February 1912
1912 newspaper humour: “I asked your husband last evening if he had his life to live over, would he marry you, and he said he certainly would.”
Her response: “He certainly wouldn’t.”
A Chronicle advertisement for Harley Davidson motorcycles claimed that they would travel “10 miles for one cent.” That works out to 1,600 kilometres or 10 round trips to Victoria for a loonie. Chevron? Shell? Are you listening?
The headline for the Chronicle on Feb. 24 announced a provincial government grant of $50,000 for the Newcastle Electoral District (which included Ladysmith). The special grant was caused by a B.C. budget trade surplus increase of 25 per cent or $8,526,647. Clark? Falcon? Are you listening?
A new movie house, the Lyceum, opened in Ladysmith on Valentine’s Day to capacity crowds. It joined the Gem and the Opera House, giving the city three theatres. In addition to weekly plays, vaudeville acts and stage shows, residents enjoyed the latest “moving pictures” presented on Wednesday and Saturday evenings by all three theatres.
February 1937
Residents living within a six-block radius area of central Nanaimo had been complaining for weeks to radio firms in the city about their poor radio reception. The matter was finally traced (using a special tracking device known as the “radio ear”) to a home on Fitzwilliam Street. Apparently, the interference was caused by a heating pad that an elderly resident was wrapping around his legs to combat rheumatism while listening to the radio.
In February of 1937, Ladysmith, already buried under snow, was hit by a major outbreak of influenza. The Chronicle editor empathized with his readers’ health and weather problems by publishing the following parody on the front page:
Dangerous Dan M’Crobe
A bunch of germs were hitting it up
In the bronchial bar & saloon;
Two bugs on the edge of the larynx
Were jazzing a rag-time tune.
Back in the teeth, in a solo game,
Sat Dangerous ack-Kerchoo
And watching his pulse was his lovely flame,
The lady that’s known as Flu
February 1962
School District 67 announced plans to open a two-room school on David Road. The school accommodated students in Grades 1-4 living as far south as the Lagoon Bridge on Chemainus Road and would relieve enrolment pressure on both Ladysmith and Mount Brenton elementary schools.
Ladysmith teenaged students took three out of the four top prizes in the National Electric Week cake baking contest held in Nanaimo in front of an audience of 200.The 100 cake entries were judged by home economics teachers from the area. Irene Tremblay from St. Mary’s Convent School won the grand prize of the evening, an electric mixmaster. Anita Hall from Ladysmith High School won the chocolate cake division, while first prize in the white cake bake off went to Penny North, also from St. Mary’s. Both girls received electric hair dryers, which were donated by BC Hydro as prizes.
Compiled by Ed Nicholson, Ladysmith Historical Society