Pam’s Pictorama Post: It’s the great Valentine reveal. It’s a post-Valentine’s Day bounty today with this glorious page Kim made for me! For any new readers who aren’t familiar with our ritual, every year since we first started dating, Kim has made me a Valentine which is a sort of combined birthday and Valentine’s Day gift. (Some prior year posts can be found here, here and here.) These have grown in complexity over time.
This year is a bit different and really is like a full page story. I love that the way we are celebrating 30 years together is to ride a magic pink elephant! Yes! It has really been exactly like this.
My 2017 Valentine! Pams-Pictorama.com collection.
I’m pleased that Waldo even makes a rare Valentine’s appearance. I won’t say he hasn’t shown up before, but spending Valentine’s Day with us isn’t his usual beat. Of course he’s evidently responsible for inciting the elephant to charge while we cling to our perch – which is secured by a belt of hearts. Despite the gravity of our situation hearts bubble up all around as well – perhaps a dream? No way – I assure you, this is life at Deitch Studio.
Despite the fact that I spend the whole page wearing a nightgown, I am here as in life, the more practical of the two of us. Although Kim does maintain extraordinary calm in times of duress as illustrated – Don’t worry he always gets away.
2020 was a very Felix-y year for my Valentine! Pams-Pictorama.com collection.
Sort of funny that he has depicted me with my eyeglasses on in bed and even when we kiss in profile at the bottom. (I generally only wear them in bed to watch tv as I am a no eyeglass book reader person, at least for now. Talk to me again in a few years.) The page culminates at the bottom with us in bed reflecting on the adventure.
This box Kim decorated for me many years ago (and I posted about in 2015) inspired this year’s color scheme.
The word always plays throughout the page. It starts at the top with Kim, then I say it – and Kim does again and the whole page culminates with it in red. It brings us to the tune of the Irving Berlin hit Always. In 1925 Berlin wrote it for his wife (and gave her the royalties which certainly did not turn out to be insignificant) as a wedding gift. The lyrics are:
Everything went wrong, And the whole day long I'd feel so blue. For the longest while I'd forget to smile, Then I met you. Now that my blue days have passed, Now that I've found you at last -
I'll be loving you Always With a love that's true Always. When the things you've planned Need a helping hand, I will understand Always. Always.
Days may not be fair Always, That's when I'll be there Always. Not for just an hour, Not for just a day, Not for just a year, But Always.
Or if you prefer, the Bing Crosby version can be found below.
Or a less brisk version by Deanna Durbin can be found here.
Cookie and Blackie make an appearance having zoomies through the bottom – perhaps racing for the best spot at the foot of the bed, or more likely getting out of the way of our gooey human kissing as cats will.
Life here at Deitch Studio is a wild ride, but always my only very favorite place to be. Thank you sweetheart and here’s to the next 30!
Pam’s Pictorama Post: I am in New Jersey and mulling through a few postcards and photos that I have here, deciding what I want to treat you all to today. This postcard comes from a friend in Canada who occasionally releases a few tidbits from his collection for purchase. This postcard was in a small lot I purchased a few months back. It has an unfortunate tear. Think of it as a Valentine’s Day warm up.
There is writing all over this card but I am unable to decode much of it. It appears that it was sent by someone’s Aunt Brik? The back is addressed to a Miss Ruthie Thompson at an illegible address in Toronto, Canada. Despite the address, there is no postmark and just a spot where a one cent stamp was requested.
Another example of Sullivan’s work. Not in Pams-Pictorama.com collection.
The title at the top is a big high toned for the scrappy black cat pictured as the love interest of this beribboned white haired boy kitty who says, Come and Kiss Me. An irate fellow (perhaps trying to sleep) is at the window getting ready to pitch something at them. An anthropomorphic moon looks on, concerned. A cartoon balloon over the white cat says, Come and kiss me!
Another pithy postcard by Sullivan. Not in my collection.
This card is one in a series of cards by the artist, P. D. Sullivan. As below, each of the cards in this series has a pithy phrase at the top. While these other cards turned up, no biographical information appeared on the same search. However, it seems like he was quite prolific.
