Christmas Ads – 1959

Sixty years ago, you might have seen some of the ads being posted on today's blog in the newspaper. They all appeared in the Lorain Journal during the holiday season in December 1959.

First up is a seasonal ad for Kutza Pharmacy that ran on December 15th (I posted a full-page 50th Anniversary ad for the Lorain drug store last month here.)

That's a good looking Santa. But isn't the 15th a little late to have a sale on Christmas cards? (By the way, I haven't received a single Christmas card yet this year. Actually I did, but it was for the person who lived at my address before I did!)

And just to show every holiday ad didn't have to have Santa Claus in it, here's one with an elf. The ad is for Herb and Millie Smithberger's 333 Bar (one of the subjects of a post back here). Hey, we had a modern tree topper similar to the one in the ad.

Here's a December 24th ad for Lorain Lumber Company with two other holiday icons: a snowman and a reindeer. The snowman is unlike Frosty in that he is fully clothed. I wonder who sat on his hat? It gives him a hobo-like appearance.

Church attendance is going down pretty rapidly in the United States, so I guess this ad layout for the Lorain Real Estate Board (which ran on December 24, 1969) isn't going to be making a comeback anytime soon.

And lastly, it wouldn't be a vintage collection of Christmas ads on this blog without one that would now be considered politically incorrect. The ad is for Gary Motor Sales and ran in the Journal on December 17th. 

Last year I did a whole post on politically incorrect Christmas ads here, which featured another Gary Motor Sales ad with a Santa babe. 

Kutza's Pharmacy's 50th Anniversary – Nov. 28, 1957

It was just a few weeks ago that I featured an article about mom-and-pop drug stores.

Well, here's an ad for a well-known Lorain pharmacy that enjoyed a long run. In fact, the full-page ad   for Kutza's Pharmacy – which appeared in the Lorain Journal on November 28, 1957 – celebrated the store's 50th Anniversary.

I did a post about the history of Kutza's back here in 2012, which included a nice photo of some of the pharmacy's vintage medicine bottles courtesy of Jack Tiller. There's also an interesting posted comment about the building left by a gentleman named Ted.

The business was located at 1302 Broadway. The building survived the construction of the Frank Nardini Underpass – but just barely.

The view last Sunday

First Babies of 1959 & 1969

Well, we know that my older brother was Lorain’s First Baby of 1958. So who was the First Baby of 1959?

That honor went to Kimberly Jo Saltzman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Saltzman. Here’s the article that appeared on the front page of the Journal on January 2, 1959. It’s nice that the last baby of 1958 – Jean Marie Baker – made it into the photo too, along with her mother, Mrs. John E. Baker.

And here is the obligatory Journal spread showing all the goodies that Kimberly and her parents received from the local merchants, which included Kline’s, Kutza Pharmacy, Henry’s Food Center, Ideal Dairy, Sylvester Drugs, Michaels Studio and Ohio Edison. Hey, even Brady’s Restaurant got into the act.

By the way, while preparing this post, I noticed that the address of the Saltzmans in 1959 – 901 Root Road in Lorain – is that of a fine, old landmark home that is obviously one of the oldest in that area. 

November 2016 View

But what about Lorain's first Baby of 1969 – who is experiencing his/her 50th Birthday today?

That honor went to Laura Marie Kachure. You can read all about her in the article below, which appeared on the front page of the Journal on January 2, 1969. 

The article also includes the names of the First Babies of 1969 for Erie County and Elyria. 

Judging from the article's roll call of bouncing babies, it must have been a busy night at St. Joseph Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital in Sandusky, Amherst Hospital, Elyria Memorial and Sandusky Providence.

Lorain vs. Elyria Ad – November 12, 1954

It's Friday night, and that means high school football games. So here's a full-page ad with sponsors promoting the Lorain vs Elyria game that ran in the Lorain Journal on November 12, 1954 – 60 years ago this week.

