

It was fun to watch for Fox 8 TV personalities in the parade. It was easy to pick out "Little John" Rinaldi.

Fox 8 Meteorologist Alexis Walters was traveling in style.

So was Fox 8 reporter Tino Bovenzi.

The rest of the parade was the usual variety of marching units, fire trucks and the queens & attendants from other local festivals. Here's a basket full of the Berlin Heights Basket Festival Queen and Attendants.

Another fun float was this one on which the 2025 Milan Melon Festival Queen Ilah Reynolds and her attendants were riding.

Of course, Kingston of Vermilion's lion mascot made an appearance.

And so did House of Donuts over on State Route 60. 

It would have been great to have a line of police cars behind it!

It's a "Sgt. Joe Friday" Friday

One of the photos in my Jack Webb/Dragnet collection

For all you Dragnet Fans...

While preparing my Sept. 1954 post a few weeks ago that included the showing of Dragnet at the Palace, I had a few things that I didn't have time to post. So seeing as it's Friday, we'll make it a Sgt. Friday Friday.

As I mentioned, I've been a big fan of Dragnet and Jack Webb since seeing the 1960s revival on TV. Locally the reruns appeared on Channel 43. They had a big effect on me and probably shaped a lot of my longstanding attitudes about drugs and the law.

Anyway, for some reason Dragnet seemed to figure prominently in my life during the latter part of my high school days. Besides watching the Dragnet reruns on TV, I bought an old Mad paperback (at the Book Seller Paperback Exchange on Griswold) that included a hilarious parody of the 1950s version of the show. Here it is, courtesy of Bart Solenthaler's flickr page. I love the preoccupation with cigarettes (which is understandable since the show was sponsored by a cigarette company).

I also remember seeing a Dragnet parody with Daffy Duck and Porky Pig for the first time back then. It was one of the cartoons in rotation on The Porky Pig Show, which I watched a little bit each day while getting ready to head off to Admiral King High School.

All this Dragnet influence inspired me to do a short arrangement of the Dragnet theme (complete with Dum-de-dum dum) for the Admiral King High School Marching Band trombone section to play at appropriate times during football games.

Meanwhile, a few of my A. K. high school buddies (especially Scott Welko) and I were becoming familiar with the old comedy records of Stan Freberg, which contained – what else? – several Dragnet parodies. Here's one of the most popular ones: Little Blue Riding Hood (1953).

Since then, I've continued to be a big fan of Dragnet and own all the DVDs of the 1960s revival, as well as both the 1954 movie and the 1966 TV movie (that didn't air until 1969). I have a small collection of Dragnet items including books, a few photos and even a replica Badge 714 (Sgt. Friday's) pin. 

Publicity photo for Dragnet 1969

Of course, the badge is in miniature. Otherwise, I'd be guilty of violating Section 2913.44 Ohio Revised Code – Personating an officer, a misdemeanor of the first degree.

Early Years of the Woolly Bear Festival 1973 - 1981

The 53rd Annual Woolly Bear Festival is coming up this Sunday in my town of Vermilion, so it's a good time to look back at how and when it all got started.

What follows are clippings from the Journal going back to 1973 (the first year of the festival, when it was located in nearby Birmingham) through 1981 (the first year it was held in Vermilion).

The first mention of the Woolly Bear Festival was in the Fireland News column, followed by a few more blurbs in other Journal column. As noted, the festival originated as a Florence Elementary PTA affair.

October 4, 1973

October 11, 1973

October 13, 1973

In 1974 Channel 8 weatherman Dick Goddard, in his second year of involvement with the festival, really helped generate a lot of publicity for it. 

October 16, 1974

October 21, 1974

But by 1975, coverage of the event appeared to once again be limited to a single column mention.

October 8, 1975

The 1976 Woolly Bear Festival had a nice roll call of TV and Radio celebrities that were to appear at the event.

October 13, 1976

October 18, 1976

It seems that the Journal sent a photographer to the festival each year, but didn't always devote a lot of space for additional coverage. Here's the 1977 photo from the event.

Sept. 28, 1977

The Sixth Annual Woolly Bear Festival in 1978 finally warranted a nice article in the Journal. 

October 1, 1978

The Journal continued this level of coverage in 1979.

Sept. 20, 1979

In this article from 1980, the Journal provides a comprehensive look at how the festival got started. 

October 9, 1980

It notes, "The idea for the festival was conceived eight years ago as a fund raising project for the Florence Parent-Teacher Group. Club officers Maureen Coe, Pat Mazzoni and Gay Zurcher (wife of television newscaster Neal [sic] Zurcher) were tossing around ideas on how to make money. They came up with the Woolly Bear Festival. Zurcher was able to help persuade Channel 8 meteorologist Dick Goddard become the official host of the festival."

By 1981, the festival had become so big and so popular that a move to a bigger venue was needed; thus the move to Vermilion.

October 1, 1981

October 1, 1981

October 5, 1981

See you at the Festival on Sunday!