Month: September 2023

Strolling with Felix

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: It is another (dreadfully) rainy morning in a string of them this week here in New York, but I have just the thing to cheer us up or so I hope. This especially fun Felix card showed up here at Deitch Studio this week. I am always happiest when one of these turns up for acquisition into my burgeoning collection.

This time the photographer has cleverly set this large Felix up to pose for a stroll down the road with all comers and this tiny tot is just the right size for a companion, a full head shorter than this magnificent Felix. The kid has a nice hold on Felix’s crooked and proffered elbow and is attired in short pants, sun hat and beach shoes of the day.

I don’t recognize the location and don’t know what seaside town in Great Britain this was taken in, almost looks like more of a park. The scruffy vegetation and the stony wall do put me in mind of being near the ocean. However, the men walking behind Felix and child are in dark suits and hats – not exactly beach-y attire, perhaps an important gathering of corporate tycoons? A Davos of the day?

A card added to the collection earlier this year, February post. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.

Felix and the kid are looking right at the camera. Felix sports a wonderful flowing bow and somehow his cock-eyed legs create the allusion of movement; he’s marching down the path. They are right in the center of the picture which is a great composition.

This card was never sent and there are no notations on it for date or location. Part of me is curious to know if there is a whole series of pictures of people strolling down this path with Felix (wouldn’t it be fun if others turned up?) or if this was a single lucky shot. For now though I think there is a perfect horizontal empty spot, right under the calendar and across from where I am sitting, for it to join some other jaunty giant Felix souvenir cards.

Felix Smokin’

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: It’s a fully Felix post today with the first of a few advertising bits I bought as a lot a few months ago. They are fragile so I had to wait until I was settled back here at Deitch Studio HQ before I could share them. This following on the heels of last week’s wonderful advertising comic for Sportex shirts. That popular post can be found here if you missed it.

Black Cat Virginia Cigarettes and Felix may hail from the shores of the United States, but this ad came from Britain and a newspaper there. Both are marked in pencil as 1924, the larger of the two is from November 5 and the one with the offer of pearls is a month later, December 10. They appear to have been published in The Daily Mirror. That paper was founded in 1903 and survives today. From what I can tell these were not clipped recently, but saved and dated a long time ago. Ah, a Felix fan from the past?

Black Cat cigarette ads are of course of ongoing interest to Pictorama. I have touched on them previously with some of their cigarette tins I purchased many years ago. That 2015 post can be found here. But far more glorious is the Black Cat match safe which I hunted for years and purchased later in 2015. That post can be found here. Hot damn! Those folks knew their advertising and premiums!

Hotsy-totsy! Pams-Pictorama.com.

In both ads Felix is drawn in the somewhat off-model style that the British in particular favored in the twenties. He is blocky and a bit doggy looking. Toothy and squared off.

I would have been somewhat torn between the camera offer and Felix, but I know I couldn’t have resisted a great big cuddly Felix. Oh bliss – what did he look like? Was he really a nice big one? BOTH OF THESE SPLENDID GIFTS FREE!

The ad urges the reader to consider using their Black Cat cigarette coupons for these items as Christmas gifts. The copy reads, Start saving now. Xmas will soon be here. Think of the joy these gifts will give you, your friends and the kiddies.(As it was already November some smoking had to be done to do this in time I think.) It goes on to say, Incidentally think of the house and hours of sweet contentment you get quietly smoking BLACK CAT Virginia Cigarettes, good cigarettes, the fun of saving coupons and the joy of getting these two fine presents. Think of it and buy “BLACK CAT” right away. The ad was worth five coupons free.

Meanwhile, the camera appears to be a sturdy Kodak brownie (another American product export) of the sort that proliferated so widely that they are still quite available today. (Kim volunteers that he had one. I too have used them.) I would have found this offer irresistible and would have had to take up chain smoking immediately. When you sent in the coupon in addition to your five free coupons you would get a Free Gift Booklet. I can only imagine the wonders within.

Pearls! Pams-Pictorama.com.

By December the ad had moved onto featuring a string of pearls from the Boulevard des Capucines, Paris in a Silk Lined Case. That would cost you 100 coupons more than Felix who is still featured in the lower left corner. They don’t explain exactly what you are getting with Felix, rather than large and cuddly it merely says, “Felix” for the Children. Felix is still as popular as ever. Give the kiddies a treat this Season. There is no coupon to clip here, just encouragement to send for the booklet and five free coupons.

