John Wayne in "Rio Bravo” on WUAB – October 1969

John Wayne in Rio Bravo

Going to see the latest John Wayne movie at Amherst Theatre with my parents and siblings in the late 1960s and early 70s is a pleasant childhood memory for me. 

My family saw a lot of them during that time period, including The War Wagon (1967), True Grit (1969), The Undefeated (1969), Chisum (1970), Big Jake (1971), The Cowboys (1972), and Cahill, United States Marshal (1973). My older brother reminded me a few days ago that we also saw “the one where they were all brothers” too, which would be The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). 

Thus my siblings and I first saw the Duke on the big screen, and then slowly began to catch his older movies on TV – sorta like watching his movie career in reverse. 

One of the first ‘old’ ones we saw was Red River (1948) when it premiered on Channel 43 in November 1968. It was a big enough event for Channel 43 to promote the showing with an ad in the Journal.

Well, it was the same situation with the film Rio Bravo (1959), with the TV station running an ad to promote its showing on Friday, October 31, 1969. Here’s the Journal ad.

The movie promo really ‘pops’ through the Journal ad clutter with the graphic elements presented in reverse. Here’s how it would have looked if it had been printed ‘normal.’

I don’t remember watching the movie on Channel 43 that night. We probably went to bed at 9:00 after watching Hogan’s Heroes.

But Rio Bravo is a classic, with the Duke as Sheriff John T. Chance, holed up in a jail and trying to hold off some baddies who want to free a man that the Duke arrested.

Wayne has help from one crusty old deputy (Walter Brennan), one deputy who until recently was also the town drunk (Dean Martin), and a young gunslinger (Ricky Nelson). The whole thing is a template for El Dorado (1967), which is considered a remake.

Ricky Nelson as ‘Colorado' is actually pretty good in this, although I like James Caan's similar character in El Dorado (called ‘Mississippi') better.

Anyway, if all of this has whetted your appetite to see Rio Bravo, you’re in luck. It’s on GRIT TV tonight, October 15th, 2021 at 8:00 pm. It’s followed by Red River at 11:30 pm. So get the popcorn ready, pilgrim. 

****

A few years ago at my place of employment, there was a customer service representative named Dakota. Of course, the way my brain works – she’s named after a state, right? – I nicknamed her (to her befuddlement), “Mississippi.” The poor gal never understood my explanation as to why I thought it was amusing, but she good-naturedly put up with it, as well as the John Wayne imitation I did whenever I had to call her on the phone.

Of course it could be the reason that she didn’t stay with the company for very long.

Lou Kepler Interview – October 1969

Mention the name “Lou Kepler" to any longtime Lorain Journal reader over the age of sixty and I’m sure they would remember the well-known Women’s Editor of that paper. I certainly remember seeing her name and photo in the Journal for many years.

LuElla “Lou" Kepler started at the Journal back in the early 1950s and contributed many fine articles, reports and columns over the years. I’ve transcribed and posted several of her articles on this blog.

Anyway, back in October 1969, someone at the Journal realized that making Lou Kepler the topic of an extensive interview was long overdue. Here, then is a great article written by Staff Writer Dick Diluciano in which we get to know Lou better, including her interesting background growing up in Wellington on a farm. The article was published on October 18, 1969.

****

President of Ohio Newspaperwomen

Lou Kepler: The Farmer’s Daughter

By DICK DILUCIANO, Staff Writer

“WOMEN USUALLY expect to be wives and mothers, but they also are concerned with making the world a better place for their children. This is one way of doing it.”

Speaking is LuElla Kepler, farmer’s daughter, grandmother and Women’s Editor of The Journal.

“Lou” has done a lot and has seen a lot and she plans to keep right on doing and seeing.

An undertaker’s wife has to take the credit for launching Lou on her journalism career.

“Shortly after my oldest son left home for the Navy I bumped into the undertaker’s wife in downtown Wellington. She suggested I use some of my free time and serve as The Journal’s correspondent for the area,” Lou explained.

“My first reaction was that a correspondent was someone turning up in a divorce case, and I didn’t want that.”

Finally, Lou made up her mind to take the job and began calling in obituaries and writing news for the paper. She laughingly recalls that her newspaper career was “a dead issue from the start.”

THAT WAS 16 YEARS ago and at a time when correspondents were paid by the inch for each story that got into print.

“The more I wrote, the more money I got,” Lou smiled. “That’s how I became so wordy.”

“When I finished high school I was hell-bent on becoming an actress but I discovered I had a speech impediment – a lisp – so that idea died.

A lifelong resident of the Wellington area, Lou at one time could name just about every resident. She had a deal with the police department which had to pass her home to get victims to Oberlin hospital.

