All you need to know about Marfak grease is in this Australian TV commercial from 1961.

... As heard in Ghostbusters, the Shorpy Director's Cut.

Hat tip to Steve Belcher for the comment about the Marfak advertising: "The Green Grease that doesn't wash out on wet roads or melt on hot days."

Forget those trash cans, what about that Medusa's head over in the corner?

not a Milton Signal Hose in sight?

I remember when I was a kid, the guys in the trash truck would have to first wrestle the lid off and lift the can up, tip it over then bang the sides of the can on the truck to make sure everything was out. That was really loud, especially early in the morning! So yeah, the cans could have used a muffler from the friendly folks at the Muffler Shop.

I find it hard to believe a news photographer got extra points back in the newsroom for including three garbage cans so prominently in the foreground. I also suspect proprietors of the two businesses were less than thrilled with this all-inclusive view.

[Photos get cropped before publication. These are scans of the uncropped negatives. -Dave]

As Steve Belcher pointed out, Marfak was both a product and a process, the name of which, in advertising at least, was used as a verb. According to BrandlandUSA dot com: One of the more forgotten sub-brands of a major oil company is Marfak Lubrication. Marfak was the lube brand of Texaco and Caltex. If Havoline was the actual oil, Marfak was the process. I can’t say it was actually used much as a verb, as I never heard the word used; I only saw it above station bays. But the slogan was “Let Us Marfak Your Car.”

Thanks for that! p.s. When my daughter lived in Williamsport, Pennsylvania for several years after her marriage, I used to drive through Lewisburg every couple of months when I went to visit her! Lovely drive along the Susquehanna.

John Holland's Texaco service station at 319 13th Street is long gone, Midased right off the map. The brick building across the street still stands, taller and longer.

I was searching, without luck, to find a street number or something to identify this location (Holland Service Station didn't do the trick). Then I got stuck on this. What is that?

[You mean the thing that looks a like a giant muffler? Right next to the sign that says MUFFLER SHOP? Hmmm. - Dave]

Yes! That thing! What is it? Of course you're correct. I wasn't thinking in terms of 1960s-style advertising. You just brought back some memories.

"A properly lubed auto will bring $75 to $100 more when you trade it in after 2-3 years." So says the Marfak advertising of the day. "The Green Grease that doesn't wash out on wet roads or melt on hot days."