Tiny stickers, largest is about two inches high. Pams-Pictorama.com collection.
Packed in with this card and a few other things, were these two small but sort of wonderful cat stickers. While both are common images, they are small but nice! Back in the day I would have wanted tons of these to decorate envelopes, cards and notes! They have glue on the back and would have become sticky with a bit of water from a sponge or tip of the tongue, a somewhat antiquated idea I guess too – in a world where even postage stamps peel and press on.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today is the annual Christmas card reveal. clearly this year we celebrate the whole Butler crew, all eight kitties, including Hobo.
We are ensconced here at Oxford Avenue for the holiday duration this year. I have inaugurated the holidays by acquiring a violent stomach virus so this may be a bit brief. It’s an odd year, my first without my mom and I am feeling it even more keenly than I thought I would. I am usually pro-Christmas and manage holiday cheer even under duress. This year is tough, although I am curled up here in New Jersey with Kim and all the kitties which helps. Drinking fluids! No baking while this is going on.
Last year’s card – Blackie and Cookie solo in front of our apartment window.
The card has a double meaning this year as I leave Jazz at Lincoln Center for the very different world of fundraising for the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center. Animal lover and rescuer of animals as she was, all of us think Mom would find that an appropriate switch; she was always concerned that my job at Jazz was too exhausting for the long haul, with its travel and many nights.
AMC will be unlike anything I have done before and I don’t dismiss the difference and the adjustment – all fundraising is not the same. Still, my brain itches to engage with new challenges and I think building a full fundraising operation for them is the next best chapter.
Blackie is stalking around the New Jersey house; Cookie has returned to her safe spot under a chair in the bedroom. Beau and Blackie had a hissy hello last night. I think the other New Jersey cats remain largely unaware. There is always an adjustment period.
Kim has taken over my office for the duration and, after a few false starts for a new dip pen holder and something for his ink, he is inking away upstairs.
The original Pam Butler pencil drawing.
This year’s card was conceived of and drawn by me as a tribute to my new cat family and job – I include my original pencil for the first time. Kim inked it and added the logo which is properly Deitchien. Each cat gets a proper portrait. Kim added a little maniacal twist to Cookie who is chasing her tail (as she still does almost daily at 10 years of age) and Beau and Blackie are facing off a bit.
So our best wishes for the holidays and the New Year from us at Deitch Studio and Pictorama. Hope you enjoy it!
Pam’s Pictorama Post: T-shirts are yet another sub-genre of Pictorama. I never made a conscious decision to add them to the collection, but I find I occasionally snap one up.
I generally eschew the older used ones – not that I have anything against used clothes; I have bought from thrift stores and vintage for years. However, there is a convention on eBay where, oddly (at least to me), people sell old t-shirts (or attempt to) for vast sums. I guess there are some super rare Felix t-shirts out there that fetch those sums, but I have a sort of a mental cap on what I think a used t-shirt should cost, no matter what is on it. Anyway, despite all of this, a slow trickle of t-shirts are archived here. (A few of those posts – including some vintage Kim Deitch designed t-shirts – can be found here, here and here.)
I say archived and that is not entirely accurate either. Some are archived and others find their way into favored wardrobe. There was a post about an especially Waldo looking cat on a baseball shirt I bought from a company in Japan – after a considerable international exchange! (That post can be found here.) I purchased two (by accident) and I wear them all the time. They are among my favorite shirts.
Poshmark was selling it black recently.
Baseball shirts are preferred – love the three quarter sleeve for running. Actual t-shirts are of less interest for wear. I run in sweat wicking fabrics because I don’t like a soggy cotton shirt and my preference for wearing has always been sleeveless. I find short sleeves constricting. I have been known to cut the sleeves out of my t-shirts, but am not especially inclined to do that to these purchases of somewhat rarified tees. Another option is sleeping in them (atop of my beloved elephant toile pj’s which I memorialized here – I am wearing a new flannel version even now as I type!) although I am a bit partial to v-necks for that purpose. (Yes, I cut the necks out sometimes too!)
