For all the night owls and procrastinators, this is your final warning: you might still be able to make dinner reservations for tonight, or at the very least stop by your local grocer for a bouquet of flowers, a card and a box of chocolates even Forrest Gump would approve of on your way home from work. It’s Valentine’s Day, so get with it if you must, you’re not quite out of time.
Blame the greeting card industry all you want, but the celebration of St. Valentine’s Day has been going on for at least 1,200 years. Somewhere between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance, the feasts celebrating two, possibly three, Christian martyrs named Valentine, one of whom may or may not have been beheaded, made the bizarre plot twist into a day honoring romance.
In the meantime, Valentine’s Day 1953, all of a sudden, was 70 years ago. The Lane Rexall Drugstores (on Gay Street, Market Square and Magnolia Avenue), were advertising chocolate and candy boxes, from a 10 count up to a pound from $1.19 to $2.25. The following items were 25 cents or less: two bars Dial soap, two boxes of Kleenex, two bottles of Ajax cleanser and a pound of boric acid.
Check your basements and attics to see if you have any of your mother’s or grandmother’s boxed up kitchen and bake ware lying about. The Rexall was selling the four piece, tulip pattern Fire King mixing bowl set for $2.49 and a Fire King 12-piece ovenware set for $1.98. Today those sets in better than good condition sell for, minimum, $250 and $150 respectively.
The front page of The Knoxville News Sentinel bore a grim headline for Cupid’s Day: “Hankins Suspect Weeps, Clings to Alibi.” The story was in reference to the still unsolved murder of Mary Hankins in her Harrill Hills home in Fountain City. The case against the headline suspect quickly fell apart, but it’s interesting to note that the KNS, made sure to point out that the primary witness against him was divorced, a divorced waitress to be exact.
The Tennessee Theatre was featuring Red Skelton in The Clown while the Bijou had Mississippi Gambler, starring Piper Laurie and Tyrone Power. Over on Union Avenue at The Roxy they were showing the newest Commander Cody film, Radar Men from the Moon.
The Dinette at the corner of West Hill Avenue and Henley Street had a Special Sunday Dinner that Valentine’s weekend for $1, offering fried chicken or roast beef, with parsley potatoes or steamed rice, buttered green peas or spinach, rolls, salad, ice cream, apple or cherry cobbler, coffee or tea. A buck could get you a decent meal 70 years ago.
In local high school basketball scores, West beat Fulton, 87-61, East beat Central, 57-51, Rule topped Farragut 38-36, Young beat Halls, 60-44 and Powell beat Carter, 60-45. Austin High School was playing in Chattanooga, taking down Booker T. Washington in a double header, where the boys team won 72-33 after the girls won, 49-10.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Beth Kinnane is the community news editor for KnoxTNToday.com
Source: The Knoxville News Sentinel, February 15, 1953, Knox County Library Digital Archives