“Mister Farmer! Mister Farmer! How is it that your cow there has no horns?” “Well, Ma’am, cows and their horns are an interesting subject. Sometimes a cow never grows horns at all. The scientists are still working on why: it may be the Good Lord just never meant that cow to have ‘em. Continue reading “Such Is Life”
Tag Archives: Postcards
Grin and Bear
I hope what I wrote in Monday’s column could not be construed as suggesting the donkey (burro, jackass, etc.) served only one purpose in the postcard of midcentury vintage. The donkey appeared regularly on postcards in many roles: at the beginning of the twentieth century he appeared as a sometimes patient, sometimes recalcitrant beast ofContinue reading “Grin and Bear”
The Means, The Ends
There are some jokes which appear over and over in the postcard world, and bits of wordplay that seemed to leap from cartoonist to cartoonist and company to company. There is the amorous golfer (want to play a round?), the tourist in the ice cream parlor observing how broadening travel is, the little brownContinue reading “The Means, The Ends”
2-D Celebrities
I thought today we might just glance at three celebrities who can be remembered by heir postcards. Each was responsible for a lot more cultural baggage than that: bits of our language, tie-in merchandise, musical history, and all that. But even at that, they are nowhere NEAR as big as once they were. Continue reading “2-D Celebrities”
Vital Vittle Volumes
Since you asked, I will answer, but we MUST get back to postcards one of these days. But being a blogger and thus not shy about sharing my opinion, I will pass along some thoughts on Iconic American Cookbooks. This is not a Top Ten because I haven’t got room for ten and, anyhow,Continue reading “Vital Vittle Volumes”
Crisp and Unclear
We had apples at our house. There were other fruits, though not as many as you may suspect, as this was back in the last century and no one had invented Star Fruit or Kiwi or such other modern contraptions. My father had half a grapefruit with his breakfast, we ate enough bananas thatContinue reading “Crisp and Unclear”
Half-Baked Blogging
No, we are not going to pause for any more food trivia. We are going to discuss postcards again and not get bogged down in side missions involving this or that bit of culinary history. Those of you who asked about the two Ms in M&Ms will just have to…oh, all right: it standsContinue reading “Half-Baked Blogging”
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”
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”
Blogsy Babbles 