Therefore, somewhat unconsciously, these items are more collected and kept than purchased for consumption. Today’s acquisition is an older and considerably worn item, but it wasn’t much money and I liked his faux Felix self. His body is the bike and rider with wheels added. He has claw paws which grip the wheels and his mouth is pursed in a whistle – to alert folks that he is streaking by. Sweat is flying off him and his butt fur is a bit ragged with effort. Someone did a fairly splendid job drawing this.
Both shop photos from the Men’s Journal article below.
Close attention made me realize that he sports a little cap that says GSC and he has what could be considered a tattoo on his arm which says LA. This t-shirt originated at the Golden Saddle Cycle shop which was founded in 2011, but appears to have closed in 2022 due to the loss of its building at 1618 Lucille Avenue in Los Angeles. It was, according to online testimony, a much beloved repair and sales shop owned by Kyle Kelly that carried some of their own line of merchandise. Described in an online Men’s Journal article as part shop and part clubhouse it was a place where bike enthusiasts might show up for a part and find themselves instead whiling away an afternoon.
If the thought of riding a bike on the streets of Manhattan fills me with some trepidation the idea of riding one on the streets of Los Angeles really sets off warning sirens, but I am not fearless that way. I will stay trotting along slowly on my two feet, although I may reconsider doing it in this nifty shirt.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: A few weeks back I wrote a bit about our anniversary which we celebrated with a trip to Cold Spring, which is where Kim and I spent our one-day honeymoon. (That post can be read here.) We found Cold Spring largely unchanged in the intervening decades, although a tourist ferry landed at lunchtime while we were there, crowding the town with people who were leaf watching and enjoying the first nippy days of October. Some of the antique stores had folded or morphed together. One that had always featured vintage Halloween items either melted down into something else or is gone entirely, I could not tell.
However, one of my purchases that day was this trio, two Mickeys and a Minnie. Some quick research shows a similar, larger band composed only of Mickeys. However, Worthpoint sold these three pieces together, in lesser condition. Each piece is etched with Mickey or Minnie Mouse. And on the back of each, it is noted that they were Made in Japan. (These figures are very similar to a single Bimbo figure I came across and wrote about here. If not the same manufacturer, very much of a piece. It would appear he too had his own band.)
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
Bisque attracts dirt and is easily chipped and mine are in better shape than the ones auctioned previously on Worthpoint. However, ultimately I did find a set in the original box, below, sold on Heritage. (Note to self, Heritage sells something other than original art and comics? Huh.) There were originally four pieces and the missing piece appears to be an accordion playing Mickey. Part of my brain wonders at the Mickey to Minnie ratio – was it somehow okay to multiple Mickeys, but Minnie was singular? You have to look a bit to see the Minnie-ness; I missed it at first. This set was evidently produced in the 1930’s.
That day in the same store I purchased a nice Steiff duck which I wrote about in the post mentioned at the top, here. Perhaps the very best thing about that store was an internet radio station they were listening to, Radio Dismuke. This station, based on a singular collection which continues to be programmed by its founder, plays music from the early decades of the 20th century. I have been happily listening to it on a regular basis since discovering it. The station, which runs 24 hours a day, can be found here and do check it out if early jazz and dance band music is of interest to you. (For my remembrances of the great Rich Conaty, radio DJ who largely introduced me to this music, read the post here.)
Kim and I meet Rich at Sophia’s in 2010, Maureen Solomon on my left.
Kim has said that Radio Dismuke is a bit like you bought an old radio at a flea market and turned it on to find it playing the tunes of its day. He’s hit it spot on. There is no DJ, but the occasional period commercial is inserted, as is the periodic station identification. They are a non-profit and I assure you they are getting my support this season.
