Author: Pam's Pictorama

The Cricket in Times Square

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Pam’s Pictorama: I’m on a bit of a tangent today. In a previous post, Push Kitty, I mentioned my affection for the illustrator Garth Williams. For me The Cricket in Times Square, illustrated by Williams and written George Selden is a nearly perfect children’s early reader chapter book. As a committed New Yorker, I love the view of a somewhat period yet timeless New York, as seen from the ground up, in Grand Central station. Much like Charlotte’s Web it is a story that pairs unusual animal friends. There is the glorious, fluffy fat cat, Harry – he exudes purrs and tummy rubbing – and of course his wily friend Tucker the rat. (E.B. White did something entirely different with his story of a pig and a spider who become friends – and take on the subject of mortality of all things – whereas this story is about being far from home, and how even a cricket can make his way in the big city with a bit of talent, pluck and good friends.)

Williams Cat and Rat

Garth Williams, (b. 1912-d. 1996) illustrated piles of children’s books – many of which became classics including Stuart Little and the Little House books. He wrote several as well, but it is the clutch that I have mentioned here that form an archetype in my mind. His illustrations are so synonymous with these books that, at least for me, his style is just what I think of when I think of children’s books and my earliest book experiences. (On his wikipedia page you can read about a book he wrote and illustrated, The Rabbits Wedding, which sparked controversy in the South because one of the rabbits in question was black…)

For those of you who don’t know the story of The Cricket in Times Square quite simply the Cricket, Chester, has found himself in Grand Central station, quite out of his element and country origins. He is adopted by the rat and cat duo, and a small boy whose father owns a newsstand, and who takes him as a pet – even supplying him with a cricket cage home acquired in Chinatown! Chester repays the kindness by providing cricket concerts in the train station, which makes all activity cease briefly and ultimately makes the newsstand wildly popular. Of course, eventually Chester, homesick, has to find his way back to the country, where I guess crickets belong.

Williams Cricket

I don’t remember my first reading of this. I believe I read it myself, rather than having it read to me, as was Charlotte’s Web by my third grade teacher. But the story and the illustrations – ones that made not only a kitty, but a rat and a cricket lovable, stayed with me forever. The book is still in print, but sadly only in paperback – luckily I believe that version does contain all the illustrations. (I was able to acquire a hardcover copy in excellent condition a few years ago on Amazon or eBay.) It is my favorite book to buy for the children of my friends – for those who have left the New York area I consider it my subversive move to convince their children that New York City is the only place to live – a world of wonders! Maybe you will consider it for a juicy little reading project as we head into fall this year. Let me know how you like it!

Felix the Poser

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Pam’s Pictorama Toy Post: This Schoenhut Felix is very common, but I like the size and heft of mine. He is about eight inches high, and he came to me in an unusual way. I received a call from an acquaintance of Kim’s who was traveling, in Florida I believe, who said he saw an old Felix in a store and asked if he should buy it for me. I have never taken a chance on such a blind acquisition before, but on that day I rolled the dice and I got this guy for a great price.

Even all these years after his heyday, this Felix toy is virtually ubiquitous as old toys go. They frequently appear in photos with children, often with babies. I do not have any in my collection, because I prefer the more idiosyncratic stuffed toys. The wooden ones are widely available, although not especially inexpensive, in a variety of sizes and some variation. Felix is posable, although this one has started to grow fragile and like so many you see, the twine that holds him together is threatening to break. I believe that somewhere, for a large sum of money, you can have them restrung. I imagine new they were relatively indestructible however.

The extreme popularity of this toy is somewhat mystifying for me. He is a hard wooden toy, not cuddly. While he is nicely posable, it is hard to imagine that explaining his fascination for kids. Frankly, this fellow mostly looks good on a shelf like mine – among his kind and ken – dozens of different variations. In fact, Felix’s vast allure over many decades is hard to explain – even for devoted fans like myself. However, the ongoing appeal of Felix cannot be denied. Below is a photo of a small toy of more recent vintage (I believe I acquired him in the 1980’s, long, long before my collection was even a twinkle in my eye) which is also very popular. A small variation on the Schoenhut theme which I give for your consideration.

modern Felix

Pip Squeak and Wilfred Perform

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Pam’s Pictoram Photo Post: For those of you who follow on Kim’s Facebook page, you know I have a deep affection for the once hugely popular British comic strip Pip, Squeak and Wilfred. Admittedly, my fascination with the strip mystifies even Kim a bit, although he acknowledges the merit of the drawings. While best experienced today in the wonderful, robust Annuals, it was a daily strip that ran in Britain’s Daily Mirror from 1919-1956. It was the brain child of Bertram Lamb who took the persona of Uncle Dick and illustrated by A.B. Payne. It follows a family of (interspecies) animals – mom, Squeak, a penguin; dad, Pip, a dog; and Wilfred, their child, a rabbit.

