Author: Pam's Pictorama

Old Tommy

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  Meet Tommy, sitting by a fishbowl on a window sill, pretty as a picture. The back of this card has the following written on it, Dear Lina, here is a picture of old Tommy he is a live [sic] and well. Gay said he did not think he could get away tomorrow. Give our love to Mrs. Brady and sister. It is addressed to Mrs. Pauline Bauldwin, New Milford, PA Route no.1 Dated October (illegible date) 2 PM 1908. It is written in pencil, except the address which is in pen – it is a neat script. Unsigned – I guess Lina knew who was writing.

The photographer had an excellent eye and this is a great photo. Most notably the wonderful reflection in the fish bowl – a little universe unto itself showing a trim yard and house in tiny replica. I can’t actually see a fish, but there is a large and interesting shell evident in the fish bowl and I wonder what book it is sitting atop of, but nothing on the spine.

Old Tommy is a hefty fellow. He is dignified and not even giving that fish bowl a sideways look – at least not while the camera is on him. Another of my cat stories from my youth is about a tabby stray named Zipper. My mother rescued him as a tiny, malnourished kitten being abused by boys outside a laundry mat. Anyway, Zips was a hunter and feral fellow and, additionally, a great admirer of the large tropical fish tank we kept. Zipper liked to sit next to it, eyes shining with interest, and he would gently pat it intently, while looking at us innocently. To my knowledge no fish fell prey to Zipper (we did have a top on tank although it had an opening), but it was a large tank and who’s to say really if he had the occasional fish nip or not?

Felix is the Cat’s Pajamas – Zita Harrison and Pagliaccio the Cat

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: I spotted the photo of the cat reading first on eBay. Oh man, what I wouldn’t give for those Felix pajama costume she is wearing! Lucky for me the seller wasn’t capitalizing on the Felix-ness of the photo. It was not cheap, but I bought it uncontested. The back reads, ‘Pagliaccio’ is said to be the best trained cat in the business. Zita Harrison has taught him how to spell and how to play the banjo while playing a mouth organ. CREDIT LINES MUST READ: BY ACME.

It is not often that Mr. Internet lets me down entirely. In fact I have become spoiled (and fascinated) by the ability to type in obscure and presumably long lost addresses and information about long forgotten stars of vaudeville (see for example Mad Jenny, an earlier post) into an internet search and generally turning up some information. It was with this in mind that I anxiously typed in Zita Harrison 1926, really wanting to know more about her cat act, and promptly turned up…nothing. A few other variations and searches several pages in and I found the second photo published here in The Plattsburgh Sentinel, but the only additional bit of information is that she is from San Francisco.

While waiting for the photo to show up in the mail I tried rolling the internet dice again and this time I notice not only was the other version of the photo online, but it was for sale on Canadian eBay. Needless to say, I purchased that one immediately, and I like it even more – although the Felix suit is not shown off to quite such an advantage.  On the back this one is inscribed, lars – S.F. to Cleveland and Acme  Feb. 11. ‘Pagliaccio’ is said to be the best trained cat in the business. Zita Harrison has taught him how to spell and how to play the banjo while playing a mouth organ. -vl- It is also stamped Feb. 18 1926. (It is a strange bonus that February 11 is my birthday, Kim purchased it for me, and arrived just in time for the day!) Unlike the first photo where Pagliaccio looks utterly content in his sweater and glasses, he looks decided less happy playing the tiny guitar. Fangy fellow.

Given the fact that Zita looks a tad long in the tooth, I tried some earlier periods – her name isn’t terribly common after all. Not even any listings in old newspapers that might have listed the act with others playing in San Francisco. So, I have to wonder. How did she achieve this one publicity push in winter of 1926? It doesn’t seem to correspond with any real articles on her or listings for her performances. I guess we will never know about that or where those great Felix pajamas came from.

Deitch Valentine Bonus Post

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Pam’s Pictorama Valentine Post: Last Tuesday a neighbor accidentally flooded our apartment and despite Kim’s best efforts at mopping up, at 8:00 at night I found myself cross-legged on the floor in front of our linen closet throwing out sodden tax documents and, sadly, old snap shots and letters. However, among those things and utterly untouched was this Valentine Kim made me many years ago when we first got together. It is from a small box of chocolate which he covered with paper and drew on with colored pencil! Delightful!

