Author: Pam's Pictorama

Mickey Mask

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Recently I was bidding on a rather fascinating Mickey Mouse mask from the thirties – an awkward thing, Kim seemed unmoved by it, but I found it very interesting. It doesn’t matter because it zoomed out of a price range that I could possibly justify paying – after all, it wasn’t even a cat. Still, almost by way of consolation, this photo appeared for sale on eBay – the man wearing the very type of mask I was bidding on.

While this can’t really compete with my past Mickey photo post Mickey Marches In it is still a pretty hot photo of the Mickey and Minnie dress up craze of the thirties. Halloween dressing up by adults seems, in general, to have been taken to a much higher level in the first part of the 20th century. That’s a pretty hot hula girl outfit behind the guy with the funny nose and the “S” or “5” on his pouch. And is that Little Miss Muffet and her Tuffet behind Minnie? I thought it was a turtle at first, but she seems very pleased with it either way. There’s a clown – there always is in these photos – and someone in a sort of raja outfit. Still, Mickey and Minnie are front and center and it has probably helped keep this photo bobbing around all these years instead of lost in an album somewhere.

If you look carefully, you will see that Mickey and Minnie seems to have a little wooden man on a wire like a leash. What on earth is that? And why are Mickey and Minnie taking him out and about? Their pet human perhaps – fitting for anthropromorphic mice I guess, not that I keep a mouse on a leash. This complements the dark side of this photo – after all, those masks are a bit terrifying.

Frozen Greetings

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Polar Bear and Waitresses

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Someone recently sent me an article about people posing with Polar bear imitators on Germany (see The Mysterious German Fad for Posing with Polar Bear Imitators) and I realized that this photo postcard probably belongs to this genre. Although I had long intended to write about this photo, an early one in my collection, I had not so I offer it as an almost snow day post. (As I write the east coast is getting buried under a couple of feet of snow in what they are saying is likely to be record breaking.)

It had never really occurred to me whether or not this postcard was German – I bought it many years ago and it has been framed for almost all that time. Closer examination shows part of a sign that, yes, could be in German. I unframed it and yes – low and behold – it is inscribed in German on the back. It is date 1950 and signed Maria. It was not mailed. The article seems to focus on one collector of these photos – so I guess I know who I can always sell mine to!

As we all know, I am not likely sell however and I have always prized this photo. I am not sure why, but in my mind it took place in a resort in the Catskills – go figure. I believe I stumbled onto this photo on eBay years ago – it was an early acquisition. But really, who wouldn’t want to snuggle up for a photo op with Mr. Polar Bear!

Silets Bay Auto Camp

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Perfect for these lazy days of summer and those of us who are dreaming of a vacation cottage of our own! Any of you who have been following this blog for a bit know that to some degree I consider Oregon something of an El Dorado of early photographs and here is another prime example. I am a complete sucker for this kind of light in a photo and frankly it could be of almost anything – just gorgeous. It has the same quality as early black and white nitrate film in good condition, filmed in low light it just shines with the spots of light. This card is unused and has nothing written on the back.

There is a Cutler City historical site which mentions the autocamp. There seems to be some disagreement on spelling and this site spells it Siletz rather than Silets. According to this the Siletz Bay Autocamp was a popular destination opening in 1927 on property that was originally owned by Charley DePoe, a Siletz Indian. (We will assume this is where the name came from and that the “z” is correct!) The property was subsequently in the hands of a George and Maryanne Cutler, and eventually Frank Gibbs who built the first cabins on the property immediately before it became the Autocamp.

It conjures up a summer idyll and no thoughts of lugging suitcases, sunburn or swatting mosquitoes. Just our dream vacation, in the woods, swimming in a lake and hiking in virgin woods – largely untouched since it belonged to the Siletz Indian tribe. Something to dream about from my urban concrete summer perch this year.

Speaking of Cats

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Before the internet and cat videos, there were cat postcards! This one from 1917 is bizarre and fascinates me. It is dated 1917 on the back and addressed to Mademoisell Zhiere Dreval a Jounnel (?) Vienna. I cannot read the French inscription and, oddly, there is no stamp despite the note, date and full address. However, it is clearly the front of this card that is of interest. A soldier surrounded by these Louis Wain-esque cat heads – depicting the moods of cats!

Let’s start with the obvious – why a soldier? Were these handed out to the French army in WWI so soldiers would be able to judge the various states of cats they might encounter along the way? One has to wonder – very wise of them if true.