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
I do own another Mickey Mouse band, very small and made of china, purchased on a work trip in Lyon, France. Sadly one of the pieces has broken subsequently so I don’t feel I have been a good steward of it. (A post about it can be found here.) However, it is maybe notable that a proliferation of multiple Mickeys making music seems to have been so popular in his youth, and these radio tunes are the perfect partner.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: This Felix bag was new old stock and offered with several other identical ones. The Felix is a jolly round slightly off-model version and, with oversized mitts for hands, he holds a sign bearing tidings from Felix’s Viroqua, Wis. He stands in what appears to be a puddle and the black mid-century token design is reminiscent of my 1960’s era childhood.
It is the sort of small flat bag that cards, a bit of stationary or bauble might have gone into when purchased. These ubiquitous paper bags eventually gave way to a plastic version. Now that we live in a bag eliminating society perhaps they will disappear altogether although, as a frequent buyer of cards I am still often offered one at the point of sale. It is perhaps too small to have converted to a lunch bag. (In a sea of precisely purchased lunch bags, my mother was an early adopter of the random bag for our lunches as children. I speculate that the waste of purchasing lunch bags once we grew out of lunch boxes must have annoyed her.)
Much to my surprise, when I ran the name on Google this morning the story of Felix’s poured out of the computer. It turns out that Viroqua, Wisconsin is a small town of perhaps declining fortune which is home to about 4,500. (I checked and the small town in NJ we call second home clocks in at a population of about 2,000 more.)
And they had a great neon sign!
Felix’s closed its doors in 2007 after 101 years of being a local mainstay. The eponymous enterprise was founded by Max Felix who arrived in Wisconsin in 1905 and joined a wave of Jewish immigrants, like my own grandfather, who carved out a mercantile living with what was called dry goods or general store, in this case across the midwest. These stores sold everything from stationary to socks and catered broadly to the needs of their community.
Over the decades Felix’s was evidently handed from Max to his brothers, then to their children and to a final generation. The general store model morphed into a clothing store over time and that is what it is remembered for in the community.
The story of its closure seems to be inevitably wrapped in the broader tale of a town with a shrinking local economy, big box stores pushing out the long-standing, smaller and privately owned retail. There are articles and online posts about the demise of numerous other local retail establishments at the same time and concern for the future of the town.
Viroqua is described online as sparsely suburban which could certainly be viewed as damning with faint praise in several different ways. However, the schools are noted to be above average and the community heavily populated with retirees; it runs conservative politically. The town was founded with the name Bad Axe (certainly evocative) and did a stint as Farwell before the settled on Viroqua.
Beautiful indeed!
Viroqua appears to be known for something called the Driftless Region. For a description of what that seems to be, I share directly from the internet and close with this topological tidbit: The area is one of the only parts of America consistently missed by advancing glaciers over the millennia, hence the name “Driftless or Unglaciated Region”. This has preserved the unique topography of the region. The famous bluffs, coulees and small winding streams are mesmerizing. Fascinating!
Pam’s Pictorama Post: Yes, it appears to be a lamp post today! I have been on what might best be called a lamp acquisition binge. In part, it has been to fill a need for lighting in New Jersey at the house where we pretty much only had overhead lights and needed additional standing lamps and table lights. Here in New York we have an on-going need for lamps in the living room where we have two contemporary standing lamps which seem to both take very expensive bulbs and die after a few years.
As a result of the lamp death rate I have begun purchasing lamps, mostly old ones. They end up being rewired so I don’t really understand why they last better but they do. It started with a desk lamp for myself here in New York while working at home. After some frustration I bought an old one on Instagram which, while a bit tatty and odd looking, seems to be dedicated to staying on the job. It came from Washington State.
Odd little desk lamp from Washington State, among the detritus of wires and stuff on my home desk.
Before I go on I should add that I came from a family that seemed to be unable to pass up a good antique chair, lamp or clock. The lamps collected by my family have sadly mostly passed out of our hands, and those that remain are somewhat unsuited to my current needs although one graces Kim’s desk at the moment – Pictorama readers see it often in desk shots. (See below.) It may have started life as a vase, vaguely Asian in design and covered in flowers, which was converted into a lamp. Nonetheless, it did hatch forth from the Butler holdings many years ago, before Kim and Deitch Studio arrived on the scene.