As usual, the sponsors include some long-gone companies (like Kline's and Kutza's). But this ad collection is unusual, because many of the companies are still around. These include Crystal Clear Dry Cleaners, Lorain Telephone (now part of CenturyLink), Ohio Edison, First Federal Savings of Lorain, and Lorain Banking Company (now Lorain National). Does that mean it pays to advertise?

The ads themselves have some clever wordplay tying in their company's specialty with sports terminology. But what's funny is how some of the advertisers blatantly pull for Lorain to win, while others either just offer tepid encouragement, or play the middle of the road entirely.

I guess when you're a public utility you can't play favorites.

Lorain's First Baby of 1958 Ads

Back in the 1950s and 60s, it was a big deal to be the first baby born in Lorain in the New Year. The Lorain Journal would feature a photo of the proud mother and baby, and a variety of Lorain businesses would shower the baby with gifts.

My older brother Ken was Lorain's first baby of 1958, and as expected, a photo of Mom and him ran on the front page. The Lorain Journal even wrote a follow-up story (with pictures) about him a year later, contrasting his development as an infant with the many changes that took place around the world that year.

I remember as a kid thinking that Ken was indeed a celebrity in Lorain.

Recently I went back to the Journal microfilm archives to checkout some of the other hullaballoo surrounding Ken's birth. I found a whole spread of congratulatory ads sponsored by a variety of local companies, most indicating that they had donated a special gift to the lucky newborn.

The ads – some personalized with Ken's name – all ran on Jan. 7th. The collection below is only a sampling of some of the goodies he received!

30 quarts of milk from Ideal Dairies is a pretty nice gift (below), although I don't think it wasn't enough for my parents to switch their loyalty from Home Dairy, their regular choice.

It's appropriate that Kline's participated in the "first baby" contest – Grandma Brady worked there for almost her entire adult career. The store weighed in on the festivities with a free nursery scale.

While most of the gifts had something to do with caring for the new baby, at least one company – Harry's Men's & Boy's Wear – had a gift for Dear Old Dad (below).

Even old Reddy Kilowatt had a gift for Ken (below)!

The strangest congratulations came from Schwartz Home For Funerals (below)! No gift, though!

1937 Brookside Yearbook Ads

I bought this 1937 Brookside High School yearbook – officially called The Leader – on Ebay a few years ago from a seller in Michigan.

While flipping through the book, I found an old black and white photo of some very young children, imprinted with a Christmas greeting and a family name. What was unusual was that I recognized the family's name on the photo, as well as one of the kids as a girl that I had gone to school with in Lorain.

From there it was easy to find the girl's parents in the city directories (I was happy they were still around, and in the same house) and send them back the Christmas card they had mailed about 50 years earlier.

Needless to say they were very surprised and grateful, and sent a very nice thank-you card to me.

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Anyway, also in that same yearbook were a variety of interesting ads in the back. (I continue to find that old yearbooks provide a great snapshot of local businesses at the time of their publication.)

Whoever was in charge of selling ads did a good job. This book is loaded with ads of well-known Lorain businesses, including The Lorain Journal, Heilman's, the William Seher Company, the Wickens Memorial, Kutza's Pharmacy, Dusky Brothers and H.P. Nielsen. Some have nice little pieces of artwork accompanying their ad copy.

I particularly like the beautiful line art of the Central Bank Company. Does anyone do that sort of rendering today? I doubt it.

Click on each of these for a larger view.

From the E-Mail Bag #11

I'm still getting lots of comments and emails on old posts from years past. I really appreciate it when someone takes the time to post a comment on an old post, but I feel bad that readers may never see it unless they poke around in the archives. Thus, from time to time I like to feature a few of them in a new post. Keep those comments coming – and thanks!