“One blast on the siren meant it was a routine call. Two blasts was something worth a story. Three blasts was something serious.”

Lou’s family, which includes three boys and a girl, gave her a lot of encouragement during her early days. “Harold (her husband who died seven years ago) read everything I wrote and said, 'This is a damn good story,’ even if it stunk.

HER CHILDHOOD in Wellington provided her with many of her most - cherished memories.

“I learned to drive a car when I was 10 years old,” she explained. “Later on when my dad had an automobile my services went along with the deal I taught the customers’ wives to drive. That was when I was in high school.”

She remembers starting school in a one-room little red schoolhouse. Then either riding the street car or on horseback to school in Wellington. On the farm she helped with the “chores” including feeding 50 purebred Holstein cattle. She can milk and even churn butter.

For a short time the family lived in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and her dad built houses between the city and Las Olas Beach. Then she went to a girls college in Virginia until the depression came. Her father’s business folded and she had to come home.

It was while she had her first job, a soda jerk in a drug store, that the boy (who later became her husband) she’d known for years got up enough courage to ask her for a date. “He bought three banana splits at 25 cents each before he got nerve enough to ask to see me home,” Lou beamed. “That was quite a bit of money to spend in those days.”

When World War II broke out, Lou worked with her husband in a creamery and now knew not only how to milk a cow but how to process the milk for the retail market.

LOU CREDITS her varied background with her success in the newspaper field.

“Because I had such a variety of jobs, I’m able to understand people.”

Lou joined the regular staff of The Journal about 14 years ago. She moved to Lorain shortly after her husband’s death because “my family decided I was not going to drive in from Wellington every day.”

Having come from a small town, Lou said her first few years in Lorain were a source of amazement.

“I couldn’t get over seeing 200 persons at a bridal shower and the names,” she recalled.

The friendliness of the town and its international cuisine quickly put Lou at ease, however.

One of her more pleasant memories concerns the cuisine.

“A group of Serbian ladies once came into the office to deliver a CARE package to me. I tried to tell them I didn’t have anything to do with CARE, but they quickly explained they had been baking all morning, because they ‘cared’ about me.”

The package was filled with pastries and other baked goods.

HER PROUDEST moment came when she interviewed the young wife of a North Ridgeville man charged with killing an 83-year-old widow.

“I went to the woman’s home and told her who I was and asked if I could talk to her about her husband,” Lou remembered. “She said her attorney had told her not to talk to anyone about the case, but I finally convinced her to talk.

“I told her everyone was taking about what her husband had been accused of and I ‘wanted to write something good about him.’ She agreed to talk to me.”

The “scoop” was even more gratifying for Lou when opposition news sources reported the wife would not talk to newsmen the same day her interview ran on page one.

Her angriest moment came one morning when a woman called the society desk for advice on a celebration for her parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.

It seems the woman’s mother had died suddenly and she wanted to know if it would be proper to have the celebration anyway since they had the hall and invitations out.

“I suggested that if the woman was Irish, they could turn the celebration into a wake.”

Lou’s saddest moment came when she discovered a double drowning in Wellington and the victims were her two young cousins.

Another period of grief came when she toured the Pittsfield area after the Palm Sunday tornado.

“It seemed as if all my early childhood was destroyed,” she remembered. Her grandfather had once operated a post office - general store there and two aunts had homes in the township years ago. All were destroyed.

Because Lou’s business is people, her job is not without humor.

ONE WOMAN ASKED us not to refer to her as the ‘new Mrs. so-and-so in her wedding writeup because her husband had been married before.

Other girls, who understandably are on “cloud nine” when they fill out their wedding forms have the bride carrying “a bouquet of nuns,” or “orchards.”

“We sometimes think we’re running an information bureau,” Lou added. “We get calls from readers asking advice on everything from table settings, to cooking to raising children.

“One woman once called to ask why her bread didn’t rise. It turned out she had used hot water which killed the yeast action, but she still wanted to know what she could do with the dough. I asked her if she was interested in ceramics... that’s about all the dough was good for.”

Lou’s writing has won her many awards and forms of recognition. She was chosen Lorain Woman of Service in 1963.

Currently, she is completing a two-year term as president of the Ohio Newspaper Women’s Association and is looking forward to the group’s Oct. 25 convention in Mansfield where Col. John Glenn will be a guest speaker.

LOU’S TERM as president ends Jan. 1 but she’ll continue to serve as a director of the women’s group.

A down-to-earth type of person, Lou vividly recalls one of her more humbling experiences. A young Lorain boy had called her at home asking for an autographed picture of the woman who’s listed in Who’s Who Among American Women. He explained his mother told him he wouldn’t be able to get one so he decided to call and state his case. He got the picture from a blushing Lou.

