Lawson's Krazy Kow Karton – January 1973

Back in November on this blog, I featured the Jerzee Moo Cow Creamer – a cow-shaped container that the Ohio-based Defiance Milk Products distributed as a promotional item in the fall of 1972.

While the idea of pouring milk out of a cow's mouth might be udderly disgusting to some, Lawson's must have thought it was a good idea. Why else would they come up with the Krazy Kow Karton, a carton with little fold out ears and horns, for their chocolate flavored skim milk?

The ad below (from the January 17, 1973 Journal) shows a disembodied hand (not unlike the Thing on The Addams Family TV show) pouring the Krazy Kow Karton. 

I can't tell if the little boy in the ad is giddy with excitement, or ready to barf.

Anyway, a quick search on the internet reveals that apparently none of these things still exist, fifty years later. It's not hard to understand why, since it's the thing that nightmares are made of.

Yes, if I have to remember a Lawson's milk carton, I'd much rather think of this non-bovine one, (courtesy of Worthpoint.com). It's like an old friend.

Harmon's Beach in Winter – January 1963

Harmon's Beach has washed ashore on this blog as a topic a few times.

Back here, I posted a Journal article and photo from March 1956 showing the huge buildup of sand that had accumulated, creating a hazard to boaters as well as swimmers. And this post presented the August/Sept. 1970 debate about whether Harmon's Beach should be closed to the  public because of the actions of a few. (It was, in April 1972.)

But all that controversy was in the future when the photo below appeared in the Journal on January 1, 1963.

The caption reads, "Gray and white predominate the wintry landscape in this photograph taken at Harmon's Beach, at the foot of Brownell Ave. At the upper right, the lighthouse keeps a cold and lonely vigil and near the center of the photo a sign warns needlessly – "Private beach – violators will be prosecuted."

I'm not sure how Harmon's Beach went from being a private beach to a public one, before eventually being closed.

First Lorain County Baby of 1963

We're still toddling along in Babyland here on the blog...

For many years, the Journal's "First Baby" contests celebrated the first baby born in Lorain's St. Joseph Hospital after the stroke of midnight on January 1st. St. Joseph was the only hospital in town then.

But Lorain County is a pretty good sized county, and everybody loves babies – so the newspaper realized that there might be some interest in other 'first babies.' Thus we have the short article below that appeared in the Journal on January 2, 1963.

As the article notes, "Little Miss Shirley Green, a five-pound, 10-ounce bundle of joy, won the honor of the first baby born at Allen Hospital in 1963."

Born at 1:05 a. m., Shirley had "the distinction of being the first child born in Lorain County in the new year."

"Mrs. Green, a 24-year old native of Frankfurt, Germany has been in the United States only eight months," the article continued. "The Greens were married in Germany while he was stationed there during an assignment in the U. S. Army."

Interestingly, new father Mr. Green was a Fuller Brush salesman.

It is unclear if Shirley received any goodies and/or swag.

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So is the Fuller Brush Company still around today? Sure it is – and here's the link to its website. Be sure to visit the "Our Story" page, where you can learn about its interesting history.

It was also the subject of two movies – The Fuller Brush Man (with Red Skelton) and The Fuller Brush Girl (with Lucille Ball).

We watched The Red Skelton Show (with his "May God Bless" goodbye catchphrase) regularly in our house. Although I saw him in person at the Ohio State Fair, I was never a big fan of his old movies. I just couldn't equate the frantic young guy in the movies with the older guy hosting the weekly TV show.

First Baby of 1973

By 1973, the prizes in the Journal's First Baby Contest had been scaled back to a baby-sized portion, relative to the generosity of the merchants back in 1963.

Citizens Home and Savings Association was still awarding the new baby a saving account in the amount of one dollar for every pound of his or her weight at birth. And there was still chicken as a gift (a 20-piece chicken feast from Mister S, as opposed to 1963's barbecued chickens from Dewey Road Restaurant).

