St. Patrick's Day – 1926, 1936 and 1946

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day – another holiday that, like Groundhog Day, adds a little fun to our lives.

I've already shaken up my normal St. Pat routine by cooking up my own corned beef this year for a change. It turned out perfect in my o'crock pot so I know I'm going to have a good sandwich. (I already had some of it with cabbage and it was great.)

I'm also making Slow Cooker Guinness Beef Irish Stew for a potluck luncheon at work. I just hope I don't get pulled over on the way home and fail a sobriety test – or it'll be a ride in the Paddy Wagon for me.

Anyway, it's always interesting seeing how the holiday was celebrated in the past. Some years there's hardly any acknowledgement, other years there's dances galore. 

So here are some Lorain Journal ads and clippings from St. Patrick's Day 1926, 1936 and 1946.

March 16, 1926 - Page 1

March 16, 1926 - Page 1

March 17, 1926

The holiday was observed a little more ten years later.

March 16, 1936

March 17, 1936

March 17, 1936 Editorial

March 17, 1936 Editorial Cartoon

March 17, 1936

March 17, 1936. Gee that's not exactly
an illustration of a leprechaun! 

By 1946, the infectious fun of St. Patrick's Day apparently had resulted in many more dances and parties. All the ads are from Saturday, March 16, 1946 since the holiday fell on Sunday that year.

Next: Sure and there's more St. Patrick's Day fun

Groundhog Day in the Journal – 1926, 1936, 1946, 1956, 1966 and 1976

Well, it's Groundhog Day! I don't know about you, but I enjoy it more than a lot of other holidays. It's fun to watch the hoopla in Punxsutawney on TV each year. And it's a nice little break in our routine.

I mentioned to my younger co-worker that making the trip to Punxsutawney for Groundhog Day was on my bucket list, and she looked at me like I was nuts (even more than usual). She'd never seen the activity on Gobbler's Knob on TV, and in fact had never watched Groundhog Day with Bill Murray. Too bad.

Anyway, as is my custom here, here's some of the Lorain Journal's coverage of Groundhog Day over the years, starting in 1926 and going forward in ten-year increments.

No mention of Punxsutawney Phil in this article from Feb. 2, 1926. But Herr Adolph Groundhog predicts an early spring.

It had been a tough, old-time winter by the time Groundhog Day 1936 came around, as indicated in this article from Feb. 3, 1936. "The groundhog" isn't mentioned until a few paragraphs from the end.

The Lorain Journal had Groundhog Fever in 1946. First, it printed an article on the eve of Groundhog Day. It mentions the upcoming event in Punxsutawney, Pa. near the end.

Then on Feb. 2, 1946 the paper mentioned the groundhog in two separate articles. In the United Press article (below), the groundhog in Punxsutawney is not yet known as Phil. "Thus Chuck (he's also a woodchuck, you see) maintained his 76-year-old tradition as weather prognosticator," it notes.

But the report made as part of a larger article about a "Zero Cold Wave" in Lorain mentions dueling groundhogs in Quarryville, Pa. and Punxsutawney, Pa. (We'll have to ask Keystone State's No. 1 son Don Hilton as to which one he endorsed over the years.)

No national coverage of Groundhog Day in the Lorain Journal for 1956. "If there were any groundhogs in Lorain and if they did come out of hibernation yesterday and if seeing their shadows had anything to do with it, Lorainites can look for spring any day now," said the article which appeared on Feb. 3, 1956. "There were no shadows to be seen in Lorain yesterday."

In 1966, the Journal created some anticipation of Groundhog Day with this cute photo of "Mr. Groundhog" that appeared on Feb. 1, 1966. But unfortunately there was no mention of the prediction that was made in the paper on Feb. 2nd. (Phil did see his shadow, though.)

Groundhog Day 1976 brought gusty winds and near-zero temperatures to the area as noted in the article below that appeared on Feb. 2, 1976. But even with the detailed account of the weather and how it affected area cities, the article still made it a priority to mention our favorite groundhog. It notes, "Speaking of Pennsylvania, February 2's favorite myth emerged in Punxsutawney from his electrically heated burrow, saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter. Phil, the groundhog, thus upheld a tradition 90 years old."