Courtesy 

A reader named Ted left some great comments on my post from last April about Kutza's Pharmacy. He wrote, "Here is some history of that building that may add a bit to your efforts.  A doctor had his offices upstairs of the Kutza Pharmacy. His name was Doctor A. J. Novello, at 1236 Broadway. He was the father of Don Novello, "Father Guido Sarducci" of Saturday Night Live notoriety.
 I also used to buy comics there in the very late fifties and early sixties. I wish I still had them, some of them were the original Spider Man and other Marvel Comics.
"

Ted had some other interesting tidbits about the area. He noted, "Here is another bit of local history of that vicinity: just to the north across the street and a bit to the west was a small business called Popa's Poultry. This place had live chickens they would slaughter and pluck for you, as well as fresh eggs. I last walked there in the eighties (I live in Cleveland now) and there was only the foundation of Popa's Poultry left. Just to the south on the other side of the alley behind Kutza's behind where the fire station is now (it used to be Joe's Barber Shop; we lived upstairs) there used to be a barn with a horse. This was as recent as 1960-62."

Thanks for sharing, Ted!

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Max

My February 2012 posts (here and here) about the Forest City Auto Parts long-necked advertising mascot continues to generate comments. I guess he must have been a memorable guy to a lot of people.

Two former managers of Forest City Auto Parts left comments revealing the name and origin of the bespectacled mascot.

One wrote, "As a former Manager of FCAP in Toledo area, I know exactly how the long neck fellow you refer to came to be. His name is Max, and the idea was pitched to the two original brothers that owned the company– Stan & Arn – from a yellow page add with the caption "stop looking we have what you need."

He added, "The rest is pretty much history.  The ad was very successful, just like the chain of auto parts store were."

Another former manager confirmed his story. "As a former manager of FCAP on Culver Road in Rochester, NY., I also know the story behind "MAX." He pointed out that the other manager was "correct about Stan and Arn and the yellow pages ad."

As Paul Harvey used to say: "Now you know the rest of the story." Thanks, gentlemen!

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One post that seems to just keep on going is the one from Feb. 2011 on Ontario department store. It's up to 19 comments and I'm sure if I wait long enough they'll be more. The comments are about stores in other cities in Ohio, but they're interesting just the same.

A gentleman named Howard worked in management at the Ontario stores in Columbus, Ohio from 1971 to 1973. He wrote, "The original ONTARIO store was on the Alum Creek Drive in Columbus, and started by a Jewish gentleman named Fred Silverstein who purchased a trailer load of Sherwin-Williams paint, and sold it at a discounted price. Ontario was one of the first true discount stores in the country. The rest is history! For the most part, I enjoyed working for Ontario, which was a division of Cook United, Inc. located in Cleveland, Ohio. At some point in time, Cook United owned in excess of 100 stores. It could have (and should have) become what Wal*Mart is today. Cook United didn't keep up with its competition. Such a shame!"

Another gentleman worked at the Ontario in Springfield, Ohio. He commented, "My dad was the store manager for the Ontario in Springfield in the late 60's until his death in 1971. I was pretty young then but what I remember most was that they used to have live advertisements in the store. My brother was actually Mr. Peanut (Planters Peanuts) and my sister dressed up as the Little Dutch Boy for Dutch Boy Paints, and they would have to stand at the displays for those products in the store."

Thanks to both of these ex-Ontario employees for sharing their stories about the well-remembered, popular store chain.

Kutza's Pharmacy

Courtesy Jack Tiller

Jack Tiller has quite a collection of Lorain memorabilia. And luckily for us, he has been very happy to share it with us through this blog. He's sent me photos of his Lorain bottle collection, and came up with a photo of an Arvay's Potato Chip can when I needed it. And now he has turned his attention to a well-known Lorain pharmacy of the past: Kutza's Pharmacy.

He sent me the image above, in which he combined his collection of Kutza bottles and artifacts with a great image of the former building at 1302 Broadway. Nice work, Jack! (Jack is taking it easy after some surgery and I wish him well.)

This 1962 Kutza's ad (below) says that the company had been serving the Lorain area since 1907.

1962 phone book ad

The company disappeared from the city directory around 1967.

Here's Jack's beautiful shot of the building, which is just south of the Frank Nardini railroad underpass. The building appears to be the home of Haven Church Fellowship.

Courtesy Jack Tiller

Jack has sent me photos of some of his other Lorain collections as well, which I appreciate very much. Rest assured you will see them here. Thanks, Jack!