Along about 1904, that is, just before the first Golden Age of postcards, an author published a novel featuring a heroine who was looking for a man. The book gained some notoriety (and sales) because she was not looking for a good husband, a good provider, or a good father for her children. The heroine was really looking for a good…time.
It was an unusual trait; to this day, we do not associate the young ladies of bygone generations as looking for a good time. A postcard like this one simply meant the young lady was looking for a bit of romance. Nothing that involved removing so much as a glove was implied.
Or so we like to assume. But in this card, for example, there is no joke at all if she’s simply talking about that pot of Spam and noodles, and only slightly more if you assume she is referring to a place in her heart.
Sometimes a lady just has to come right out with it. See, occasionally the gentlemen of the era (even at this advanced point somewhere in the 1930s) assumed the same thing about young ladies and needed instructions.
Here the young lady we saw earlier is accompanied by a man who has just gotten the hint. (Both phrases used here refer to running out for a bucket of beer, and what the ice cream pail has to do with it I don’t know, but HE gets it and she will probably…I forget what I was going to say.)
This artist has made it difficult to know which partner in this scene is making the leading remark, but the expression on her face tells us she’s interested, in either case. (And where is she looking?)
Our “Sit Up” lady, meanwhile, is making her intentions even more clear than she did with the beer and ice cream.
Was it really chivalry, in days bygone, that forced a demure young thing to give little hints like this before she could get any…attention?
Demure shyness was not, after all, restricted to her side of the couch.
It is clear that this young lady has gone to great efforts to find what she’s looking for. This all seems a bit extreme to me, and I wonder what it will mean to the small man with the long stick, but I am not here to lament someone’s l’amours.
We can believe, if we work at it, that our “Sit Up” lady knew what she was asking for. She wrote the caption.
But it’s easy to understand why sometimes a sweet young thing will swear off forever, at least until next week. She needs to catch her breath.
Blogsy Babbles 