Author: Pam's Pictorama

Dustless

Posted by

2

Pam’s Pictorama Post: I find it very hard to resist a good vintage tin box; I just cannot. They immediately stir my imagination and I am sure I have a million uses for them. Generally this is true as well, although occasionally one doesn’t take for some reason. I purchased this one at the antiques mall in NJ thinking it would go to my new office and it may still, although as I settle into that space I am still figuring out surface area and needs.

I have another, much larger, version of this tin which is kept in the bedroom in NJ, also pristine, long and narrow, housing night table odds and ends and keeping them away from prying pussycat paws – who would take great joy in gently knocking each thing onto the floor while I try to sleep. Maybe a future post on that tin, but it does make me reflect on the pristine condition of these crayon boxes in particular. Perhaps the dustless as advertised meant nice clean tins.

View from the new office.

I wonder if this tin contained crayons such as the much beloved Crayolas of my childhood or if this was a tin for something more like pastels or chalk. An-du-septic makes me think more like pastels or chalks. This was a term coined by Binney & Smith, the forefathers of Crayola in about 1902. It seems to sort of mean sort of anti-dust and clean.

The tin boasts, Gold Medal Crayons for Every Use as part of its trademark on the top. They liked their patent and trade mark info at Crayola and the side is devoted to it further with a Patent notice and Where color is required use a gold medal product.

In addition to identifying Binney & Smith Co. New York and it says one gross which seems like a heck of a lot as this box only measures about 3″x5″and 4″ deep.

I am a child of the large yellow and green Crayola era, the one with the built in sharpener. Despite a world of color choices there were always the ones the wore down quickest and those which sat largely little used. Not all crayons applied to paper equally well and even as a kid you also figure those things out. The sort of neon colors intrigued but could best only be used for highlighting. Gold and silver fascinated as well, but were only somewhat useful. I am having trouble remembering all the colors I thought were troublesome, but things like red and hot pink wore down quickly. Always very fond of a sort of aqua blue and was pretty popular.

This seems like the large flat box I received at one point.

As I write this Kim is at his desk, hard at work on my Valentine’s Day picture. (Prior Kim Valentine’s Day works can be found featured in posts here, here and here. It is an annual tradition that goes back many years to when we first started dating. Watch for that reveal in February!) He is using colored pencil and somewhat coincidentally, was talking about how much he disliked crayons even as a child because they never went on with any consistency. Even as a tiny tot this irritated the nascent Kim Deitch as artist! I know what he means though – you could layer on to get some consistency. (In the photos above taken on his desk you can see the colored pencils in use ready and waiting.)

For all of that, my research pretty much confirms that this box housed chalk sticks and that this particular box probably dates from about 1935.

At some point in my childhood someone gave me a much larger flat box of crayons which I have not seen before or since, about the size of a gameboard. It had more crayons and a sharpener within. I don’t believe it caught on however. I was fascinated to find the box, above, online when I looked.

The very traditional box of which I had many.

Meanwhile, Cray-pas were another whole kettle of fish and were almost too juicy to control. And I didn’t have the kind of childhood where there were opportunities to use chalk on a sidewalk or other pavement. I have documented some of the chalk drawings I used to encounter in the park running and so we know that chalk use is alive and well today by kids.

Where this tin ends up and what it holds remains to be seen. If you just have to have one you easily can – they are very available, many quite clean like this one, on various sites including eBay. I think I am still feeling it for my desk at work. Enjoy it for what it is – a pristine reminder of a beloved childhood favorite.

It’s a Honey

Posted by

0

Pam’s Pictorama Toy Post: This is a spectacular and truly delightful gift from Kim for Christmas this year! This rarified item is said to be the Deans rendition of cartoon Bosko’s sidekick Honey. It came to us via Britain’s specialty teddy auction at Special Auction Services and was identified as such there. While this sale focuses heavily on extremely rarified teddy bears, the occasional oddball character toy like this shows up on the scene with some regularity. Today’s post might ask more questions than it answers, but maybe we need to think of it as a work in progress.

