Once upon a time, tuna fritters, when “social media” was that fence you leaned over to gossip with the neighbors, people had to think of reasons to get together and discuss mutual concerns. Some of these grew out of the guilds, or professional associations of their time, some of these sprang up in theContinue reading “Write On, Brothers!”
Tag Archives: Postcards
Wordy of Consideration
I have mentioned, hereintofore, that the postcard was the text message of the day, something quick and brief, which one could expect to get answered almost at once. Yet, in another way, the postcard was that era’s Instagram post or Tik-Took video, because it included a picture, and that picture, as we are oftenContinue reading “Wordy of Consideration”
Marbled Rye
This postcard, from 1906 or thereabouts, was a bit of a puzzle to me. We were taught this basic song in grade school, and though I knew they seldom bothered to teach us all the verses of folk songs (except The Fox Went Out On a Chilly Night, since there’s a story to follow.)Continue reading “Marbled Rye”
About That Gimmick
In our last thrilling installment, we considered some of the series postcards which await us out in the world of these non-electronic texts. We looked at just a few of those which connected their assorted cards through the use of a catch phrase. There were other artists, however, who used a standard format asContinue reading “About That Gimmick”
Gotta Have a Gimmick
A couple of weeks ago, we considered briefly a couple of postcard companies which developed distinct lines of cards involving popular songs. A number of these did their best to present an entire song over a number of cards. This was part of a marketing strategy which had been bubbling up since the lateContinue reading “Gotta Have a Gimmick”
Frida Speshul
Once upon a time, there lived a man known to the world as Klarenc Wade Mak. He was born in Fairfield, Iowa in 1861 and was buried in Detroit, Michigan in 1930. Between those two dates, he practiced medicine and published books, sheet music, and (wait for it) postcards in St. Louis, Missouri. Continue reading “Frida Speshul”
Postcards from Tin Pan Alley
We considered in Friday’s column a few series of song postcards, and publishers who brought out lines of postcards devoted strictly to popular songs. Today, we are going to look at a few where the publisher just took a hit song and made a joke of it, knowing the audience would get the reference. Continue reading “Postcards from Tin Pan Alley”
Takin’ What They’re Givin’
I hear unemployment rates are down and businesses are dropping their Cobvid restrictions about having to work from home, so more people than ever are now joyfully springing from their beds on Monday morning to head off to work on a Monday morning. Hooray for not having to loaf around at home in pajamasContinue reading “Takin’ What They’re Givin’”
Sing Me a Song of Postal Significance
Ir has been a while since we took up the question of popular song. This is a subject which is a lot more fun in retrospect. If I say a little ditty from 2010 was popular, I must be challenged by people who tell me it was NOT a “pop song”, that it wasContinue reading “Sing Me a Song of Postal Significance”
Rabbit Hole Bread
All I wanted was the answer to one simple question. I thought it was going to be “This is another product of food corporations hiring Home Economics majors to make up recipes and dates to 1954”. Ah, that might have been possible in the LAST century. But now we have those Interwebs. ByContinue reading “Rabbit Hole Bread”
Blogsy Babbles 