Puzzling Felix

Pam’s Pictorama Toy Post: Today’s toy has languished on a shelf for quite a while. It came in the big box of Felix purchased from an obscure auction last year which spewed out everything Felix related from a rare kerchief to a pile of annuals. (Tidbits and treasures from this box in previous posts can be found here and here. Some annuals remain as future posts!)

These hand puzzles are not exactly rare and I have seen some come and go on eBay over time and somehow it was a long time before I got into the game. I finally purchased the one shown here in 2019 and wrote about it here. I couldn’t resist it with its graphic image of an angry Felix with mice.

*Pams-Pictorama Collection from a prior post.*

Today’s is a joyful dancing Felix of dreadfully sloppy execution. Like the other, it was made in Germany and is marked as such. How these cardboard and cheap metal bits have lasted through a century of pockets and playing I cannot imagine. The cheap metal inside and out is pitted and rusty.

For some reason for me these toys always conjure up an image of a young newsboy taking a break and pulling it out of his pocket to play with circa sort of 1927 or so. Sometimes it is an errant night watchman killing time. I don’t know why – it is always men and boys I imagine in this role.

I find the two small metal mice quite cunning as are the metal traps I guess they are? I hadn’t actually thought of them quite that way, but am now as I really consider it. In addition there are two small balls and I would think the challenge is a ball and a mouse in each trap. I have attempted it and it is both engrossing and difficult. I discovered that the mice only go into the traps nose first, can’t back them in, or at least that is true of one which, incidentally, has a slight upward curl to his tail. Ha! Someone was thinking when they designed this.

*The cardboard back, worn from use and handling. Hard to believe it is around 100 years old!*

I know I had dexterity puzzles like this as a child although for the life of me I cannot remember the images on them or the tasks required; I suspect they were simpler. I have a dim memory of them mostly being rolling small balls into a face or something along that line. This would have seemed quite sophisticated to my then pint-sized mind.

I suspect that now that two of these have entered the Pictorama collection of course more may follow. We’ll just see about that.

Tiled

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today’s item was one of those now you see it now you don’t – and back again items on eBay. I was surprised and disappointed when it was pulled from sale and equally delighted when mysteriously it was relisted. Evidently it was from an estate sale of tiles. It was listed as from the 1930’s and it is in very good condition so it is hard to say.

I immediately had a vision of a fireplace in an Arts and Crafts style cottage somewhere lost in time, decorated with cheerful Felix tiles! Clearly I would buy the house just for that. (I have a friend whose father heard of a house being torn down with great fireplace tiles and he got permission to go and take them out. They are at the Met Museum now.)

Felix appears to be going somewhere and pointing in that direction, and he has an umbrella which seriously makes me wonder about what the other ones in a series might have looked like. Were they all weather related? Felix in the sun and snow? There are a few minor imperfections in the tile, a small chip or two where the glaze bubbled. It is a very good likeness of the cat though, I must say.

In all my years of looking at vast amounts of Felix items I have never seen another. I have, in my years of collecting, seen an odd thing where sometimes you find something you never saw before and then you start seeing a few more. That happened with the these Felix holiday cards below which I wrote about here.

One other cartoon tile was being sold and I am sorry I didn’t try to snatch it up, but I got so confused by this one being pulled off I lost my focus. It is below and sold for about the same price. This one (is it Betty Boop’s sidekick Bimbo?) was identified as being from Mission Art Tile California. I can’t really find tracks on that either however. It appears to be in similar mint condition.

*Not in the Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

I grew up in a house with two massive brick fireplaces. My parents purchased old bricks before that was popular in building and they also bought an enormous beam from a barn which was halved and used as mantels for both. The ancient wood fascinated me, full of worm holes!

We used the downstairs fireplace constantly in the winter months and I do really love sitting by an open fire. My mom later converted it to gas which was somewhat disappointing, but we still used it a lot. The house she left me in NJ has a small brick fireplace, but to reline the chimney (it seems they would pour a ceramic liner into it?) and make it truly safe would cost a bundle so I doubt we will have fires there. I have purchased and set a small fire pit in the backyard to make up for this loss and I hope to be able to engage in using it in the coming warming months.

It makes me happy to imagine a world where fireplaces might have been decorated with jolly cartoon characters. Now that I know about these I will look for more – you never know, I might be able to remodel mine one day!