A brief digression about clocks. The Butler clocks, mostly antique, are very much gone I’m afraid. As a kid I learned to sleep through a constant chiming throughout the day and night, although it was hard to readjust visiting as an adult. If there’s one I miss it is a ship’s clock with those bells. I am tempted to find one, but am afraid it could result in divorce. Dad was dedicated to winding those that needed winding every Sunday in his retirement. (There was also a cuckoo clock at my grandmother’s I loved as a child, but I knew we couldn’t absorb that into Deitch Studio when it became available. It was both large and noisy.) At one point my mom had one that made bird noises on the hour – that was a rare modern one – and it drove me nuts. However, I will say I saw a good antique wall clock for sale the other day and unbidden my father rose up in me and I twitched with the urge to buy it. Evidently it is in the blood.
Desk lamp purchased for my New Jerseydesk, but shown here in the eBay photo I purchased it from.
For New Jersey I acquired a lovely old standing lamp from a friend, rewired it and popped a shade on after some negotiation on the internet – who knew there would be so many variations of standard lamp shade sizes. I am tempted to buy another if I see it and am constantly prowling. A good number, strangely, seem to come in pairs which doesn’t really work for me – or appear at a time when figuring out shipping seems beyond me.
After the acquisition of the standing lamp I purchased a gooseneck desk lamp on eBay to replace a lamp on my desk in Fair Haven which has a tendency to randomly turn itself off. (Seems like a bad sign, right?) That lamp was never designed as a desk light anyway and I will either have it rewired and move it elsewhere or let it loose back into the world. Frankly it is not an especially compelling item.
Inexpensive blue and white lamp which I have hooked up to a smart plug to do my Alexa bidding.
I also purchased an inexpensive, pretty, new blue and white lamp for the living room there. More notably I installed an Alexa and set this living room lamp to light morning and evening. It took me and Alexa (I call her Miss A. when I don’t want her listening; she does listen) awhile to come to an agreement, but she seems able to fulfill her simple task. I find myself saying please and thank you to her which I can’t seem to discontinue. She, additionally, supplies me with NPR news while I make coffee and feed the cats in the morning and will also turn the light on if asked, as I pad through the room in the middle of the night in search of water in the kitchen or to investigate and moderate a cat disagreement. I may try the headlines of the New York Times next, but I usually switch to classical music after NPR. (I recently also purchased a Wink video doorbell and cameras and I’m sure more to come once I have that installed. I am slowly turning the Fair Haven house into a smart house – at least sorta smart.)
Our current status in NYC is one floor lamp down and has been for awhile. It ate one of its expensive bulbs aways back and we seem unable to make a decision to offer up another bulb or get rid of said light. I decided to work around that and while upstate for work in July (see a post about that weekend of work adventure here) I purchased a very pretty little lamp in an antique store. It is a variation on what is called slag glass, but instead of it being all about the glass design it has a wonderful lacy metal shade over it.
Lacy metal side table lamp which is waiting for a place to be plugged in! Pluto seems to like it…
I will take a moment to opine that many years ago there was someone doing wonderful reproduction lamps with painted scenes on glass shades. I didn’t have the cash to invest in one then and have always regretted it. I have never been able to find the really nice ones subsequently now that I have a chance to invest. Alas. I also have an appetite for a heat motion activated lamp – these lamps from the 1950’s have brightly colored scenes and the heat of the bulb activates them to slowly turn the scene. Unfortunately many of the scenes are sort of pedantic – a lot of fires and trains – but I am waiting for the right one to cross my path.
Lastly and truly in no way least, perhaps more best of all – on a true whim I purchased a painted metal Popeye lamp in an auction recently. I was leafing through I think a Milestone online catalogue and Popeye caught my eye. I put a nominal bid in on him almost without thinking and really did forget about it until an email showed up telling me I had purchased him. While his paint is in bad shape I do love him. I am currently deciding if he will reside here in New York or go to New Jersey which is easily still absorbing lighting fixtures.