Those of you who have followed on Facebook over the years know of our family tradition where Kim makes me a wonderful Valentine drawing every year. Since I started out as a big Kim Deitch fan before being a girlfriend or a wife these are really extra special for me. Over time they have become more elaborate and now they are almost mini-stories. Lucky girl – I get to star in my own Kim Deitch drawings! Yay Kim! I am the happiest fan ever – as well as the luckiest wife.

Below are some Valentines from recent past years. Enjoy!

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Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co.

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: This is the only Victorian trade card I own of this variety. It is a bit hard to see, but the top says, Ha! Tis Me. The Maltese Me Rival. I do not claim to understand it – I just liked the image of this great frowning striped kitty forced into this very flat perspective – look at his claw paws and an angry puffy tail! On the back, in tiny type, is an exhaustive list of The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co.’s Branch Houses in the U.S. – with almost a third of them in New York City – and a notation at the bottom that the Principal Warehouse, 35 and 37 Vesey Street, N.Y.  P.O. Box 4233. It is a tiny card, about the size of a playing card.

The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company, founded in 1859 as The Great American Tea Company selling tea and spices at discounted prices in New York City, changed its name in 1869 to commemorate the first transcontinental railroad. Much to my surprise, the company morphed first into the A&P tea company and ultimately A&P supermarkets of today. (Kim seems to have known this all along – fascinating man my husband.) All I can say is, they sure would get more of my business if they had kept this ad campaign. They were generous in their distribution of Victorian trade cards and there seem to be more than you could imagine once you go looking. Scores for sale on eBay at any time – their survival rate a reflection of their popularity during their heyday.

Our friend the Internet supplies us with much information on the specifics of the cards and story. The folks over at http://www.thepethistorian.com have a nice little essay on the subject. The cards were printed by A.B. Seeley, copyrighted 1881. This one appears to be the second in a group of six and represents the story of a girl cat, romanced by the street cat, but who waits for an upperclass Tom to come along instead. He beats up poor Mr. Street kitty – who ends the series bloody, but not bowed and trying to convince us that he won this fight. (I am snatching just that final image for your entertainment below – wouldn’t mind adding that one to my collection.) The language on the cards seem to be references to poems and other things that would have been recognized by people of the day – but overall it is a recognizable cat tale of love and love lost that is pretty easy to follow and appreciate.

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Felix and Betty Boop Affair

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This photo found its way to us via Tom Conroy – a friend of Kim’s who has generously sent us many wonderful photos from his collection. Thank you Tom!

Many variations of this photo session abound on eBay and can be found on the internet. Interestingly, this exact image does not appear on the Google photo file. (Although I guess it will now.)  The actress is generally identified as Helen Kane, but Kim was thinking May Questel which lead to an active Google search and discussion in bed with the iPad the other night. Kim leans seriously toward May Questel. I include period photos of May and Helen and I would say it is a tough call indeed!

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The question of why Betty Boop is posing with Felix is another one. Clearly there was Betty/Felix empathy – as shown in my post, The Strangeness of French Betty and Felix. Speculation is that at some point the properties were owned by the same company and this low level promotion occurred. Still, as you know, it has long been my philosophy that Felix improves anyone’s status – and we know that Betty had a long-standing affection for dogs, so why not a clever cat?

As a point of strange symmetry (and because you can never have too much Felix) I offer this early photo postcard of a man posing with a Felix cut-out. This has a place of honor with my collection of photos of people posing with large stuffed Felix dolls. I have always guessed that this photographer could not afford a proper stuffed Felix to pose with and did his best.

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Toy Shelf

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This comes with a big shout out to FB friend Stewart Patton who sent this to me recently. He posted it on our page a ways back and I had publicly drooled over it. It is an odd size, 6.5″x 8.5″ and printed all crooked. (I have cropped it a tiny bit to make the crookedness a bit less distracting.) There is no information on it. It is interesting in that from the waist up the little boy is in sharp focus and the rest isn’t, despite the shallowness of the space.

Stewart says this hails most recently from an antique’s mall in Denver, Colorado. It could easily go another way, but part of me feels like it could have been taken in Europe. At a glance, these toys seem to be European brands, although all also sold in this country.  Strange how this bookcase of toys seems to be set, freestanding, in the middle of a room – we can see the rest of the room peeking around the back, a spot of sun and a chair in evidence.

