"The heart that gives thanks is a happy one, 

for we cannot feel thankful and unhappy at the same time."

Douglas Wood 

 

HOLIDAY TOUCHDOWN:  A BILLS LOVE STORY

The Hallmark movie set in Buffalo is "Holiday Touchdown:  A Bills Love Story" which will premiere on the Hallmark Channel on Saturday November 22, 2025.  It was filmed in several Western New York locations including Highmark Stadium, Main Street in the village of East Aurora with locations at Vidler's 5 & 10 , Elm Street Bakery and Bar Bill Tavern.  The movie will also recreate an East Aurora holiday tradition: the Carolcade.

The movie features Buffalo Bills players Damar Hamlin, Dion Dawkins, Dawson Knox, Hall of Famer Quarterback Jim Kelly and Head Coach Sean McDermott in cameo roles.  The film also features other notable Bills figures Steve Tasker and Thurman Thomas.

 Holland Roden and Matthew Daddario star as the leads.

The Plot

The movie follows two lifelong friends who are passionate about the Buffalo Bills and their traditions about the team. It includes a "spirited hunt for a myterious Secret Santa" and highlights Western New York pride.  The Quinns and DeLucas have lived next door to each other for decades in the shadow of Highmark Stadium, the home of their beloved Buffalo Bills.  With their longtime friendship rooted in being proud members of Bills Mafia, the two clans have enjoyed cherished traditions that revolve around cheering for their favorite team especially during the holidays when they celebrate the last home game before Christmas.  Pediatric doctor Morgan Quinn (Roden) and the Bills' VP of Stadium Development Gabe DeLuca (Daddario) have always been close friends, but Gabe has always held a torch for her, a fact obvious to their familes and everyone else who crosses their path.  When Morgan learns from her Uncle Tommy that someone anonymously helped her family get by after he was drafted more than 60 years ago and that he continues to receive a Christmas gift each year to this day she decides to find his benefactor and give her Uncle Tommy a Christmas he'll always remember.  Aided by Bills Mafia friends of theirs, Morgan and Gabe work together to unwrap the gifter's identity.  Along the way, Gabe's love for Morgan deepens and in turn, she begins to see him in a new light though neither are daring enough to admit their feelings.  Meanwhile, Morgan's hopes of pulling off her surprise for Uncle Tommy get sacked.  That is, until Gabe takes matters into his own hands and uses his connections with the Bills to pull off the surprise of a lifetime for Morgan and both families that will make this a Christmas they'll never forget. 

An interesting sidenote from Don Vidler, co-owner of Vidler's 5 & 10 is that in the movie they are calling the town .. East Aurora, they are calling Vidler's by its real name, the same with Elm Street Bakery and with the Bar Bill Tavern so the town won't be a fictional town standing in for a village in Vermont.  Vidler thinks East Aurora will get a lot of exposure.

Though holiday movies have been filmed in East Aurora in previous years, this movie is the first Hallmark movie to premiere at the Aurora Theatre (invitation only) in East Aurora.  Congratulations to the village and all who live there!

Its huge for East Aurora,, but it's also big for Western New York.  The Buffalo Bills are such a part of this community and Hallmark is becoming such a big part of this community that it's a match made in heaven.  It will garner lots and lots of worldwide attention not just national, but around the globe.

Tim Clark, Buffalo Niagara Film Commissioner

Hall of Famer Quarterback Jim Kelly with Matthew Daddario.

Head Coach Sean McDermott with Matthew Daddario

On the top of the Christmas tree is a lighted sign that reads Buffalo Love.

A scene in the movie at Vidler's 5 & 10.

Merry Christmas from East Aurora

GO BILLS

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe in East Aurora

..good name for a Hallmark Channel movie in Western NY..