Being a society editor, Lou is conscious of her manner of dress.

“I’d rather be underdressed than overdressed.” is Lou’s fashion rule.

She admits to being “excited” about fashion and makes at least one trip a year to New York City to report on what’s new in women’s wear. She also traveled to Europe on an assignment and to Hawaii on pleasure.

Having grown up in the days of crank telephones, the Graf Zeppelin and the startling news reported in ‘Successful Farm’ that a way had been found to freeze vegetable, Lou says she’ll never get over the progress she has witnessed.

But, she feels “we (as a nation) should be a lot more happier than what we are. The lady who could once tell you who lived in every house in Wellington, admits she doesn’t know the people who live on either side of her East Erie Avenue home.

“We seem to travel at such a fast pace today that people aren’t interested in their neighbors,” she said.

Lou, who has four grandsons and four granddaughters has firm ideas about them.

“I leave raising them up to their parents and I won’t ever be a rocking chair grandmother,” Lou added. “There is absolutely no reason in the world why a woman should be bored.”

LOU IS SHORT with people who criticize newspapers for printing only “riots or rapes.” She quickly asks “when was the last time you read about a riot or a rape on my pages. People read only what they want to read.”

“I have to work of course, because I am a widow. But, I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to influence people through the written word. To point out the good things and the bad. To give some deserving person or cause recognition which might not otherwise be given.”

“I think I have lived in one of the most marvelous ages of anyone but by the same token I envy the young people of today because they have so many opportunities.”

Summing up her philosophy Lou said:

“I cannot help what happened yesterday. And I haven’t the faintest idea of what’s in store for tomorrow. I have today and I’m going to live it up.”

****

Here’s a photo of Lou Kepler and John Glenn that appeared in the Journal about a week after the above article, on October 27, 1969, covering the Ohio Newspaper Women’s Convention in Mansfield.

Camping at Mill Hollow

Do you remember when camping was allowed down at Mill Hollow?

I’m guessing not too many people can recall those days, but my family does. We learned how to camp down at Mill Hollow, pitching our first tent down there in the early 1960s. At the time, my younger brother was still a baby. He slept in a box.

I think of those days every time I go to the park (and as the leaves begin to change colors, I’ll be down there a lot).

Here’s a great photo of campers set up down at Mill Hollow by the duck pond. It appeared in the Journal on October 25, 1969.

The photo accompanied an article making a pitch for the passing of a park levy.

Back in October 1969, the Lorain County Metropolitan Park District was asking voters to approve Issue 5, a 20-year one-half mill levy to supply funds for the development and operation of the six park land reservations that made up the system at that time: Mill Hollow-Bacon Woods; Black River Reservation; French Creek Reservation; Lake Carlisle Reservation; Indian Hollow Reservation; and Charlemont Reservation.

The Park District was still relatively young in those days, a little more than ten years old, having only been created in 1957.

Voters ultimately defeated the levy in the 1969 November election. In the last fifty years, however, County residents have realized how lucky we are to have such a wonderful park system and have supported it, allowing it to greatly expand.

As noted on the Lorain County Metro Parks website, "The Park District is supported by a 1.6-mill levy property tax, earned income and a variety of sponsors and gifts. Capital improvements are financed by maintaining operating costs below annual revenues and utilizing grants, donations, and trusts.”

The duck pond is still there.

Burger Chef Ad – October 5, 1971

Hamburgers used to rule the fast-food world, but times have changed.

These days, it’s impossible to find a simple ‘hamburger' even listed on the giant McDonald’s digital menu board, as the classic fast food item has been crowded out by more exotic (and expensive) offerings. 

I often wonder how many hamburgers are even ordered there these days? 

Anyway, back in 1971, hamburgers were still king, and the burger barons – McDonald’s, Burger King, Sandy’s, Casey's and Burger Chef – were all battling it out in Lorain.

Burger Chef seemed to run the most ads in the Journal, and here’s one of them. It ran in the paper on October 5, 1971 – fifty years ago this month.

The theme of the ad is giving mothers a break from cooking on Wednesdays, with specially priced Burger Chef burgers on that night. It’s a great idea, and I’m sure it drummed up business on perhaps what was normally a slow weekday.

Nowadays, of course, eating out is something that happens several times a week for many families, and every day for some people.

But fifty years ago, like I’ve mentioned many times on this blog, having food from McDonald’s or Sandy’s was a rare treat for us, something that only happened when Mom and Dad were going out to eat themselves with some friends. Then they would ask my siblings and me what we would like, and Dad would be dispatched (like a true food gatherer) to pick it up.