I’ve never seen this pair before, not even in my book of Dean’s toys, although that rather complete book (based on their catalogues) came with a CD which theoretically has every toy they made. I am not in NY so I have not been able to have a look there. This doll is so rare that I have not been able to find another example online aside from this postcard of it – evidently also extremely rare – which was produced in 1941. (Note that although the same doll Honey’s clothes and coloring are a variation below – black and white tights, black hands, etc.) Although it gives appropriate copyright info, it only credits the cartoons and not the maker of the dolls.

From the chat on the Cartoon Brew site. Not in Pictorama collection. (Bosko does have very Deans-esque teeth here, much like their Mickey mouse.

The auction listing read as follows: A rare Dean’s Rag Book Co Honey from Bosco and Honey, circa 1931, originally created as African American children with cream and brown velvet head with black boot button eyes, yellow and red velvet integral clothes with brown hands, red and white striped stockings, black shoes and orange skirt —13in. (33cm.) high (some fading, nose probably replaced and a little damage) – Bosko and Honey are animated cartoon characters created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, both former employees of Walt Disney. Bosko is the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger’s cartoon series, and is the star of over three dozen Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros.

A different Bosko doll also turned up (in the chat room on a site called Cartoon Brew found here) and that one had a label belonging to an unknown company, not Deans, and is clearly a different model. All this means that my chances of completing my set with a Bosko will be very challenging at best and it also begs the question of if this is indeed the one made by Dean’s Rag as it lacks the Deans Rag Hygienic Toy label – or any label for that matter. (I also question if indeed Dean’s made one or if this is somehow fully apocryphal.)

When you look at the toy below it is worth thinking about the Aesop’s Fable dolls – the eyes and the sewn mouth are very similar. (A few from my collection are featured here and here.) Those dolls, which do not have a maker’s label or mark are evidently from another company called Woodard however – as I confirmed with an original box a few years ago.

From a chat on Cartoon Brew, not in Pictorama collection.
This was noted on the post about the above Bosko.
Pams-Pictorama.com collection – the eyes are similar.

I have written about the Deans Rag toy company on many occasions (for a few posts of Deans toys from my collection look here and here for starters) and in some ways they feel like a square one for the period and type of vintage toys I collect. Founded in 1903 by Henry Dean the company was originally established to create brightly colored cloth (essentially indestructible) books for small children. These soft cloth page books were hard to destroy or deface and were also notably hygienic – as attested to by the label.

The clear indication that a toy was made by Deans Rag.

The success of the books somehow gave way to licensing cartoon characters for manufacture – most importantly a deal was struck with Disney for the distribution of Mickey and Minnie dolls which promptly sold more than a million according to their own period advertising. (My very early post on my Deans Mickey’s can be found here.) Not surprisingly, they continued to purchase character licenses and Felix, Oswald Rabbit, Donald Duck and others to follow.

An especially nice example of the Dean’s Rag Mickey via a Hake’s auction listing.

While Mickey, Felix and perhaps Donald were big paydays for Deans, one suspects that Honey and Bosco were perhaps not, as confirmed by their obscurity today. I think about it and since the Bosko cartoons were also (much) less popular than Mickey or Felix that makes sense.

For those of you not in the know, a brief Wikipedia history of Bosko says, Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger’s cartoon series and was the star of thirty-nine Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros. He was voiced by Carman Maxwell, Bernard B. Brown, Johnny Murray, and Philip Hurlic during the 1920s and 1930s and once by Don Messick during the 1990s.

Wikipedia goes on to describe Bosko as an animated cartoon version of Al Jolson in the Jazz Singer and as a character in a cross between human (child?) and anthropomorphic animal. Honey – aside from being his official sidekick – sings and dances her way through the cartoons. However, even in their day, Bosko and Cookie cartoons were sidelined because of the racism baked into their design.

Like Bosko Honey is of indeterminate species and ethnicity. She dresses, as does the doll, in a little girl’s dress, hair bow and striped (Pippy Longstocking style) stockings. As you will find in the cartoon above, she has a high squeaky childlike voice. Her lips are painted on and the hair from a velvety cloth of a different color. As noted by the auction house, her nose is probably a replacement and is definitely plastic. It seems like a reasonable replacement however. SAS claims that the eyes are original shoe button and I don’t have very strong feelings about it one way or the other.

