I had some thoughts about considering the role of pie un postcards of yore and easing into a discussion of my mother’s pie recipes. But pies serve only one real purpose in postcards (they are made to be stolen) and I must remind you that this is NOT a food blog. (The articles on hash browns and macaroni and cheese were just side…okay, let’s move on.)
And I recalled that in our discussion of indoor bathrooms, I mentioned that bathtubs have their own role to play on postcards, not related to the potty, and though we could take a look at that. (There are also separate jokes about chamberpots, but I’ll reserve those for some day when I’m scraping the bottom of the…I am just not having luck with these parenthetical notes today.)
The bathtub has a minor repertoire, too, really. It is a place where people can suffer an accident.
This young lady was especially accident prone. Or just prone.
By bathtub we include the wash tub or wash basin for baby, which generally served as a place for Baby to be cute.
The fact that bathtubs came in different sizes, back in the day, was something that could be used to comic effect.
But if we’re going to be honest, the bathtub, as you might guess from several examples already given, was MAINLY a postcard excuse for people to be caught in the buff.
Like George Gobel, people frequently bathe in the nude, which makes them vulnerable…sometimes to criticism.
Of course, there are those people who are confident enough that they don’t really mind the occasional visitor.
Or more.
Nudity can be used for a variety of purposes in and of itself: the bather could pronounce some basic principle.
Or use it for infant logic with adult considerations.
Kids could be counted on to enjoy their bath and their nudity in carefree manner.
Too carefree for some people.
The gag in many cases depends on implied nudity, the idea that YOU know what’s below the level of the tub. To reinforce the point, you DO remember this sultry soaker. (Her invitation would certainly have gotten you into how wa…I’ll stop now.)
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