But otherwise, the rattling sound coming from the contest wasn't from a baby rattle – it was more of a death rattle. The other gifts consisted of a gift certificate from Gaylord's, baby's first pair of shoes from Januzzi's, and $10 worth of 'baby needs' from National Pharmacy. That's it.

So was the lucky winner of those "20 Tender golden JUICY PIECES of Chicken cooked to perfection" and other goodies? Douglas James Finlayson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clare Finlayson of Lorain.

And here's the front page of the January 2, 1973 Journal with the scoop.

Of course, overshadowing everything on the page is the death of baseball great Roberto Clemente in a plane crash while he was traveling with others on a mission to provide relief supplies to victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake. It was a stunning loss, especially the people of Puerto Rico, who idolized him as the 'first great Latin American baseball player.'

I recently found the baseball bats that my brothers and I played with as kids, and none other than Roberto Clemente's name is the inscription for one of them.

First Baby of 1963

Many of us still remember when the Journal sponsored a contest in which the first Lorain baby born in St. Joseph's Hospital was awarded a variety of prizes. 

The earliest example that I've ever posted was the First Baby of 1947. The gifts received by the baby and its parents were quite extensive (see below).

Fast forward to sixty years ago, and we have the contest surrounding the arrival of the First Baby of 1963. The prizes were still pretty good (see below). By then, it was no longer specifically the first 'Lorain baby' since the parents needed only to be residents of Lorain County.

And who was the winning baby in 1963? Tanya Yvette Randleman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Randleman of Lorain. 

She's appeared on this blog before (back in 2016 when I apparently was jumping around a bit time-wise when creating content) but this time I have the whole Journal front page and a little better image of Tanya and her mother.

Journal from January 2, 1963

(Her mother, Dolores Y. Randleman passed away in August 2020.)

Next: Onward and upward to 1973

Journal Front Page – January 1, 1963

 

Sixty years ago, this was the front page of the January 1, 1963 Lorain Journal. There's a lot going on, both around the world and right here in Lorain County, and how all of it is covered is interesting. 

The large headline refers to the ongoing crisis in the Congo. It's complicated (I took a peek at a Wiki page about it) and I think it would be unlikely today that the Journal would allot so much of its front page to something going on in that part of the world. People in the U. S. just don't seem to be that interested in another country's internal problems. Similarly, the war between India and China is big news, but I'm not sure just how much coverage it would get today.

Other news items: another victim of the Boston Strangler; a three-car collision on Lorain's icy west side roads; a terrible winter storm with below zero temperatures that continued to hammer the Northeast; a wedding performed by Mayor Mathna; and a relatively low traffic death toll for the holiday.

There's also a nice photo of some Lorainites celebrating New Year's Eve at Oak Hills Country Club and of course, the much-missed (by me) "Today's Chuckle."

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Next, the blog will take some baby steps in the direction of all those 'first babies.'

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone out there! Here's hoping that it's happy and healthy for you and the people you care about.

It's hard to believe that it's actually 2023, which for years has been one of those far-off expiration dates listed on credit cards and batteries that went dead early anyway. Speaking of expiration dates, I'm just happy to still be around – so it's a good year already.

As usual, I'd like to wish my older brother Ken a Happy Birthday! I know he lives in a foreign country (Texas) now, but I hope they recognize his celebrity status down there as Lorain's First Baby of 1958. I've written about it many times, including the newspaper account of it here, his list of free goodies here, and the Journal's follow-up story on him a year later here.

Here's Ken at 4 months. I like the design of his bedding, which includes some kind of cowboy-hat-wearing, bewhiskered critter – which I guess pretty much describes Ken now.

I hope to get some more blog contributions from Ken this year, as his two-part reminisces about working at U. S. Steel are still a much-visited post.

I'll be turning my attention to other Lorain 'first babies' in the days ahead.

We'll also celebrate the New Year on this blog by posting one of those full-page ads that ran in the Journal. This one – with an astronaut theme – ran on Dec. 31, 1962 and welcomed 1963.

As usual, just about all of the companies from sixty years ago are gone, with the exception of Rebman's Recreation, still going strong in the 2000s.