Bewitching Goodness

I collect vintage newspapers and estate sales are a good source of them.  People tended to save the newspapers from important historical events, typically the Kennedy assassination and following weeks or the Apollo 11 moon mission and landing.  Every once in a while, I'll find some from Pearl Harbor or even earlier.

I found this ad in the October 30th, 1940 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Mavrakos was a St. Louis confectionery.  It's been gone for years, but is well-remembered.  When I was little, there was one in a local mall and my mom would take my sister and I there to get a huge peppermint patty (still my favorite).

Let's take a closer look at what you could buy.

But first, let's get a good look at that fabulous banner:

The first thing I noticed is how thick those fence posts are. It looks like they're made from 2x4's.   Wide enough for a cat to walk.  I'm not sure if the mother and children are meant to be peering over the fence or if they're magically floating in the background.  All kidding aside, it is a fantastic piece of art, worthy of framing.  I'll bet the original ended up in the trash.

This was likely a German pulp lantern similar to below:

Courtesy Etsy

I'm not sure what they mean by "lifelike pumpkin-shaped box".  I guess they meant it looked like an actual pumpkin, but the photo here doesn't really look like a real pumpkin, unless it's one that has shriveled and flattened.

Chocolate Cats for 35 cents and Popcorn Balls for a nickel. Man!

I'd love to see a  photo of that container used for the "Hallowe'en Special". I wonder if it was tin or cardboard.  It's "goblin-bedecked"!  We don't use "bedeck" enough these days.  I wonder what the unusual line of other Hallowe'en novelties was.

And Candied Apples for a nickel too?! C'mon!  I suspect "Pumpkin Head" was one of those fabric-faced bottlebrush ties just wrapped around some cellophane-encased lollipops, so "nicknack" might be a little strong.

The company was started by John Mavrakos in 1904, a big year here in St. Louis.  During WWII, they earned exclusive rights to ship candies to servicemen stationed overseas.  They flourished in the 1950's, but sadly, came to an end in 1984 after being bought out by another company.  www.mavrakos.com redirects you to www.chocolatechocolate.com, the owner of which claims to have the original Mavrakos recipe book and has recreated their famous products.  I visited a location a few years ago, but didn't see any huge peppermint patties.

As to why this newspaper was saved, I'm not sure.  I didn't have the headline, but Googling October 30th, 1940, I did see it was beginning of the first peacetime draft in the United States' history.  The draft numbers are included in the newspaper I have and someone has penciled the names "Bill" and "Dave" at the top, so I suspect someone's number was up.