Ivette Martin Miller, An Active Senior

In honor of National Library Week, we recognize a former library worker.

Mrs. Ivette Martin Miller, usually known as Betty, was a former employee of the Sandusky Library. For a time she was in charge of the circulating library at Viewpoint, where she was also a resident. An article in “The Elderlies” column by Karl Kurtz, in the August 14, 1976 issue of the Sandusky Register provides more information about Betty’s background and her determination. Betty started working in Sandusky in 1913, around 17 years old, at her uncle Fred Martin’s ice cream parlor in the old West House building. Kurtz wrote that he and his friends would try to confuse Betty when they ordered sodas or ice cream sundaes, but she always got their orders correct. When Fred Martin moved his ice cream parlor, along with a restaurant, to the Cooke Building, Betty became the manager of the bakery department. 

Later she worked for the B& O and New York Central Railroads, in the ticket office. In 1922, Betty married Edwin Miller, who passed away in 1952. By 1970 Betty had moved to the Viewpoint Apartments, where she was a neighbor to Karl Kurtz. Around 1974, Betty fell and broke her right shoulder. In spite of several operations, and complications, her arm remained in a sling for quite some time. Karl said that Betty should be given a medal for “cheerfulness in time of anxiety, suffering, unselfishness, and endurance in face of much tribulation and trial, while retaining steadfast faith in a higher power.” Throughout her health problems, Betty always tried to cheer up others, and kept a positive attitude. If you would like to read this article in its entirety, along with dozens of other human interest stories, you can see a three-volume compilation of Karl Kurtz’s “The Elderlies” columns at the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. 

Below is a picture of Betty when she was a volunteer with the Women’s Auxiliary at Sandusky’s former Providence Hospital. Betty is in the front, on the left side. In this picture the ladies were modeling hats, some of which were made from pieces of hospital equipment.

The “Elderlies” Column by Karl Kurtz

Karl Kurtz can be seen at the right in the picture above at WLEC Radio. From 1974 to 1979, Mr. Kurtz wrote a column for the Sandusky Register entitled “The Elderlies.”  The articles usually featured photographs, and included topics of interest to senior citizens. Karl interviewed area residents and asked them their memories about businesses, school days, sporting events, and customs from Sandusky in years gone by. Here is a column from 1975 talking about the days when local residents used an ice box instead of a refrigerator.

Copies of “The Elderies” columns have been clipped and were bound into three large notebooks. If you would like to read more of these articles, stop by the Reference Services desk at Sandusky Library. The three bound volumes kept in the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center. 

Karl Kurz worked in advertising and radio for many years. He passed away on May 15, 1980. His tombstone at Oakland Cemetery includes the inscription “Oddity Man,” named for his popular WLEC radio program based on unusual facts and stories.

Sandusky Held a Fall Festival in the 1950s

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Sandusky held a Fall Festival in September. In 1950 it was held at Cedar Point from September 7 to September 10. The co-queens of the 1950 Fall Festival were Arline and Darline Landin, twin daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Warren Landin. The Landin twins are pictured below with Jay Wagner and Dan Apel, from the Chamber of Commerce.

An article in the September 23, 1950 issue of Billboard magazine reported that 40,000 people attended the Fall Festival in 1950.  There were fifty indoor displays and twenty outdoor displays, including an exhibit of cars, trucks and farm implements. Livestock, poultry, dogs and rabbits were also on display by area 4-H members. Below are the queen and her court from the 1951 Fall Festival.

Karl Kurtz, charirman of the Festival committee is pictured with Queen Lee Gregg, and members of  her court, which included Delight Furst and Marlene Sue Trueman. A leading attraction of the 1951 Fall Festival was the steer auction, held on Saturday night of the festival weekend. Local 4-H and FFA members brought their steer to Cedar Point to be auctioned off on September 8, 1951. Below is an undated group picture of the members of the Fall Festival Committee from the late 1940s or early 1950s.

Most of the men have been identified in notes found on the back of the original picture, which was a gift from Karl Kurtz.

Huron Parks Basketball Team, 1912-1913

While the players in this picture of the Huron Parks basketball team of 1912-1913 have not been identified, we know the last names of the team members from an old newspaper clipping. According to the November 16, 1912 issue of the Sandusky Star Journal, the last names of the players were: Oesterle, Pietschman, Schnell, Hallet, Simon and Kurtz.

Local photographer N.J. Abele created these picture postcards in 1912. On Thanksgiving evening in 1912, the Huron Parks were defeated by the members of the St. John’s Athletic Club basketball team at St. Mary’s Hall.

The Theatorium Movie Theater

Karl Kurtz wrote in the July 23, 1977 issue of the Sandusky Register in his “Elderlies” column that the first silent movie shown in the Sandusky area was The Great Train Robbery. Veteran Sandusky newspaper man and showman Dave Wood brought the celluloid melodrama to Sandusky in 1905 and showed it at Cedar Point. The first motion picture house in Sandusky was called the Theatorium, established in 1906. It was located on West Market Street between the old Post Office and the Firehouse.

Charles Reark was the first manager of the Theatorium. He showed first-run silent movies, with eight changes a week. An article from a 1909 issue of The Moving Picture World stated that “Proprietors of moving picture theatres throughout Ohio who have visited Mr. Reark's cozy theatre state that he has the brightest and clearest pictures in the State. Ushers seat the patrons, a new light system has been installed, and no expense is spared to give the amusement goers of Sandusky the best of entertainment at this theatre for five cents admission.” Five Hallberg arc lamps “turned night into day” at the front of the theater. An article from the Sandusky Register of February 6, 1927, reported that the Theatorium was a long narrow room, with low ceilings and poor ventilation. By January 1907, the Theatorium had 140 seats which were all elevated. Besides the main feature of a silent movie, audiences were often treated to the attraction of an illustrated song. A soloist would sing the song played by the pianist, as colored slides were projected on the big screen. The singer would repeat the same song to several audiences each day.

For many years, Manager Charles Reark had a special program at the Theatorium for members of the Sandusky Newsboys’ Association. On Thanksgiving, the newsboys were treated to a silent movie at the Theatorium between 10 a.m. and noon. The newsboys just had to show a badge or membership card for admission to the free show. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in 1907, souvenir Christmas cards were given away to everyone in the audience. Songs were performed by A.L. Taylor and George Upp. The movies shown that Christmas were The Wonderful Mirror, The Dog Hero, and Thieves Caught in Their Own Trap.  Later owners of the Theatorium included Gustavus Dildine and Voltaire Schweinfurth. The Theatorium closed in May of 1917, but it brought many an evening of entertainment for residents of the Sandusky area for over ten years.