If one believes the ad copy in turn-of-the-century publications, an epidemic of lethargy, weakness, and lack of masculine physical virtues afflicted North American men. Hapless readers were encouraged to try everything from embryonic versions of modern exercise programs to shocking their gonads with varying levels of electricity to restore their vigour. From his office at Yonge and Adelaide, Dr. McLaughlin offered Torontonians a chance to add courage to their tired blood and cure common......

After 90 years of serving customers in Toronto, the Dominion banner begins its vanishing act this week as owner Metro undertakes a year-long process of renaming the Ontario grocery stores acquired in its purchase of A&P Canada. Recent renovations at several stores around the city will culminate with the official launch of the Metro banner at the Bayview-Eglinton location on Thursday. Before the brand becomes as historic as the high-collared gentleman carving the roast, we......

Kudos to the designer of today's featured ad, which successfully imitates the look and feel of one of the most successful new magazine launches of the 1970s to promote a longtime Toronto wake-up call, CBC Radio's Metro Morning. Time Inc.'s attempt to package a personality-driven magazine with better research than existing scandal-focused publications resulted in People turning a profit within 18 months of its March 1974 debut. Managing editor Richard B. Stolley felt that......

If Baikal was "the Bobby Orr of the bruin hockey world," we hope that the bear's knees were sturdier than the hall-of-famer's. The results of two years of hockey drills for Baikal and nearly a dozen other bears were on display for Canadian audiences in the fall of 1970, when a Moscow Circus tour provided a slight thaw in Cold War relations. The tour got off to a rocky start in Montreal after two......

With today marking the first day back to school for most students in the city, we take this opportunity to let parents know who runs the institutions that will mould your children into upstanding young citizens...or at least the people who ran the show in Leaside 50 years ago. Founded in 1920, the Leaside Board of Education operated out of Leaside High School by the time today's ad appeared. Besides the high school, the......

It may not have had the comedic potential of a banana phone, but imagine the looks bypassers may have given to anyone grooving down the street with a pop can nestled next to their ear...or not, given the number of novelty promotional portable radios produced during the pre-Walkman/iPod era. The manufacturer took no responsibility for anyone who mistook the radio for an actual can of locally brewed ginger ale and discovered the lovely fizz......

Though one tends to think of Roots as primarily a clothing retailer these days, it was a trendy shoe that launched the chain 35 years ago this month. After studying several retail business ideas, company founders Michael Budman and Don Green settled upon the growing craze in the early 1970s for the Earth Shoe, a Danish-designed piece of footwear whose heel was lower than its toe. After failing to secure the Canadian franchise for......

Optimism was in the air as the 1970 edition of the Canadian National Exhibition approached. The dawning of a new decade excited the fair's promoters and ad designers, encouraging both to add a modern touch to the Ex's 92nd edition. One of the most controversial exhibits was "Man and his Drugs" at the Queen Elizabeth Building. Described by programmers as "an honest, fearless portrayal of the effects of drugs on today's society," the maze-like......

Cow herds and invalids were among the radio listeners that spent over 10,000 mornings waking up with Wally Crouter. His run as CFRB's morning man from 1946 to 1996 saw his comforting style stay afloat in the ratings against competitors like top 40 radio and shock jocks. Crouter felt that one of the keys to his long run was creating a comfort zone for listeners to ease themselves into the new day, without bringing......

While P. Jamieson tried to raise a ruckus with their dare to the dozen or so other dry goods retailers located in the vicinity of Queen and Yonge, two competitors would have the last laugh—T. Eaton and R. Simpson expanded rapidly after 1883, with the early versions of their landmark stores in place by the end of the 19th century. Source: The Globe, May 12, 1883......

Not so many of those bright red packs would be seen at an Argonauts game nowadays due to legislation, unless one pokes out of a fan's pocket. The 1969 edition of the Boatmen (10 wins, 4 losses) finished in second place in the East, a game behind the Ottawa Rough Riders. Four players were named to the CFL's all-star team: running back Dave Raimey, offensive guard Charlie Bray, defensive end Ed Harrington, and defensive......

Imagine that you're an advertising representative assigned to handle a spot for Eaton's in a magazine distributed to audience members enjoying classical music at Roy Thomson Hall in 1982. The department store giant wants to spotlight their fine collection of pianos. As you struggle for ideas, you flip on the radio and hear Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder join forces to sing about the joys of piano duets and racial harmony. A light bulb......

Art buyers can basically be divided into two categories: those who appreciate the thought and craftsmanship that go into the works and those who need something to offset their living room couch. While Toronto's rich art scene caters to both groups, sometimes all the offset-the-couch buyer wants is a simple decorative painting that won't empty their bank account. For them, as well as connoisseurs of the tacky, there is the starving artist sale option.......

Indoor gardens. A climate-controlled shopping experience to deal with harsh winters and humid summers. The most stores under one roof in Canada. Plenty of directions for those using their vehicles or public transit. All of these drawing cards were used when Sherway Gardens opened in 1971. On the drawing board since the early 1960s, construction of Sherway Gardens was delayed for eight years due to legal challenges from merchants in the nearby communities along......

With summer now officially upon us, some of our fair city's citizens face an age-old dilemma: stay in the city for the weekend or flee to the cottage. Families who choose the latter are then faced with the prospect of entertaining themselves in the midst of gridlock and curveballs tossed by the weather deities. Enter CBC's network of repeater stations to keep family members safe from each other's throats and help them avoid the......