The toys are amazing and it kills me a bit that they aren’t in sharper focus! Still, there’s a hot black cat on the top right, a perfectly excellent elephant in front of it, and that righteous polka-dot stuffed toy at the bottom left. The line up of toy elephants and indistinct other animals on the middle shelf, bunnies and a myriad of things we can’t see on the second shelf, give the photo a sense of opulent excess. The multiples of some toys make it feel more like a toy store than one child’s toys. The print on the little boy’s shirt is great and the ball he is holding makes me think he’s literally got the world in his hands. What a very lucky fellow he was indeed!

(To see another photo of lucky childhood toy wonder have a quick look at my Tea Party photo post.)

 

Kim’s Favorite Photo

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Hoo-ha! When I first spotted this photo on eBay and showed it to Kim, he said, “That’s my kind of cat photo!” Despite his enthusiasm, I purchased it anyway. It is a pretty great card.

It is sort of hard to say anything about this photo that isn’t fairly self-evident – but really, what a kick in the head! How crazy – posing that (very nice) black cat toy and a mouse on this French babe while she reads a book on a stand! (What could she be reading?) I have a mental image of the photographer and the model, doing these postcards day after day and trying to come up with something – anything! – new, until one day it came down to the cat and mouse. This comes from a long tradition of so-called risqué postcards produced by the French – there are dozens of cards on eBay right now of partially or fully unclothed women holding cats so this is a bit of a play on that as well I think. And of course, presumably some, um, cat puns.

I believe the cat is a popular Steiff model that came in a myriad of sizes. I don’t actually own one of them – unlike their teddy bears their cats do not have an especially expressive face. They feel cookie cutter to me. The mouse was probably the hard part – he or she has a nicely distinct mouse shape. Our apartment houses a large number of life-like mice – Cookie in particular can play with them for hours. Right now we have some in lurid colors – she is especially fond of a bright red one. But life-like though they are – this one has an especially mouse-y form.

Okay, I know I am probably the only one out here analyzing the toys. But remember boys, toys are catnip to me like this image was meant to be for you!

Mistinguett – Felix Goes to the Dogs

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  Shown here is a recent acquisition. A press photo of a French stage star posing with her dog – and Felix! Plenty of evidence that, in addition to regular folks, stars enjoyed posing with Felix to help burnish their public image. (My Felix Makes the Picture Better illustrates this point, and look for several of actress Lilian Harvey that will be future posts.)

This one is undated which is unusual for a press photo. Glued to the back is a scrap of paper that reads, MISTINGUETT, the French musical comedy star, concluding her appearance here in ‘Innocent Eyes,’ sailed yesterday with her ‘million dollar legs’ for home abroad the Paris. She was accompanied by her dog, Alfred! And his stuffed playmate, Felix. staff Photo-Steffen

Okay, more about Mistinguett in a moment – but the Felix belonged to her dog? As a toy collector I am, needless to say, a bit horrified. We will assume that, if true, those particular toys are unlikely to show up on eBay today – although an interesting story for someone who finds one with little dog-toothy tears. How often did the Felix-es need replacing I wonder – Felix is almost as big as Alfred. I take comfort in the fact that I deeply suspect that it was a put up job for the photograph and that the pristine Felix toy went on his way with the photographer awaiting his turn with Dolores Costello and others.

There is a huge amount of information about Mistinguett on the internet. Born on April 5, 1875 as Jeanne Bourgeois she evidently decided to be an entertainer at an early age. She took the stage name Mistinguett and became the toast of Paris – the highest paid entertainer of her day. Her actual skill as a singer seems to be questionable, but clearly she had something and was quite the ‘It Girl’ of her time. The lover of Maurice Chevalier and King Alfonso XIII of Spain, she was a famous dancer of the Apache – one of France’s contributions to socially acceptable S&M entertainment. The IMDb database claims that her legs were insured for a mere 50,000 francs – but let’s not quibble. Her long filmography starts in 1908, but with only one film in the sound era, the 1936 Rigolboche, which appears to be available. One review sites her as a bit long in the tooth for the part – understandable since she was 61 at that point. (In all fairness, there’s a leggy photo of her when she was 50 that is pretty hotsy-totsy. It can be viewed, with much additional information on her at www.yodaslair.com/dumboozle/mist/mistdex.html) There are several fuzzy dupey clips of her singing on Youtube and I have spared you any of these.

