Seaside Humor II

     As you will recall from our last thrilling episode, we were looking through a portfolio of beach postcards produced in 1948 by Curteich.  These accordion-pleated collections were essentially cartoon collections, the postcards printed on both sides of the page (as opposed to other similar portfolios where you could tear out and mail individual cards.) Continue reading “Seaside Humor II”

Seaside Humor

     A perennial difficulty with postcards, from the day these started including pictures until today, is that finding a card which would be perfect for Cousin Tabitha is never enough.  If the card is really perfect to send Tabitha from your vacation spot it’s good enough to keep, too.  One answer to this is toContinue reading “Seaside Humor”

Next Season’s Greetings

     Look, nobody said you have to start singing “Little Drummer Boy”.      I understand, okay?  A lot of you have jokes about “pumpkin spice already?” you’re planning to toss at people.  Been there.  Do it myself.  But this is not part of the popular hatred for impending holidays (and/or winter) but an expression ofContinue reading “Next Season’s Greetings”

More Bygones

     I was told over and over as a child—it was one of those things teachers felt we should know—that jack o’lanterns were originally made of turnips, not pumpkins.  We all wanted to know whether they had birthday cake candles in those days, but that was all we ever got: in the olden days, peopleContinue reading “More Bygones”

Inkwells and Bathtubs

     I was looking over a new postcard for my inventory and thought, “Wow!  How much longer does THAT joke have to live?”  I realized that even I understand some of these old postcard gags simply because I had read about the basic idea in books, or seen them in old movies.  A joke dependsContinue reading “Inkwells and Bathtubs”

Owed to a Skylark

     I see by the number of views it received that my column about those who communicate on the Interwebs adding to world peace by just chilling a little and not feeling it is necessary to cry out in righteous indignation at every little thing was about as successful as a solicitation for funds toContinue reading “Owed to a Skylark”

Boldly Going

     In my boy days, we were always getting articles about how Jules Verne had predicted the future.  This was a major theme in the world in those days: Jules Verne had predicted space travel, high-powered submarines, television, and who knows what all else.  There was a reason that the government named its first nuclearContinue reading “Boldly Going”