The Annuals were issued from 1923-1939. In addition, Wilfred had his own, aimed at the younger set, for many years as well. Much to my extreme pleasure, the Annuals are chocked full of strips and are light on filler, puzzles and the like. They have limited color and a few full color illustrations in each.  I own a short run of them. They are a bit pricey but can be found for somewhat less if one shops around and is patient. I am sure the Annuals will be a future post of their own some day.

I am still filling in the story of the doings of the Mirror however. There is evidence that models of the family home was created and photographed for postcards, which can be easily found. In addition, there seem to be performances, as photographed here. These appear to have been wildly popular. There are two very short films, live action, on Youtube that I have included here. I believe I have seen at least one more. Both of these show the family home, Mirror Grange, but the second has the live animals as well:

 

The merchandising was wonderful and sells very high today. (Hopefully a future post will show me owning all three stuffed animals!) The popularity cannot be underestimated – even war medals were named after the characters and the strip. Wilfred had a popular fan club of his own – the Mirror would send birthday cards to you on behalf of the animals.

While the strip’s stories are very simple, they are quirky and the characters drawn expressively. I include a sample page below – hopefully to beguile you with!

Pip Squeak Annual Page

Breaking News

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This is an image I have seen and been entertained by before. For some reason I decided to buy this particular card because of the writing on the front – not often, but sometimes that seems to make a postcard call to me.

This card was addressed to Miss Edith Farrington and quite simply, Hartman, NY sent on October 17. 1905 is my best guess from the postmark – there is evidence of a stamp but it is gone. On the front, Frank I. Grim with Best Regards and Come again. However, the best are, I thought you had forgotten me (there’s exuberance, isn’t there?) and my favorite, exact picture of our cat– pointing to a feisty looking fellow (or girl, but feels like fellow) on the end.

Flirtation! We are left wondering if he got the girl. Since Edith seems to have kept this, we will assume so. It does leave me wondering where and if future generations will be able to find any sweet remnants of love and courtship from days gone by. Emails printed and saved? Long abandoned blogs and online diaries? Interesting to consider our electronic ghosts of the future.

A Picture is Worth Many Words

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This film still is an odd, 5″x7″ size, came as part of a collection we amassed purchasing pieces off an artist photo archive being sold on eBay over a period of weeks, a few years back now. I believe it was a photo morgue assembled by an illustrator. Among the photos we purchased from that group was one I featured on an earlier post, Jes Call Me Bill. There are additional future posts to be had from that wonderful group of photos. There’s no information about this one and we haven’t been able to figure out what film it might have come from.

This photo was on my mind and I could not put my hands on it until recently while cleaning up and going through some photos given to us by a friend of Kim’s. This one had accidentally found it’s way into that pile. In part it is the composition that attracts me. I couldn’t ask for better. The light that is hitting the roof is great and there is just barely enough of it. The whole story is here – he’s pulling her into that thatched house against her will, the guy on the horse is covering him with a gun and looking off in one direction, but meanwhile, no one sees our hero coming out of the doorway. He’ll save her! Not really a beautiful photo so much as a good one. This is the beauty of both silent films and good photography. The picture grabs you – and gives you the whole story.

Fooled Again!

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Okay, time to admit it, if you are going to be a collector and take some chances, once in a while you are going to get burned – those are the rules of the game. A card that is suppose to be old is a reproduction, a stuffed toy is in poorer condition than advertised – it happens. In the process of doing a large buy on a postcard site, early one morning (think pre-coffee) I added this one into the batch, believing perhaps that the figure in the middle was actually wearing a Felix costume. Actually, don’t know what I was thinking. Once it arrived, it took a little while for me to even find the darn Felix!

Still, now that it is here, it is a strange and unusual card if not necessarily one I would have purchased otherwise. Roughly tinted, this shows an unusual line-up of men. There’s something decidedly gruesome about this group – um, not really jolly somehow. Perhaps it is the sloppy coloration. I don’t know – and the spirit of Felix, pasted to the window behind them, hovering over them.

Photographer

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: I have a special fondness for photos of photographers and this woman with her camera in the woods seems like my spiritual sister. The location is exactly the kind I like to photograph – off in the woods, far away from all signs of human life. I love the camera she has and, although I am going out on a limb saying this, perhaps it is the kind used to make photo postcards? (Photography comrades, please feel free to weigh in on this.) I like that sporty camera case on the log next to her too. She’s very nip and tuck this woman. Although, while I happen to be a fan of dresses as comfortable and practical, I am not entirely sure I want to do rough hiking in this garb. Having said that, it is long and therefore should protect her legs, and hopefully full enough to permit movement. However, even I rarely wear my pearls for a hike in the forest!

