The Passing Scene – July 1966

Let's start the week off with a few chuckles, courtesy of our pal Gene Patrick and his The Passing Scene comic strip. He was in his second year of producing the panel at this point, and it was appearing once a week on Saturday.

The July 2, 1966 strip offers a nice panoramic illustration of the upcoming holiday.

The July 9, 1966 comic notes that Lou Kepler (the Journal's Women's Editor) and the Lorain High School Marching Band were both in New York City at that time.

July 4, 1966

July 7, 1966

The July 16th strip makes light of a car theft that occurred that week. A note left at the scene of the crime indicated that none other than the Caped Crusader and Robin the Boy Wonder were responsible.

The July 23rd strip notes that the Wellington Police Chief was again being permitted to publish his popular newspaper column in the Wellington Enterprise.

And the July 30, 1966 panel includes a caricature of Elyria Mayor Reichlin for the second week in a row.

Happy Mother's Day!

Panel from The Passing Scene – May 7, 1966

Here's wishing all of my readers a Happy Mother's Day! 

If you're lucky enough to still have your mom with you, I hope you can celebrate the day with her. If your wife is a mother herself, I'm sure you will be treating her royally, like my two brothers are no doubt doing with their respective spouses.

And if your mother has passed on, then it's a good day to honor her and recall all the unconditional love and support she gave you. That's what I'll be doing – not spending the day being sad, but remembering the good times with Mom over the years.

In honor of Mother's Day, here's an ample sample of Lorain Journal clippings and ads from over the years.

H. P. Nielsen Jewelers suggested buying Mom a diamond in this May 7, 1926 ad.

Sadly – Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day wasn't doing too well on Mother's Day 1946 as noted in this clipping from May 11, 1946.

The Style Center recommended giving Mom the royal treatment in this ad from May 8, 1953.

Old Stone Villa had a great menu for Mother's Day 1956.

May 12, 1956

The Citizen's Home and Savings Association's ad depicted Mom relaxing in a chair and reading her 'favorite book' – a savings bank book!

May 12, 1956

Mother's Day 1966 played out against the backdrop of Vietnam in this well-written 'letter to Mom.' It was written by a war veteran to sum up the feelings of every soldier that wished he could be home on Mother's Day, rather than fighting in a war.

May 7, 1966

And here's the whole "Passing Scene" panel of May 7, 1966 with the Mother's Day acknowledgment.

Not everybody could afford an expensive meal out on Mother's Day 1976. So Burger Chef came up with a great promotion: The Rancher Dinner™ – consisting of a three-quarters sirloin, golden French Fries, a crisp salad and Texas toast! Hey, where's Burger Chef and Jeff? Celebrating with their respective mothers, I guess.

And Midway Mall reminded shoppers that the stores there had a great selection of fashions and gifts for Mom in this ad from May 5, 1976.

The Passing Scene – April 1966

Gene's solution to prevent the theft of the Lakeview Park
Easter Basket's eggs: hide a cop inside one

Let's end the week with a few laughs. Here are all five of Gene Patrick's "The Passing Scene" comic strips that ran in the Journal back in April 1966. Enjoy!

The April 2nd edition humorously addressed a late March 1966 UFO sighting in Lorain.

The April 9th strip mentioned sonic booms – something that I remember from being a kid, as well as something that we experienced a few weeks ago.

The April 16th comic contains Gene's hilarious Lakeview Park Easter Basket cartoon.

The April 23nd edition gave Gene the opportunity to do a nice rendering of Hotel Antlers.

And finally, the April 30th strip foreshadowed the eventual replacement of Lorain City Hall and includes a cameo appearance by Batman and Robin.

The Passing Scene – Feb. 19, 1966

It's been a while since I posted a "Passing Scene" comic strip from our old pal, cartoonist Gene Patrick. So here's one from sixty years ago today – Feb. 19, 1966. 

Gene was in his second year of producing the comic panel for the Journal. He pretty much had his style established (contrary to his earliest strips in which he was still experimenting with the format).

There's nothing too controversial in the Feb. 19th strip. The bridge to Canada was a pet project of Governor Jim Rhodes; the Journal cast a skeptical eye at the idea in a Feb. 16th editorial.

The idea of U S Steel 'perfuming' its slag operation gave Patrick the chance to poke fun at a popular perfume ad campaign.

Feb. 16, 1966

The last panel features an apparently youthful senior citizen who prefers the teen music show Hullabaloo to old Keystone Kop comedies.

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And for those of you who like to see the "Passing Scene" strip in its proper context, here's the whole page. Hey! There's an Ohio Edison ad with our pal Reddy Kilowatt – what a coincidence!

The Passing Scene – May to August 1965

This drawing from August 1965
is just as timely now, 60 years later.

The year 1965 was the first year that Gene Patrick's The Passing Scene comic strip appeared in the Journal. During that year he was still finding his way, experimenting with the graphic format. 

I posted the strips from April 1965 back here. So, continuing my quest to post the entire run, here are the panels that ran from May 1965 through August 1965. They're a nice, lighthearted mirror of what was going on in the Lorain area at that time.

I really like his comic with the 17-year locusts.

May 1, 1965

May 8, 1965

May 15, 1965

May 22, 1965

May 29, 1965

June 5, 1965

June 12, 1965

June 19, 1965

June 26, 1965

July 3, 1965

July 10, 1965

July 17, 1965

July 24, 1965

July 31, 1965

August 7, 1965

August 14, 1965

August 21, 1965

August 28, 1965