Another shot of Popeye, but this time showing Kim’s lamp more or less in its full glory.
Meanwhile, I am trying to decide what kind of a shade goes on Popeye and how best to purchase it. I saw some online but the shade lamp calculus would be better in person. Another option might be a bare Edison bulb – any thoughts? I am taking all comers and suggestions on this.
Kim twitches with the desire to repaint him someday and I would say he could be a good candidate for it. Other more pressing projects await however. For now though, I say, let there be lots of light.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: A couple of weeks ago I was meeting a friend for a drink on Madison Avenue after work. She had selected an interesting place which turned out to show me to my table via a sliding bookcase door for a speakeasy feel. However, I was early and she was going to be a bit late so before crossing the street I did a bit of window shopping.
The store on Madison from a few years back. Looks pretty much the same now.
I haven’t been to this stretch of upper Madison in a long time. I made it up more frequently when I worked at the Met, but usually a trip to a museum would have triggered a stroll through, but hasn’t in awhile. There’s a wonderful but overpriced store I tend to stop by, Blue Tree, usually to purchase some greeting cards. It is a mash up of clothes, jewelry, toys and baby gifts among other curios. Occasionally I have bought something other than cards, but as already stated and I cannot emphasize enough, it is expensive. Rumor has it that it is owned by the actress Phoebe Cates.
I snatched this quick nighttime pic of the store window more for reference than anything else – in case he was gone before I could come back.
Anyway, the store was closed but there in the window and much to my surprise, was this rather incredibly resplendent Oswald Rabbit doll. Almost the size of an infant, Oswald was perched among some modish clothing and some other gee gaws, atop on a small bench. The incongruity stopped me in my tracks. The store was closed so I took a quick photo and figured I would attempt to find it online or double back when the store was open.
A NEW Oswald short made by Disney to celebrate his anniversary.
Of course the weekend came and it was another sodden mess like the one before. Undaunted Kim and I traipsed out to Madison Avenue between cloud bursts. It is a very expensive store so I girded my loins before entering – how much could Oswald be? There were a lot of eye ball kicks for the likes of me there – a very nice Minnie Mouse baby blanket that I would love if I could figure out what to do with it. (I thought picnic blanket which is an ongoing need for the park, but it’s white!)
However, I stuck to my mission. Although there was a display of (beautiful) stuffed toys in back, the only Oswald was in the window. I found a salesperson and asked and indeed, he was the only one and had just come into stock and been put in the window. I would like to just take a moment to recognize whoever had the wherewithal to purchase him for their stock – I really can’t imagine that many stores would have purchased him and plunked him in the window. It seems they were rewarded for their ambition, by the likes of collector me coming along.
A beauty shot of Oswald! Pams-Pictorama.com.
This Oswald is made by Steiff in collaboration with Disney and is being sold this year as a 100th birthday tribute to the hard luck rabbit who was hounded into obscurity by legal dispute, shortly after his popular debut. He is about 30% larger than I ideally might have made him actually and practically speaking. His high price tag is somewhat justified by his fine mohair outer layer, just what a good toy should boast. However the days of excelsior stuffing are (sadly) gone so he is stuffed with a weighty synthetic something. He is a nicely made item and when I later found him on their website they emphasized that he is not a toy for children, but a collector’s item for adults. (Huh. Go figure.)
A bit of Oswald history via Wikipedia reveals that the first Oswald cartoon hit theaters in 1927 so not exactly sure where the 100 years comes in. Disney and Ub Iwerks took the idea to Universal Pictures after ending the Alice Comedies and Julius the Cat. Too many cats on the market so they went for a rabbit it is said. Also read that the first cartoon submitted was rejected for subpar production although it was slipped into the releases later.
Ultimately 27 cartoons were made at the Disney studio and the income allowed them to grow their staff to 20 animators, their future now secure. Mickey Mouse was created as a replacement after the rights to Oswald were lost in a switch of studios when Disney realized that Universal was quietly hiring his animators away.
