Kehoes Sweet Shop

[Ze-man]

Not sure how many of you get over to The Marketplace but thought some of you might like to read the results of a search I did tracking down the stamp on the BC of a book Gary (Moondog) listed, an OK Comics #1

 

I am a big sentimental sap when it comes to listening to someones memories of an era long gone by. Also, if anyone can add or correct what it is I found out, please feel free to chime in.

 

 

 

Neat book Gary, love the B&W Red Ryder add.

 

The stamp made curious so I Googled it and while not the same place , the reference brought up a Theater called the Manchester, what an era.

 

It showed first run pictures that were mainstream at the time and Saturday matinees consisted of two regular pictures, a third one that was usually a western, 3 or 4 cartoons, one episode of a serial such as Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers, a news reel and a drawing for a box of candy (that I won once and gave to my Mom). When it had a good first run picture showing the theater would be full with a line waiting to get in outside. There were always two pictures showing and one would be an A movie and the second one was usually a B movie. Now you only get one movie for seven or eight dollars. Saturday matinees cost seven cents to get in so for a dime you could buy a ticket and get three cents worth of candy at Mr. Kehoe's sweet shop.

 

btw, wassup Rich, sorry I missed ya yesterday, or was that monday?

 

Thanks for the write-up Kenny. You know what was most amazing about the movie and candy for 10¢ is that kids would show up at 9:30 in the morning and when the second movie was over, it was already 3:30 p.m.!! In some movie theaters, the dime got you the entire matinee, a candy bar and a comic-book (yes, the title was removed but, heck, that still sounds like a good deal to me).

 

 

Just wanted to add some content to this particular book/story.

 

I actually was fortunate enough to track down the person who did the write up I quoted above about the Manchester Theater. His name is Leroy Trnavsky and he grew up in a house directly behind the Manchester back in the 40's

 

Well to make a long story short(and it is very long indeed) I sent him a scan of the back cover to see if this book was indeed from the same Kehoe Sweet Shop he mentioned in his write up.. he identified the stamp as best he could, and felt pretty sure they were indeed one and the same.(how many Kehoe Sweet Shops could there have been back then?) It was a family run business, with the two sons working there when he grew up. He went there with his friends to buy candy before going to the movies, and said there was a soda fountain and eating area in the back of the store where he said a few magazine racks were located, among them were comics.

 

He said he never really bought comics there because he and his friends went down the street to the comic shop where he would wait anxiously to see what new comics were being put on the shelves. He also talked about the trade in program where you could bring in 2 old comics(condition didnt really matter back then) and trade them in for a new title. He collected , read the usual suspects. WDC&S, PEP, Action, Superman, Batman..etc. And recalled sadly his mother throwing out a trunkful of comics when his parents moved from the house behind the theater after the Watts riots took place. But to hear him talk about going to the local comic shop back in the 40's was simply amazing.

 

Anyhow, it was an unbelievable treat to talk to this 78 year old man and listen to his never-ending supply of stories about what it was like to grow up behind a movie theater, I swear he was one of the little rascals. So if you enjoy a good backstory to go along with a comic books provenance..well buy this book. I would in a second but I am on a self imposed comic freeze.

 

He also said he will send me some photos of what it looked like from the backyard of his house looking at the back of the Manchester if anyone cares to see them.

 

[MrBedrock]

Cool stuff, Kenny. (thumbs u

[Inaflash]

Please post the photos when you get them. I enjoy reading stories like this.

 

Ken

[rob_allan]

Yeah I'm glad you posted this. Pretty interesting stuff!

[Moondog]

I must admit that when I see store stamps on books, I wonder what those places were like.

 

When I was a freshman in 1966, there was a produce stand just over the bridge from my high school. Besides veggies and fruit they had used paperbacks and comics. This guy stamped every book with Cut-Rate Produce XXXX Jefferson St. Joliet, Ill.

