Happy Halloween 2016 - The Best of HR&J and more.....

It's been great fun doing Halloween posts through the years on HR&J, and this year I thought you might enjoy some of the "best of" on Hot rods and Jalopies that were posted for Halloween plus a few more....so....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2016 TO ALL - enjoy

 

If the weather stayed fairly nice, the Intercity Drive In would open for a "SPOOKTACULAR" evening of scary films some of which you will likely remember.  * Be sure to click on all the photos if you want to see them larger...

Here's a less than two minute trailer of "The Blob"  Starring of all people Steven "Steve" McQueen in one of his early films playing the character "Steve".  Click the arrow in the middle to view.

 

 ....a few more to watch with your honey at the drive-in......

Well maybe you wouldn't watch the above one with your girlfriend....maybe your kid sister or brother....LOL

This Boris Karloff/Bela Lugosi classic scared the hell out of me when I was a kid.

NOW DON'T FORGET TO RETURN THE SPEAKERS TO THE STAND BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE THEATRE........

 

The spirit of Halloween lives in all of us....it's easy to recall the joyous times we had when we were kids growing up and now our kids, and kids kids are enjoying the same fun we had.  The following are a few vintage pieces of advertising from the 1960's and before.

Here's a couple of pieces of Texaco advertising using the good ol' Jack o lantern to let us know that it's Halloween and from this point on "It's Gonna Get Cold".

 

In the Spirit of Halloween and The Munsters, I'm sure some of you gearheads have built these two model cars by AMT sometime during your life.

Two of George Barris' designs above were the Munster Coach and Drag-u-la.  My friend Dennis and I had the distinct privilege to meet George Barris at his shop after we attended the Grand National Roadster Show in January of 2014.  George has since passed away and left an indelible mark on the hot rod culture in both our countries.

Dennis Winko, George Barris, Dave Cano

One of my all time favourite Halloween moments were when my great friend Ron Clark and I dressed as the Blues Brothers for a Halloween bash at the old Armani's on Victoria Ave back in 2003.  Ron's son Steve Clark is of course the leader of The Sensational Hot Rods show band.  In these photos, we were up on stage singing "Ghost Riders in the Sky".  Ron has since passed away and is dearly missed by many...RIP my old friend.

Thanks for checking Hotrods and Jalopies...hope you enjoyed the post.....

Christmas Season Post #3 - Go Get a REAL Christmas Tree.....here in Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario....and more

Well here it is...that time of year again when you have to make that BIG decision..."Artificial or Real".  

When I was a kid, there was never a decision...it was always REAL!  There were very few tree lots so we would head out to the country...usually the Oliver Lake area, trudge through 2 or 3 feet of snow to find our "wonder tree".  It was usually on the top of a 20 or 30 footer that you had to chop down first, then cut the top seven or so feet off.  Hopefully after you cut down the large tree and cut the top off, that it was as beautiful as it looked 20 feet up in the air.

It is probably one of the most important family traditions I ever remembered that we carried on through the generations.

So without further ado ...GO GET YOUR REAL TREE!!

The above art work is courtesy of Retro Planet.com

Of course this sign at the left is not real, but it sets up the post for a few family photos taken this time of the year throughout the ages.

To those of you who don't know me personally, our last name is pronounced "sanno" with a soft "c" like in the word celery......surprised?




This photo is one of my all time favourite seasonal photos.  I believe it was taken in around 1940 by my father.  This is a picture of my uncle Henry straddling the hood of my dads Studebaker Erskine.  They were obviously out in the bush somewhere near Fort William and Port Arthur, Ontario getting Christmas trees for the whole family.

Here's my father back in 1958 loading a few wonderful Balsam trees in the back of his new Bel Air company car...I remember it being green and pretty much matching the trees loaded in the back.
My grandfather hated Spruce trees with the short needles, because they would dry out in no time and the needles would be all over the place.  He did prefer the Balsam which when watered properly would last much longer than the spruce. He had a Slovak name for the spruce trees that I can not mention here ☺.  The Balsam choice continued for a few generations.
My grandfather never drove a car in his life so my dad and I usually with a few uncles along would pick up trees in the bush for everyone.
I loved those wonderful times that are rarely forgotten especially at Christmas.

NEXT we jump a generation and a bunch of years to about 1980.  My youngest son was pretty young, so he and my wife were likely in the van to keep warm.  Here is my eldest son Darren, his cousin Jason and Jason's sister Colleen cutting trees at a tree farm just south of Kakabeka Falls .....always fun times with warm hot chocolate for everyone later.