Pams-Pictorama.com

I have reached out to famed toy collector Mel Birnkrant for any info he might have on the Deans Honey and Bosko question, but have not heard back yet. I plan to also see if cartoon enthusiast Jerry Beck (who I believe moderates the Cartoon Brew site mentioned above) has any insights for me. We are back in New York and although I quickly located the Deans book the CD (of course) was not with it and I am unsure what “safe” place I have tucked it into. The teeth on the postcard version are very Deans indeed though and the best endorsement I can find.

I will endeavor to update this post if I do find out more. Meanwhile, Honey has a happy home here I think, tucked onto a shelf near the Jeep and in a sea of Felix-es!

A Cat Hole

Posted by

0

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: As I write today, I continue to try to get past this nasty cold (which Kim is now in the early stages of) which has dogged my holiday this year. In addition, we plan to pack up kit (cat) and caboodle on Saturday and head back to New York. In some odd way therefore, a cat house photo postcard seems like an appropriate post for you all to be reading as we are making our way back on Saturday.

This is an oddball card I ran across right before the holidays and which was delivered to New York before we left for Christmas. I purchased it on eBay which is was posted for sale for just a few sheckles so I was pleased to be the first to claim it. Not to say that I think it has very broad appeal – it could be said to be a card that only I (and a few other cat lovers) might find of interest.

Frankly, it is a bit dirty and tatty – the lower left corner has been torn – and was poorly printed as well, a wide white strip along the left side. For all of that, it is a great composition with the cat house dead center and those vertical trees bringing you eye right to it. There is the big house, back porch in evidence, behind it and a small additional shed that is similar to the house, on the right side. A long pipe chimney comes up from that roof which makes me wonder if it was perhaps a smokehouse. A tree runs up the right side of the card, closing the composition on that side.

This man and woman (proprietor and proprietress?) stand proudly on either side, their hands atop the cat house and his other hand pointing to it. Both look rather pleased with themselves and a dog is in evidence, although the proverbial (housed) cat is not. Some farm equipment is in evidence (pails, some sort of cart and a machine I cannot identify) are scattered about the yard. From the leaflessness of the trees and the coat sported by the woman I assume it is late fall or winter.

Back of card.

It was mailed on December 12, 1912 from Neosho, MO to Elizabeth Hitchcock, East Chatham, Colubmbia Co, New York, Route 1. It says, Helloo Sukey, Say this is a picture of Martha’s dog houses and cat house. I’ve been sick aint well yet, had pnemonia. I about coughed my head off. Merry Xmas and Happy New Year to all. from Grandpa.

Where are these dog houses? Do they produce them for sale?

Right up to Grandpa signature I thought it was a woman writing – don’t know why. Well, with the cat house, the coughing cold, Christmas and New Year’s greeting – I think this is spot on for a post-holiday post today. Back to toys tomorrow!

In with the New

Posted by

2

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today’s card was purchased in advance for this pending holiday purpose. When I bought it I had no idea we would celebrate the holiday with snow on the ground as we haven’t had this much in several years. Still, not enough to make our own snowman – or maybe just a mighty tiny one.

This card was mailed in France in 1913. We’ll assume that the snowman this kid perches on the shoulders of is made of sterner stuff than snow. He looks pretty pleased with himself as he, snowball in hand, lords his position over his presumed siblings. Potted fir trees are on either side and there is a painted or photographed scene behind them, snow and ice – perhaps for skating. Everyone is in their holiday best attire.

Back of the card.

Although the fall always brings a certain back-to-school mentality to my perspective, there is no question that putting the end point on one year and starting another is a moment of reflection. To top it off, my birthday is in February so I will remain somewhat on this introspective jag for a bit.

Last year this time I was closing the chapter on my time at Jazz at Lincoln Center after almost seven years and heading into the unknown of a new job. As someone who has only changed jobs a scant three or so times in my life, this caused understandable fretting. (Last year’s post can be found here.) It saw the dawn of my dental woes which have remained with me into the coming year. However, I am more resigned to that mess.

Long cold hallway of our current offices.

So it is with somewhat less trepidation than last year that I commence the New Year. The job is more familiar now as I round the bend of one year in January. However, that is not to say that I in any way have it under my belt. More like I have taken stock over the past year and now I have to map a plan for growth and change – in a sense the work has just begun!