In clockwise direction, starting with Doux they translate on Google as follows:

Doux = Sweet
Ardent = Burning
Gourmand = Greedy
Vorace = also translated as Greedy
Inactif = Inactive
Bouillant = Boiling
Fougueux = Mettlesome
Actif = Active

Gourmand and mettlesome are my favorites! The moustached soldier seems to be providing some sort of hand signals as well, mystically floating as he is, in front of a lurid sunset or sunrise.

There was a popular British book, The Language of the Flowers, illustrated by Kate Greenaway, which was published in 1884. It lists the meanings of various flowers – I was fascinated by a reproduction copy I had when I was a child. I wondered immediately if this was a play on that. I have grabbed the title page below.

language of the flowers

The truth is, all cats have their own expressions. I have labeled some of ours as follows: Queen of Everything, Huffy Puffy Stuffy, Piss Cat Ears, and Grumpus. Detecting a trend here?

A Small Gift for Kim

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: A few weeks ago, right before my foot surgery, I was in East Hampton as described in my post Operculum about some seashell collecting that went on out there. Before heading back to Manhattan we stopped at a sale, held some sort of a town hall building. It was generally pretty upscale (no surprise there) and consisted largely of antique furniture, silver and some high-end vintage jewelry. (I just barely contained myself on that score – it is another weakness.) However, low and behold, for no particular reason someone was selling a whole jar of these. There were numerous giant insects one could choose from, but somehow this big, gorgeously colored beetle struck me as a perfect gift for Kim.

It is encased in a plastic material and if you look carefully you can see a little stand that came with it. Cookie was very interested in making it her own – she is a cat that enjoys balls and will bat them around by herself, making up cat games. However, we have decided that this one is ours and we’d like to keep it pristine.

For no discernible reason that I can explain, I have been buying Kim variations on this for years. I guess it is my own fascination – things encased in plastic and interesting bouncing balls – but he seems to admire them as well. Generally, I find ones that are really meant for bouncing – there were a number of different ones that light up when you bounce them – we all enjoyed those and I buy them whenever I see them. In turn, Kim purchased a ring that lights up for me which I enjoyed tremendously.

Another, an anniversary gift that we have attempted to keep from Cookie, is the mermaid below. To be honest, she is stealing it from me even as I write this as I have it off a shelve to photograph it to show you. Bad kitty!

mermaid ball

Safety Match

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Weirdly, the concept of the match safe has long fascinated me. I can’t entirely express why, but knowing that my matches are safely tucked away, where they will remain dry and ever-ready, appeals deeply to the tidy and organized part of my personality. I have lusted after this Black Cat cigarette company match safe for years, ever since spying one in a book devoted to cat advertising. You can imagine my joy when my friend Zach alerted me to the sale on eBay.

I have visited the Black Cat Cigarette company in my earlier post, Smokin’ Cats, but somehow missed this lovely bit of history about the name which I share from Wikipedia below:

Black Cat is now a cigarette brand sold around the world, but its name sprang from humble origins. The original black cat was an ordinary domestic cat which spent hours curled up asleep in the window of Don José’s Wardour Street shop, well before the turn of the 20th century. Because the cat became such a familiar sight to the passers-by, the shop began to be known as the “black cat shop”. Don José decided to adopt the cat as part of the company’s image and in 1886 it became the first trademark to be registered by Carreras. Eventually the cat became an integral part of the design of the Black Cat pack where it appeared in a white circle surrounded by a black border above the initials “JJC” (Don José Joaquin Carreras).

The Black Cat cigarette was introduced in 1904 as one of the first machine-made cigarettes manufactured in Britain. The cat was used in some of the earliest cigarette promotions, including the Black Cat stamp album which was issued free to smokers. Stamps were available inside the cigarette packs and £325 in prizes was offered for the best completed albums…One of the most ambitious promotions took place on 18 October 1913 – designated by the company as “Black Cat Day”. Advertised extensively in the national press, Black Cat salesmen could give a golden half-sovereign to anyone they approached in the street who could prove they were in possession of a Black Cat pack…During the early 1920s enthusiasm for the Black Cat was at a peak, with many people wearing badges and stickers featuring the cat and even going to fancy dress parties in black cat costumes. By now, coupon trading was fiercely competitive and the Black Cat gift catalogue offered gramophone records, gardening equipment, gentlemen’s razors, automobile accessories and wirelesses.

Black cat day! Yahoo! Clearly this is why it was the roaring twenties – black cat dress up parties and badges! And wouldn’t I just love to find some of that black kitty booty? I fully intend to – and will share it here with you.