 

Yours Truly and her Taylor Tot Stroller

Miss Patsy

Taylor Tot Strollers were not just any stroller, they were the premiere baby stroller of the 20th century.  A story that unfolded on the internet involved a college professor who restored a Taylor Tot though not just any Taylor Tot.  The stroller he owned was from his childhood.  He had even found a way to copy his front decal.  Certain models had 'high-class options' which included "wheel pants" and a foot tray.  The wheel pants were groovy little fenders that covered the wheels and didn't let the child's feet scrub on the tires and a tray that was put under the child's feet when the stroller was used as a 'pusher'.  There was a date code that was stamped underneath the seat. The stroller had a paper front decal and a seat decal.  The wooden roller beads (1956 and up used plastic roller beads) sat on a rail around the package tray that set right in front of the child. They were something for the child to play with when riding the stroller.

The Taylor Tot stroller, known for its vintage design and has a history rooted in the 1940s and 1950s evolving from a functional baby walker to a beloved collectible. Taylor Tot strollers were manufactured by the Frank F. Taylor Company in Norwood, Ohio (just outside of Cincinnati). The company was founded in 1921. While initially designed for practical use, Taylor Tot strollers have become highly sought-after collectibles, appreciated for their vintage charm.

An original unrestored 1940s Taylor Tot stroller.

Red metal with white trim, colored red and white wooden beads with a red wooden "driving" handle.

Decal on stroller seat.

Taylor Tot Stroller with foot tray and those colored beads

 

Manley Popcorn Machine

1940 Premier Model 

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The company originated in 1921 or 1922 when Julian Burch started making popcorn machines under the name Burch Manufacturing Company.  Shortly thereafter Charles T. Manley joined Julian Burch.  Burch then left and started a new company.  

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Charles T. Manley continued to use the Burch Manufacturing name until 1940.  According to Manley Inc. records from the 1950s, the name changed from Burch Manufacturing to Manley on September 18, 1940.  Around the end of WWII, Manley Inc. purchased a building in Kansas City, Missouri.  He produced a wide variety of models serving a wide variety of markets.  In the 1940s and 1950s one of their markets was movie theatres.  In 1947 they held 70% of the movie theatre market.  For the theatre market the upright or cabinet style popper were preferred.  They also marketed to schools for use in stadiums.  At some point in time, they developed industrial popcorn machines for the packaged popcorn.  The model 315 was developed for making carmel corn.  Many of these machines are still being used today.  

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Factory in Kansas City, Missouri 

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If the Art Deco Grand Theatre in Westfield, New York was still standing and had been restored, I would have found and gifted a Manley Popcorn Machine for the lobby/concession area.

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Grand Theatre lobby with its porcelain water fountain

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"the Grand lady"

 

Photo Credit to H. S. Bell Photo Company

Circa 1927

Photo found in a book titled Historic Photos of Palm Beach County

Text and Captions by Seth H. Bramson

The Palm Beach Bottling Works was a soft drink company located in West Palm Beach, Florida in the early 20th century.  Historical records and photographs of the company show its operations during the 1920s. The company was known to be operational in WPB in 1927 suggesting a focus on distribution beyond its immediate location.  

The exact brands bottled and the company's ultimate fate are not fully documented though the Palm Beach Bottling Works is distinct from other historical bottling companies in the area such as the later Coca-Cola distribution center.

The history of this bottling works is linked to the overall growth and development of West Palm Beach which became the county seat in 1909. The sign on the building reads .. "NuGrape A flavor you can't forget" and on the truck it reads  "Phone 250 Orange-Crush".

 

Dr. John Stith Pemberton

a pharmacist and the original creator of Coca-Cola 

(1831-1888)

On May 8, 1886 he developed an early version of a beverage that would later become Coca-Cola, but sold the rights to the drink shortly before his death.  He and his son sold the remaining portion of the patent to a fellow Atlanta pharmacist, Asa Griggs Candler for $300 which in 2022 purchasing power is equal to $9,372.88.  Candler became the 42nd Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia from 1917-1919.

Asa Griggs Candler, Sr.

(1851-1929)

Charles Howard Candler

1878-1957

Charles Howard Candler was an American businessman and author.  He was one of the few people that his father, Asa Candler first trusted with the secret formula used to make Coca-Cola which then included coca leaves. 