Felix in the Nursery

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I pulled this photo off of a small pile on my desk this morning. Purchased several months back, it has awaited its turn up at bat. It is neither professional, nor significantly profound, but delightful in its own way.

It is a 2″x 4″ photo with nothing written and no identifying information on the back, although it appears to have been printed by a skilled hand. The Felix is the only thing really to date the image and I would assume that it was during the zenith of his popularity, most likely the 1920’s, but perhaps as late as the early 1930’s is my guess.

Baby is playing with a baby doll which is always a touch of irony for me – and this doll looks remarkably like the kid. The Felix surveying all around him is a very classic chalkware or composition model. Oddly, I don’t actually own this particular very popular item – in part perhaps because they are fragile and I have a general aversion to large, easily broken items. Still, in considering him here and online this morning, I will say I should wait for a nice example and grab it. He would look splendid surveying the living room or bedroom in New Jersey. Let’s see if I achieve that goal in coming months.

These Felix-es are touted as carnival prizes, but I have never really accepted that as their origin. There are slightly cheaper, more slightly off-model versions which I assume fit this bill, but these always seemed a bit nicer than that. Evidently some have mobile arms and this fellow looks like he might be a candidate for being such a high class item.

The kid, as far as the viewer can tell, wears only shoes (nice sheepskin trimmed ones, perhaps all the better to start to walk in?) and we’ll assume a diaper. He or she is sitting in such a very nice sunny spot it gives me a cat-like yen to locate it and curl up in it – and nap. The curtains are helping the composition of this photo considerably, creating a pattern through out and catching the sun up in front. The shadows play nicely across the baby and around him. These are massive windows (I vaguely assume that the child is on the floor so they go all the way up!), and the sun streams in at the front and is in deep shade in the back of the room.

As I write it is in fact a sunny Sunday morning here in Manhattan, a relief after a week of pouring and sometimes teeming rain, so perhaps I am sun sensitive and craving as I write. I doggedly remind myself of April showers bringing May flowers, but we are soggy here and revel in the relief. Next weekend I will go to Jersey and check out the garden there and try to turn my mind to spring and summer. Time to put the lettuces in I think, or soon anyway. Growing things and time out in the yard will be the best harbingers of the season and the remedy for the blues, not to mention a visit with the New Jersey kitties.

Yearly Felix, the Annuals: Part One

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today’s Pictorama post is brought to you with love and thanks to our friend Bruce Simon who contributed this to the Pictorama archive recently. (Yay and thank you Bruce!) Bruce, involved in all things cartoon, comic and animation has been a decades long friend to Deitch Studio, but known Kim even longer. He has previously plied me with a supply of wonderful early cartoons – Felix, Krazy and others.

Bruce, his wife Jackie and their peppy pup live on the west coast so we are mostly online and postal pals these days, although we look forward to their upcoming sojourn to NYC in June and also perhaps seeing them at our trip to Comic Con in July. (Kim and I heading out to Comic Con this year as he is receiving an Eisner lifetime achievement award – certainly a future travel post there!)

Onto Felix however and this wonderful little item. An interesting Pictorama secret is that I actually own several of these annuals, three came in the group buy from an auction last year. In addition, I own a few other extremely rarified ones that are not Felix related and all of these will likely make their way into future posts.

*Endpapers for this 1925 Felix Annual. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

While I have tackled my Pip, Squeak and Wilfred annuals (one early post can be found here and another here) I am a bit confounded by conveying the wealth of Felix entertainment in one of these volumes. Virtually every page is sort of a gem – either early Messmer strips or those beloved boxy off-model Felix-es supplied by a British artist. Felix’s British alter ego. I don’t mean to be stingy, just a bit overwhelming to feel I am doing them justice. Let’s see how I do today.

I think Felix is Easter ready on the cover of this 1925 annual (a nod to those of you who are celebrating today) with his basket of fish instead of Easter eggs! This is the great squared off Felix which I note above and ongoing readers know how much I like a square Felix! He is stealing away with the fisherman’s catch, the fisherman is either so deeply involved in his rod or nodding off – I can’t tell.