I guess it is possible that one of my own splendid Felix-es hails from this premium package of yore.

Pillow Talk

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: It’s a rainy sleepy morning here at Deitch Studio and I slept in a bit after a late night. However, as I sat down with my coffee and looked through the mail (the IRS sent something about my mom’s nascent estate – haven’t opened that yet) and found this gem which I forgot was on its way to me. An excellent way to start the day – IRS notwithstanding.

There is a somewhat manic quality to this photo, which Kim pointed out right away. The seller doesn’t seem to know anything about it and it was purchased from a US dealer. The card was never used and the woman, if she was notable, is unknown to me and us. Kim added that she doesn’t look like she was living right.

Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.

However, let’s focus on this really splendid black cat pillow she is displaying! Wouldn’t I love to have that on the couch here at Deitch Studio. (Incidentally I have a very nice black cat curled up on said couch right now – Blackie has rediscovered the couch post-NJ visit, after a long period of pouting in the closet. He and Cookie appear to have made up as well and they no longer hiss at each other in passing.) It strikes me as funny that she is displaying this pillow for us. I love it but it must have been a slow day at the photo studio for props and inspiration.

Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.

This card reminds me of a popular French card series in the early 20th century of nearly or entirely naked women posing with a small stuffed black cat. I have one (extremely popular I might add, the post is called Kim’s Favorite Photo) card in my collection. That post can be found here.

Small children and black cat toys featured on postcard are also popular, perhaps more easily understood. Also have to remember that the superstition about black cats is an American thing and the Brits even consider them good luck. (A post on the one above can be found here.) Of course black cat toy photos abound here at Pictorama!

Still, this can serve as my opening salvo for Halloween, the upcoming celebration of all things black cat.

Sportex: Felix Meets His Match

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Yesterday I shared a rather wonderful wind-up bear which came as part of a buy from a British auction in July. I alluded to a small but rather magnificent box of Felix items which I have been lovingly posting about over the last few months. (See yesterday’s post which rounds up the earlier ones too here.) This is the final goodie disgorged from that buy and arguably the most interesting, a Felix special comic as advertising for Sportex Fabric.

Sportex was evidently a miracle sports clothes fabric invented in Scotland in 1923 and it would appear that they are still making men’s sportswear today. Even in its earliest incarnation it was said to be a durable, creaseproof fabric for sportswear. As the cover of the comic hails, Even the cat can’t scratch it! For those of us who groan over the pulls in our sweaters and the holes in our trousers made lovingly by our kits, this holds some real appeal and you know this advertising campaign was spearheaded by someone who had cats. Evidently they even made suits out of it so not just sport shirts or athletic wear.

The comic book story goes something like this:

A tailor is tormented by very cheeky mice in his house which eat his dinner and annoy him, dancing around and mocking him while he tries to sleep. The next day he runs into Felix, who is on hard times and for the price of a meal agrees to come to the tailor’s house and rid him of the mice. However, he is so redolent with food after the meal that he falls into a sound sleep and is subsequently tied up Gulliver style by the mice (these are the most entertaining pictures for me) who, after making fun of Felix resume their tormenting of the tailor. The tailor kicks Felix out unceremoniously upon which Felix forswears revenge on him. This revenge takes the form of inviting other cats in to shred the wares of the tailor. Alas, the fabric is Sportex and the cats are unable to shred it! They fall in exhausted heaps (another especially good picture) and the tailor sweeps them out the door.

Interesting how the paper embossed when printed. You can see it clearly here.

Along the bottom of each page you can see some Sportex facts such as Sportex was awarded the Grand Prix, Paris 1924. (Were the drivers wearing Sportex? Sponsored by them? I couldn’t find out.) On the back of the book, above a forlorn looking Felix in verse it states, Sportex defies the toughest stains – No cloth on earth can match it/A pin drawn sharply over its face/Will simply bend and leave no trace/And “Felix” and his feline race/Can neither tear nor scratch it.

Copyright is printed on the back but without a date. It was Designed, Engraved and Printer by Henry Stone & Son. Ltd. London and Banbury, England. On the front flyleaf there is a spot for Presented by and presumably this is where a salesman would put his name when he left the book. In this case it is blank.

