Ohio Edison's Mother's Day Gift Suggestions – May 1955

Ohio Edison never passed up an opportunity to suggest that electrical appliances were the perfect gift for Mom. This ad with Mother's Day gift ideas that ran in the Lorain Journal back on May 5, 1955 is no exception.

"Sparkling beauty and smart design to put a touch of glamour into everyday living... yet practical too, in its time and work saving features... that's an electrical gift every mother will welcome," reads the ad copy.

"Yes, you're sure to please mother on her day with a new electric appliance she'll be proud to use for entertaining, happy to have every day in the year for many years to come."

I notice our pal Reddy Kilowatt is nowhere to be seen in the ad. I wonder if he was unsure whether every mother's face would really light up upon receiving one of the Westinghouse appliances?

Anyway, almost all of the 1955 gift suggestions are on eBay right now. 

They really are quite beautifully designed. And the eBay write-up for each says that they still work, 70 years later – so they must have been of high quality.

For many years, my parents made their coffee with a stovetop Revere Ware percolator, before eventually switching to a Farberware electric percolator not unlike the Westinghouse Automatic Coffee Maker shown here. I'll bet the coffee made with that Westinghouse percolator beats the brew coming out of a Keurig any day.

Ohio Edison Ad – April 1, 1953

"Keeping Ahead of the Joneses" is the theme of this stylish Ohio Edison ad that ran in the Lorain Journal back on April 1, 1953. But while the similar phrase "Keeping up with the Joneses" normally refers to the act of trying to compete with neighbors who might be in a slightly better economic standing, this ad has a different angle. It depicts how Ohio Edison is committed to being ready to supply electricity to a variety of different Joneses in the early 1950s.

And of course our old pal Reddy Kilowatt makes an appearance.

As for the Joneses in the text, the first ones (shown in an illustration as your basic nuclear family) are new householders that are "finding it to their advantage to live electrically through greater use of electric appliances." It's a little odd that they are referred to 'new customers' as the family doesn't exactly look like they were participants in the rural electrification program.

The second Jones is an industrialist whose factory uses "tens of thousands of kilowatt hours of electricity" each year. I like the chart on the wall with the upward arrow. Business is good!

The last Jones is shown as a pipe-smoking atomic scientist, symbolizing Ohio Edison's involvement in the construction of power plants to supply energy requirements of the Atomic Energy Commission's Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Pike County, which produced enriched uranium. (You can read about it here on Energy.gov.) Today, the plant is long-closed and the site is still being cleaned up. Oh well.

The ad is also interesting because it shows the old style transmission tower that is becoming a thing of the past (like the ones removed on Tower Boulevard). 

I wonder if any Journal readers wrote for their free copy of the Annual Report of the Ohio Edison Company?

Ohio Edison Thanksgiving Ad – Nov. 6, 1953

One of the challenges on Thanksgiving is finding room on the stovetop and in the oven for the preparation of the feast: cooking the turkey, preparing all the side dishes (mashed potatoes, dressing, etc), making gravy and anything else associated with the meal. It seems like the stovetop is perpetually cluttered with pots and pans (which the male of the species has to wash) with no room to do anything.

For many years, the house I lived that was located in Sheffield Lake had both a gas stove (left by the previous owner and moved to the basement by us) and an electric one in the kitchen. It was very convenient and perfect on Thanksgiving. 

I still don't know how my mother managed to prepare both a duck and a capon on Thanksgiving with one oven. Her kitchen wasn't all that big either.

But seventy years ago, our old pal Reddy Kilowatt had the answer: a Westinghouse automatic electric range with two ovens. As the Ohio Edison ad below from the Nov. 6, 1953 Lorain Journal notes, "With a Westinghouse automatic electric range to take over the cooking cares, mother can visit with guests and really enjoy thanksgiving with complete freedom from potwatching. The oven, of course, is completely automatic, turns out the turkey and all the trimmings just the way you want them."

"Two Ovens for greater convenience in cooking complete meals with utmost freedom from kitchen cares."

I love the illustration of the nattily dressed couple in the ad as they greet their unseen Thanksgiving guests at the door. (Notice how the art is cropped and the top of the man's head is as flat as a Dick Tracy villain's noggin.) Meanwhile, Chef Reddy happily slaves away in the kitchen.

I'm just not sure if I would have trusted the automatic electric range to handle everything with little oversight. I've seen enough 1950s and 60s TV shows to know that something always goes wrong (like on the Dragnet episode "The Big Weekend," when Officer Gannon leaves a duck roasting in the oven too long).

Officer Bill Gannon has his partner Sergeant Joe Friday over for dinner, and is about
 to cut into a very overdone duck with disastrous consequences on Dragnet

****

Reddy was riding the range on Thanksgiving 1945 back on this 2012 post.

Ohio Edison Ad – March 17, 1952

Did your mother dry the laundry outside on a clothes line?

Many of our neighbors had clothes lines when I was growing up in the 1960s – even on Skyline Drive –but we never did. Years ago, I asked my mother why we didn’t have one. 

Her explanation had something to do with birds.

Anyway, many people dried their clothes on a line in the 1950s. That's the theme of this Ohio Edison ad from the March 17, 1952 Lorain Journal featuring our old pal Reddy Kilowatt. 

The ad message is that with a Westinghouse electric dryer, you didn’t have to worry about your laundry ever getting rained on.

Using one of those online inflation converters, the dryer's $235 price tag would be more than 2500 bucks today. Shocking, to say the least!

Anyway, I like the little drop down door shown in the ad that you can fold your clothes on. I seem to do my folding all over the place – on the sofa, the bed, the kitchen table, even the floor!

