1918 Fruehauf Trailer – April 1965

Fruehauf Corporation is probably a little neglected on this blog, so it's a good time for this post. Sixty years ago on April 5, 1965, the big news out of the plant in Avon Lake was the acquisition and display of an antique Fruehauf trailer.

As the Journal article above notes, "A four-wheel stake and rack trailer, built 47 years ago for one of the first customers of Fruehauf Corporation, has become a permanent display piece at the giant Fruehauf plant here.

"The trailer, equipped with solid rubber tires and wooden spoke wheels, was reconditioned to look like new for its final resting place in the concourse leading from the administration building to the plant.

"Josef Weber, plant manager, said the trailer of two and one-half ton capacity is a far cry from modern Fruehauf semi-trailers of aluminum and steel capable of carrying payloads in excess of 25 tons.

"The antique trailer was built in 1918 in Detroit by August Fruehauf, founder of the corporation, and his fellow workers for the Ogden and Moffett Co. of Port Huron, Mich.

"It was used for many years hauling general freight between Port Huron and Detroit.

"When the company redesigned its building in the late 1950's, no suitable place could be found for the old trailer.

"The company contacted the late Harry Fruehauf, a son of the founder, and arrangements were made for the trailer to be turned over to the Fruehauf organization in 1958 at a sales conference in Detroit.

"After being consigned to an outside area for several years, Fruehauf officials decided it should be on permanent display at the Avon Lake plant, the largest trailer assembly facility in the world."

I often forget that my mother was working at that plant as a secretary when she married Dad in 1950.

Click here to visit the website of the Fruehauf Trailer Historical Society.

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Anyway, the rest of that 1965 Journal page has plenty of ads related to topics that I've written about over the years, including Steve Polansky Market; the Hoop Family Restaurants; Benny's China Gate on West Erie; Manners Restaurants; and Ohio Edison.

What? No ad appearance by Reddy Kilowatt?

There's some interesting movies as well, including the great Elvis in Roustabout and one I saw recently on the Outlaw channel: The Rounders, with Glenn Ford and Henry Fonda.

It sure looks like Elvis was just retouched into this photo.

Hard to believe Barbara Stanwyck is in Roustabout, I'm used to seeing her co-star with the great Joel McCrea in some wonderful Westerns. And I like that pretty Joan Freeman. Any actress that co-stars with the Three Stooges is okay in my book.

From "The Three Stooges Go Around The World in a Daze."

What was playing at the Tivoli on Sept. 6, 1959?

To close out this week of what was largely a parade of pop-culture tidbits, let's ask the question: What was playing at Lorain’s Tivoli Theater back on September 6, 1959 – 60 years ago today?

Why none other than the Three Stooges in their first full-length feature film: Have Rocket, Will Travel.

This ad appeared in the Journal a few days before on September 3, 1959.

Here are a few British lobby cards, courtesy of Ebay.

And here’s the clever trailer for the film.

Ever since the Stooges’ Columbia movie shorts appeared regularly on local TV stations in the 1950s, they had been enjoying renewed interest in their act. This led to a full-blown comeback with merchandising, personal appearances in front of adoring crowds of kids, and the opportunity to star in several features for their former studio.

This article from the Binghamton Press and Sun Bulletin of June 3, 1959 explains it all very nicely.

The Stooges were popular enough in Lorain for the trio to make a live appearance here on July 31, 1960 (which I wrote about here, here and here).

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Hey, back here on this post, I asked that question: “What was playing at the Tivoli back on Labor Day 1963?” The answer to that question involved Stooges as well!

Portrait of the Stooges With a Young Man

Kevin Conley poses with the Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine
and Curly Joe DeRita). The two young ladies are unidentified.
(Photo by Bill Conley)

Remember when I wrote (here and here) about the Three Stooges performing at the Palace Theater in Lorain back on July 31, 1960? I commented that I'd love to hear from anyone who caught the famed trio's show that day.

Well, it only took a year and a half, but I finally got a response!

Kevin Conley not only saw Larry, Curly Joe and Moe perform that day, but he met them backstage – and even posed for a picture with them (above)!

How did he get so lucky?

As Kevin explained in an email, his late father – Bill Conley – was the photographer for the Lorain Journal at the time. The Conley family lived in Lorain for ten years, and during that time Bill Conley enjoyed a fine career at the Journal as a reporter, photographer and copy editor.

Kevin recalls his meeting with the Stooges well. "I remember how nice the Stooges were to us," he noted. Unfortunately, Kevin doesn't know the identity of the two pretty young girls in the photo with him.