Meanwhile, my office is moving on January 6 and therefore an additional sense of turning over a new leaf. Our current offices, which have the sense of being temporary but where they have been housed for about five years, will not be missed with its leaks, mice and noise. The new offices are nicer – not perfect, a bit squeezed, but cleaner and nicer.

Soup Days

Posted by

1

Pam’s Pictorama has a recipe post today for the first time in a long time. Like many of my past recipe posts, this one is a soup recipe. I am a fan of soup and make big pots of it all winter long and vary our meals between it as a main course or a smaller bowl for a first course or even brought as lunch for work.

I’m a tad obsessed with blue and white bowls here at the house in NJ and share a look at a couple here. My cabinet full at top.

Previous posts have been devoted to my grandmother’s split pea soup recipe (here) and a pantry tomato based soup which I also doll up as the base for a fish stew. (That post can be found here.) For those of you who prefer baking, posts devoted to cookies, cheesy bread, and quick cakes can be found here, here, and here!

I had a hankering for today’s recipe which I have not made in a long time. As it happens I made a big pot of it – just in time to land myself in bed with a miserable head and chest cold. It makes me appreciate it even more.

Getting a look at the miso paste in case you’ve never seen it! It has a long shelf life in the fridge and can also be used for a glaze or sauce base.

Miso paste (fermented bean paste) is a very flexible base for a soup. This recipe can be made with fewer additions (just the miso broth and veggie stock) for a lighter soup. I’ve made it with shrimp instead of dumplings. Corn and tomatoes come and go. The tofu is a constant for me – giving the soup some ballast. Time has evolved the seasoning to include sesame oil, rice wine and rice vinegar which I keep on hand for a salmon miso glaze. Another option beyond hot peppers or hot sauce is a discovery I recently made of Fly by Jing Xtra Spicy Chili Crisp which I think might work to spice this soup up. (I especially like this chili crisp on my broiled salmon mixed with preserves like marmalade as a sweet and spicy glaze.)

Recipe found below. Hope you enjoy this and that you don’t wait until you are sick to have it either.

****

Miso based soup

Ingredients:

  • Carrots, onion, garlic, new potato chopped
  • Regular salt and black pepper, finish with ground sea salt and red maresh pepper
  • Optional jalapeno peppers, scotch bonnets, chopped
  • 1 pepper, red or green, chopped
  • Tomato paste
  • Mushrooms (if using dried soak in water half hour and reserve water for broth)
  • Miso paste, two tablespoons dissolved in two cups of water
  • Green beans, chopped bite sized
  • 1 can of creamed corn (optional)
  • 1 can chopped tomato
  • Wine (white or red) to deglaze
  • Dumplings (or tortellini optional)
  • 2 containers veggie broth
  • scallions

Seasoning to taste:

  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Rice wine
  • Sesame oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • Bay leaves
  • Marash red pepper

Instructions:

Soften carrots, onion, garlic and new potatoes, add tomato paste and season with salt and pepper. Add peppers including hot peppers if using them, mushrooms and green beans.

Deglaze pan. Add broth, miso, corn, chopped tomatoes, bay leaf. Add sesame oil (about a tablespoon), rice wine tablespoon, balsamic vinegar (depending on thickness and quality of balsamic to taste. Bring to a boil. Adjust seasoning using rock salt and marash pepper. Add chopped scallions and dumplings. Reduce to a low simmer. Continue to check and adjust seasoning.

Although I have written this up with hot peppers optional, hot sauce also does the job if you want to give folks the choice of a bit spicy or not.

Recipe makes about 4 32 oz containers or 8 large bowls of soup. You’ll need to add a bit of water when reheating as it will thicken considerably!

Holiday Card and Decoration

Posted by

0

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today is the great Deitch Studio holiday card reveal! Apologies up front to those of you who are still waiting for your card in the mail (um, most of you) as we are way behind schedule this year. I am the keeper of the holiday card schedule and I take full responsibility! I know folks who like to have the surprise of theirs in hand before the online reveal. Alas, Blackie’s unscheduled Thanksgiving trip to the kitty ER (that cat tale can be found here) had a ripple effect and our cards were not in hand until earlier this week. Most of your cards are being launched from the Fair Have post office on Monday – think of them as New Year’s cards this year!