The Keg Lounge – Sandusky

Many of us that grew up in the 1960s and 70s remember the bars and nightclubs that we patronized once we were finally old enough to drink. In my early drinking days, I remember hanging around included DiSimones (in the same shopping strip as Willow Hardware) because it was very close, only a few minutes from our house on Skyline Drive in Lorain.

My friends and I tended to stay in the immediate area to drink, and rarely ventured out to other cities. Thus I have no memory of a place called Keg Lounge out in Sandusky at 1616 Cleveland Street (US Route 6). But the nightclub was featured in one of those advertisements masquerading as an article in the Lorain Journal back on September 6, 1971 – fifty years ago last month.

The article reveals that there was something going on there almost every night. As the ad notes, “There’s the Ron and Gracie Revue which starts tomorrow night. It features Ron Knight, master of ceremonies, comedian, dancer and singer, and Gracie Darnell, a dancer and singer who along with Ron puts on a 40-minute floor show. (I’m not sure if it is the same Gracie Darnell who was a 1960s Detroit recording artist on the Ruth record label.) 

“There’s dancing to the music of the American Way Band, 20-minute performances by three beautiful go-go-dancers, and the floor shows are at 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.

“All this entertainment goes on six night per week – Tuesday through Sunday.”

Interestingly, the nightclub was next door to radio station WLEC.

****

I’m not sure how long the Keg Lounge was in business. 

An ad in the January 15, 1971 News-Messenger in Fremont, Ohio refers to it as ’Sandusky’s newest and most exciting Nite Club.” But online mentions of it seem to cease in the late 1970s. 

Today, the radio station is still there (in what looks like a large Quonset Hut) but it appears that the Keg Lounge’s building at 1616 Cleveland Street is no more. After looking at a vintage aerial photo dating back to 1969, I’m pretty sure that the building that was home to the Keg was located where a Dollar General sits today.

Johnny Risko Passes Away – January 1953

This Sunday, October 10, 2021 is Johnny Risko Day in Sheffield Lake. A special celebration of Risko’s life will take place at the Joyce E. Hanks Community Center from 3:00 to 5:00, with a special display of memorabilia.

In honor of the event, here’s an article that appeared in the Lorain Journal on January 14, 1953 at the time of Risko’s passing. It features a nice capsule summary of his career, and sheds the light on some of his local boxing opponents as well.

****

Started Pro Ring Career Here in 1924

Big Fighting Heart of John Risko Stops; Collapses in Miami

One of Lorain County’s greatest contributions to professional boxing – Johnny Risko – is dead today.

The great heart that carried Risko through 187 professional and amateur prize fights in a long ring career, which commenced at Hotel Antlers auditorium here in 1924, stopped last night.

Risko, attending a meeting at Elks lodge in Miami, Fla., collapsed in the lodge rooms. He was given oxygen enroute to a hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. Known as the “rubber man” in heavyweight ranks, Risko was born in Austria on Dec. 18, 1902.

Two Other top-ranking boxers from the Lorain area were Alvie Miller, featherweight who battled Johnny Kilbane for [sic] times, and is still active here, and Alex Hart, a native Lorainite, who worked his way up the welterweight ranks.

With a good record in 59 amateur bouts, Risko entered the professional ranks in 1924 and his initial bout was with Lorain’s Joe “Kayo” Martin, who is now a resident of Sheffield Lake Village.

Martin Broke Hand in Risko Bout

With the auditorium jammed to capacity, Risko and Martin stopped four rounds in the headline attraction, promoted by George Forester and arranged through Capt. Jack Kelly. Forester and Kelly, both prominent sportsmen and city firemen, have died in the past 15 years.

Martin suffered a fracture of the right hand in the first round, but stayed the distance with rugged Risko who belted with both hands from the opening moment of every round. The bout finished in a draw. Martin scaled 168 pounds, while Big John tipped 182, Martin, also in his first pro bout, received $35 for his four rounds of belting.

Martin, 47 years old now, is a resident of Sheffield Lake, 774 Howell Street. He is employed in the blooming mill at the Lorain works of the National Tube Company.

Relaxed at Resorts

Since retiring as a tavern operator about a year ago, Risko has been relaxing at resorts in Florida and also spending the summer months in Sheffield Lake. His two sisters and his father reside in Sheffield Lake, two miles east of Lorain. Risko owned and operated a night club in Cleveland at 25th Street and Clark Avenue for about three years.

