Wow – it’s Holiday Wain!

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today’s post is a fantastic item purchased a couple of months ago and framed up to take to New Jersey. As I write this it is a bit hard to know best to show it to you all. I took these photos before it was framed but not sure I can present it as a whole so let’s see how I do. I apologize for the reflections in the photos – I took some before framing it but the ones I am taking today are better I think.

This is an illustrated Christmas insert titled A Kitten’s Christmas Party in the Illustrated London News from 1886, so early days for Mr. Wain. (For some biographical info on Louis Wain and a few of my holdings have a read at posts here, here and here just for starters.) I believe he did a series of these that go into the aughts and maybe beyond – these were his big break I belied. These are noted as pages 24 and 25 in the newspaper and I assume where a centerspread. At the bottom it reads, Drawn by Louis Wain. (Wain also did extremely well with Christmas card designs throughout his career so the holidays were a bonanza for him.)

*The fold was more evident before framing as seen here. This is a close up of “all who came to the party”.*

It is about 18″ x 28″. Considering the age of this newsprint it is in good condition with just the original fold. I did spring for UV protected glass for this when framing. I am afraid that even in a spot that doesn’t get direct sun that it could fade and brown out quickly.

As you can see, you need to get close to it – obviously it was intended for inspection in a newspaper so that is the viewing range. The sort of montage effect has made it a bit harder to get close up’s of each snippet – which are all listed neatly at the bottom as follows:

We write out letters of invitation to the aristocracy and a lot more besides.
Who all come to the party.
Our preparations are extensive.
The after-dinner speeches were a great success.
And so was the ball.
Some of the party seek amusement under the mistletoe.
Others we invite to a mouse-hunt.
And the fun waxes fast and furious, when we form a ring and play at hunt-the-slipper.
Alas! In early morning we are compelled to sit in solemn council to devise a means to break up the party, as the kittens won’t go. A terrier ghost – the very thing!
Our plan is effectual.
And we retire, worn out, and sleep the sleep of peace and dream of mice and dicky-birds.

*Messy kits! Don’t give cats ink. Look at the one with one eye closed as he writes!*

I am a particular fan of the panel of them writing out their letters of invitation. One cat completely covered in ink at the far left, using the spilled bottle of ink, the thoughtful pose as the white cat contemplates his missive and another examines his. Someone needs a nap (such exhausting work) and one tabby is copying off the other – can’t think for himself.

You need to know that there are tiny numbers in the left corner of each image corresponding to the notes above. I mention this because it does not read like a traditional comic strip from left to right. One, two and three are down the left, you jump up to the top again for four and so on. Kim says that this really is early days of comics so it makes sense that the conventions had not yet evolved fully.

*At the ball. Please note that I didn’t cut this off at the left – it is how it was reproduced.*

We see a bit of tidying up for the party – the aristocrat (aristocats dare I say?) all march in subsequently looking a bit like the cat mafia. The scene of the after-dinner speeches is pure Louis Wain for me with the monocled fellow speechifying. The ball, in the center, is only clearly identifiable by the cat band playing in the background, but we see the kitty canoodling under the mistletoe too.

Kissing kitties with voyeurs on the left and speeches on the right.

I have learned that hunt-the-slipper is a game where you pass a slipper (shoe perhaps in today’s parlance?) or small object and try to fool the person hunting about who has it. (I have finally found a good use for AI – it explained this to me.) And we are a bit appropriately huffy puffy here. We are spared too much gore for the mouse hunt with one cat discretely looking in a trap and we see only a mouse tail – although the expressions on the cats faces peering over are also pure Wain-ness with a fillip and dash of pure insanity.

*Cat Council top and the ghost dog chases the kittens home.*

The tale goes a bit off the rails where the kittens won’t go home and a council dreams up the ghost of a terrier to chase them out – which appears to work. Cats run in horror from a ghostly dog form rising up above them.

*Hunt-the-slipper. Could get rough! Wonder who has it..*.Meanwhile cats on the sidelines watching and something going on around a stage in the back.

We end however with another great image which will become classic Wain, all the kitties asleep in bed (some hiding their eyes and noses) and dreaming of mice and dickey-birds!

*Wain has a later print variation on this idea.*

I was lucky and somehow grabbed this from a live auction in Great Britain for very little money – shipping it here and framing it cost far more although very worth it. It is heading to New Jersey with us in a couple of weeks where I intend to hang it in our bedroom or Kim’s studio – some place where we can get close to see it but where it won’t get too much light – even with the UV glass. I think it deserves to remain pristinely preserved. I hope you have enjoyed your trip through it today.

Atlantic Highlands

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today’s postcard, celebrating a local summer spot where I grew up in New Jersey, seems like a fitting Memorial Day holiday kick-off card. I purchased it at the postcard show bonanza of a few months ago with the intention of framing it for the house in NJ where I am gathering a few early cards of local spots I love.

