So, just a touch over 130 years ago, a man named Brown and a man named Bigelow started a company called Brown & Bigelow, a company known to this day for putting pictures on things. Art prints, but also using same images on decks of cards, cigarette lighters, clothes, and, especially, calendars. Helping companiesContinue reading “Days of Yore”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Shades of Drinking
All I really wanted to know was why raspberry-flavored things are blue. The problem with these things you really want to find out, in these days of the Interwebs, is that you are led along so many other avenues which take you in other interesting directions. Come to think of it, I was likeContinue reading “Shades of Drinking”
Reality, Pre-TV
There are, of course, some postcards that are rarer than others. But there is one sort of postcard that is so rare that some people can’t be bother with it, while other people can’t get enough. This is known in the trade as an RPPC, or Real Photo Post Card. (The whole argument overContinue reading “Reality, Pre-TV”
Mid-Century Moppets
If pscyhogenic amnesia, protecting your brain from painful memories, does not prevent you from recalling our last column, you will remember that we discussed a number of strange species of being which inhabited the postcard world at the turn of the last century. Led by the Kewpies, there were numerous different kinds of smallishContinue reading “Mid-Century Moppets”
Putti, Putti
Not long ago we discussed postcard babies, who had two main roles to play, demonstrating Jerome K. Jerome’s definition of a baby as an object with a loud noise at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. Children, however, played a multitude of roles, depending on the artist’s notions Children mightContinue reading “Putti, Putti”
Gags With Footnotes
In the last column, we dealt primarily with postcard jokes that might be a bit obscure because of changes in our language. Today I thought we might poke out a few jokes which are funnier if you know a little bit about history. All topical jokes run the risk of obsolescence. How will weContinue reading “Gags With Footnotes”
Vocabsolescence
So I asked an acquaintance “Does anyone still refer to making out as ;petting’?” He stared at me. “I’m not sure how many still call it ‘making out’.” It’s just a matter of the passage of time. Some slang expressions are here and gone, while others disappear for a while and thenContinue reading “Vocabsolescence”
You Need to Know
We care going to discuss technical matters today, using a hidden language defined by Mort Walker. Walker’s work in cartooning from early on led to his creation of an awkward teenager named Beetle Bailey. One day Beetle, fleeing some typical comic strip catastrophe, ducked into an Army recruiting office to hide, and a legendContinue reading “You Need to Know”
Babies Do These Things
Another cute and cuddly creature assigned certain jobs on comic postcards was the baby. For the purposes of our discussion, these are children too small to walk or get up and use the potty, for, as noted above, they were frequently assigned some of the same jobs as the cat and especially the dog.Continue reading “Babies Do These Things”
Cats Do These Things
Once upon a time, when I was in college, I listened in admiration to an earnest conversation between a couple of young women on the differences between kitties, cats, and kittycats. I don’t remember all of the points discussed, but I should like to make the point that postcards of kittens are a wholeContinue reading “Cats Do These Things”
Blogsy Babbles 