The mysterious inside of the safe:

Match safe 2

Further Mysteries of Felix

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Minstrel Felix

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: If you’ve been reading my blog over the past year, you realize that Felix worked his way into all sorts of walks of life. The background and reason for some of these are utterly lost to us now. My early post, Felix Mask-o-Rama is one of these and this recent acquisition is another.  Only Felix the Cat written on the back – recently I assume, probably by the seller.

Of course I couldn’t resist it when it turned up on an obscure postcard site for sale, but wowza – what is going on here I wonder?  All but one person in black face, several with white stars on their eye – Grand Pooba, master of ceremony type in the middle – along with Felix and one guy who is not in blackface. Several appear to be children. Let’s face it, this would be odd without the presence of Felix, but he really mystifies me. It makes me speculate – could one consider Felix with his black coat and white muzzle black face? That would, of course, mean that we assume Felix is white to begin with – or is it white face? Hmmm. That’s probably a can of worms I am not going to poke around in, but I certainly can say this, that Felix sure did get around.

Driving with Teddy

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Riding Bear

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: How amazing! These people are out for a drive on a lovely day with their small bear tucked into the car with them. Why not? It is a gorgeous day and the sun is just streaming down on them. Everyone wearing hats – except of course of for our friend the bear.

If you look very carefully, you can see another woman, wearing a hat, just behind the bear. The bear also has a leash of some sort hanging from his neck. Notably, he is not wearing a muzzle – as trained bears frequently do – and he looks as placid as you could possibly want, one ear back in vague inquiry, “Can we get moving?” The man next to him has his hand on the bear’s near arm – or is it considered a leg? It took me a while to spot the large crowd of people in the background, visible in the lower right corner. Some sort of fair? Perhaps these folks were itinerant performers, arriving or leaving. Regardless, the bear seems utterly amiable and content in his seat in the car and it is nice to think of them as a family out for a ride on a sunny afternoon.

Wish I could have been there too, but owning this photo is a bit like having a little piece of that long ago day.

Felix, the Sporting Life

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  At first glance I thought these were sisters gathering around their Felix toy, but closer examination shows some strange items at the bottom of the photo – anyone know what the heck those are? Looks like a giant spatula and pail. In a way, another Mysteries of Felix post.

On further consideration, there is also something loosely of a uniform among these, mostly, striped dresses, belted the same. What is that cheeky little armband the woman in the lower left is wearing? She and the other one seated on the floor, both with their bobbed hair, look like they know how to have a good time! This is a smaller, home version of Felix however. Perhaps the mascot of their ‘team’? Like most of these postcards, this one not written on, nor was it sent. However, I do think it looks like a team that might be worth joining.

Operculum

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operculum on platter    Operculum

Pam’s Pictorama: This post is a bit of a summer vacation break in my usual topics. Last weekend I was fortunate to be the guest at a lovely home in East Hampton which, thanks to the glorious weather, included a magnificent walk on the beach. A Jersey girl myself, I grew up on the shore within walking distance of the beach, near the Sandy Hook Bay peninsula. Some of my earliest memories are of playing on the beach and collecting shells, driftwood and sea glass. I do not get to the beach often these days, but on the rare occasion that I do I have noticed our beaches somewhat wiped clean – very few shells or driftwood, and you almost never see sea glass. (I assume this has something to do with recycling.) It happens that my trip to the beach coincided with a a big storm the night before. Our reward was a beach where the rough tides had churned up a vast amount of shellfish and sea flotsam and jet sum. A large flock of sea gulls had stuffed themselves silly and there was shellfish carnage all around

One of the other house guests, Jeff Rosenheim (a colleague and head of the Department of Photographs at the Met), impressed us greatly with his knowledge of sea life zoology. He pointed to a small amber object on the sand and said it was an operculum, or gill cover, in this case for a sea snail. In all my years of beach combing I never remember seeing these and he said they are unusual to find. That day, as you can see above, we collected a few dozen. (The other photo shows some with the sort of sea snail they seem to have come from.) We even found a living little fellow who opened and closed his for us when tickled. We returned the favor by getting him back in the water and away from the gulls – who were quite miffed. As you can see from the one I am holding up to the light, it has the same pattern and texture as the sea shell, but transparent. Strange and beautiful.

Our hostess, Joyce, picked up this handsome crab who also wasn’t familiar to any of us. His meaty claws were snatched away by a hungry bird and he is shown clawless here. This was a very stinky bucket of bits – Wowza! The crab turns out to be a blue spiny spider crab. The other shells, oyster and clam respectively, were just pretty.

blue spiny spider crab   Shells