This one was mailed on August 8, 1923 from Atlantic Highlands at 11 AM. It was mailed to Mr. Robert Del Paso, 44 Est 98th Street, New York. Written on the back is a brief note, Best regards to you and your sister from Dorothy and Eugene.

The view shown here is the one that you now see from the ferry when it pulls in. It looks nothing like this now, a small public beach is at the landing and some low condos not far beyond. Boats dock nearby and restaurants and small businesses dot the edge of the water along with some houses, although you don’t see those right in this spot either, as it is largely in the shadow of a much larger bridge.

The approach to Atlantic Highlands via ferry from 2021.

The first time I took the ferry into Atlantic Highlands, the sense memory of that spot was amazing. On the occasions I would go sailing with my dad or on the creaking wooden fishing boat of my grandfather, the Imp, we would head first under one bridge and then the other and to the bay or ocean. The sense of history smacked me hard being on that spot of the water again.

I have touched on this Jersey shore enclave before, not long ago in a post about Bahr’s Restaurant which can be found here. I opined on the thoughts I had about living there at one time, and the history of that restaurant where I had what turned out to be a last birthday dinner with my sister, a few decades past now.

Atlantic Highlands, and it’s kissin’ cousin Highlands, abut the area of the shore I grew up in. (Highlands is the hamlet slightly further into the river side, Atlantic Highlands faces out toward the ocean and beyond.) However, while Sea Bright, a spit of land that adjoins it, was an almost daily destination, the Highlands while hard by, somehow were the route less taken. I believe that this was probably largely due to beach traffic and while being almost within shouting distance as the crow flies it was rarely the shortest way to go anywhere from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

*The parking lot for the ferry, next to the small public beach and some condos.*

Once I hit high school we made it part of our route when traffic died down late in the evening. We ate lobster rolls and drank beer at shacks at the edge of the river at the junction where the bay joins the river and the ocean. Also on our route was a movie theater that showed films recently fallen out of circulation for an admission of $1.00. Beyond that, expensive restaurants that hugged the shore and gave a view as far as Manhattan on a clear day and those were beyond our means.

Atlantic Highlands, as shown in this postcard, attaches to Sandy Hook beach (and now state park) via the bay. Not only has this quaint wooden bridge been replaced, but the concrete one of my childhood (which seemed plenty big at the time, bigger than its Sea Bright counterpart which required a draw bridge function for the passing parade of boats) was replaced very recently by a true behemoth of a bridge.

The one in Sea Bright is also under reconstruction and I gather will no longer be the draw bridge of my childhood – it’s opening hourly in the summer was how we timed our days in the summer in order to avoid it and the traffic back-up it would cause. I had a boyfriend in high school who had a summer job working the bridge which was a great gig and the retirement job of numerous fishermen. I don’t know how, in retrospect, Ed got that job but many envied him it. I am sorry to say I never visited the tiny shack mid-bridge that was the man cave you stayed in if you worked the bridge.

I’m also sorry to have to say that one of the people I spent the most hours with in Atlantic Highlands is gone now. A long former boyfriend, I had fallen out of touch with Sam Lutz, and found out via local connections that he died a few years ago.

I suspect I will eventually return to writing about this area. For some reason it lives in my memory in a way other places do not. However, for now, this rosy sun setting over the Highlands hills is a good place to leave Pictorama for the holiday weekend as I head out there shortly.

Orange, New Jersey

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Today’s Felilx loving post is an unseasonal Thanksgiving tribute, but I couldn’t possibly wait that long to share it.

In addition to the neatly typed ORANGE NJ on the front of the photo, handwritten on the back it reads A Rubber Felix Thanksgiving Day East Orange, NJ. It is also stamped with what appears to be…CMA L. Simpson…17 Pleasant Ave. Montclair, NJ. It was glued onto something black at one point much of which remains here, likely a photo album, and the full address is obscured.

This is an overexposed and not especially good print so this establishment must have just processed and printed pictures for people.

Still, it clearly has its charms and I am glad to take the trip back in time to see the scene. In addition to this large Felix balloon, what I like best is the Felix headed and clad retinue around him, like Felix-y mice around the big cat! We can see four, my guess is there was at least one more who is out of the shot.

*I thought at first that this could be the same balloon butclose inspection says no. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

It is sadly undated but a very close look reveals that many of the women are wearing distinctive cloche hats. Those were popular from the early 20’s to the early 30’s. Randomly I would guess this is the mid-to-late 20’s given Felix’s rise to popularity and the rest of the clothing I can discern. Someone smarter about cars could probably tell more about the date from the one or two in this shot.