Innocent Eyes, the show mentioned on the photo, was mounted to feature her and introduce her to American audiences and was pretty soundly panned. She never clicked here. Mistinguett seemed unperturbed however and I snatch a quote from the above mentioned website, In her autobiography, Mistinguett recalls the results of her efforts to learn English for this engagement:  My pronunciation was a great success.  ‘Innocent Eyes’ on my tongue became ‘Innocent Asses.’ I was begged not to improve on it. She was, as my grandmother used to say, a real piece of work.

And I can only guess that she was perhaps less than entertained with the idea of posing with the American film super star, Felix. Perhaps that is how she came to demote him to the role of dog toy!

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Are those cat ears? An early poster image borrowed from the Google photo file.

Wooden Novelty Co.

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Wowzers! Can you image walking into this place and trying to take it all in? Enough eyeball kicks for a lifetime here. I know I purchased this on eBay – not that long ago, but it was at the bottom of a pile that was upturned recently. I don’t remember how I found the listing since it has no easily discernible cats here – some over to the right if you look carefully. It was most likely the Mickey Mouses on the top shelf. It is an 8″x10″ photo, no information or identification on the back.

I believe kits and plans for the ashtray stands were widely available and the stands are very prevalent at flea markets and antique stalls – executed with varying skill. Mine, shown here with Blackie examining it, was purchased at the end of the day at the 26th Street garage flea market here in Manhattan. I had barely shown interest in it (despite what impression I may have given, I actually do try to be mindful that we live in a very small apartment) when the dealer, clearly desperate to pack up less than he still had, threw out some ridiculously low figure and I felt compelled to make it mine. As with most things of this kind once purchased, I have not regretted it.

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Not long after, I attended one of the Pier Shows dedicated to antiques and saw a stall of what must have been thirty or more, all variations on the cat design, lined up together. It was a magnificent display and when I win the lottery and retire very wealthy I fully intend to recreate it. There is something about these wooden cut outs which does make a group as a whole more impressive, perhaps than the parts alone.

My affection for this genre has extended beyond cats and below I share the other two I own. The parrot, which holds my house keys with a nail, my addition, has been my key holder for more than twenty years. He was purchased off the street some place, as was the other bird acquired subsequently, which has never quite found the right spot in the apartment. He (or she) is actually a tiny shelf.

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Whirligigs seem to fall loosely into this category too – and I have adored those since I was a child! There was a man in a neighboring town who made ones for the backyard to move in the wind, set on a pole. We purchased a much beloved little man sawing logs. I think he may have met his end in one of the many hurricanes or nor’easters of my childhood. There’s a Felix version that I admit to having my eye on, but again, we do live in a very small apartment…

 

 

Ahoy! Cats at Sea

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This card is kind of messy, even in the printing process – the scribbles and whatnot making it even more tatty over time. (Did someone nibble on the edges of the neg before printing?) However, there’s something appealing about these two boat kitties, their images printed together. Homemade looking, but loved enough to have been stored away somewhere all these years. The one on the left looks like quite the man around town and the one on the right very dignified and in charge.

As you may know, I have expressed my ambivalence about cats at sea (it never seems to end well for them), but let’s face it, even on this blog, it is a sort of a genre. (See also, Kitty Rescue at Sea, Tom the Fire Boat Cat and Sporty among others!) While I may express some unease about cats on boats, they seem to frequent them and even enjoy them. When you consider how little cats like water this seems like an odd choice. Perhaps it is the potential for the consumption of fish?

Growing up on the waterfront in New Jersey, I had a huge fat orange tabby named Pumpkin. Pumpkin was the size of a small dog, adored me and had a bad tendency to bite most other people – usually after inviting them to rub his fluffy striped tummy. We would warn people, but they often didn’t believe us or move away fast enough. More to the point, over time Pumpkin had figured out that at certain times of the day he could jump from our floating dock to the sailboat we kept moored there. Evidently he discovered that tiny fish could be found on the deck which he would happily consume. He would then have to wait for the tide to swing the boat back to the dock so he could get off.  (I am unclear if these fish landed on the deck jumping from the water, or if the seagulls, which routinely dropped their oyster shells on the deck and dock to break them, were also responsible for the fishy build up.) While not seafaring, Pumpkin was, in his own way, one in a long line of maritime kitties.