Sadly the celluloid Santa did not make the trip to NJ unscathed! Bought these in NYC and packed with extraordinary care, alas!

Speaking of Blackie – he ran us a merry chase yesterday trying to get him packed in his carrier for the early morning trip to NJ. He wedged himself in a tiny space underneath our futon which defies grabbing him without removing the mattress from the bed entirely. Nonetheless, we eventually got him and arrived here mostly intact early yesterday and devoted most of the day to addressing those cards!

Onto the card! This is a sort of sequel to last year’s card. Some think it achieves more highly, others favor card number one. For my part I am pleased with my likenesses of the various cats. Peaches and Gus in particular, but all of them are pretty good. Beau and Blackie are in costume – reindeer and Santa respectively. Everyone else lightly accessorized at best.

My original pencil.

It is the living room of the house here in New Jersey. There is a fireplace here, although I doubt it will return to being wood burning in my lifetime. (An absurd amount of work needs to be done to the inside of the chimney to make it safe – something about lining the inside with ceramic.) I have toyed with a gas or electric insert for it – maybe next year.

Among the sale items at Lowe’s – these were about $3.50 a box!

For those of you who are new to the card tradition, each year Kim and I collaborate on a Christmas card. It has evolved into my drawing it in pencil and then him inking it. I offer the original drawing for consideration. For those of you who missed it last year or want to compare and contrast, the ’23 card post can be found here and the card is below. The post can be found here.

The 2023 card.

Meanwhile, thus far the house is only decorated with this wreath on the front door. However, yesterday on a trip to Lowe’s to procure something to melt the ice on the front steps, I discovered boxes of old-fashioned, large colored lights on sale, 75% off – meaning each box was about $3.50. (Those inclined can probably still score these online.) Well, while I had not considered lights for the house or yard I immediately purchased several boxes and an extension cord. I also bought jolly large ornaments which I will hang from a light post out front.

Good buy on over-sized break proof ornaments for outside.

I am hoping we can wander over to the Red Bank Antiques Annex and look for a nice Santa for the mantel so with me luck! I will post an update here and on Instagram if I find one!

Holiday Migration

Posted by

2

Pam’s Pictorama Post: We are (mostly) packed and at the ready to head to New Jersey this morning. It is still pitch black out as I write this, but here in New York we got our first snow flakes in a long time yesterday. I think the ground was too warm full there to be a frosting of it out there, but we’ll see what Monmouth County has, if any.

Although there is a certain feeling of routine to it, this is only the second year we are spending in New Jersey for the holidays. We are still finding our stride with it. While there are packages of gifts and essentials, I usually take the opportunity to move a few bulky items to the house there while we are packing up a car.

Christmas breakfast with Eileen Travell yesterday before leaving town. I gave her this pretty little blue and white bowl.

Rides With Cash is a car service I have used since I commuted frequently during my mom’s last illness. (I posted about it previously here.) Jeff, the proprietor, brings his unfailingly wonderful Aussie, Cash, with him and I get a dog cuddle in as well. Now that Cookie and Blackie share some of these rides they are less thrilled with Cash but the car is large enough for a generous separation of cats in carriers and dog!

Cash sitting in the front seat during our summer sojourn.

Although more frequent commutes from New Jersey in recent years has mentally shrunk the distance between the two locations, bringing the cats and going to stay is still definitely a maneuver which requires forethought and planning. Somehow the holidays got away from us this year and I feel a bit like we are going to land in a heap. Blackie’s Thanksgiving holiday illness set us back a bit schedule-wise and there will be a holiday card reveal tomorrow while we are still sending out the bulk of our mailed cards! (Apologies in advance to those of you who don’t like your surprise ruined.)

We had our annual Top Dog Gala at work last week. We honored the NYP’s K9 unit and the dogs we care for on the force. Centerpieces complete with usable leash were for sale at the end of the event.

Blackie is better, although he required yet another trip to the vet this week – puffy eye. We aren’t sure but maybe his sister socked him, or he got something in it which made him rub it a bit raw. He is somewhat demoralized by gooping three times a day and I’m sure this trip out of state will get on his last little cat nerve. (It is finally getting light and it has indeed snowed and there appears to be a half inch or so on the ground.)