This is the link to a slew of original Oswald cartoons.
Kim whipped out his credit card (he is a very good husband indeed) and Oswald was mine, an early anniversary gift. (If all has gone as planned you are reading this as Kim and I travel to Cold Spring for a day of poking around and foliage viewing in order to celebrate the 23rd year of our nuptials. More rain could delay this celebratory event however.)
Side view of the box.Below is the money shot of the top of the box.
Heavy is a theme because Oswald is a solid citizen of a toy. He stands at about 30 inches in height and weighs considerably more than our cat Blackie. As you can see, he travels in a very decorative box. I hesitated to take the box (small apartment and all of that) and I did consider just having him shipped to New Jersey, but I was worried he’s be exposed to the elements before someone could grab him inside. The box is fun even if I don’t know that I have an eventual place to keep it – since I rarely buy new toys the box question doesn’t come up often. With the weather and all we took him, wrapped copiously if a bit ham handedly, and headed home in sloppy triumph with the next downpour just commencing as we got home.
I have written about Oswald previously and have one beloved tatty one in my collection. That post can be found here. He is in some ways (condition!) the exact opposite but he was acquired for a pittance on eBay while no one was looking one day. I think the new fellow will head to Jersey where he can be among the first notable toys as I open the collecting front there.
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
Kim and I are heading off to Cold Spring shortly to enjoy an anniversary jaunt. More about that later and I hope you enjoyed this very Oswald morning!
Pam’s Pictorama Post: Yesterday I shared a rather wonderful wind-up bear which came as part of a buy from a British auction in July. I alluded to a small but rather magnificent box of Felix items which I have been lovingly posting about over the last few months. (See yesterday’s post which rounds up the earlier ones too here.) This is the final goodie disgorged from that buy and arguably the most interesting, a Felix special comic as advertising for SportexFabric.
Sportex was evidently a miracle sports clothes fabric invented in Scotland in 1923 and it would appear that they are still making men’s sportswear today. Even in its earliest incarnation it was said to be a durable, creaseproof fabric for sportswear. As the cover of the comic hails, Even the cat can’t scratch it! For those of us who groan over the pulls in our sweaters and the holes in our trousers made lovingly by our kits, this holds some real appeal and you know this advertising campaign was spearheaded by someone who had cats. Evidently they even made suits out of it so not just sport shirts or athletic wear.
The comic book story goes something like this:
A tailor is tormented by very cheeky mice in his house which eat his dinner and annoy him, dancing around and mocking him while he tries to sleep. The next day he runs into Felix, who is on hard times and for the price of a meal agrees to come to the tailor’s house and rid him of the mice. However, he is so redolent with food after the meal that he falls into a sound sleep and is subsequently tied up Gulliver style by the mice (these are the most entertaining pictures for me) who, after making fun of Felix resume their tormenting of the tailor. The tailor kicks Felix out unceremoniously upon which Felix forswears revenge on him. This revenge takes the form of inviting other cats in to shred the wares of the tailor. Alas, the fabric is Sportex and the cats are unable to shred it! They fall in exhausted heaps (another especially good picture) and the tailor sweeps them out the door.
Interesting how the paper embossed when printed. You can see it clearly here.
Along the bottom of each page you can see some Sportex facts such as Sportex was awarded the Grand Prix, Paris 1924. (Were the drivers wearing Sportex? Sponsored by them? I couldn’t find out.) On the back of the book, above a forlorn looking Felix in verse it states, Sportex defies the toughest stains – No cloth on earth can match it/A pin drawn sharply over its face/Will simply bend and leave no trace/And “Felix” and his feline race/Can neither tear nor scratch it.
Copyright is printed on the back but without a date. It was Designed, Engraved and Printer by Henry Stone & Son. Ltd. London and Banbury, England. On the front flyleaf there is a spot for Presented by and presumably this is where a salesman would put his name when he left the book. In this case it is blank.