The Felix drawings appear are credited to Pat Sullivan (see the cover) and are in the earliest blocky Felix design style with squared off feet and a toothy grin. The mice are consistent with the way they were portrayed in the earliest cartoons too.

Felix was of course no stranger to his sideline as ad man. One of my favorite shills is an entire cartoon done for Mazda car lamps which I featured in a post here. Meanwhile, his slightly off-model dopple ganger was featured in a bit of low rent Spanish advertising for girdles in a prior post here and a children’s laxative here. Obviously he did a lot of advertising for his own films and I’m sure a lot more will show up here at Pictorama.

I tried but I couldn’t find any tracks on the internet for this item, nor had I seen it before. I’m glad I could bring it to my Pictorama readers in all its glory!

Wound Up and Rolling Along

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: This splendid fellow came into the house just before the en masse exodus to New Jersey in August. He was part of the haul from the British sale that brought numerous Felix treasures into the house. The items included a Felix walking statuette (that post is here) and a sort of box of Felix which included a rather extraordinary Felix hanky (post is here) and some Felix pins (which can be found here).

This is such a great item that I wanted to make sure he got his fair due. He caught my eye because although I guess he is a bear he is very black cat like. Although he comes from Britain he was listed as German, made in the 1930’s. No maker identified. I would have thought he was British and out of the Felix factories of the day. (See my post about those Felix factories of the day here.)

He perches atop of a spinning part and this helps direct him around in circles when wound.

Watch him turn his elderly circles!

I think there is a Felix version of this toy out there, but they are rare (if I haven’t imagined them) and I cannot even summon an image of one. This fellow works, albeit in a sort of desultory fashion. I think his days of ribald pedaling are behind him which is fine for his retirement here at Pictorama.

For some reason toys on wheels have always interested me although I mostly think of pull toys. I do love a good wind-up toy and this one is a wonderful combination of both.

Today is the first day back here at Deitch Studio in Manhattan when I have time to start to put things in order and Kim has pledged to help. For readers who have been following over the summer there was a harrowing period of moving Kim out of his warehouse space followed by moving the whole crew to New Jersey.

Cookie captured earlier this week looking quite chuffed at being back in NYC.

A delightful summer there followed (with some regional collecting), but now we are all back to work and Deitch Studio is working on all cylinders! At the office the orchestra’s season is set to start this week and Kim has finished the color work on his book he started in New Jersey. The cats are surprised to be back. Cookie is delighted and walked around the apartment crowing with pleasure. Blackie seems to be in a funk and is spending his days in the closet for the most part right now.

Meanwhile, the apartment is in a bit of chaos and it is hard to fit ourselves back in our single room. However it is comforting to be amongst the toys again and there are a few other items that came into the apartment either right before we left or during our time in New Jersey. So stay tuned – some more fascinating things to come!

Jersey Finds: Four Feet of Fun

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: For those of you keeping track, a few weeks ago I featured a panorama photo of a local high school on a class trip to Mount Vernon in 1931 and I promised a follow up. (That post can be found here.) Mere days after that purchase I can across the one I am featuring today and snatched it up as well. It too is a Jersey image – the First Annual Outing and Picnic of the F and M Foremen’s Club of Garfield. (Of course I have been left to ponder what a Foremen’s Club might be – a gathering of various foremen? From one place? Many?)

At 46 inches long (click on the photo and try to blow it up) the size of this photo is clearly one of its most outstanding features. Unlike the photo from Mount Vernon, this one is a parade of period picnic attire. While a few men hold out for jackets, others have ties even if no jacket, for the most part folks were letting their hair down in the literal sense here. There is no date and because of the nature of the clothing it is a tad difficult to date it. A few of the bathing suits (on both the men and women) convince me that this was probably the 1920’s. Most of the women are in variations of pretty cotton dresses which in terms of style could stretch over several decades.

IThe accordion player is a good addition. I like to think of him roaming around and playing in the late afternoon after the lunch hampers were largely repacked and everyone was sated and resting while considering another dip in the lake or perhaps a lazy trip in a boat. The kids in their various states of attire are great. Some kids are even wearing ties (hats) while others are stripped down for action.

