Uncle Tim Twitter at Januzzi's – April 21, 1956

Northern Ohio Baby Boomers have fond memories of our 'video baby sitters' – the various hosts of children's TV shows who entertained us with gentle banter while showing old cartoons and movie shorts (like The Three Stooges). Who could ever forget Captain Penny, Barnaby, Woodrow the Woodsman, Franz the Toymaker or the rest?  They were grown-ups who were also our friends, talented performers who knew how to connect with their young audience.

Well, here's a children's TV host that I wasn't familiar with until now: Uncle Tim Twitter, played by WEWS Channel 5 personality Bob Dale. According to the book Cleveland TV Memories (1999) by Tom Feran and R.D. Heldenfels, “Bob Dale was one of Cleveland's first and most popular TV personalities. He lip-synched records and hosted the "Dinner Platter" show on WEWS. Dale also wore a whiskbroom-sized mustache to play kids' host Tim Twitter, a somewhat befuddled Civil War veteran.”

The "Civil War" veteran was certainly a different concept from all the other TV hosts across the country, which included jolly policemen, sea captains, etc.

It looks like the studio audience is happily munching on donuts. 

Photo courtesy of North East Ohio TV Memories

Seventy years ago this week, Uncle Tim Twitter made an appearance at the well-remembered Januzzi's shoe store. Two days before the event, the Lorain Journal ran this photo and caption to drum up some interest. Note that the name of Twitter's TV program is revealed as Twitter's Corners.

And here's the promotional ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on April 21, 1956, the day before the event.

The ad mentions free Lucky Jets Trading Coins – a clever tie in with the popular Red Ball Jets shoes – as an added incentive for kids to attend the event.

Several of these Trading Coins somehow survived over the years and are currently on eBay. It looks like they were designed for kids to be able to pop out one of the tiny round panels and put them on a chain.

The Rapier is the same one depicted in the ad

"Win a Corvette" Januzzi's Shoes Ad – May 1954

We'll close out the week and the month here on the blog with a vintage Januzzi's Shoe ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on May 7, 1954.

There's a lot going on in the ad. It's from that time period when Hollywood had a surplus of starlets doing double duty by serving as spokesmodels in advertisements, so here we have the lovely Elaine Stewart. 

(Elaine is okay in my book because she starred with a trio of my favorite Western actors – Audie Murphy, James Stewart and Dan Duryea – in the movie Night Passage.)

Elaine (as a blonde) with Audie Murphy in a scene from Night Passage

The image of elegant Elaine may have roped us in (it did me), but the main focus of the ad is the "Win a Chevrolet Corvette" contest. It's interesting that – like the Mother's Day contest that I wrote about here – you had to compose a short essay to enter.

Besides the image of the Corvette and some nice shoe art, we also get a cameo from Esky, the Esquire magazine mascot. 

Esky always reminded me of both the rich guy from the Monopoly game, and Lord Plushbottom from the Moon Mullins comic strip. 

That's Plushie in the middle, with  Prof. Byrrd on the left and Moon on the right

Here's Esky as a fully dimensional advertising figure.

Anyway, the Jacuzzi ad was merely the newspaper version of a larger color advertisement that was appearing in magazines at the same time. Here's the magazine version. I like the typography a lot.

Click here to visit the City Club Shoes website, where you'll find a nice selection of vintage ads.

Januzzi's Easter Ad – March 26, 1954

Januzzi's is one of those iconic Lorain businesses that longtime residents of the city, especially Baby Boomers, remember fondly. 

Above is an Easter-themed ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on March 26, 1954. I like the chicken and her cute chicks holding hands wings, a nice alternative to the omnipresent rabbits in Easter ads.

I've mentioned before that we shopped at all the shoes stores in the area, including those at Midway Mall, O'Neil – Sheffield Center, Pic-way in South Lorain and Januzzi's.

How long had Januzzi's been around? An article in the October 8, 1980 Journal noted, "Tomorrow marks the 55th year in business for Enrico Januzzi, founder of the Januzzi chain of shoe stores in Lorain and Elyria. Now 79 years young, he began in 1925 – before Lindberg crossed the Atlantic – by repairing shoes in the basement of his home at 506 W. 28th St., Lorain. He also worked in the then National Tube plant. He moved the business to Broadway and 29th in 1933 and in 1949 began selling new shoes. 