Thanksgiving is already a wintery scene here and people are bundled up to watch this parade. A close look reveals that the crowd extends up the stairs of this unidentified but official looking building. (If there are any Montclair historians or residents who can identify this building give a shout.) You can’t see it without magnification but in reality most of the people across the street seem to already be looking at and pointing to something coming up next.

I have written before about my love of Thanksgiving Day balloons in the parade and how I always wanted to go see them as a child. As a young adult here in New York City I would often go to see them blown up and strapped down the night before although I have never made it to the parade. My father had the freezing detail of filming it and the night before in his days as a junior cameraman for ABC News and there was no enticement I could find to get him to take me.

I love that New Jersey had their own rival, early Thanksgiving parades complete with balloons and I have shared a few parade pics here from my collection. Felix was popular coast to coast and one of these photos which lives by our front door in NYC is from Portland. The posts for those photos can be found here and here.

So while today would have been more appropriate to have an Easter parade this weekend, I conjure up another long past if somewhat unseasonable holiday for you today.

Post Valentine

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: This one is sneaking in just under the line after Valentine’s Day. It is what I gave Kim for Valentine’s Day this year.

Some years here it is just a heartfelt card, but this year I was digging around on eBay and buying a few vintage cards which you have seen in prior posts (here and here) and this was one little prize I found. It’s a simple design, a bright red heart with this wonderful little cat attached, with silly white hearts drawn around the outer edge.

Of course the little metal cat attached to the top Stanley (the recipient of this card) had the good sense not to take it off. The poem reads:

To My Valentine
If you love me
you’ll love my CAT
And see that it’s befriended;
So if I hear you saying “Scat”
I’ll know my chance is ended.

The back reads, To Stanley S. From Madelaine and Dorothy Haskel (?) And we see this bit of twisted wire that sticks out the back, securing the cat charm to the front. I sort of love that two sisters sent this and I like the last name initial too – was there another Stanley in the class perhaps? Which, if either, sister did Stanley like best? Was the two sister approach to hide the real affection of one? One wonders.

Then, I was cruising around Instagram and one of my favorite folks in Texas (@curiositiesantique or www.getcuriosities.com) put this little gem up and I grabbed it. Kim is an inveterate collector of (lucky) heads up pennies on the sidewalk and so this with a penny embedded within seemed just right for him. It is a lucky keyring which promises, Keep me and never go broke around the outer edge and, in case that wasn’t direct enough, I bring good luck at the bottom.

The penny has a date of 1972 so we will date it to then. On the back we discover its real missive, Nick V. Caputo County Clerk Essex Vote Democrat. Turns out he was the Essex County (NJ) Clerk from 1961 to 1991. He was known as the man with the golden arm which had something to do with always drawing the Democrats for the first position on the ballot, the odds of which were 1 in 50 billion! Huh. (For those of you who are curious about this, and perhaps understand it better, you can read more in an article from the Jersey Globe here.)

Someone liked it enough to keep it all this time and it made its way down to Texas. It is back here in the tri-state area though, bringing my sweetheart luck and prosperity.

The (Truly) Great ’25 Valentine Reveal!

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: There are a handful of traditions here at Deitch Studio and Pam’s Pictorama that we hold dear and none is so anticipated and celebrated than the annual Valentine Kim makes for me. A tradition that reaches back to our first year together (now a few decades back), today’s is an entry in a long line of wonderful drawings, all which have depicted me and illustrated my interests over the decades and placing me at the heart of my own Catland. (This includes frequent allusions to me as the jolly and of course benign ruler of the land, Queen of Catland. A few examples can be found here, here and here and other pictures below.)

*A February 2020 edition. This too could be Margate! Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

This year is very special however. The idea grew out of a recent post some of you may remember devoted to review the splendid new biography of Louis Wain, Catland, which can be read here. Kim has brought to life my suggestion that there was a moment when Louis Wain and T.S. Eliot were living on different sides of the same beachside community, Margate, where I have noted, many people had photo postcards made posing with a splendid giant Felix the cat doll. (Some of those posts can be found here and here.)

Kim has brought all these elements together. Rather than running into each other and meeting TS and Louis are both so wrapped up in their own views of the world they never see each other – although Felix loitering outside the photo studio arguably sees them both. They are both witnessing a (real) catburgler in action – for Eliot it inspires the poem Macvity the Mystery Cat (who appears to be reading about his exploits at the bottom) while Wain wanders off into a world of anthropomorphic kits which, around the perimeter of the picture range from jaunty to disintegrating, and forming Cubist cat delights.

*A Margate Felix. Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

Louis is painting the very scene, or a variation on it, while some of his humanoid cats enjoy exploits swimming and strolling just out of the frame. Big white kitties standing on their hindlegs point at the scene with even more imaginative cats portraits above them. T.S. Eliot recovering from a nervous breakdown, meeting Louis Wain drifting off into his own world of ever morphing felines.