For those of you who are new to the fold – five additional cats await our arrival in New Jersey. My mom left me her cats who continue to reside in the house there where they are cared for. Our visits mean a house full of seven cats. What was my mother thinking?

All staff holiday party. My colleagues had spent the day in the lobby playing Santa and Elf to visiting animals who could have their picture taken.

For all of this, going there for the holidays is very soothing for me . Like many folks, I feel the loss of family and friends most keenly at this time of year. Being in the area I grew up in and being around the people there mitigates it somewhat and blunts the blow of the sharp edges. I know it is asking a lot of Kim and the cats who would much rather stay in New York. However, going as a family and having everyone I love together in one place for a few weeks is special to me.

So, a brief entry today an unsuspecting Cookie and Blackie to be placed in their carriers shortly. More from the other side. Let the holidays commence!

Holiday: Gifts!

Posted by

3

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Last weekend’s trip, which started with our holiday nostalgia train ride as memorialized in yesterday’s post, was largely a shopping venture. I had a few places I wanted to investigate and it was time to pick up coffee from my favorite establishment. Porto Rico Importers has been in business since 1907 with three New York City locations (Bleecker, St. Marks and Essex Street) and I became a true devotee a couple of years ago. I frequent the St. Mark’s one although I guess the Bleecker is the original site.

Porto Rico Coffee Importers last week.

Located next to my eyeglass store (Anthony Aiden Opticians – I have worn transitional lenses for years and I swear by them for the care they take in executing my prescriptions), on St. Mark’s I make periodic trips and buy several pounds of coffee at a time and freeze it. After much experiment I have settled on the Danish blend. I bought four pounds and one will come to Jersey next week. There was a long line out the door of their tiny outpost last Sunday, but it moved quickly and I was undeterred. There is a bench out front and the weather was good so Kim read his book there.

Pams-Pictorama.com purchase in October, John Derian for Target.

One can purchase their coffee online and have it shipped. If you have enough space in your freezer, free shipping starts at orders of $75 or more. I do not and I have the option of occasional trips downtown to purchase it. If you are curious their website can be found here.

A nice ceramic version available at John Derian or online, but it’ll cost you!
I purchased a pair of these for a nominal amount via an online auction. August 2014 post about these Corbin Cats.

Another of my goals was to visit the John Derian store on 2nd Street. Pictorama readers might remember several months ago when I posted about a great stuffed cat I purchased from Target which was part of a Derian/Target collaboration. I thought it was worth a trip to the source. It was a bit crowded and I purchased a few small gifts including notecards of said same black cat. However I largely found it out of my price range. In some ways I think Mr. Derian is a brother from another mother, as our collecting sensibility is remarkably similar. He however then takes these items and repurposes them by reproducing them for sale. I can attest to paying less for some of the original items that his copies are made from.

Phebe’s all decked out for the holidays. We wondered about this 98 Street – Playland sign. Rye Playland??

I had a plan to stop in a hat store, a small independent designer by the name of Esenshel. It didn’t open until afternoon so Kim and I popped into Pageant prints and maps which I had no idea resided on East 4th Street. It turned into a goldmine of gift acquisition and I grabbed up three pages, neatly excised from The Book of Bow-Wows, and the original cover to boot. While I don’t really approve of the slicing and dicing of this old book, the pages nonetheless make great gifts for a few of my colleagues at work.

Just the cover to the book, sold for a few dollars separately.
Peering into Pageant.

A quick look tells me that you’ll pay up if you want the full copy of this book – as Kim pointed out, I could however, purchase a coverless copy! Illustrated by someone only known as Tad I cannot seem to find further tracks on him. The author, Elizabeth Gordon, seems to be better known for her Bird Children and Flower Children which were illustrated by other people. Those have seen more recent reprinting, however they are a little saccharine for my taste. The Book of Bow-Wows was written in verse and I have shared the now framed (thank you Amazon!) pages I chose for my gifts. (I am laboring under the impression that none of the people I purchased for are readers – apologies on the surprise thing if you are!)

