Easter 1936

There weren't very many ads in the Lorain Journal with an Easter theme leading up to Easter 1936. Perhaps the holiday wasn't quite as commercialized in 1936 as it would be twenty years later. At any rate, the Easter ads were generally pretty subtle with little use of imagery.

One of the few ads with a bunny illustration was this one (below) for Smith & Gerhart, which appeared in the paper on April 7, 1936.

This ad for Peoples Service Drug Store, from the April 9, 1936 edition of the paper, has Easter candy and toys for sale. 

I was incorrect, comrade, when I noted in a previous post that the chain would have been right at home in Moscow with a name like that. It was actually based in Alexandria, Virginia. Click here to read a well-written history of the chain.

There are a couple interesting items in the ad. One is the Donald Duck pull toy for 25 cents. "Dapper Donald Duck rides around on his platform and flaps his wings and quacks with glee, as you pull him," notes the ad.

Not surprisingly, there's one on eBay right now, although this duck's flapping days are over.

This illustration accompanying the "Dyes for Easter eggs" listing is downright disturbing: an egg-headed uniformed warrior boiling an egg in a cauldron over an open fire, while a rabbit watches from a safe distance. Is that the head of someone he conquered?

Anyway, to close out this post, here's the front page of the Good Friday edition of the Lorain Journal from April 10, 1936, as well as the one from Easter Eve. The Good Friday paper is kinda of chilling, with the story and photo concerning the German dirigible Hindenburg. The tragic accident involving the airship would take place about a year later.

Marsha Hunt, the actress in the choir robe in the Easter photo, lived to the ripe old age of 104 years old, passing away in 2022.