The Risko property at Stop 84, Lake Road, in Sheffield Lake, was purchased about 25 years ago when the family moved from Lakewood. On the property, which extended well over an acre, the heavyweight boxer set up training facilities and frequently worked out there in preparation for his major bouts. His manager was Danny Dunn of Cleveland. Much of Risko’s road work was on the highways of Sheffield Lake Village.

Surviving in addition to his wife, are his father, John Sr.; two sisters, Mrs. Peter Cifranic and Mrs. Ziegmunt Forma, all of Sheffield Lake; a nephew and four nieces.

Risko and his wife had arrived only a week ago from Cleveland for a winter vacation at Miami Beach.

Ring Career Ended in 1940

The Cleveland “Rubber man” never was champion but he fought them all over the years from 1924 until Tony Musto knocked him out in three rounds at Miami Beach on Feb. 19, 1940. It was his last fight.

Risko engaged in 59 fights as an amateur in 1922 and 1923, then turned professional. He was five feet 11 inches and weighed 188 pounds in his fighting prime.

He had 128 professional fights and met such headliners as Gene Tunney, Jack Sharkey, Max Scheming, Max Baer, Tom Heeney, Tommy Loughran, Mickey Walker and many others.

The closest he ever got to the title was in a fight with Tom Heeney in Detroit, which Heeney won. The winner got a shot at Tunney and the heavyweight championship.

The body is scheduled to arrive at 8 p.m. today at the Cleveland airport.

****

The photo of Johnny Risko from the 1953 Journal article that, according to the caption, shows him “at his tavern about 18 months ago at Clark Avenue and West 35th Street in Cleveland” is very likely much older. 

A copy of it on eBay is labeled "Photo by Acme Newspictures, Inc.” and is dated 7-22-’38. A caption for the photo is supplied, which reads, “RISKO HAS A PROTEGE - MIAMI, FLA.---“HAVE A BEER ON THE HOUSE,’ SAYS JOHNNY RISKO, FORMER HEAVYWEIGHT PRIZE FIGHTER WHO IS SPENDING ALL THE TIME HE CAN AWAY FROM HIS BAR HERE, TO TRAIN A DARK HORSE BOXER, WHOSE IDENTITY HE IS NOT YET READY TO REVEAL. RISKO, WHO FOUGHT SOME 350 FIGHTS BEFORE RETIRING IN 1928 [sic], SAYS HIS PROTEGE IS 17 YEARS OLD AND WEIGHS 176 POUNDS. CREDIT LINE (ACME) 7/15/38

****

Here are a few shots from the Johnny Risko Day celebration at the Joyce E. Hanks Community Center. That’s Johnny’s 1929 Auburn Model 8-120 speedster.

Fire Prevention Week – October 1971

Did you know that October 3-9, 2021 is Fire Prevention Week? 

The week is almost over, so it’s about time that I posted this. It’s the full-page Fire Prevention Week ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on October 3, 1971 – fifty years ago this month.

You can tell it’s from the 1970s, because of the fairly dramatic, stylized graphic. No Sparky the Fire Dog in this ad (unfortunately).

Is Fire Prevention Week still officially acknowledged in the newspapers? It’s only a once-a-year event, but a pretty important one at that – so I hope it is.

As usual, it’s interesting to see who the ad sponsors are. It looks a few of them are still around, such as Somers Agency, Janasko Insurance and the successors to the banks listed.

But forget about picking up a burger at Sandy’s Drive-in, or stopping for a snort at the “New” Eddie’s Bar.

****

One of the features of Fire Prevention Week was an annual poster contest for school children sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. 

Here’s an ad announcing an art show of the posters at Midway Mall. It ran in the Journal on October 5, 1971.

If I remember correctly, the winners received a savings bond and a tour of the Lorain plant. (I should remember, because I was one of the winners when I was in eighth grade in 1972. But more about that next year!)

****

Since Sparky the Fire Dog was not to be seen in the 1971 Journal ad above, we’ll include the fire-prevention pooch in this post by reaching back to the time of his origin.

Here’s a great advertisement courtesy of the National Fire Protection Association archives. It’s from when Sparky was first introduced, circa 1952. He’s paired with fellow fire-prevention mascot Smokey Bear. (Hey, why is Smokey wearing a long-sleeved shirt, instead of being bear, I mean, bare chested?)

The ad notes that “Sparky talks – He’s animated – He’s great.” 

What is that all about? From what I can see, the ad is referring to the Sparky suit shown in the ad, which when worn by firemen teaching children about fire prevention, would allow Sparky to ‘come to life.’

Here’s a vintage newspaper article from the Petersburg Progress-Index of October 1, 1958 showing the same Sparky suit.

Anyway, for more fire prevention information, visit the National Fire Prevention Association website, as well as Sparky’s own doggone website.