In some ways, this is the perfect melding of worlds, Wain’s, Eliot’s, mine and Kim’s. Bravo yet again my beloved Mr. Deitch!

T.S. Eliot
1888 - 1965

Macavity: The Mystery Cat (1939)
Macavity’s a Mystery Cat: he’s called the Hidden Paw —
For he’s the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He’s the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad’s despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime — Macavity’s not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
He’s broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime - Macavity’s not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air -
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity’s not there!

Macavity’s a ginger cat, he’s very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly domed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he’s half asleep, he’s always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
For he’s a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square -
But when a crime’s discovered, then Macavity’s not there!

He’s outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard’s.
And when the larder’s looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke’s been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair -
Ay, there’s the wonder of the thing! Macavity’s not there!

And when the Foreign Office find a Treaty’s gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scrap of paper in the hall or on the stair -
But it’s useless to investigate - Macavity’s not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
‘It must have been Macavity!’ - but he’s a mile away.
You’ll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there’s no one like Macavity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibi, and one or two to spare:
At whatever time the deed took place - MACAVITY WASN’T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!

Birthday Week

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I think the impression people may get is that I like my birthday, although the reality is actually that I am a bit ambivalent about it and have taken control of it to the extent I can. As my mother would say however, it is far better than the alternative. Years and years ago in my 20’s, I decided that I would try to take the situation in hand and create birthday traditions for myself and therefore be less disappointed in the enterprise. This has largely worked, some years more successful than others.

Those who have been down this road with me before know that my birthday occurs alongside Valentine’s Day (the great Kim Deitch Valentine’s Day reveal is here tomorrow – mark your calendars!) which posed challenges for the admirers and boyfriends of the young Pam Butler.

I was born in a snowstorm if not downright blizzard. Mom and Dad sussed out the situation pretty quickly and got her to the hospital to have me in the late afternoon (He was annoyed I interrupted his office hours, Mom used to say) amidst growing piles of snow. It frequently snows, sometimes a lot, on my birthday. I remember at least two whopping snowstorms in my early adulthood, stop everything kind of days, here in the city. And along with the snow, a myriad of plans cast aside at the last minute for alternative plans. I learned to lean local for my birthday.

Birthday traditions include trying to have a meal with my various other Aquarian friends. Currently this has whittled down to just a couple of favorites with folks moving or among the elder generation, passing. Still, they are always wonderful and I saw one friend earlier this week for dinner although have yet to set the date for the other – we’ve been known to wander into March too, spreading it out. Bygone traditions included spending the day with my late sister, Loren, and mom sending flowers or acquiring lavish cakes.

Kim and I will spend a day next weekend sort of gloriously wandering somewhere in the city next weekend. (I head to NJ for a clutch of doctor’s appointments there – and to visit the NJ cats who will help greet the new birth year on Tuesday.) Potentially we’ll be bundled up if the weather predictions hold. Snow is scheduled to start tonight and, after a brief melt possibly tomorrow, continue on through the beginning of the week.

This year, as declared in a post last week, I went on a bit of a vintage Valentine’s Day binge and while looking I came across today’s card which seemed perfect for me to align and honor my black cat, Valentine’s Day and birthday interests.

It is British and therefore the black cat is a lucky symbol – their horseshoe is also facing down whereas I think we usually portray it up (to hold the luck!) on this side of the pond. In addition to this smiling cat there is a four leaf clover, should we have any doubts. (There will be more about lucky objects coming next week so stay tuned.)

It declares: Upon your happy Birthday morn, I wish you Joy and Pleasure. And everything you’d like to have Heaped up in brimming measure! It has a spot for From at the bottom (what about To?) and someone has penciled in, as best I can tell, E. M. Pinder.

It has this interesting sort of deckle edge to the card and on the back it reads, Mrs. c/o Mrs. Plumb, 25 Hassett Road, Homerton and on the other side, For Minnie. The stamp is a halfpenny one and it was sent on March 7,1912, just short of 113 years ago. This makes its somewhat discolored state a bit more forgivable.

*Beau, the black cat beauty to whom I refer.*

In closing I also offer a birthday card from a friend that arrived in the mail last night. It looks remarkably like Beauregard, one of the Jersey Five. Makes an excellent case for a celebratory cat tierra, not to mention cape.

Holiday Card and Decoration

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Holiday: Gifts!

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

*Porto Rico Coffee Importers last week.*

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

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

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

*A nice ceramic version available at John Derian or online, but it’ll cost you!*

*I purchased a pair of these for a nominal amount via an online auction. August 2014 post about these Corbin Cats.*

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

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

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

*Just the cover to the book, sold for a few dollars separately.*

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

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

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

Holiday: Part One, the Train

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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