Muir's Thanksgiving Ad – Nov. 20, 1945

Thanksgiving 1945 was only two days away when this full-page ad for Muir's Original Cut Rate Drug Store ran in the Lorain Journal on Tuesday, November 20, 1945 – a mere 80 years ago this week. As you can see, our old pal the Thrifty Scot was shown busy carving himself a turkey leg at the top of the ad.

It's interesting seeing all of the obscure brands in the ad, including Wildroot Cream-Oil Hair Tonic (before Fearless Fosdick became their spokesman), Lydia Pinkham Vegetable Compound and Minipoo Dry Shampoo.

There are plenty of products that are still popular today, including Similac and Gerber's Baby Foods, and Aqua Velva. 

Toni Home Permanent is there; I still remember the unpleasant smell when Mom was giving herself a permanent. Do they even make the Toni product anymore?

Then there are the really odd products in the ad, like K. R. O. (for killing rats). 

1946 magazine ad

At least the company that manufactured it was an Ohio business.

There aren't too many toys in the ad. Speaking of rats, the one toy that really stands out is the Mickey Mouse Drummer for 49 cents. These things are pretty collectible today. There are several for sale on eBay right now, with prices ranging from $14 (broken, with only two wheels) to well over a hundred.

The famous rodent looks pretty good here. It's an attractive, modern-looking rendering.

It looks much better to me than the current version of the cheese-eating Disney symbol, seen in a series of popular online shorts. 

The rest of the Disney menagerie (especially ex-orange juice salesmen Donald Duck) didn't fare so well either.