1925 appears to be the second year of the annuals and for some reason it is said to be less available, although you could buy one right now from what I can see. They are said to have lasted at least through 1929, which would give me all but one of them if true. Published through the Daily Sketch and Sunday Herald Ltd. the years of publication are nowhere in evidence in these books. For the devoted reader these can be had if a tad dear.

*Title page. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

*Damaged back page. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

While the book is made up largely of black and white, presumably Sunday, strips, there are what I assume are British produced full color plates throughout which almost, loosely tell a story too. Then there is a center spread of four or so strips which are printed in red and black. This seems to roughly be the format of these annuals. It is interesting to me that the Pip, Squeak and Wilfred ones ran so much longer than Felix, despite his popularity. Those have a run from roughly ’22-’39. The British comics reading public did love their annuals however.

This volume also has hand painted embellishments on a few pages from a well meaning child. This is also very common indeed and not a surprise to anyone who collects children’s volumes of any kind.

The inside front and back covers are the same goofy design where Felix seems to have ascended to the heavens where he is surrounded by good things to eat (including mice) and admired by an anonymous cat below. There is also a front and back plate of him – sadly the back one is marred by a strange remnant of something unidentified which is on several pages of the book.

These annuals were sturdy in their construction – well bound and with thick pages. Even with that some of the pages in this 100 year old volume are worn right through with years of thumbing. The back outside cover is a not especially interesting ad for Ovaltine.

The comics within are worthy and I am enjoying reading them in bits here and there. I am more a fan of daily strips than Sundays in general, but these are fun and very much like the cartoons.

I promise more to come on these, but I hope today has been a tantalizing taste.

Aspirational

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: It’s a rare, I don’t own ’em but wish I did post here at Pictorama today. To the extent that I have set ground rules here, one general one is that if I feature it I own it. (Some readers will remember that I broke it recently to bring you a wonderful cat chair photo. It was a family photo which a reader shared with me and the post can be found here.)

However, to some degree rules exist to be broken and this image came to me both via Mel Birnkrant (his endlessly fascinating FB page can be found here – it is a rabbit hole to go down and possibly never emerge from) and some folks sent it to me via both the Old London FB page and also via X (that we used to call Twitter). The caption reads, Felix the Cat dolls leaving their Acton factory, 100 years ago.

Allow me to start by saying this image just floors me altogether. Admittedly, Felix lust immediately filled my soul! Oh the riches of the past! Truckloads of precious, giant Felix dolls making their way from Acton, out into the 1924 world of of extremely fortunate children and itinerant photographers.

It is also of interest to me to learn that at least one factory making these dolls was in Acton. Unlike the bit of history I uncovered previously (in a post from 2015 I very much favor and can be found here) which indicated that unemployed women were given jobs making smaller ones in a factory on the East End of London. Acton is a suburban area to the west so now I know Felix was being made all over London.

These are truly splendid huge Felix toys. Are they large enough to be the ones people posed with? Could be, but hard to say. If for kids, very luxe indeed. I certainly have photos of people posing with this size Felix although it isn’t the very largest size which I judge to be about the size of a midget. However, over time my collection has come to include period photos from British beach resorts with Felix dolls smaller than these. (A post on the one above can be found here.) None of the dolls in my collection (yet!) reach these size of the ones in the truck. Hope springs eternal however.

*An admittedly soft grab off the film, but a nice close up of the Felixes.*

While chatting with Mel and researching this earlier today, I realized that this is actually a British Pathé newsreel short. It can be seen in its entirety here. (I was unable to place the video here – I am experiencing mechanical stupidity today.) Note the unruly little fellow who looks like he wants to make a break for it by falling off the cart.

Of interest that most of these Felix toys were sensibly wrapped in brown paper, precious little parcels being piled up. However, someone must have realized that some should fill the back unpacked in order to get this wonderful image.

I think what I have here is actually a frame grab rather than a still, although hopefully stills do exist so I have a chance at one some day in the future.

*Bookplate not in Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

While we are having a posting moment focused on things shared but not owned, I am adding this Felix-y bookplate which came to me via J. J. Sedelmaier a few weeks ago. It would appear that Mr. Lowell and our cartoon friend shared a moniker. I assume he had these made – very pro job though. A nicely squared off, early looking Felix here. Something sort of smart about how his hand rests on the edge of the “shelf” and the lettering. Oh for the days of book ownership pride which would result in special bookplates like this!

