Mr. Civil Defense Tells About Natural Disasters – 1956

Yesterday’s post about air raid sirens and civil defense in general reminded me that I had this comic book in my file. It’s entitled “Mr. Civil Defense Tells About Natural Disasters!” and enlists the aid of famed cartoonist Al Capp to elevate it a bit, entertainment-wise.

Who is Mr. Civil Defense?

Mr. Civil Defense is an advertising mascot designed by Capp. He’s short and blond haired, with the stylized “CD” civil defense logo making up most of his body. He’s a little cocky, and wears a civil defense helmet, which tilts forward, covering up one eye. 

Of course, the real star of the comic book is Li’l Abner, the star of Capp’s popular syndicated comic strip. Li’l Abner appears prominently on the cover, but by page two (in a good example of bait-and-switch) he is shown riding off in the distance on a donkey, heading back to Dogpatch (for a first-aid lesson) and turning the story over to Mr. Civil Defense.

Mr. Civil Defense then narrates the story, appearing on every page to interact with the citizens of a typical small town to offer educational tidbits about preparing for natural disasters and other emergencies.

Here is the book in its entirety. It’s copyrighted 1956.

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The comic book gives you a lot to think about. 

For me, the scenes of the flooded city strike home. Living in Vermilion for the past few years, I’m easily reminded of the massive flooding that occurred as a result of the notorious July 4, 1969 storm. Those illustrations of the city under water also bring to mind the Vermilion River overflowing its banks when December snow melts too quickly during a warm, rainy January.

Although I’m skeptical that any of the local communities are as well prepared as the city depicted in the comic book, at least Lorain County has the Lorain County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.

Air Raid Signal Test – May 1951

In the spring of 1951, Lorain was still taking steps to prepare its residents for possible enemy attack. World War II may have been over, but the Cold War was just getting started.

From the front page of the May 3, 1951 Lorain Journal comes the story of an upcoming test of an air raid signal.

As the article notes, "Lorain’s first city-wide air raid signal test since World War II will be staged at 10 a. m. Friday when four industries cooperate in a 3-minute whistle test to determine how well the whistles can be heard in various sections of the city.

“Arrangements for the civil defense tests were announced by Raymond Lucas, chief air raid warden and chief of the air raid warning setup. National Tube Co., Thew Shovel Co., American Shipbuilding Co. and the B. and O. car shop whistles will be used in the test.

“The signals will be a 10-second whistle followed by 10 seconds of silence. A check of various sections of the city will be made by wives of auxiliary police to determine effectiveness of the signal, according  to Ralph Thibaut, chief of the auxiliary police.

“Lucas also announced at yesterday’s civil defense board meeting at the Hotel Antlers that they first training session for air raid wardens was held at the American Legion hall Monday night, with 18 prospective wardens from all parts of the city in attendance.

“The plan of civil defense organization was outlined by Lucas and the film, “Pattern for Survival,” was shown. First aid classes will start next Monday, and the course also will include chemical warfare, radiological warfare, decontamination and instruction on rescue and fire defense procedures, etc.”

Three years later, the city was testing air raid sirens of its own (which I wrote about here).

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Publicity photo of Laurel and Hardy
for the movie Air Raid Wardens (1943)

Civil Defense has been a favorite topic on this blog.

I’ve written several posts about the old Civil Defense Tower, repurposed from its original function as a Coast Guard lookout and moved to a new location behind the old Lorain City Hall for use by the Ground Observer Corps.

Other related post topics include: a 1961 Fallout Protection Book; a 1968 Emergency Handbook for Nuclear Attack and Natural Disasters; a two-part series on Fallout Shelters; and an original Fallout Shelter sign that was mounted on the now-demolished Garfield Elementary School Annex.

Vintage Litterbug Sign

I rent a storage unit at Hold It Self Storage in Lorain. The facility is located on the site of the old Lorain Drive-in Theater, which made it a nostalgic choice for me. But the employees there are nice, and the price is right too. 

While giving me a tour of the grounds, the manager pointed out that their office is actually the old theater’s concession stand. The old original entrance structure where cars stopped to buy their movie tickets is still there as well.

