March 30, 1934, Menasha Record
Whether or no smaller hams are a better buy isn't so much an issue to me as the mother-daughter drama portrayed above. Maybe Jane had a large dinner party that demanded a larger ham. Sure wish she had consulted Mother first. Or maybe the Hopfensperger Brothers. They'd have set her straight. The butcher shop in Menasha was located at 216 Main Street.
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March 31, 1959, Appleton Post-Crescent
Elaborate state-of-the-art infrastructure was what it was all about, making efficiencies count in the day-to-day world of publishing. Banta's was no slouch when it came to modernizing its presses and bindery machines. .
March 14, 1983, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern
Starting the week with some wee ones, looking so into their role playing of their favorite fairy tale characters. Today, it'd be called "cosplay," I guess. In my day, we would have called it playing dress up.
March 25, 1969, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern
With the impending Easter holiday on the horizon, Wanserski's takes it upon itself to ensure the Menasha consumer has the options of the Easter Ham or the Easter Kielbasa. (I must say the idea of an Easter Kielbasa was new to me; but I did the research and learned it is a Polish tradition.) And now I want some...and the homemade potato sausage, too.
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March 31, 1956, Appleton Post-Crescent
Drucks Electric imitates a newspaper by appearing as a newspaper within a newspaper. How meta is that? But really, the photo of the old time appliances in the "used appliance center" truly makes the grade, right down to the wringer washers, of which I am familiar, having commandeered one with my mother on washdays growing up. .
March 21, 1949, Menasha Record
These ads are a testament to how pervasive the businesses were around Main Street in former years. Car dealers, appliances, cleaners, the local dairy...they all once commanded the attention of the Menasha buying public. Over time, with the more acceptance of auto travel and the lure of discount prices in large big box stores away from the downtown, the Mom and Pop era eventually eroded into the conditions we face today, sparse downtowns and sometimes what planners called "food deserts" where there isn't even a local grocery to shop at.
March 16, 1981, Appleton Post-Crescent
Oh yes, we have a definite theme going here, save for Shakey's which (thankfully) didn't come up with a corned beef pizza for the occasion. I have to hand it to them though, the shamrock green soda likely would have been a hit with the "little leprechauns." And kudos to the Grog for the authentic Irish beer instead of simply food coloring a pitcher of Miller Lite.
March 14, 1978, Neenah-Menasha Daily Northwestern
Giving even more of an international flavor than usual, diners at the Peking Palace can now enjoy Irish Coffee with their beef chow mein. I think I'm at a loss for words.
March 8, 1974, Twin City News-RecordI'm in that auditorium somewhere during this event and I recall the trip to Milwaukee only too well. And despite the hoopla surrounding the whole "going to State" circumstance and the fact that our high school just had its first winning record in 13 years, the whole experience transcended the game itself. It was so exciting. I don't want this to come across like a "Wonder Years" rerun, but suffice it to say, it was a special time.
February 3, 1959, Appleton Post-Crescent
I missed this anniversary in February; I think I was concentrating on getting the blog going again the week after it, due to my recent eye surgery, but leave it to me to provide this a month or so later (better late than never). It's not often that most of us have a brush with history, even of the tragic kind. I'm sure many Menasha rock and roll fans had looked forward to seeing Buddy Holly and the others at the Cinderella, but it was not to be. One has to wonder if things might have been different if they'd gone ahead with their schedule and ventured down to Appleton to play instead of heading for Fargo after the Green Bay date.
March 9, 1965, Appleton Post-Crescent
Now available at Gibson's on Main Street. I was all prepared to tell you about this little number until I caught wind of the full ad with text the Gibson Company failed to include (see below). I was confused for awhile because the Wildcat was a Buick model in the 1960's, but the ad copy tells me that this LeSabre had a Wildcat V-8 engine, so that explains the tag line.
March 9, 1965, Twin City News-Record
In the doldrums of Winter, when Spring is just around the corner (we hope), we always look for a diversion to help get us through the season. For the local outdoorsman, this is it! A movie trip to the Arctic to hunt moose and bear, fish in pristine streams, and experience the outdoors in ways we cannot imagine, at least in our imaginations. Travelogues and other pictures like this are always a good bet for niche audiences and this one fit the bill perfectly.
March 7, 1958, Appleton Post-Crescent
Seeing as how yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, my eye was, naturally, drawn to this ad. Perhaps this offer was at odds with the whole idea and the "Lenten Special" was really a tongue-in-cheek dig at the custom, who knows. Still, I found it a refreshing respite from the usual 1950s take on starchy, serious public mores for its time.
Back when televisions were real pieces of furniture, this beauty sold at Drucks for $289. In 1958 dollars the price would have been $2,615.25 today, according to one inflation calculator I found. But fear not, for state of the art fine tuning was just around the corner with the remote that allowed you to not have to get up to change the channel among other things! Such luxury my boyhood psyche could not imagine! It would be many, many years before anything so fine crossed my childhood threshold, let alone a color set. In the meantime, I'd have to satisfy my television hunger with simple black and white viewing of my favorite cartoons. And making a groove in the carpeting between the easy chair and the TV set, in order to change the channel.