 

As you can imagine I went to this store everyday after school for nearly 4 years. I have bought and sold hundreds of thousands of back issue comics in the past 30+ years and have never seen that stamp in any of the books I bought.

 

But whenever I see a stamp I think of George, the old Greek fellow, in his storefront produce stand.

 

 

 

 

[Ze-man]

I don't think I conveyed this enough earlier. The reaction Leroy had after seeing the scan of the store stamp was phenomenal... and upon seeing this book with a Kehoe Sweet shop stamp on it brought back all the memories.

 

He talked about the Theater being soo busy all the time that they waited for hours to get in, and once you got in an usher in full uniform actually ushered you to your seat, but once there you could stay till they closed. Many times they were in the theater from 10 AM till 9 PM, with only Candy to sustain them.

 

He told stories about the orchestra pit and how they would shoot spit balls into the Tuba, seeing vaudeville acts not to mention seeing EVERY major motion picture that came out in the early 40's and 50's. And about going out back of the theater and making stink bombs of old film reels. They took old film, rolled it up in ball and wrapped it in paper lit them on fire and tossed them around town smoking like old tires.

 

As far as the Comic store,.. he had not thought on that for many years. But he was equally excited when remembering his days waiting on the steps of the store as they unloaded the new comics and magazines. Trying to decide which comic to buy.. and what was funniest was he was naming all the comics we know and love like I would have never heard of them(aside from Superman) Once he knew I had heard of these comic titles, it floored him.

 

I told him I was a comic nerd and we laughed. He said he was too.

 

Well, I could go on and on but imagine this is boring to most everyone but me, and will upload the photo when I get it, he was having problems with his computer program and needed his son to send it for him.

 

 

[The Black Hand ®]

I'm impressed by the fact that the stamp was on the back cover. Kehoes was a visionary.

[Ze-man]

It appears he was also a candy visionary too, Kehoe made most of his own candy early on, but as time went by Leroy said they moved locations to an even better part of town and instituted distributing candy to all the local theaters to sell. Which at the time there was half a dozen around that area or more.

 

He spoke very fondly of the Kehoe family.

[adamstrange]

Well, I could go on and on but imagine this is boring to most everyone but me

 

Far from it. Thanks for bringing this to the boards! (thumbs u

[innocuous]

Thanks for sharing. And, great job tracking him down.

[Theagenes]

Well, I could go on and on but imagine this is boring to most everyone but me

 

Far from it. Thanks for bringing this to the boards! (thumbs u

 

Absolutely! This is great stuff!

[The Black Hand ®]

We all have great memories of our childhood and buying and reading comic books...at least I hope we do, because that's what keeps me interested in the hobby. I know I can't go back, but it's fun to remember and for me, next to actually having been there in the Golden age, being there at the start of the silver age was something else. There was a store called Al Milmans, on East 14th street in Oakland where I would go for back issue as a kid. Late 50's early sixties. He was a friend of my grandfather and smoked cigars. I don't believe I could walk that neighborhood anymore, like I used to, searching for comics and candy.and I'm not the first person to be sad that these places from our childhood have vanished or changed considerably. When I die, no one will remember Al Milman's little shop or any of the mom and pop stores that I haunted, some of the comic book histories will record some of the bigger stores who used a lot of stamps or were connected with great collections, like Bangzooms. Will the kids today have the same sort of memories, of walking for hours looking for back issues in places like Oakland and Berkeley and San Francisco or Hayward amd San Leandro? Or will it all be about the internet and chat rooms? I hope there are enough books that talk about these place and some of the great characters that inhabited them.

[precodekeith]

Nice thread. Thanks for the nostalgia! (thumbs u

[Ze-man]

Here is a photo from Leroy's backyard right behind the Manchester, he said Kehoes Sweet shop was right down the street, and the Comic Shop close to that.

 

Can you imagine?

 

Check out the snazzy helmet.

 

[adamstrange]

Very cool!