When Lovell’s Drug Store Ran Out of Ice Cream

by Erin Doane, Senior Curator

Postcard of a watercolor painting of Lovell’s Snack Bar by Talitha Botsford

“Sorry! No More Ice Cream This Month!” read the advertisement in the Star-Gazette. It was November 15, 1944 and Lovell’s Drug Store has sold its quota of ice cream for the month. World War II was raging, cream and sugar were being rationed, and a milk shortage was looming. Yet, people still wanted their ice cream and local sellers were allowed a certain amount each month.

Star-Gazette, November 15, 1944

Lovell’s Drug Store at 1131 Lake Street had been in business for over 40 years by the time the U.S. entered World War II. It was started by Charles Lovell in 1900. Charles was born in Elmira in 1872. He attended School No. 4 (now Diven School) then went to the Elmira Free Academy. In 1891, he began his apprenticeship at E.A. Jones Drug Store. With the hands-on experience and correspondence courses, he passed the examination of the state board of pharmacy in 1897 and became a licensed pharmacist.

Charles Lovell and his wife Stella, c. 1900

He went to work at Hooker & Dorr’s Drug Store at the corner of Main and 3rd Streets in 1898. That same year, he was elected as a member of the New York Pharmaceutical Association.

Hooker & Dorr’s Drug Store, 1890s

Two years later, when an opportunity to purchase Frederick A. West’s drug store at 1134 Lake Street came up, Charles took it. In 1905, he moved the store across the road to 1131 Lake Street. Along with selling pharmaceuticals and health-related items, Charles added a soda fountain which offered ice cream and other treats. In later years, there was also a wide selection of candy and comic books that were enjoyed by students at near-by Diven School. 

Lovell’s Drug Store, 1908

Interior of Lovell’s Drug Store, Charles standing at left, 1910

Clayton Lovell took over the business from his father in 1939, though Charles remained working as pharmacist at the store until about a year before his death in 1953. It was Clayton who had to deal with the ice cream shortages in the 1940s.  

Ice cream had become an important part of the United States’ armed forces starting in World War I. On Navy hospital ships, ice cream was considered a nutritious, healthful food for sick and injured sailors and soldiers. By World War II, ice cream was officially designated by the War Production Board as a “wartime essential” alongside medical supplies and ammunition. Battleships and aircraft carriers were equipped with ice cream making machinery. Not only was ice cream considered important for health as a good source of vitamins, proteins, and minerals, it was also good for morale.

Members of the Women’s Ambulance and Defense Corps enjoying ice cream, 1944

Two of the main ingredients of ice cream, sugar and cream, were rationed on the home front to make sure the military had enough. In January 1944, it was reported that four-fifths of New York State’s milk and ice cream stocks had been taken to supply the troops. That year, there was concern that there would be a nationwide milk shortage as dairy farmers suffered from feed scarcity and lack of manpower and equipment for their operations. Fortunately, they were able to overcome these difficulties and by May 1944 more ice cream was promised for civilians. The War Food Administration approved the manufacture of about 30 million more gallons of ice cream for consumers at home.

Lovell’s advertisement, Star-Gazette, June 27, 1945

That boost really helped the local supply. In both February and March of 1944, Lovell’s Drug Store had run out of its quota of ice cream before the end of the month. They didn’t run short again until November 1944. The demand for ice cream at Lovell’s exceeded demand again in 1945 when sugar allotments were cut for manufacturers of sweets. In every month from the beginning of the year through August, except for May, Lovell’s ran out of ice cream. In February, they had already gone through their quote by the 12^th. The supply picked up right after the war ended in September 1945 and Lovell’s never advertised being out of ice cream again.

Back before the war, in 1939, Harry Pack started working at Lovell’s as a part-time carhop for the soda fountain. He was 16 years old at the time. In 1957, he bought the store from the Lovell family and kept the name, running it as Lovell’s Gay Nineties Original Soda Fountain. Harry’s grandson Theodore “Ted” Pack, Jr. took over operations in 1993 and ran it for two more years before having to close for good in 1995. The building was torn down in 2012, but many people have fond memories of the store, its ice cream treats, and the generations of families who served them.