"Today there are three generations of Januzzis managing this family business.

"Today there are Januzzi stores on Broad Street in Elyria, in the Oakwood Shopping Center and the main "Professional Shoe Fitting" headquarters at 26th and Broadway, a location chosen in 1940."

The business eventually moved out to the Sheffield Center on Route 254 in 1981, becoming Januzzi's Select-A-Shoe with name brand footwear at budget prices, a "rack store with customers waiting on themselves," according to Carmen Januzzi at the time.

Today, the Januzzi brand lives on in Amherst at Januzzi's Footwear Solutions.

The former Januzzi's store on Broadway today

1972 Shoe Listings in Lorain Phone Book

I commented a few days ago about how so many of the shoe stores in Lorain and the surrounding cities had vanished in the past few decades – and then when I wanted to rattle off some of their names, I realized I had forgotten many of them!

So to refresh my memory and yours, here's a page from the 1972 Lorain Phone Book showing what stores were still around back then. (Click on it for a large size version.) There was quite a selection of stores to choose from.

Nobil Shoe Co. seems to be the one that I remember my family patronizing the most. We would usually head out to the O'Neil Sheffield Center. But we also went to Januzzi's, Faflik Shoes, Pic-Way Shoe Mart (in South Lorain) and Thom McAn Shoes.

The listing for Steve's Shoe Repair brings back lots of memories. I wonder if he ever repaired the mountainous piles of shoes that always seemed to be there? He definitely could have used some of those magical cobbler elves that come out at night in fairy tales.

Fellow blogger (and regular reader of this blog) Alan Hopewell mentioned in a posted comment that he remembers going to McKee's. They're on this page, but only in small print as the old name of Tots to Teens Shoes.

July 1959 Januzzi's Ad

To keep the Januzzi 's tribute going just a little bit longer, here's a Januzzi's ad from a July 1959 Lorain Journal. (Click on it for a closer look.)

As a graphic designer, I like the stylish, distinctive type font used in their logo – it really stands out on a page. But as someone who does a lot of proofreading at work (although that may not be apparent all the time in this blog), I have to point out that there's an unbelievable typo in their tagline, which probably earned the commercial artist a boot in the you-know-what.

Januzzi's Shoes

It's back to school time, when parents traditionally might have to buy their kids some new shoes among other things. Which brings me to today's topic!

Here's a Lorain icon that everyone will recognize: Januzzi's Shoes, which was located at 26th Street and Broadway. The photo is from a Lorain Journal business section ad that ran on July 21, 1969.

At the time, the store's ad boasted that it was Ohio's largest independent shoe store and that it carried more than 60 of the top names in fashion shoes. Everyone in Lorain shopped at Januzzi's at some time or another.

When shopping for shoes, my family would always include Januzzi's along with all the other stores around town and at Midway Mall, such as Regal Shoes, Picway Shoe Stores or Nobil Shoes.

It's funny to think about the shoe shopping experience back then. Upon entering the shoe display area, you would be paired with a shoe salesman. He would measure your foot to begin the process, with one of those gadgets shown at left.

Once your shoe size was established, the salesman was at your beck and call, bringing out different styles and sizes.

I really hated shopping for shoes back then. New shoes were usually uncomfortable, and the endless tramping around the store to make sure the shoes fit seemed silly. Curiously, the left shoe never felt or fit the same as the right shoe. Plus, the salesman always seemed to crush your big toe with his thumb when he was feeling around trying to determine if the shoe fit!

Little did we know that forty years after this ad ran, almost all of the old-time shoe stores would be gone, along with customized, personal service. You're mostly on your own now.

But, the Januzzi legacy continues with Januzzi Shoes for You on Leavitt Road in Amherst. The company website has a short history of the company here.

As for the former Januzzi building on Broadway, it had a variety of purposes after being a shoe store, including a craft store, a thrift store and a carpet store. Here's a current view; the menacing sky makes it look even more forlorn.