Business references on the radio shows

[BobR]

I have found it interesting when references are made of various non-commercial stores, banks,etc. ; specifically the Bank of America,a reference to a Sontags drug store,and May company were mentioned..Do they still exist? Any other plugged businesses mentioned that come to mind?

[alain]

The May Company existed?...i always assumed this was a pseudo-big city dept store.

[kurt]

The May Company very much existed, and still does. It's now a conglomerate that operates 11 trade names. The days of the Benny program were the golden age of downtown department stores. Most definitely the pre-Wal-Mart era!

The Bank of America: Also still around.

Sometimes there's a mention of the Owl Drugstore. Also in Los Angeles. Quite often the show began at a drugstore lunch counter. Those have pretty much disappeared from the landscape as well.

During the era when performers (and sometimes their writers) would get free merchandise just for mentioning a brand name on the air, Rochester once mentioned a "GE electric blanket."

Jack: "But Rochester, we don't have a GE electric blanket."

Rochester: "We do now!"

[alain]

I'm curious, are any of the current May co trade names widely known?

We still have Canada Dry gingerale in Canada (tho i don't think i've ever seen anyone drink it straight...i think it is mainly used as the mix in "rye+gingers" -mostly popular only in certain small town holdouts

Similarly, while an absolute staple of my childhood (late 60s-early 80s) i havn't recently seen JELLO outside of "chinese" restaurant buffet desserts or hospital food.

I think (?)i have seen "Lucky" cigs during ski trips to Vermont in 80s-90s.

Grape nuts cereal ;--is that similar/now Raisin Bran?

[LLeff]

Well, I believe the store in Los Angeles where Mary worked the hosiery counter is now called Robinsons-May.

Canada Dry is definitely still around, but as you mentioned, I think it is widely used as a mixer. However, I have had occasion to drink it straight from time to time. A shame that there's no more "made to order" Canada Dry.

Also during my Benny research trip to Los Angeles, I was a regular customer of Canter's (a famous delicatessen with a few Benny connections of its own). When I ordered a turkey dinner, it came with both soup and dessert. Choices for dessert were ice cream or Jell-O. I couldn't resist...

However, I think the home use of Jell-O varies on a regional basis. I once heard that my own home town of Grand Rapids, Michigan, held the title (for a time) of Jell-O capital of the world because their citizens ate more Jell-O per capita than anywhere else. (No, I didn't help to pull up the ranking very much on my own.)

Lucky Strike seems to have changed its target market, and as I said to Dan just today when he asked the same question, "You need to go to the rough part of town to find billboards for Luckies." I am told that they are very much past their claims of "never a rough puff in a Lucky" and "so free and easy on the draw" and are now one of the strongest smokes on the market. From what I've heard, they're targeted mainly at young toughs (who probably wouldn't be terribly responsive to the Sportsmen's ditties).

[BobR]

Many of the radio shows referenced restaurants and night clubs during the 40's. Some that I recall included:Brown Derby where Jack had shared matzoh ball soup with Eddie Cantor,Ciros,the Tracadero,and maybe Romanoffs, as well as the Racket Club in Palm Springs.Any other restaurants or night clubs come to mind?

[LLeff]

Well, Phil's venues, like the Wilshire Bowl, do come to mind.