Believed to be the first coupon ever, this ticket for a free glass of Coca-Cola was first distributed in 1888 to help promote the drink.  By 1913, the company had redeemed 8.5 million tickets. 

Among communities across America, several Florida cities have historic former Coca-Cola bottlings plants featuring facade reliefs or embedded signs.

In Palatka, an historic building has a vintage Coca-Cola sign in carved bas-relief set into its brick exterior.  The former bottling plant, dating to the 1930s is part of the Palatka South Historic District.

Coca-Cola Bottling Company 

Palatka, Florida

Circa early 1900s

939 North Magnolia Avenue

Ocala, Florida

In Ocala, the old Coca-Cola bottling plant, built in 1940, has a Mission/Spanish Revival-style bottle.  The building's architectural elements include a crest on the front facade featuring the classic Coca-Cola bottle.  The building is now an artist hub known as "The Gallery at NoMa".

Circa 1903

In Key West, a building that once served as a Coca-Cola bottling plant, starting around 1923, features the phrase "PROPERTY OF COCA COLA BOTTLING COMPANY" in etched relief at its base. 

In Fort Lauderdale another Mission/Spanish Revival-style bottling plant, built in 1938 has undergone restoration.  While it did not feature a bas-relief, it did have large windows for viewing the bottling process which has been replicated in the restoration.

Elmira Coca-Cola Bottling Company Works

Elmira, New York

Circa 1939

The location is not longer a bottling plant.  It is used by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 139.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places 

May 23, 1997. The architectural style is Moderne.

A refurbished Coca-Cola advertisement.

Minden, Louisiana

Circa 1943

 

Circa 1899

The original Coca-Cola bottling factory was located in Chattanooga, Tennessee opening in 1899 as the world's first franchised Coca-Cola bottling plant.  The first Coca-Cola recipe was invented in Atlanta, Georgia in 1886 and was sold at a fountain, but the Chattanooga facility located at 17 Market Street pioneered the mass bottling and distribution system that made the product a national success.  

The drink, itself, was invented in Atlanta by pharmacist, John Stith Pemberton (1831-1888) in 1886 at his Pemberton Chemical Company and was initially a fountain drink.  His bookkeeper, Frank Robinson, chose the name for the drink and penned it in the flowing script that became the Coca-Cola trademark. Pemberton originally touted his drink as a tonic for most common ailments basing it on cocaine from the cocoa leaf and caffeine-rich extracts of the kola nut.  The cocaine was removed from Coca-Cola's formula in 1903. The city is home to the original formula and is where the Coca-Cola Company was founded, but the first dedicated bottling plant was established in Chattanooga.

In 1899, Chattanooga businessmen, Benjamin Thomas and Joseph Whitehead secured the rights from Asa Griggs Candler (1851-1929) to bottle Coca-Cola across most of the United States.  They opened the first bottling plant in Chattanooga which became the birthplace of the modern Coca-Cola bottling system.  As the business grew, the plant moved to larger locations in Chattanooga before the company's bottling operations eventually expanded across the globe. 

Somebody Knew I Was Coming

Circa 1940

Coca-Cola partnered with McDonald's to sell branded soft drinks in 1955, an exclusive partnership that lasted until 2007, when some locations began selling Pepsi products.  There is still a strong partnership between Coca-Cola and McDonald's, with Coca-Cola maintaining a separate McDonald's division. 

In 1982, the company introduced its low-calorie, sugar-free soft drink, Diet Coke which was originally named Diet Coca-Cola. 

Coca-Cola has continued to reign as the largest beverage company in the world.

Old wooden crates that held glass Coca-Cola bottles still found in an abandoned Coca-Cola plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Coca-Cola is the largest beverage manufacturer and distributor in the world, one of the largest corporations in the United States and one of the most successful brands in marketing history.  Its headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia.  The trademark "Coca-Cola" was registered with the U.S. Patent Office in 1893. 

In 1958, this nostalgic Coca-Cola bottle sign was on top of a bottling plant at 13th and York Streets in Tampa,  Florida.  

If you know where it is now, American Pickers will make you a deal you can't refuse!