(I first wrote about Hold It Self Storage back here in 2010.)

There is an old, faded ‘Don’t be a Litterbug’ sign on the premises, which adds to the retro ambience. The sign may or may not be a leftover from the theater days. 

As you can see, the litterbug isn’t the classic “tough guy” design (shown below) that was used in a national campaign, which I wrote about here.

But the litterbug on the sign at Hold It Self Storage is obviously an old style illustration, sort of a cousin to the vermin on the old Raid TV commercials. 

I took it into Photoshop and reversed it to get a better look. I like the spots on his nose.

Anyway, a website that offers retro-style signs must have liked this guy too, since a slightly modified version appears on one of their throwback products. You can see that they simplified the illustration a bit, slimming him down and eliminating some of the garbage strewn about. They also made ‘litterbug’ two words.

Be Sure With Pure – May 1956

Are you picky about what brand of gasoline that you put in your car or other vehicle?

Sad to say, I’m not. I usually buy my gas in Vermilion from a BP station with a statue of a cartoon moose in front of it. Other times, I go to Speedway. Both companies issued me loyalty cards, and that fact probably influences my purchase habits – even though I don’t even keep track of my points.

But back in the 1950s, 60s and into the 1970s oil companies aggressively marketed their brands on TV and ads in newspaper and magazines, encouraging families to favor their brand for a variety of reasons, including better mileage, etc. 

I know that for years, my father went to Sohio, because the Standard Oil family of gas stations was huge, and we relied on that credit card during our cross-country camping trips. Much later (when Sohio no longer existed as a brand), Dad preferred Sunoco.

Anyway, one brand that was fairly prominent in the Lorain area in the 1950s was PURE Oil. The ad above ran in the Lorain Journal back on May 8, 1956.

At that time, Lorain had several PURE Oil stations: Dusky Brothers at Broadway and 19th; Duran’s Pure Oil at 2117 E. 28th Street; and Jack’s Pure Oil at Oberlin Avenue and Meister.

(I did a post about Jack’s Pure Oil back here in 2010.)

You can find a lot of old PURE Oil maps on eBay featuring this beautiful photography of a typical station.

And here’s Jack’s Pure Oil circa 1955, before the Lorain Plaza Shopping Center was built to the west of it.

As various online histories of PURE Oil note, it was purchased by Union Oil Company in 1965, who eventually converted the PURE stations to Union 76 stations in the early 1970s. This WIKI entry points out that a group of jobbers purchased the PURE brand name and it has enjoyed a limited comeback of sorts. Here is their website, which has great graphics.

That’s why it’s strange to see PURE stations with different graphics around Lorain County, such as the two below (the top one is in Amherst, the bottom one is on East Erie Avenue in Lorain). The corporate parent of these ‘impure’ stations is called Pure Friendship LLC, according to a Morning Journal article.

These stations don’t seem to have any connection with the jobbers’ PURE operations. If they did, I’m sure they would have used the well-remembered PURE graphics to enjoy the equity and goodwill of the brand.

I’ve contacted the PURE Oil Jobbers Cooperative to find out what they thought of these stations, but have never received a reply.

Lorain Times-Herald Front Page – May 23, 1918

 

I’ll finish out the week here on the blog with yet another vintage newspaper front page. This one is from the Lorain Times-Herald from May 23, 1918 – 103 years ago this month. World War I was still raging but would end later that year.

There’s plenty of interesting things to peruse on the front page. As a card-carrying member of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, I probably was most interested in the passing of Moses Rupp, the oldest Civil War veteran in Lorain County at that time.

Like many of his contemporaries, he was quite a character. As the article noted, “The decedent was the oldest Civil War veteran in last year’s Memorial Day parade. At the time he said: “I’m 90, but I wish I was 19. I would like to fight once more for the Stars and Stripes, and for the same principles I fought for in the Sixties.”

Elsewhere on the page, James Carter, Jr. of Elyria was being recognized for his actions in the World War. He volunteered to participate in the hazardous task of blocking of a harbor. Ten of the nineteen men on his ship lost their lives by either German gunfire or by drowning. Carter was likely to receive the Victoria Cross.