This card is unused and not dated in anyway. From her clothes we will assume it is the early teens – again, if I was a bit better informed I could probably pinpoint based on her camera.  One of the things I love about the history of photography is the way it grew like topsy from Daguerre forward. Women are the beneficiaries of the emancipation brought on by such things as the wide availability of bicycles and avocations such as photography. These two things alone allowed them freedom of movement and a creative outlet beyond the more traditional painting, sewing and drawing. Voting is a fight and a few years away.

The development of photography seemed like a mad happy race for the next better thing – as did so much that was unrolling in the years before WWI – until the war and the influenza epidemic sent everyone reeling. Progress continues, but the wonderful innocent joy at it sadly seems to turn dark as applied to warfare and healthcare. However, she remains poised for the future here and whatever it brings.

Coney Island Airplane

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  The back of this card identifies it as a Coney Island Souvenir, but otherwise it is unused and not dated. Several that appeared to be from the same album were put up for sale at the same time, but oddly, this was the only really compelling image for me. (I would have thought they would all be sort of fun, wouldn’t you?) I do love this one – how perfect and goofy! I don’t know what I like best – the creative abstraction of the “airplane” or the wonderfully artificial scene painted at the bottom. (Are those real lights coming through the scenery? They seem to cast all the way upward when you look carefully – tiny searchlights.) Or perhaps the man himself, posing with a Harold Lloyd-like concentration and aplomb! He is so very nattily dressed – nothing like a man who wears a boater well.

It is an odd set up for photos. As Kim pointed out, airplanes changed so quickly at that time it must have gone out of date almost immediately. It would have been an of-the-moment craze however. A few moments of dreaming what it might be like to be up in the air. Of course, you could wander out and climb onto the roller coaster and get a good idea.

A New Felix for Pam!

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Pam’s Pictorama Post:  I don’t actually buy Felix dolls very often these days. There aren’t all that many that I do not have, and those I don’t own I frequently can’t quite afford on eBay – where the competition gets mighty hot. However, once in a while one shows up that wins for sheer quirky spirit, and this was one of those Felix-es. Something about the cock-eyed confidence of this little fellow caught my eye. Frankly, upon arrival he’s a bit more fragile than I would have bargained for, but these whacky toys all seem to have individual living expressions and I love his whacky appeal. On the face of it he doesn’t look like he comes from the East London Toy Factory, as featured in the previous post of that name. Still, he does belong to a category of Felix which appears singular and somewhat handmade.

His blue ribbon is most likely not original – I think some did bear a white bow at the time – but it is jaunty and I like it. It adds to his appeal. He maintains his whiskers, which frequently are among the first things to go. They are stiff and stand up on their own, curling a bit. His tail is designed to help him stand, but he barely does these days, and has a bit of help here. He will live on a high shelf because Cookie has already discovered him and decided that his smell is fascinating. Clearly she would enjoy making him a very expensive cat toy. Not on my watch, Cookie old girl.

Kits!

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kittens 1  kittens 2

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Hard to resist a photo of kittens and I fell for these little fellows, not once but twice!  The high fidelity of these snapshots jumped out at me and I thought the two photos should stay together. I purchased them separately, a week or so apart.

Looks like this group was quite the handful. Two tuxedoes – what a haul! I am a sucker for the black spot on the chin of the one. The tabby is the one who looks like the hell raiser of the group; the white one is the sweet guy. Purring fluff balls!

The cuteness of kittens is clearly a necessary design of nature given the upheaval they generally cause. I remember when I first acquired my cat Otto as a tiny kitten – stinky, messy and determined to tear the apartment to pieces – her good looks saved her on many occasions as she scaled furniture and sometimes walls. She had jumping projects – for example she practiced repeatedly until she could jump to the top of the fridge from the floor. A loud crowing meow of pleasure when she made it! Just about the time you think you can’t stand it another day, bam! They have graduated and are magically less stinky, cleaner and civilized enough for everyone to get along.

The first cat I really remember as a kitten was my orange tabby Pumpkin. A gift from a friend whose Persian cat had strayed, he was an angelic ball of fur, small enough to be held in one hand and spend his first few nights in a Kleenex box. He eventually grew to the size of a small dog, with a huge striped tail and immense, sturdy cat paws. He allowed me to carry him around, but no one else dared pick him up. Pumpkin was a one girl cat. (That is until my father, in retirement, wooed him with smoked salmon and won his undying affection.)

Our Blackie and Cookie are barely out of kittenhood – Cookie still chases her tail routinely and needless to say they speed through the apartment for a rousing game of kill-the-guy several times a day. They are the first litter mates I have had since childhood. They are best friends who love to hate each other – that’s what being a kit is all about it seems.

We are out of town as this gets published – far away from our cat kids. Miss you guys! See ya soon!