Lovell’s advertisement, Star-Gazette, August 13, 1966

 

War Brides

By Rachel Dworkin, Archivist

 

During and shortly after World War II, American servicemen married approximately 60,000 European women, plus another 4,000 from Australia and New Zeeland. At the time, the Immigration Act of 1924 imposed a strict limit of 165,000 immigrants per year with quotas based on country of origin. Asian immigration was entire prohibited. In December 1945, Congress passed the War Brides Act which allowed the foreign wives of American servicemen and their children to enter the United States as non-quota immigrants. The act originally applied to only European and Chinese wives, but was later amended to include Filipino, Japanese, and Korean women as well.

After the bill’s passage, the State Department established special offices in London and Paris to expedite the immigration process for the approximately 50,000 British and French war brides, and their 30,000 children. At first, the brides were responsible for arranging their own transportation to the United States. From January through November 1946, however, the U.S. government transported war brides on former troop transport ships. The ships were retrofitted with cribs and playrooms for the children. Red Cross volunteers provided bride classes and helped arrange transportation to get the brides to their intended destinations. The ships left weekly from Southhampton, England; Naples, Italy; and La Havre, France for ports along the east coast. Several railroad companies offered free war bride trains to get the brides to points further inland.

Over twenty Chemung County men married war brides. The women came from Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, and Poland. The first of them to arrive in the United States came from England in late January 1946 along with her four-month-old daughter. The others began to trickle in over the following months and years.

On June 10, 1946, Mrs. Robert Barr, who herself had been a war bride following World War I, hosted a group of nine war British brides for lunch at the Mark Twain Hotel. The original group included one Australian, four English, one Irish, and three Scottish brides. Together, they established the British War Brides Club of Elmira & Vicinity. As more and more war brides arrived, their numbers swelled to 15. For the next several years, the group met regularly for luncheons, summer-time picnics, and an annual Christmas party. In 1948, they reorganized as the International War Brides Club and began accepting members from everywhere. They continued to host the regular events and participated in community events like the International Festival at the Jewish Community Center on March 3, 1952.

So, who were some of these women who chose to leave their homelands for love?

 

Elizabeth Punzo & Eugene Sabatini, 1964

 

Elizabeth Mitchell Punzo was born in Ivergordon, Scotland. During World War II, she was living and working in London where she met Sgt. James A. Punzo of Elmira. They were wed on October 23, 1943 at Westminster Cathedral. After the war, she and their daughter Margaret moved to Elmira in 1946. She was one of the founding members of the British War Brides/International War Brides Club. She and her husband were officers in the Italian American Veterans Club and Women’s Auxiliary. Despite the distance, she stayed close with her 15 siblings and even hosted her niece, Jacqueline Gough, when she came to attend American high school in the 1950s. She died on October 23, 1970 on her 27^th wedding anniversary.

 

Etta and Arnold Jerome, ca. 1940s

 Etta (Maria Antoinetta) Starace Jerome (1906-1999) was born in Naples, Italy. She studied Foreign Languages at the University of Naples and later nursing with a specialization in pediatrics. In Italy prior to World War II, she worked as a nurse with both the Red Cross and Italian Army. She met Arnold Jerome of Elmira while he was serving as an Army MP stationed in Naples. They married in 1946. Here in Elmira, she helped to organize the International Club of Elmira, as well as several aid organizations for people in Italy and France. A skilled painter and photographer, she participated in various local art shows and clubs including Camera Club and Art Club where she won several awards for her work over the years. She volunteered in pediatric department of St. Joseph’s Hospital and taught Italian at the Elmira Free Academy adult night school for 20+ years. She was heavily involved in Our Lady of Lourdes Church and Mt. Savior Monastery, where she was eventually buried.

  

Hiroko & Samuel Tolbert, 1952

Hiroko Furukawa Tolbert O’Connor (1930-2021) was born in Japanese-occupied Korea while her father was stationed there with the Japanese Imperial Army. Her family returned to Japan where she graduated from Mizukaido High School and served as captain of the girls’ basketball team. During the American occupation of Japan following World War II, she took a job working for the PX. That was where she met Sgt. Samuel Tolbert of Golden Glow Heights. The two were married in 1952 and went on to have four children together. She helped him run the family poultry farm and owned Tolbert’s Market. She organized reunions for Japanese women living in the area and participated in the YWCA International Club where she gave lessons on Japanese food and culture. After her divorce from her first husband, she remarried in 2009. She is one of the women featured in the Smithsonian Traveling Exhibit Japanese War Brides: Across a Wide Divide, on display at the Chemung County Historical Society December 2025 through February 2026.

