The lamps manufactured by Messervey's Industries were all of the figural variety, and included popular shapes of the time such as clowns, Santa Claus, snowmen and various fruits. Most of these figural shapes had the less expensive carbon filaments in them, but the glass envelopes had quality paint jobs in bright colors. Burt's tungsten filament offerings were painted and colored glass seed pod or pine cone shaped lamps, which burned more evenly from light to light and a bit brighter than did the carbons.

Most likely in an effort to save on production costs, the boxes that Bert sold his lighting outfits in were a bit on the plain side when compared to the very brightly colored examples from his competitors.

I have seen only two different varieties of Messervey boxes. As pictured below, one has a Christmassy indoor scene and the other an outdoor view:

The boxes were printed by an independent jobber, and not in the Messervey factories. After the Messervey company went out of business, other decorative lighting companies employed the same artwork on their boxes, which was a common practice in the industry. It is because of this fact that it is unwise to assume a specific manufacturer of a lighting outfit based solely on the box art and graphics.

Here are a few examples of the figural lights offered by Messervey's Industries:

HATCHING CHICK	ROLY POLY SANTA	STANDING SANTA	GIFU LANTERN	CABBAGE ROSE
STANDING HIPPO	GREEN GRAPES	GIFU LANTERN	STARBURST FLOWER	CLOWN BALANCING ON A BALL

Bert manufactured Christmas lights at his factory in Ontario from about 1922 until March 20, 1931. That Friday, Bert tragically lost his life in a fire at his Bridgeburg factory. According to his obituary, Bert was working at 9:30 PM when an explosion caused by spontaneous combustion started a fire. As he attempted to put the fire out, his clothing ignited, severely burning his face, hands and body.

Heroically, he was able to extinguish his clothing, and drove himself to Millard Fillmore hospital across the American border in Buffalo. Canadian Customs Officials, horrified by Bert's condition, called their American counterparts on the other side of the bridge to wave Bert through as he passed. When he arrived at the hospital, he collapsed, and passed away shortly thereafter. Although the obituary states that Burt was 40, his actual age at the time of his death was 43.

It was truly a sad ending for a man so well respected and loved by his family and the communities in which he worked. Bert had employed many family members in his businesses, and after his death, Messervey's Industries was no more.

Many of the details of Bert and his life have now faded into history. Bridgeburg, the little town in Ontario across the river from Buffalo, New York, was renamed Fort Erie in 1932. It is interesting to note that along with some of Canada's earliest electric Christmas lights, Bridgeburg was also host to the first Canadian Jell-O factory.

I would like to personally thank Ken and Dennis Benson, who kindly supplied the pictures of John Herbert Messervey, as well as the copy of his sad obituary. It is through kind efforts like theirs that this website continues to grow, and is able to present interesting pieces of early electric Christmas lighting history.

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