Click on all the photos once or twice for enlargements.

This one is fantastic....cut-r-down!

Darren and Jason riding in the old trailer with our
Christmas trees!

One of the sights I remember as a child was heading down to the old Fort William City Hall during the Christmas season to check out the beautiful light display there.  One particular year, I remember the city workers made huge ice block cut-outs and placed lighted trees inside...it was spectacular.

A beautiful art piece showing a family heading

home with their recently harvested Christmas 

tree...the children couldn't wait to set it up and

breathe in the pine aroma.

This young person can't wait to get 

the tree home to decorate - what a

sweet picture!

The "Charlie Brown" tree is probably the best known tree of all time, next to the Rockefeller Center tree. 

FILM:
The next few photos of "getting the Christmas tree" are the tongue in cheek ones from the movies we love the most this time of the year.   ...click on

After all that.......Ralphie still gets to see dad set up and decorate the tree, and all is forgiven!  One note about The Christmas Story is that it is pretty factual to the times during the early 50's.  Every time I watch this film, I see something I hadn't noticed before.

Christmas Vacation is another of the far out films of the season....we've all seen it....It's a film we all love and hate at the same time....well that's my opinion anyway ☺.  The important part is that the Griswold's went out to get their Christmas tree as a "family".  

Click on!

What a truly great photo from the turn of the century....hauling trees from the country for Christmas by horseback to sell in the city.

.....and finally of course the iconic "It's a Wonderful Life" ....showing the family Christmas Tree and a perfect ending.

OH...just one more.....we can't forget Alvin, Simon and Theodore under their Christmas Tree.....so...go out and get your REAL Christmas tree and relive your wonderful childhood days....Merry Christmas!

Another World Premiere for Port Arthur, Ontario - "Corvette, Port Arthur" at the Colonial Theatre in 1943...

"Corvette, Port Arthur", was a film produced by the National Film Board of Canada in 1943.  It illustrated the Royal Canadian Navy's part in battling U-boats and protecting British supply lines during WWII, featuring the crew of the "Port Arthur".

This was an actual WWII propaganda film using a British Submarine on training duty to represent a U-boat that was forced to surface; the U-boat's surrendering crew was played by the British Submariners.
The world premiere of this film was shown at the Colonial Theatre in Port Arthur, Ontario.

The photo above shows the model of the H.M.C.S. Port Arthur, built by the Port Arthur Ship Building company on the back on one of their trucks and in front of the Colonial Theatre.
The following photo shows the people gathering at 235 Arthur Street(now Red River Road) in Port Arthur, Ontario for the premiere.

This next photo shows the number of people waiting to attend the premiere in 1943.

This is the exact spot where the Colonial Theatre used to be....a pretty boring street compared to how it looked back in the 1940's and 1950's.

This is a closer photo of the truck and model as shown in a brochure from the Port Arthur Ship Building Company.  My friend Al asked the BIG question, "Where is the model of this ship now?"  It's typical how local artifacts seem to just disappear.

The following print is a description of the year and date of the films as well as who directed and narrated the film...  Double click on all photos for enlargements.

Thanks to the National Film Board of Canada, we can see the 22 minute film right here.

"Corvette Port Arthur" by Joris Ivens, National Film Board of Canada

To view more about the Colonial Theatre in Port Arthur, Click here then return to HR&J

 http://hotrodsandjalopies.blogspot.com/2011/03/colonial-theatre-235-arthur-street-port.html

Early Thunder Bay Theatres and Top 10 for Christmas 2012

While winding down the Christmas countdown for this year, it was interesting to check the Internet to get a few top 10 lists of viewers Christmas Films.  The favorite top 10 are below with a complete documented history of each film at the end of this post, and also showing the awards which they had won.

Here are some of the old local theatres in Fort William and Port Arthur Ontario where you may have seen some of the older films back in the day.  I had actually watched the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol to my total fright at about age 8, and had nightmares about it for years.

Be sure to click on all the photos for a larger view.

 
"It's a Wonderful Life" and "A Christmas Story" were such a contrast in how we viewed Christmas in the 1940's and then again in the 1980's.  Both these top 2 films are my personal all time favourites.





 

INTERESTING TIDBIT:

The Bing Crosby song "White Christmas" which is still the most sold single recording of all time was actually introduced in the 1942 film "Holiday Inn" shown here.  It won an academy award that year and also 12 years later in 1954 won another academy award for the film named after the original single.

 

Here is the page 1 and page 2 lists of the above films, who starred in them and what awards they had won.  Click on these once or twice to read the data.