Back to stuff I own next week!

Louise Groody with a Little Bit of Felix

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Pams-Pictorama.com Post: Today’s Pictorama oddball exclusive is this April, 1928 Theater Magazine page featuring stage star of the day Louise Groody. Shown here at age 21 by my calculation she grasps a perfectly delightful fluffy white pooch and a mysterious equally fluffy (if unable to achieve the same level of actual cuteness) creature in the other arm. She herself is dressed in fur. A very of-the-moment cloche hat covers her hair and shades her eyes in this carefully composed composition. A well trained smile outlined in carefully colored lips and revealing very even pearly teeth.

The bottom of the page reads, Pets, All of Them, Especially Louise Groody, the Hit in Hit the Deck. Below: After more than a year’s successful run in New York, Miss Groody, with the rest of the company, have folded their tricks at the Belasco and silently stolen away, despite the insistent demand of late-comers. They are now on tour, covering the principal cities. (Confidential: The small animal clinging to Miss Groody’s right arm is a honey bear, sweetness – and quite light.) Felix the cat is left out in the cold.

Hit the Deck was one of Groody’s most popular hits. Here she sings Sometimes I’m Happy from the show.

The little Felix is odd – no idea really why he is there, arms folded, smiling. Below him it says, Posed exclusively for THEATER MAGAZINE, photo by Harold Stein. He is indeed the little bit of Felix in this photo and post. (He does not appear on the back of the page where there is a similar of June Collyer.) Just a small paid advertisement? An inside joke about the show long forgotten? I wondered that about the dog and baby bear too – did they have some bearing on the show? Or does she always travel with a menagerie? A quick look at the storyline of the 1955 film version doesn’t show any reason for a baby bear. And no, Felix does not seem to have appeared in the show!

*Unidentified photo of a young Louise with a parrot, continuing the pet theme.*

According to Wikipedia, Louise was on the stage and discovered in her teens. Groody was in ten Broadway shows, four were major hits with hundreds of performances. The same article claims that Hit the Deck was a favorite of hers. She was perhaps best known as Nanette in No, No, Nanette and for her rendition of Tea for Two, although I was unconsciously familiar with her singing Sometimes I’m Happy.

*Kinda looks like Louise here. LooLoo was evidently one of her favorite roles.*

Louise married a few times. Number two was a shyster who chiseled money out of folks, her included – although she was originally named in the indictment. She divorced him while he was in Sing Sing and moved onto husband number three who seems to have stuck. Groody made a pile of dough in her early years on Broadway, subsequently lost most of it in the crash, but continued to work and lived affluently again by the forties. Louise joined the Red Cross during WWII and has a small discography of early recordings. As far as I can tell, she doesn’t appear to have much of a film career, although I can’t imagine she wasn’t in any films before becoming a fixture on early television.

As for Felix I can only say that he was so ubiquitous in 1928 that even a theater publication was sneaking him in, odd considering that in some ways film was slowly eating into and ultimately eclipsing their business. However, in 1928 no one seems to have been able to resist his charms entirely.

Bill, Benron, Iowa

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: This fine fat furry fellow hails to us from 1910 Diagonal, Iowa. He found his way to me via the wonderfully thoughtful Sandi Outland (@curiositiesantique, an antiques emporium in Texas) who sent me this. Some of you readers might remember that Sandi sent me an utter great holiday card with a period photo on it which inspired a post found here. She is also of the fascinating angry snowman collection which inspired the purchase of a card I wrote about here.

Sandi tucked this in this nice reproduction Felix valentine, shown below. I have often thought I should have a specimen example of this card and she has saved me the trouble of doing so. Thank you again Sandi!

*This Valentine based on a popular period one of Felix.*

Bill, the cat of our card, appears to be a solid citizen of the tabby cat category. Although I have not had a personal association with a tabby since childhood, they are dependably nice cats. The two that graced my childhood were Zipper and Tigger.

I wrote a bit about how Zipper and I as a small child would watch our fish tank together and he would “pat” the fish on the glass, guilty thoughts going through is mind! (Post found here.) He came to us as a starved and tormented stray, so small he was in danger of slipping into the crack in the backseat of the car. He grew into a swaggering dominant male of the neighborhood, holding parties with his kitty cronies in the garage, late night raids on a neighbors eel box! (Zipper’s story can be found here.)