Unlike the other photo this one has noticeable distortion with the people on the viewer’s far right significantly larger than those on the other side. The guy who is blurred is the distortion line, with it increasing from there going right.

Neither of these pics grace the walls yet, but I am enjoying living with them and getting to know them. More to come about further acquisitions of this kind – and other Jersey finds from this trip. However, as Kim recently said as he looked around the living room – it is starting to look like we live here.

Vacation Days: On the Move

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I am writing this, at least starting it, on one of my last day’s commuting to work from New Jersey at the tail end of a rather glorious vacation here. Kim, cats and I will make the trek north on Sunday, perhaps when you are reading this, and reinstall ourselves in our tiny Manhattan abode.

It took all these weeks but Blackie discovered the kitchen on our last day here!

I’m not sure what Blackie will make of the move, over time he has adjusted handsomely to his somewhat more expansive New Jersey life and the existence of five other cats – at least somewhat. He has annexed the east end of the house, taking our room, my mom’s old bedroom and three bathrooms as his territory. He has never seen stairs and has not mastered that concept yet so while he has acquired about half of the downstairs, little does he know that there is a cat warren in my office upstairs.

Kim and Cookie.

Cookie has fared less well and has spent her time behind the chair where Kim prefers to work in our bedroom. She has let her displeasure be known in numerous ways, most notable with some disrespect to said chair and Kim’s clothes there overnight. We hope this too will pass.

Tomatoes still ripening on the deck.

Kim seems rested and is back to work on his book while I commute to the city and back each day, reentry into the madness of fall in Manhattan and the kick off of our season at work upon me like a switch has been flipped!

These dahlias have just kept on keeping on.

I have made trips to the New York apartment and even spent the night there. It seems so empty without Kim and the kitties. I told Kim that the apartment is full of ghost cats which spend the night with me there.

Lettuces, cukes and mums for fall.

Starting next week my schedule becomes such that commuting would become very difficult, dinners and evening appointments are starting to dot the calendar. I will be back and forth to Jersey but gone will be the long quiet nights on the deck with the bats and fireflies – and slugs. I discovered slugs at night there.

Jasmine plant which seems happy and blooming.

I am realizing that this is really my first vacation in years, since before the pandemic easily, although the summer of ’19 was not a relaxed one either. (For posts about that summer, the work trip to California, the kitchen renovation and a long business trip to South Africa  you can find them here, here and here.) All the recent years in memory have had me either working around the clock (the pandemic years) or ferrying back and forth to mom and taking care of her.

This summer strung out like glorious pearls and I enjoyed my time with Kim and ALL the cats, my newfound love of gardening and working on the house. I refinished furniture, planted, pruned, cooked and enjoyed long evenings on the deck.

More cucumbers and lettuce.

Saturday night now. The bags are (mostly) packed. Cookie and Blackie are unsuspecting about the trip back to Manhattan tomorrow, but somehow Beau (the other big black cat) knows and he’s very sad and clingy. Today started rainy, a humid sun came out for much of the afternoon before thunderstorms rolled in this evening so it is hard not to feel glum about vacation’s end.

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We’re back in Manhattan. Tough ride in with the thunderstorms and cats howling! They are considering this cosmic shift in the universe from under the bed. Whew!

Pickled Pepper Post

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: We haven’t had a recipe post in a very long time and I guess today’s pepper post falls roughly in that category. Jumping back a little, ongoing readers know that Kim and I have been spending a long summer vacation in New Jersey. (Some of those recent posts can be found here, here and here.)

Recent night in the porch.

Further back, some folks also know that I lived in this house during the first months of this year with my mom during her final illness, managing a consistent group of two caregivers on every shift during the 24 hours. I have spoken about the extraordinary loving care mom received from this group of women and among them was the major-domo Winsome who remains my New Jersey sister and Chief of Staff now after mom’s passing in late April. (Some of those posts are here and here.)

This strawberry plant wants to take over the world!

Part of my summer vacation project has been maintaining and adding to my mom’s beautiful backyard garden. Mom loved the garden and although unable to go outside, she followed its progress from her window perch and worked ongoing with her long-standing gardener.