Probably the most disturbing item on the page was something that took place at National Tube. As the lead paragraph noted, “Several hundred workmen employed in the skelp mills of the National Tune took affairs in their own hands last night at 6 o’clock and let it be known to the world that they are thoroughly patriotic and will permit no alleged ‘slackers’ to associate with them. Without the knowledge of officials of the company the men drove a workmen out of the mill and painted his back with the word “slacker,” because he refused to contribute to the war chest fund.

On a happier note, an article at the bottom of the page noted that Thomas Crump, a Lorain man working as a janitor at the Majestic Apartments, had seven sons in active military service, and fourteen nephews as well in various branches of the U. S. and British armed forces. Crump was a native of England and had served in the British Navy himself; he had moved to the States thirteen years earlier and had been a Lorain resident for some time.

Lorain Times-Herald Front Page – May 13, 1920

One hundred and one years ago, the big story on the front page of the May 13, 1920 Lorain Times-Herald was the escape of a murder suspect, Leroy Duffy, and three other men from the county jail in Akron.

As the article noted, "The men used fine steel saws, thought to have been smuggled into them by relatives.

“They sawed through the bars of their cells, passed down the hallway, sawed through the bars of the cell block and went on their way to the cellar where they lifted a casement window and were free.”

It took a while, but an article in the Akron Beacon Journal on April 1, 1921 reported Dunlap’s arrest (as well as one of the other men) in Florida. A girlfriend of one of the four men had been the one who smuggled the saws into the Summit County jail – earning a sentence of her own in the Marysville women’s reformatory.

Elsewhere on the Lorain Times-Herald front page, there isn’t the usual mayhem. Sorry about that, Chief.

It’s pretty humdrum stuff. Lorain was setting a goal of increasing its population to 75,000 by 1930; the big Miller Evangelistic Campaign was in its closing days in Lorain; the Lake Shore Electric railway was gearing up to make $200,000 worth of improvements in its street railway system; and plans for paving Colorado Avenue from the railroad crossing to the Cromwell Steel Company plant were being made.

The best item on the page was the little item near the bottom, “INNOCENT MAN PRISONER DAILY.” It noted, “Although he has committed no offense, Lorain has a man who has been locked in jail every day for the past 5 years.

“He’s Alex Cooley, jail janitor.

“Cooley spends a half hour or more each day behind  locked doors and barred windows. His duties call for cleaning the prison each morning. 

"“They have to lock me in says, says Cooley, “or the prisoners might escape."

"“I don’t mind it,” he said, “Except when they forget about me some times.””

You Be the Judge of Don Hilton’s New Book

Don presenting me with my FREE
autographed copy of his new book
at the Lorain Public Library

You remember Don Hilton, right?

I’ve mentioned him on this blog a few times. He's the local author who penned one of my favorite go-to reference books: Murders, Mysteries and History of Lorain County, Ohio 1824-1956. I consult it when I want to learn the gruesome details about some unsavory incident (a shooting, stabbing, etc.) that appeared on the front page of a Lorain Times-Herald in the early 1900s.

Well, Don’s written another book. But this time, the topic is much more sedate and respectable; the book is called Dearly Departed Judges of Lorain County, Ohio 1824-2020.

Why write about Lorain County Judges?

As Don explained, he had done some of the research while writing Murders, Mysteries and History of Lorain County, Ohio 1824-1956. The short judge bios in that book attracted the attention of Lorain County Court of Common Pleas Administrator Sherry Clouser, who enlisted him to create official bios of Lorain County’s general division judges. These bios are now displayed under the judges' portraits in the Lorain County Justice Center. 

It made sense to make the bios available to the public by compiling them into a historical book, with additional information and research, written in Don’s inimitable light, whimsical style.

Don and his new book got a terrific write-up in the Morning Journal by Kevin Martin a few weeks ago. The article about his new book was actually the front page headline article that day. 

And before I forget, the book is a family affair. Don’s wife Kathleen “Kat” Sikora Hilton did the wonderful illustrations.

You can order the book here on Amazon. It’s also in many fine stores (including Burning River Boutique in Vermilion).