If this spacious stove were marketed today, what expression would the customer service rep at your friendly neighbourhood big box retailer display if you asked them about the radiantube and thermizer specs? A division of General Motors for 60 years, Frigidaire set up shop in Leaside in 1933 when it purchased most of the former Durant Motors property. The company opened a second plant along the Golden Mile in Scarborough in 1952, one of......

...unless you're a vegetarian. Ziggys Fantastic Foods was a chain of gourmet deli/specialty food shops around the GTA, located in stand-alone locations and within Loblaws stores as part of the grocer's revitalization attempt in the mid-1970s. Their prices were considered high—when complaints of price jumps of up to 89% after the conversion of Loblaws' Yonge and Yorkville store to Ziggys made the front page of The Toronto Star in November 1975, Loblaws president William......

Further proof of the modesty employed in late 19th century advertising. Call this a prequel to last week's featured ad, as Welland Vale was one of the bicycle manufacturers whose line was amalgamated into CCM later on in the year this was published. Originally a manufacturer of wagon wheels when the company started in the 1860s, Welland Vale also produced hand tools and farm implements. After divesting its bicycle line and the wagon wheel......

This week marks the official start of Bike Month in Toronto, which provides an opportunity to look at how cycles were marketed a century ago. For a decade on either side of the turn of the 20th century, bicycle manufacturers maintained an advertising presence in city newspapers similar to current automakers. Pitches ranged from elegant vehicle styling to thrift, as this attack on tossing your money away on money-grubbing public transit systems demonstrates. The......

How can an advertiser go wrong when they hire an adorable simian to help pitch their product (or not-quite-as-cute, as testified by the venerable gorilla suit mascot of Active Surplus on Queen West)? The old "aww, aren't they cute" factor kicks in to such a degree that it may not matter what colour the model's outfit is or that the "jungle" is a merely a cluster of trees next to a suburban pond or......

Mention the name "O'Keefe" in association with Toronto and several things come to mind for those over a certain age. A brewery that was a cornerstone of E.P. Taylor's business empire, which eventually merged with Molson. A performing arts centre that has undergone several name changes. A downtown laneway whose length has been shortened by developments at Yonge and Dundas. But soft drinks? Thanks to prohibition measures that were in effect in Ontario for......

Several ways to interpret the stated goal of "reporting some of the happier happenings in our community": An opportunity for budding reporters to hone their skills on enlightening human interest stories and positive community events that fly under the radar during a typical grim news day. A momentary respite from the sensationalism creeping into the news world. A program that allows a media outlet like CFRB to break in fresh young talent gently, without......

Today's ad offers an ideal 1970s entertainment lineup for upper middle class patrons on business, vacation, or a wild night in the suburbs. The Royal Box offered dinner theatre twice a night. The "merely posh" Le Continental filled the decade's appetite for romantic meals loaded with soft jazz and slabs of meat (chateaubriand for two, ma belle amie?). Katsura supplied a then-exotic Japanese dining experience. The Brandy Tree offered fancy drinks and a piano......

Two ads for local bakeries lay side-by-side in an evening newspaper. One will become an international food empire (albeit one in the midst of boardroom turmoil), the other will find that a walking loaf of bread does not ensure longevity. George Weston (1865–1924) entered the bread business at the age of 12, learning the craft at several local bakeries. At 17 he purchased two bread routes that mark the beginning of the company that......

Sometimes what passed for clever advertising in the past leaves us speechless. Note that today's ad appeared seven years before Advertising Standards Canada came into being. The free guide offered in this ad was first published in 1944 and offered the following words of wisdom: Soup has long played a stellar part on the Canadian menu—but never has it filled so many interesting and appetizing roles as it does today! Formerly served as a......

The National Home Show is on this week, providing homeowners with ideas on how to improve their humble abodes. Back in the early 1970s suggestions were offered on how to raise the money to afford new wood panelling and a basement mini-bar, such as buying your own convenience store franchise. If interested, Mac's would set you up in an idyllic suburban setting straight out of a 1950s magazine ad. No overflowing garbage cans, no......

Little-known scientific fact: clock radios embedded in a block of ice will cause their frozen shell to melt faster when tuned to an album rock station than any other kind of radio format. Tests are inconclusive as to whether this effect will occur more rapidly if the clock was manufactured by Panasonic or General Electric, or if the ice will reform whenever Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" blares away. Think of how much the city......

Today's ad proves that hair dye has been available for purchase at Yonge and Carlton for over a century, even if going to "Armand's" sounds classier than a quick run to Shoppers Drug Mart. The 1 Carlton Street address shifted north in 1931 due to a street reconfiguration that directly connected Carlton with College Street. The project was partly initiated by Eaton's, who had just opened their new store on the southwest corner of......

A family moves into one of Toronto's more fashionable neighbourhoods. In the middle of deciding where Junior's playpen will fit in the living room, there is a knock at the front door. Standing on the front step is the official neighbourhood greeter from Welcome Wagon. The new residents are greeted with the finest publications our city has to offer: Toronto Life, the Vancouver Province, and an unidentified Vancouver Sunday paper (our city's dailies respected......

Today's ad features your stereotypical 1950s architectural professional: trenchcoat, tie, hat (preferably a fedora), and a fistful of building plans. The building this dapper construction supervisor is depicted next to would quickly become one of St. Clair Avenue's architectural landmarks. Pigott Construction was based in Hamilton, where company president Joseph Pigott contributed heavily to the community as a president or board member of institutions such as McMaster University and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.......