The Felix drawings appear are credited to Pat Sullivan (see the cover) and are in the earliest blocky Felix design style with squared off feet and a toothy grin. The mice are consistent with the way they were portrayed in the earliest cartoons too.
Felix was of course no stranger to his sideline as ad man. One of my favorite shills is an entire cartoon done for Mazda car lamps which I featured in a post here. Meanwhile, his slightly off-model dopple ganger was featured in a bit of low rent Spanish advertising for girdles in a prior post here and a children’s laxative here. Obviously he did a lot of advertising for his own films and I’m sure a lot more will show up here at Pictorama.
I tried but I couldn’t find any tracks on the internet for this item, nor had I seen it before. I’m glad I could bring it to my Pictorama readers in all its glory!
Pams-Pictorama.comPost: If all goes as planned, while this is winging its way into your inbox I will be sweating profusely at an estate near Poughkeepsie with the denizens of a teen music camp affiliated with my work. Our summer academy is a wonderful competitive program and I have not visited since the summer of ’19. (We didn’t hold one in ’20 or ’21.) The kids perform at the Caramoor Festival near there on Saturday.
Held on a college campus, air conditioning is at a minimum so as I write this from East 86th Street I anticipate a hot few days up there. I will have been in residence since Friday, but I saw no reason for you all to do without your weekly Pictorama posts and penned today’s and yesterday’s in advance.
Spanish Courtyard at sunset, Caramoor Festival yesterday – gorgeous day for it.The kids did us proud.
Putting my work woes aside, let’s consider Felix as portrayed in these postcards. While I do not own many of this sizable series of postcards (the one I own, the especially jolly one below, and the post about it can be found here), these came along with the items in the mighty auction box I have been disgorging in recent weeks. (Thus far posts for the ones written thus far can be found here, here and here.)
Pams-Pictororama.com Collection.
These, like the other Felix finds featured thus far, are a product of the industrious Pathé Film Company which was tireless in its production of Felix premiums and memorabilia. At the top each of them reads, Felix The Film Cat, which appears exclusively in Pathé’s Eve-and Everybody’s Film Review. There aren’t dates on any of these cards.
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
These cards have all been used, sent by and to different people, although only one bears a postal mark. I have put them in a loose, possible story order, but one could probably put these in any (or no particular) order. Felix has loved and lost, crying a puddle, his orange striped kitty girlfriend walks off with a blue fellow who may be gesturing back at our friend Felix. Alas, poor Felix! Will he find love again? (And this one on the back is simply to Billy from Grandma.)
Verso of the card above.
In this card Felix, a nice squared off early Felix with pointy ears and blocky feet, meets come hither Miss White Kitty. In this incarnation she is rendered realistically – there is a bit of visual disconnect as a result. In later life she sometimes too has more of a comic book appearance. They each wear a nice bow, his purple and hers red.
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.Verso of the card above it.
It reads, you can give one to Winnie if you don’t want 2 when you get home. its a very nice song about Felix just now I wonder if you know it. I do wonder what song she is referring to – there are many options.
A more updated Miss White Kitty, from 1964.
Up last is Felix, looking out toward the viewer, with one of his mischievous looks. As above, she is his perennial girlfriend, a fickle feline although Felix does his share of coming and going as well, especially when a large bunch of kittens are concerned. They have a bumpy relationship.
Pams-Pictorama.com
This card is the only one that was mailed although the stamp has been torn off. It reads, Dear Biddy, I hope you will like this P.C. of Felix. I sent Jack & Rodney one, not quite like this & Raymond one too. I am so pleased to hear you are having such a nice time, lucky little girl. Lots of love & kisses…[illegible]. It was addressed as follows, Miss Biddy Pyle,Blackheath, Powderham, Nr. Execter, Devon.
Wish me luck on my humid quest this weekend (photos on IG and FB for those of you who follow) and more to come next week – hopefully from an air conditioned perch.
PS – Yes, the Airbnb was was nice and indeed air conditioned. Right on a fresh water pond as shown below.
View from our Airbnb in Livingston, NY. We’re aways from the campus, but a lovely place.
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