He does have a funny memory connected with them, though. As Kevin hilariously noted, "The two girls' parents were there in the dressing room and Larry changed his pants in front of them!"

Special thanks to Kevin for sharing his wonderful photo and happy memory of meeting the Three Stooges

The Three Stooges Play the RKO Palace – October 1946

As a longtime fan of the Three Stooges, I found this ad kind of interesting. It appeared in the Lorain Sunday News on Sunday, October 13, 1946 and promoted the comedy trio's live appearance at the RKO Palace in Cleveland – 68 years ago this month.

You might remember I did a two-part post (here and here) about their personal appearance at the Palace in Lorain much later in their career.

Why is the ad interesting to me? Because, sadly, Curly had suffered a stroke by that time, ending his career as a Stooge, and brother Shemp was already back in the act. (Many people don't know that Shemp was indeed the original third stooge opposite Moe and Larry.)

Moe was quite fond of playing the Palace in Cleveland, even mentioning it in his autobiography, I Stooged to Conquer.

Anyway, on the bill with the Stooges was humorist Herb Shriner, as well as the movie Black Angel, starring Dan Duryea and Peter Lorre. Here's the trailer (below).

When the Three Stooges Visited Lorain - Part 2

This photo and caption appeared on the front page of the Lorain Journal on August 1, 1960

So what were the Three Stooges doing in Lorain at the Palace anyway?

Although their movie career at Columbia Pictures had come to an end in late 1957, their comedy shorts had been made available to TV stations beginning in 1958. Thus a whole new generation of kids were introduced to the Stooges, and they loved them. So the trio experienced a happy comeback.

Courtesy www.threestooges.com

But with both Curly and Shemp gone, and Joe Besser unavailable to travel, Moe and Larry needed a new third stooge. So Moe recruited movie and burlesque comic Joe DeRita, due to his vague resemblance to the original Curly.

He was dubbed "Curly Joe" and would star with Moe and Larry in several popular full-length features.

The "new" Three Stooges also began touring in 1958, and thus ended up in Lorain on July 31, 1960.

The Stooges performed in 4 shows that day, all for the price of 90 cents for an adult and 50 cents for a child.

If anyone out there was lucky enough to catch their show at the Palace, be sure to leave a comment!

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UPDATE
Click here to read about Kevin Conley, who was lucky enough to see the Stooges at the Palace – and have his picture taken with them that day!

When the Three Stooges Visited Lorain - Part 1

Did you know that the Three Stooges once made a personal appearance at the Palace Theater in Lorain?

They "sointinly" did (as Curly would say it).

Yes, it was during the last week of July 1960 that special ads began to appear in the Lorain Journal announcing the upcoming special appearance of the "Original Three Stooges."

The ad above appeared on July 29, 1960.

Sadly, Jerome "Curly" Howard – often considered the most popular Stooge – had passed away in 1952. Nevertheless, he appeared in the Palace ad (in his costume from 1942's What's the Matador?)

The day before the appearance, this ad (below) appeared on July 30, 1960 – 53 years ago today.

So who appeared on stage at the Palace with Larry and Moe? Tune in tomorrow here to find out!

What was playing at the Tivoli on Labor Day 1963?

On Sept. 2, 1963 it was none other than The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze playing at Lorain's Tivoli theater on Broadway. The other half of the 'big holiday program' was 13 Frightened Girls (a William Castle Production).


Here's the trailer for 13 Frightened Girls. Actually, it looks pretty good!

As for the Stooges, this was one of the features that was produced to cash in on their newfound TV popularity after their long-running Columbia short subject series had ended. Comedian Joe DeRita was pressed into service as the 'third stooge' for these movies (since Curly and Shemp were dead, and the last stooge from the series – Joe Besser – wasn't available).

In these movies, DeRita was known as 'Curly Joe,' which sounded right since he kind of looked like the original Curly. But I don't think any kids were fooled.

Although I don't remember seeing any of these 1960's Stooges efforts at the theater, I'm sure I saw some of them on one of those all-day TV extravaganzas for kids that used to take place on the day after Thanksgiving. (The cartoons started early Friday and ran until the afternoon, when movies such as this or some crappy cartoon feature like Gay Purr-ee was shown.

Anyway, here's a short sample of the 1960's Stooge chemistry in The Three Stooges Go Around the World in a Daze.

One last note – I noticed that Moe, Curly Joe and Larry have kind of strange expressions on their faces in the Tivoli ad. Then I found this small, similar color version (below).

It sure looks like the black and white ad is the optional (and poorly retouched) 'happy expression' version of the color ad!