My additions have largely been of the vegetable and herb nature. Blueberry and strawberry plants (largely enjoyed by the bunnies and chipmonks), a fig tree, an overflowing herb garden. And peppers. Although my lone bell pepper plant produced precisely two peppers, a couple of scotch bonnet plants brought over by a friend and a random jalapeno plant bought from a damaged shelf have produced prodigiously.

Recent small haul…

Aside from a grilled cheese sporting some chopped jalapenos there was no way I could use (or give away) so many hot peppers before they went bad so Winsome offered to show me how to pickle them. We assembled the bits and Saturday morning we got underway. Winsome hails originally from Jamaica so what follows is a somewhat Jamaican influenced version.

Pimentas are very much like black peppercorns.

First Winsome introduced me to a vegetable called a chayote which seemed to be a cross between a turnip and a pear. Under her instruction I peeled it lightly, cut it open and sliced out the seedy center. Carrots, onions (red and white for a variety of color) and of course the peppers were cut in quarter inch strips, not thinner. Peppercorns she called pimientos were used whole but these are similar if not the same as black peppercorns, we pulled about two dozen out.

Chayote, slice out the middle.

Strap on your gloves if you haven’t already! Also I recommend using all glass dishes (I ruined some plastic containers) and a plastic cutting board or disposable cutting surface. Remember that once you start cutting the peppers you need to be careful not to touch your face or eyes and also that the knife and surfaces will have pepper oil on them. I nibbled a raw piece of chayote and realized that I had cut some more of it with the pepper covered knife! Ouch!

My peppers were supplemented with some W gave me!

Combine salt, white vinegar and the peppercorns and heat for about 5-10 minutes, just to dissolve. At the same time boil the jars and lids. Begin layering the carrots, chayote, and onions and then the pepper slices. Make sure you drop some of the peppercorns into the lower layers, begin spooning the vinegar and salt solution in. Fill to the top and add liquid to cover.

I didn’t use garlic but you certainly could. An easier method of saving and using the peppers would be to freeze them and cut bits off as needed. I will likely do that with my next batch so I will report back!

Heat vinegar and sugar with the peppercorns.

What you need:

  • Disposable gloves
  • Chili Peppers
  • Sugar (teaspoon)
  • Salt (half teaspoon)
  • White vinegar (about 1.25 cups to start – you may need more liquid)
  • Chayote
  • Red and white onion
  • Jars
  • Peppercorns or Pimiento peppercorns
  • Jars
Our finished product!

Jersey Finds: Foot Long Photo Fun

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This the first of a wealth of posts with some nice New Jersey items purchased in the antique markets here. This photo was my first purchase – and one of the best! I have wanted the right panorama photo for a long time and have looked at and dismissed or lost out on many over the years. This one won with both a local New Jersey related subject and for being a great photo.

I have endeavored to photograph it in a variety of ways to give you the best view – my own panorama, a video and several still photos taken of the parts. If you made it to the end you see that this was the Middletown Township, Leonardo NJ trip to Mount Vernon on May 15, 1931.

A local friend who is also a professional photographer told me he thinks this one was made with a banquet still camera, which I believe means that it was a camera set to take this size photo with one still take, as opposed to the sort of camera that might move to get the full (and I guess larger) group in.

Larry also told me that he has one similar to it, taken of his dad at Mount Vernon at approximately the same time. (He’s promised to dig it up for comparison!) Another friend online (@marsh.and.meadow via IG) has clearly seen these Mount Vernon group photos before although Google images doesn’t turn them up as a genre. Larry thinks his has a different view of the buildings so presumably they didn’t just set it up in the same spot every day. He is going searching for it so we’ll see.

One of the things I love about this photo is how dressed up everyone is for their trip! We get some great eyeball kicks of clothes from the day and it gives a great sense of the time. Those were the days when girls put on their best fur trimmed coats and cloche hats for such a trip and boys wore suits or at least ties with their v-neck sweaters.

We get a nice view of the buildings behind them and other folks are milling around up there too. The fellow at the lower right sports a cane and a careful look shows us that he has a wooden leg. He looks utterly undaunted by this and is embedded in a likely crew of boys. The group is lightly integrated.

Middleton High school graduates about 350 students annually so class size has grown over time. It appears to have been a prosperous enclave at the time and remains so today.

For me this is a great inaugural piece for decorating our New Jersey home away from home. However, it was just the first in a buying fiesta here recently in Monmouth County so stay tuned.