Size Does NOT Matter

     In our last thrilling installment, we considered postcards which made jokes about couples who were mismatched in waist size: a round man and a spindly woman or vice versa.  But apparently the postcard cartoonists found disparity in height to be nearly as hilarious.  The tall man and the short(er) woman gave rise to jokesContinue reading “Size Does NOT Matter”

Round Romance

     Hereintofore, this space has discussed the lives of large round people on postcards.  Our most recent  considerations have especially focused on the large round man, with or without the apparently standard checkered suit and cigar.  We have even touched briefly on the slender young ladies who are often another accessory of the round man.Continue reading “Round Romance”

Toes On Sand

     I was on my way somewhere else.  Not Fort Lauderdale “Action City USA”, as advertised on this beachfront postcard.  I was really just listing some Summer Vacation postcards online, as I like my sales to be reflective, or a little ahead, of the season.  And, anyway, I didn’t have all that much to sellContinue reading “Toes On Sand”

Where the Flavor Was

     Keep reminding yourself, as we move into the fifth episode of a series on smokers on postcards which began with a statement that there AREN’T that many, that entire books can be written on smoking in the movies and on television.  So there.  Some postcard smokers were celebrities who needed tobacco to complete theirContinue reading “Where the Flavor Was”

Blowing a Cloud, Taking a Puff

     Considering that the original premise of this series of columns was the relative scarcity of postcards showing people indulging in tobacco, compared to movies and TV shows of the same era, we have been showing off examples for a while now.  But I maintain my original opinion.  Joe Friday or Paul Drake probably litContinue reading “Blowing a Cloud, Taking a Puff”

Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That CIgarette

     Now, as you’ll recall, in a blog titled “And Whiskey and Wild, Wild Women,” we examined the use od cigarettes on postcards.  Although cigarettes are everywhere in mid-century movies and television, we argued, on postcards they were primarily used to indicate a young woman who, like the one shown on this Seventies poster ofContinue reading “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That CIgarette”

He Called For His Pipe

     As we have, in this space, considered the place held in postcard cartoons by cigarettes and cigars, it is only logical to move to the pipe.  (I dislike to throw spoilers into my text, but those of you who were planning to come around next Wednesday to read about snuff, snoose, or other similarContinue reading “He Called For His Pipe”

But a Good Cigar is a Smoke

     Last week, in this space, we considered what the cartoonists who worked on postcards had to say about the smoking of cigarettes.  The subject is a little larger than we could cover in one column (which gives us an excuse to return to it later) but we did see how often a woman whoContinue reading “But a Good Cigar is a Smoke”

And Whiskey and Wild, Wild Women

     This Seventies poster showing off a postcard from the Nineteen Twenties shows one of the matters of social history made obvious when one watches mid-century television programs. Everybody smoked.  This can be explained only partially by observing that many shows were sponsored by tobacco companies.  Those same companies had worked hard to make theirContinue reading “And Whiskey and Wild, Wild Women”