Choosing Favorite Comedies is No Laughing Matter

Laurel & Hardy in Saps at Sea (1940)

Would you be able to name your five favorite comedy movies?

Fox 8 News (which I'm partial to, since the station is very devoted to Vermilion) did a story on the all-time best screen comedies a few weeks ago. The report came about because Variety, the well-known entertainment magazine, did an article on "The 100 Best Comedy Movies of All Time (which you can read here).

The Fox 8 segment only mentioned the Variety top five, some of which had me scratching my head. Then the news anchors all named their favorites. It was fascinating because everyone's list was completely different. They all had their own idea of what's funny (although a few selected Anchorman).

It's a great topic for discussion.

My list of favorite comedies would have to include only those that I enjoy seeing and laughing at again and again, and never get tired of. That would eliminate a lot of movies that I've seen in the last 20 years, most of which I only saw once and promptly forgot. Thus my list is naturally steeped in nostalgia and hopelessly dated.

Here (in order of when they were first released) are my favorites:

Saps at Sea (1940) – Every list of great comedies should have at least one Laurel & Hardy movie on it. I watched Saps at Sea the other night (for about the 100th time) and still laughed out loud at Stan & Ollie. Besides, as a fan of the movie, I'm in good company – it was a favorite of Winston Churchill too! A close second L&H favorite would be A Chump at Oxford.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) – I've devoted several posts to why I love this film. It's probably my favorite movie of all time.

National Lampoon's Vacation (1983) – any family that trekked across the country by car on their vacation (like my family did, several times) can relate to this movie and find it hilarious. It has such a great cast too, with Chevy Chase, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Brian Doyle-Murray...

Groundhog Day (1993) – I'm a big Bill Murray fan, and he's great in this movie, which is hilarious and has a great message too. I watch it every year on – what else? – Groundhog Day.

But, Dan (you might say) – that's only four movies. Isn't there a fifth?

Well, I just couldn't decide. There are several comedies that I enjoy seeing over and over, even if I don't have a deep emotional connection with them: Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), which I wrote about here; Support Your Local Sheriff (1969); Animal House (1978); The In-Laws (1979) with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin; Caddyshack (1980); Ghostbusters (1984); Back to the Future (1985); and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989).

It's kind of funny that the most recent movie on my list is from 1993. I guess I really like the comedies of the 1980s, as that seemed to be the era in which the SNL and SCTV alumni did their best work.

Anyway, be sure to leave a comment about your favorite comedies.

It's almost Groundhog Day 2025!

Sunday is Groundhog Day! It's nice, because we can watch the festivities on TV live from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania without worrying about getting to work on time. It's always interesting see which Weather Channel personality gets to make the trip.

One of these days I'm gonna make that trip to Punxsutawney. (I know, I keep saying that.) It's on my bucket list (along with a lot of other intriguing activities requiring road trips, such as eating at the last Yogi Bear's Honey Fried Chicken, located in Hartsville, South Carolina).

I thought it was interesting that as far back as 1925, the Lorain Journal was mentioning Punxsutawney in its Groundhog Day coverage. Here's the front page story from Feb. 2, 1925 (below). As noted in comments left on past Groundhog Day posts, the critter didn't get the 'Phil' moniker until much later. Note how other cities also received some coverage for their groundhogs, including Detroit.

Even Lorain's arch rival Elyria received a Groundhog Day mention in the Journal in 1925.

There was no Groundhog Day coverage of Punxsutawney on Feb. 2, 1935 but a front page Journal story noted, "If tradition means anything, Lorain can look forward to an early spring because the groundhog failed to see his shadow today – traditional Groundhog Day.

It was a snowy Groundhog Day in Lorain in 1945, with snow blocking secondary roads and with a high of 21 degrees. Nevertheless, Lorain's Groundhog saw his shadow. The story was the same in Punxsutawney, as noted in the Journal story below from Feb. 2, 1945.

The Lorain Journal apparently ignored Groundhog Day 1955. Oh well, some years were like that. 

But ten years later, the paper mentioned both of Pennsylvania's famous furry forecasters: Punxsutawney Phil and the one at Quarryville. As a bonus, we get a photo of Woody, a groundhog who lives in Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo.

And even the Journal editorial from that day couldn't resist getting in on the fun.

Anyway, Happy Groundhog Day 2025!