Reddy Kilowatt Christmas Ads

Well, Christmas is almost here – so you know it’s time for a visit on this blog from that eternally cheerful character with the red stocking cap who always works hard to make your holidays bright.

No, I don’t mean Santa Claus. I’m talking about our pal Reddy Kilowatt! He hasn’t shown up on my blog since last Christmas, so it’s about time he dropped by.

First up is an Ohio Edison ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on December 10, 1965. In it, Reddy offers some tips on how to decorate your house for the holidays using lots of electricity.

Reddy’s message must have been effective, because in the 1960s I remember just about every house on E. Skyline Drive and the adjacent streets had the large bulb Christmas lights strung along the roofline. It  was really a cheery sight to see if you were out and about in the evening. (I commend all fathers back then for making putting up the lights a priority.)

The other Reddy ad ran in the Lorain Journal on December 24, 1946. The ad has a strange shape; it definitely has that cobbled-together-at-the-last-minute look. But the Reddy Kilowatt illustration is great, and reminds us that electric utility employees have to work in all kinds of terrible conditions to restore power during a winter storm.

Reddy Kilowatt Christmas Ad – December 1950

Well, it's the last post before Christmas, so I thought we would spend Christmas Eve with our old pal Reddy Kilowatt. I can't believe I haven't featured him on the blog since his small cameo appearance in an Ohio Edison ad that I posted on January 2 of this year.

The above ad – which ran on December 1, 1950 in the Lorain Journal – is the Mother Lode (or Mother Electrical Load if you prefer) of Reddy appearances in a Christmas ad. No less than 10 images of Reddy are spotlighted in the ad, mostly demonstrating those newfangled electrical appliances.

As I do every year, I'm taking some much-needed time off from blogging until around New Year's Eve. So here's hoping you and all your family and friends enjoy a most wonderful and happy Christmas!

Ohio Edison Demolition Update

I was away for the weekend, but managed to swing by the old Ohio Edison plant this afternoon to see how the demolition was coming along. The lake view is really opening up for the residents on W. 2nd Street!

It's still sad to see the facility being gutted, though. It's really kind of a work of art, the way the smokestacks, water tower and parts of the building all reach for the sky in an almost organic fashion.

It took a while, but I finally found an appropriate demolition reaction shot of our pal Reddy Kilowatt!

I'm curious to see how the tallest portions of the plant will come down. Hopefully the Morning Journal or Chronicle-Telegram will post some video of it when the time comes.

Ohio Edison 1966 Corporate Identity

With the demolition of its old Oberlin Avenue power plant taking place right now, I seem to have Ohio Edison on my mind. So it's a good time to post this photo and caption from the May 2, 1966 Lorain Journal. It describes the recent adoption of a new corporate logo for the company featuring the Reddy Kilowatt character. (Click on the photo for a larger, readable image.)

I like the fact that the company used Reddy so much in their advertising and corporate communications. He really did his job, giving the electric utility a friendly face. Nowadays, I view most of my utility bills with suspicion.

Readers of this blog know that  I never pass up an opportunity to feature Reddy Kilowatt here, since he is one of my favorite advertising mascots! I did a history of the character back here last year, and featured a few more images here.

I'm sure Reddy would be heartbroken with the demolition of the Oberlin Avenue plant!

Power Plant Demolition

Over the weekend I drove over to see how the demolition of FirstEnergy's Edgewater power plant was coming along and to snap a few photos. (FirstEnergy is the parent company of the old Ohio Edison.)

Click here to read the Morning Journal's article about the demolition and to view some video.

According to the Morning Journal article, the plant has been there since 1919. At left is a vintage photograph courtesy of the Black River Historical Society's website.

It's hard to believe that the plant is no longer being used. I used to feel pretty good knowing that right there at the end of Oberlin Avenue, we had our own local power plant. I had no idea it had even been decommissioned.

I guess the real winners are the people on Lake Place who will enjoy a terrific lake view. I'm happy for them.

Earlier this year I was out taking pictures and decided to grab a few of the power plant on a whim. Here's what it used to look like back in May. Remember how green our lawns were back then?

Here's a pre-demolition shot from that same day to match up with the one at the top of this blog post.

And here's one that I took from the Bascule Bridge on the same day. Soon this view will be just a memory.

Christmas 1960: Ohio Edison Ad

Here's another ad from December 1960, for Ohio Edison. It features our old buddy, Reddy Kilowatt. I did a series on him back in August (click here to refresh your memory.) He's looking pretty domesticated in this ad, with his apron.

I like this ad. It's kind of quaint, promoting one of those newfangled dishwashers! "Cleans dishes better than you can do by hand!"

I don't know if I believe that. I still spend a lot of time washing pots and casserole dishes by hand, mainly because if I put them the dishwasher, they'll come out with a hardened crust around the edges.

It's good to see in the ad that Ohio Edison is a "tax-paying" electric company!

Ready for more Reddy?

I mentioned last week that Reddy Kilowatt was one of my favorite advertising characters. And it's no small wonder.

Since I spend a lot of time in the Lorain Public Library pouring over microfilm of newspapers from the 1950s and 1960s, it seems that almost every day or so there was an ad for Ohio Edison featuring - who else? - Reddy Kilowatt! I even seem to recall even seeing his image on some of the local electric utility buildings, such as up on the Ohio Edison building on Lake Avenue in Elyria Township.

He was such a kid-friendly guy in the ads, doing his best to keep us from getting electrocuted, that it's no wonder that I have a certain affection for the guy long after his heyday.

Here are a few images of ol' Reddy from ads that appeared in the Lorain Journal in the 1960s.