 

Operation Elmira

By Rachel Dworkin, archivist

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, just as the sun was setting, two waves of Douglas C-47s towing Horsa and Waco CG-4A gliders flew east over Utah Beach in Normandy, France. They were headed for Ste-Mére-Eglise, just a few miles in from the coast. Loaded aboard the 176 gliders were 1,190 troops, 59 vehicles, 25 anti-tank guns, and 131 tons of ammunition. It was Operation Elmira and they were flying into trouble.

The first glider combat operation was carried out by the Germans on May 10, 1940 when they used them to land troops inside Fort Eben-Emael, Belgium, allowing them to take what was supposed to be an impenetrable fortress. The United States Army Air Corps began its own glider program in February 1941 in response. In May 1941, army glider pilots began training at Harris Hill in Elmira, New York, on the east coast, and Twenty-Nine Palms, California, on the west. These early trainees were trained on commercial sailplanes, including the Schweizer SGS 2-8, manufactured here in Elmira. After the attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s entry into the war in December 1941, the Air Corps began training its glider pilots in earnest. American forces first used gliders during the Sicily campaign of 1943 and again in Burma in 1944. 

 

Gliders proved a valuable tool during the invasion of Normandy in June 1944. Operation Elmira was the third and final mission flown by the 82^nd Airborne Division on D-Day. The goal of Operation Elmira was to bring in reinforcements and equipment to paratroopers who had parachuted in earlier in the day. The mission consisted 36 Waco CG-4A gliders and 140 Horsa gliders towed by 176 Douglas C-47 airplanes. They left England around 6:30 pm and arrived in France in two waves. The first wave arrived around 9pm while the second arrived two hours later around 11pm. 

Horsa glider being pulled by a tow plane on its way to Normandy, June 6, 1944

 Things went wrong fast. The original plan called for the gliders to land at two different zones, LZ W and LZ O, but troops on the ground were unable to secure LZ W. Ground forces attempted to communicate with the in-coming pilots to warn them to divert all gliders to LZ O, but the message never went through. Instead, the C-47’s and their gliders flew into a barrage of German ground fire as soon as they began their approaches over LZ W. Of the 176 airplanes, 92 were damaged and five are shot down. Eight of the pilots were injured and one was killed. Things were even worse for the gilder pilots.

The gliders came down hard. One pilot, Ben Ward, touched down in a field only to realize that his break line had been shot out and they were headed for a pair of trees at 90 miles per hour. Their Horsa glider slid between the trees, sheering off the sides of the fuselage and killing one of their passengers. All told, most of the gliders were destroyed upon landing. Ten of their pilots were killed on impact with 29 injured and 7 missing in action. Of the 1,190 troops they carried, 157 were killed or injured. 

Horsa glider with rear open for loading

 The glider crews and passengers were still in danger even after they landed, considering many of them had landed behind enemy lines. Glider pilot Clifford Fearn had barely unbuckled his safety harness when his glider was overrun by Germans and they were all taken prisoner. He was freed a few hours later by advancing American troops. Another pilot, Rollin B. Fowler, found himself in a similar situation but managed to free himself with a grenade he had stuffed down his pants.

Despite the initial issues with the landing zones and resulting casualties, Operation Elmira was largely considered a success. Most of their cargo was delivered undamaged, as were the reinforcements. Seeing the first wave arrived in daylight hours helped boost American morale, even as it demoralized the Germans. Gliders continued to be used throughout the war, including on the very next day. Despite how useful they had been in delivering men and supplies, the sun soon set on combat gliders. They were never used again after World War II. Instead, they were replaced in their role by helicopters which had the advantage of being able to fly in and out under their own steam.  

 

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If you’re interested in learning more about Operation Elmira, the Chemung County Historical Society has a collection of first-person accounts of men who participated as compiled by researcher Adelbert Sahlberg in 1998.