Farm Wife's Window – January Columns 1958 - 1965

One of the casualties of the decline of newspapers in general is the disappearance of local interest columns. Although the columnists were often non-professional writers not on the payroll of the newspaper, they nevertheless provided an invaluable inside look at a topic or aspect of life that hitherto had been off-limits to the general public.

A column along those lines that appeared regularly in the Lorain Journal from the late 1950s until the end of the 1960s was "Farm Wife's Window," written by Ethelberta Hartman of Berlin Heights. Her topics included farming, gardening, wildlife, and anything else that she thought might be of interest to her readers. 

She became a farm widow shortly after she started writing her column, and many of her stories revolve around the running of the farm by her and her sons.

I posted one of her columns from 1962 back here in 2022, which discussed red wing blackbirds.

Recently I ran across a few of her columns while reviewing some vintage January editions of the Lorain Journal. Here's an ample sample from the 1950s and 60s which includes a variety of topics. They're all well-written and provide a point of view that is becoming scarcer as the number of farms continue to shrink.

This column from January 9, 1958 explores a topic many of us have wondered about: "What Do Farmers Do In The Winter Time?"

Her January 16, 1958 column entitled, "Feeding Station Battle Seems To Go On And On" tells the story of a bird feeder built by her son David.

A charming walk in the woods is the subject of her January 8, 1959 column.

Ethel returns to a favorite topic – birds – in her January 15, 1959 column. Like me, her favorite seems to be the cardinal.

Her January 23, 1959 column reveals how corned beef and cabbage was cooked in the early 1900s. Her reference to Dinty Moore near the end of the column refers to a tavern owner in the Bringing Up Father comic strip (who prepared Corned Beef and Cabbage), not the line of prepared meals by Hormel.

The weather-forecasting groundhog is mentioned in the January 29, 1959 column, "Secret Superstition Found In Everyone."

Ethelberta's column from January 28, 1960 is of particular interest to me. She writes about, well, writing: how it is often a problem coming up with topics, how she chooses topics, and how her sons feel about being the subject of her columns. She also notes how reading various newspapers, magazines and books is a critical part of her preparation.

Lastly, here's her column from January 16, 1965. It provides a nice historical perspective of how a housewife made an angel food cake in pioneer days. Does anyone out there still make an angel food cake from scratch?

"Lorain's Meanest Man" – Feb. 23, 1924

One hundred years ago today, this was the front page of the Lorain Journal on February 23, 1924. The vantage point of a century always seems to have at least a few things of interest.

The headline story about impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Harry Daughtery somewhat demonstrates that things haven't changed that much in Washington, D. C. in the last hundred years. (If you want to know what that was all about, here's the link to the Wiki entry about Daugherty.)

But the most interesting article is the one about "Lorain's Meanest Man." 

So who was this meanie? According to the article, "he is the man who yesterday afternoon in a downtown department store, struck in the mouth a 12-year-old newsboy, unfortunate enough to ask him, "Paper, Mister?"

"He is the same man who, a few seconds later, while the boy stood crying in the corner, his spirit broken and his lip bleeding, flung, with an angry oath, into the face of the young girl clerk, the money in payment for an article purchased."

One hundred years later, the whole thing would have been captured on someone's cell phone, and an angry mob would have held him until Lorain's finest arrived. And a judge would have given him a creative sentence, perhaps carrying the newspapers for a week for the injured young entrepreneur.

Anyway, other items of interest on the page include: the two articles about streetcars (one above the other), with one about an accident at Reid and 20th Street, and the other about streetcars being replaced by buses in Akron; a story about Lorain's booming economy; a notice about a meeting of the Lorain County Beekeepers' association, which is still around today (here's the link to its website); and another "Abe Martin" comic panel.

An interesting item at the top of the page reveals that the Lorain Journal "wired Henry Ford suggesting that the new freighter which he will come here to christen within the next two weeks be named THE CITY OF LORAIN." As it turned out, Henry Ford was unable to come to Lorain and the ship ended up being named "Henry Ford II" anyway.

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I'm still getting over monkeypox whatever it is I've got, so I haven't been able to devote a lot of time to the blog. Since I got sick on a holiday (Groundhog Day), maybe I'll be back to normal on St. Patrick's Day. In the meantime, I think it's time for another banana.