How Comedy Sold WWII War Bonds

Abbott & Costello Go to Medina                     

-Lisa Rienerth

Medina County Gazette, 18 July 1942, p. 1

It began when a group of volunteers built a small, white building to sell War Bonds, stamps and corsages here in Medina, Ohio. 

Medina Sentinel, 23 July 1942, p. 1

The completed building was placed on the west side of  Medina Square and a grand opening was held the 18th of July 1942.

The building would not have been built without the generosity of the local businesses.  

The opening program lasted a little more than 3 hours with speeches from Amherst Spitzer, the War Bond chairman, music by the Akron Defense Council band and a few short speeches by a few local veterans. 

On that first day, $1,900 in bonds were sold, along with $97 in stamps and $95 in "stamp corsages". Stamp corsages are exactly what they sound like, corsages made with saving stamps. 

One Month Later....

The Treasury Department of Cleveland saw that Medina County was one of the top sellers of War Bond funds and rewarded the county with a special visit from "The biggest singular attraction of Medina County...". 

On August 19, 1942, Bud Abbot and Lou Costello, a famous comedy duo of the time, were coming to Medina to help sell War Bonds! 

Abbott and Costello were known in the 1940's as the "Leading Laugh Team".  They worked in radio & film and became even more popular during the World War II era.

This must have been one of the most exciting things to happen to the area in years, because the Medina Gazette was estimating a crowd of 10,000 people. 

Medina Sentinel, 13 August 1942, p. 1

Plans were made to build a platform and wire the Medina Square with loudspeakers. The organizers of the event wanted to make sure the duo was seen and heard by all. War Bonds were to be sold just outside the beautiful, new War Bond building. 

There was also a contest between the townships to see who could sell the most War Bonds before the big day arrived. 

Medina County Gazette, 21 August 1942, p 1

The night of the program a large crowd filled the square. 

Abbott & Costello arrived at 7:40 p.m. and according to the papers "Pulled several spontaneous laugh provoking remarks..." and autographed the bonds that they sold that evening. 

Liverpool Township won the Bond contest by collecting $21,835 in War Bond sales. 

George Wolfe, chairman of the Liverpool township war bond drive committee, was congratulated by Amherst Spitzer and the two comedians

The evening was a great success. $8,000 in bonds were sold at the War Bonds building. The total amount collected by all of the townships for the contest was $225,291, which is equivalent to just a little more than (4) four million dollars today.

The county continued to raise large amounts of money throughout the war. According to Robert Hyde's Beyond the Storefronts, "This is the famous [War Bond] building that at one point raised over 3 million dollars towards the war effort and was also part of the reason why the government decided to film "Hometown U. S. A.”  in Medina.*

*This link will take you to a past blog on the film.

And here's the rest of the story...

After World War II, the small, white building was put into storage and then moved to the property owned by Dr. Frederick Fri, who served in the war. Dr. Fri's property was acquired by the Medina General Hospital and the building was left on the land.

In 2001, the Medina Jaycees refurbished the building. Elmer Zarney, who created the original sign, remade a new sign, because the old one was lost. Zarney was a fighter pilot in World War II. 

Medina County Gazette, 8 Nov 2001

      

The building stayed on the Medina Hospital, n.k.a. Medina Cleveland Clinic, property until this November. The Medina County Historical Society took an interest in it and on the fourth had it moved to the property of the McDowell-Phillips Home, which is also owned by the society.  

Historical Society's President, Brian Feron, says the building will be restored and used as a place to display local historical items. It will then be used for educational purposes and someday a "Victory Garden" may be planted alongside it.

This little, white building witnessed Medina's history for the past 80 years. Now, because of the Medina County Historical Society, it can not only be a witness to many more years, but will teach other generations about the history of the county and its contribution and dedication to our nation at a time of war. 

Please leave a comment if you were a witness to this spectacular night in Medina. We would love to hear about your experience! 

Learn more about World War II War Bonds from Abbott & Costello by watching a Public Service Announcement from that era by clicking on the highlighted link. 

 

Eugene BOSNAVITS update...

   

In July of 2018, the Medina Reference Desk received a request for a yearbook photo of a young man who had died in World War II. Eugene Bosnavits. Eugene had graduated from Brunswick High School and so we contacted the Brunswick Historical Society who provided the photo. Intrigued by the snippets of information about Eugene's short life led me to write a blog about the research on 8 August 2018.

You can read the original post HERE.

The blog was well received and we were gratified to be part of a team that had shed light on one individual's sacrifice during World War II.

More than two years after the blog was posted, I was approached by a woman whose son had read the blog and he really appreciated finding another source for the young man from Medina County who had given his all for his country. You see her son, Hudson Louie, is a budding historian.

Hudson has created a memorial to Ohio's World War II Fallen Service Members on the FindaGrave web site that has over 2500 names listed so far. Wikipedia lists 23,000 Ohio casualties for the war so he has a lot of work ahead of him.

On a more local level, Hudson created a Google web site titled Medina's Fallen War Heroes. Arranged by war, click on the individual photos to find out more about each soldier. These are both works in progress.

And he had additional information about Eugene Bosnavits. James Kittleson, the pilot of the B-17 that "Bossy" served on had given an interview about that flight. And he provided photos.

This is a photo of the whole crew in front of the aircraft.

Eugene is on the far right

 

Close up pic of Eugene

The tail gunner had full responsibility to protect the rear of the aircraft. In addition, they were the only crew member who could see behind the plane and reported to the captain if they saw incoming fighters. It was a very cramped and often cold location. Eugene's short stature, he was listed as 5' 4" on his draft card, would have been an asset. The tail gunner's position was the most vulnerable and it was widely quoted during World War II that the life expectancy of a tail gunner was 4 missions, or about 2 weeks.

As noted in the original blog post, Eugene had only been sent to Europe on 4 August of 1944 and he was shot down on 12 September. He was there just a little over 5 weeks. 

Thank you Hudson for shining more light on one of Medina's fallen airmen.