Last, but in no way least, is this book litho illustration. Titled, La Morale en Images the line at the bottom roughly Google translates to: between the child and the animal a close intimate relationship had been established. At the bottom it also read, (La chien de Lord Byron).

Also, in the end yes, I did purchase a hat. It is a wool variation on the Russian wool hat my dad’s father wore. Lunch was had at Phebe’s Tavern, an establishment I have not entered in several decades. My main memory of it was that when I was in my 20’s they sold an extremely inexpensive pitcher of beer and there is a lingering memory of a hair of the dog Sunday afternoon there once. That notwithstanding, Kim bought us a lunch of excellent burgers before making our way back – this time on a regular modern subway uptown.

Holiday: Part One, the Train

Posted by

3

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Like many folks somehow holiday activities here in Manhattan generally makes us burrow deeper in our apartments until all the fuss has passed rather than summoning us out. Accidentally finding yourself on the subway during Santa Con (the annual drunken Santa clad citywide pub crawl) is enough to send you screaming back to your apartment until well into the New Year.

While there was a time when I braved the crowds cheerfully to see the Thanksgiving Day balloons blown up on Central Park West, now I time a trip to New Jersey to be ensconced there the night before. (However some readers know that this year Blackie blew that plan up and I traveled back to New York on the Wednesday afternoon to take him to the kitty ER at work that evening. He is better and I ultimately I braved Penn Station and the parade again and returned to New Jersey to cook there. That post can be found here.)

For all of that, on a whim last weekend and knowing that Kim and I had a plan to head downtown for some shopping I needed to do, I decided that we would hop the Holiday Nostalgia train on Sunday as our mode of transportation. Sponsored by the Transit Museum in conjunction with the MTA, restored early subway cars are put back into commission on Sundays throughout December. This year the trains ran along a variation on the Q and F lines, starting up here on 96th Street and making our 86th Street and other UES stops before swinging east and taking us right to our destination near the Bowery.

Pro photo of another car empty.

Even at the second stop, ours, the train was already packed. (I guess the serious folks went up to 96th and got on there.) We squeezed in amongst people in period dress and a variety of Santa related and wildly festive costumes, as well as some other folks like us. I don’t know what I expected, but I was a bit disappointed at first because the crowd made some of the details of the train car harder to see. However, during the course of the ride we were pretty much able to take in everything, from the rattan seats to the period advertising reproduced for the occasion.

Vintage ads.

It was immediately apparent that the ride of the train felt very different – sort of the difference between a wooden rollercoaster and a modern one if you know what I mean. An old-fashioned paddle fan whirled away in the ceiling and the only ventilation were openings in the roof and the open door at the end of the car, at least in our case it was open. Incandescent light bulbs which you could have unscrewed while standing there lit it. Most notable though was the smell of the train – you could smell the diesel! We agreed, it smelled old.

Looking into the car ahead of ours.

At one point a man who clearly knew a thing or two about the history of the subway was standing next to me and explained that although the cars needed to be similar enough to be run together, every one was slightly different. (This made me a bit sorry it was too crowded to hop from car to car and see each.) I peered into the next car which did look somewhat different. According to a notice near the ceiling, our car was built in 1932. He also told me that the train would travel through some currently unused tunnels, allowing us to take our unusual route.

This kid took it upon himself to announce each stop as you would hear on a modern train – with all the special stops all correct though. Here he’s chatting with a couple who were visiting from Britain.

Soon enough our stop, the next to last for the train, came up and we hopped off. More of our adventure tomorrow. (What’s more there’s a rumor I might pinch hit as Santa for dog photos this coming week, so lots of festive fun here at Deitch Studio!)

Fleeting

Posted by

0

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today I have a post of the cannot be and will not be of items that are not part of the Pictorama collection. It is the tantalizing netherworld of the might have been.

After all, I general troll constantly for one-of-a-kind objects that fit my areas of interest and therefore there is bound to be some loss among the gain and many failed attempts for a variety of reasons.

Sadly, today’s post is inspired by the worst kind of loss which has reminded me that to operate in my world one has to be prepared for a variety of eventualities.