Zipper was gone by the time Tigger came into our lives. He was one of a litter of kittens of our cat Winkie, a great tortoiseshell. My mom was generally a responsible and determined neuter and spay-er of our cats, but somehow Winkie got away from her in advance of being spayed. We kept the four kittens: the tiger Tigger, a marmalade named Squash, and two grays – Ping and Pong.

Tigger who had rather perfect markings was a good natured cat. She ran away once and was found in a neighbor’s barn, but sadly eventually wandered away again not to be found. I have always hoped she found another home, perhaps less bustling and with fewer cats than we had claim to at the time. I think she wanted to be an only cat.

Bill, the fellow in this card, appears to be in charge of a store. My guess is that he spent many a contented hour chasing mice (perhaps even the occasional rat) there and was soundly rewarded for his work in this area. Still, he does not appear to have lived on mice alone. I don’t know if he is just sitting on his tail oddly or if it was docked for some reason, but he is a splendid looking fellow, evidently in his prime here. Behind him is a wonderful wooden box emblazoned with Independent Baking Co. Crackers(?), Biscuits, Etc. Davenport, Iowa. I would claim it for my collection any day offered.

The card is addressed to Miss Sarah Stock, Storm Lake Iowa, Box 734, written in the most beautiful script. It was postmarked and dated April 26, 1910 from Diagonal, Iowa.

*Back of card. Beautiful hand – look at how the “t” in storm forms the “L” in Lake! Still, is hard to read!*

Despite the beauty of the script I am having some trouble reading it, however it appears to say, Dear Sarah, I read another letter from you this morning. I spose I’ll have to answer that to I just finished one last night, let me introduce you to Bill police patrol of Benton Ia. He looks wise. I presume to you like cats as well as I do. I can’t read his name (and no, he didn’t seem fond of periods) and I am open to suggestions. (For some reason I have assigned the sender to be a man, but it could be a woman.)

Although I have come close on several occasions as it happens I have never traveled to Iowa. The university there was under brief consideration for grad school, but life intervened before it got to the visiting stage and my grad school education never materialized. The Jazz at Lincoln Center orchestra played there on tour and that was the most likely way I would have found myself there as an adult, but alas it never happened. The animal hospital I work for now is highly unlikely to send me there, although I guess you never know in life – I could make it there yet.

Another Fine Felix Photo

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: While I always find a Felix photo postcard day a rare treat here at Pictorama, I am never sure you all quite share my enthusiasm! Today’s addition to my ever growing collection of these cards is the result of a tip by one of my Instagram pals, Baileigh Faucz Hermann (@baileighfaucz.h) who I have purchased photos from in the past (a few of the posts about those photos can be found here and here) and I couldn’t be more grateful.

As is usually the case with these, this card was never mailed and there is nothing written on the back.

*Pams-Pictorama.com collection – an addition to the collection back in ’22.*

While it appears that this postcard could have benefitted from less tired developer back in the day, it is still a prize for this roving eyed Felix who exhibits a sort of overbite and who stands quite chummy with this small child who is only barely contained in his chair. It probably isn’t an utter reach to say that the child is in swim shoes and perhaps a beach costume of sorts.

Behind the kids and Felix is a wooden table with an attractive pot, some stairs. The grounds seems to be sandy so likely a beachside resort. The child’s chair is just his size an Felix is the right size for him too.

****

As I write this, I am on a NJ transit train on a Friday night, heading to Fair Haven after a long week at work. This is the first time I am going to New Jersey since the time we were all here over the holidays and since I started at the new job. So much has happened it seems like more than a few weeks!

*Geraniums which have died back and now are getting ready to go back out in the spring!*

The new job is starting to take root. I am finding my way around better – although yesterday I went in an out door and I must remember that hospitals are like restaurants that way! Still, people are getting used to me and I am getting used to them too. I don’t yet have a place to pick up breakfast, but I have laid in supplies for lunches for the week via Trader Joe’s down the street.

Meanwhile, the train is crowded and it is already dark out as it is early in winter, although it seems the official word of the groundhog this morning is that spring is on the way,

Tee-d Up

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

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.

In the Bag…

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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.)

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.

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!