To start with I have this wonderful Felix photo postcard for my collection and the sad inspiration for this post. Those longstanding readers know that these singular photo postcards of people posing with giant Felix dolls are the foundation of the photo side of my collection. I have not really assembled them to do a count but I own many and pretty much approach the situation as that these are must haves when they become available. Occasionally I lose one to a bid too low, but generally not for a healthy lack of trying. If you are going to wrestle it away from me you are going pay some serious money.

This card was not lost to another bidder, but saddest of all was won, paid for and now has gone missing in the mail! Searches have been completed and I even had a phone call from my mail woman. They can only confirm that it was delivered to the address of my high rise building – although they did go to the other buildings in the area to check. It has just disappeared. It was insured but because the post office says they delivered it the insurance won’t pay. I am out both the money but most importantly the card which is irreplaceable. It is a mystery. I share it here In Memoriam.

Copies being sold on eBay.

Up next is another whole and different category – the items I did not buy because they turned out to be reproductions. The language on some of these posts can be very hard to decipher – and occasionally all the way to deceptive. I am not actually saying that this one was deceptive however and I realized that this rather fascinating photo was a copy and did not purchase it. Somehow it remained in my watched folder of eBay to share with you today. That furry Felix costume is really weirdly memorable and he has the saddest Felix face! One should not ignore the charm of the donkey clad fellow on the other side. Hotsy totsy! I do wonder what the heck kind of vaudeville or other act this commemorated.

Lost in the confusion of a busy fall.

This nice Tuck card with a Louis Wain design was one of several offered by a Canadian seller. I admit to causing my own downfall as I was trying to purchase a group of them and got muddled. I made an offer which she turned down and then much later she ultimately made an offer, but I had my mind in other things (sadly I do actually have a job and try to get some work done Monday through Friday) and I missed that chance. Once I had myself together to circle back she has gone out of town with all on hiatus and I don’t know if it will ever happen now.

These cards do sell high and I appreciate that she bought them for her own collection and paid a lot – she just got me in a confused and busy moment. In the recent Louis Wain bio (Catland – review post is here) the author discusses how from the beginning Christmas or holiday illustrations and cards helped to make up the backbone of Wain’s annual income. His illustration of these cards were at the height of his career if I remember correctly. Meanwhile, I have several from the Felix collection and that post can be found here. Maybe more to come on these if she and I can sync up our communication.

Outlandishly high asking price.

This photo above has been kicking around in my watched folder for ages. As you can see, it bares the seller’s mark. They have named a ridiculous amount of money for it. While I understand that this is some sort of strategy I am not interested in engaging in a negotiation where someone is starting several hundred dollars more than I am willing to pay. This photo interests me, but not enough to engage in that dialogue. (It is still available for anyone who wishes to engage in the process!) I share the back as well. It is a press photo from February 28, 1931 of students from the Mardi Gras parade in the Latin Quarter of Paris looking into the Luxembourg Gardens.

Back of the photo above.

And sometimes I am just outbid. I try to be philosophical about that. If you are going to participate in auctions it will indeed happen. My father always gave me the advice his own mother gave him which is, figure out your maximum and stick to it. Gertie Butler was a true veteran of live auctions in her day – yes, I really do come by this interest naturally. She furnished an entire home with antiques this way. I often think of how much she would have loved eBay, although perhaps she liked the activity of going in person as well.

Lost to a high bidder.

Anyway, above is an example of a card that just went too high. Sometimes things go way high and at least there is comfort in that as I know I never would have paid that much. Other times, as in the case of this cat card, they go just beyond your top bid. I try to reassure myself that it isn’t likely that if I had gone just a tiny bit higher that it would be mine – after all, the person was likely to have gone higher too. It is just an illusion that you could have had it for a dollar more, probably not true.

This card has a lovely tuxie sitting on a sort of dressing table tray among potions, brushes and combs in order to admire the kitty in the mirror. I can’t tell if he understands that it is his image in the mirror or if he is among the type who thinks this fellow might be invading his turf – something about his expression makes me think the latter.

A never ran for Pictorama but very fun nevertheless.

I end today with a I will never own it because I didn’t bid on it item. This little gem of a wind-up ice cream seller from a Milestone Auction recently which I thought was super charming, but a bit outside my area of collecting. As it happens, many people must have agreed and it sold for a pretty rarified price. However, it passes through the Pictorama portals at least as a guest appearance as well.