Pam’s Pictorama Post: This item came my way via a rather splendid if small used bookstore in San Diego called Blustocking Books. I was just about to check out when this photo caught my eye. I added it to the purchase pile having given it only a passing look.
Since my discovery of a clutch of yard long photos I am keeping a collector’s weather eye out for group photos like this and especially from the early decades of the 20th Century. I have a theoretical parameter of beach related or New Jersey related images, however rules are made to be broken, right? However, when I went to look for B.C. Gregory elementary school you can imagine my surprise that the first and most persistent results are for my mother’s hometown here in New Jersey, Long Branch. I can’t help but wonder if I went all the way to California to find a photograph of a local Jersey grade school. perhaps even one that my mother went to, although this one well before her grade school days.
The landscape gives us no definitive clues, the long fir tree and scant foliage could belong to either coast. The children’s clothes provide no indication either.
Youngest children in front and the oldest in the back looking a bit older than the sort of eighth grade or so that elementary schools generally age out at. While not in uniform, the have clearly been requested to dress within some guidelines with their white shirts, mostly dark ties on the fellows, a smattering of suits. The girls are largely in white blouses, but right in the center are two girls in plaid dresses, on atop of the other.
Detail of the kids in back holding up the school sign.
As is always the case and especially with a longer exposure in the day, there are a few blurred heads of those who could not sit still. The banner with the year is front and center by some of our youngest participants and the school name is on a banner at the back held up two young gentleman who do not look like they enjoy their assignment.
While we are all familiar with school photos of this kind it is interesting that this was such a small school – the entire elementary school is shown here and in my day would have maybe been a single grade. I am wondering if in this very house I have some of my dutiful class photos. I know I have several years of grammar school somewhere. (Those did not turn up before posting sadly, another day to see me in my grade school days.)
Perhaps it is the longish exposure (or just school!), but this is not a group where many are attempting to smile. The third row from the front is the most smiling I see. It has that charmed moment in time quality. Those in front anticipating moving up the steps further each year, those at the top ready to move on to high school and beyond.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: I am running late today for this post, my second from New Jersey this summer. The neglected garden needed my attention while it was still cool enough to work out here. It was a small start, but I am also tired from my first week as a commuter and getting over a bad head cold last weekend. However, it should also be noted that today is the first day of six since we got here where it has not been a torrential downpour either. Let the garden enjoyment (and work) begin!
Nevertheless, I have this little treasure which arrived at Deitch Studio shortly before our departure last weekend. While the aged quality of this photo makes it less than perfect, it was an irresistible image to add to the Pictorama collection.
Recent acquisition and post as below.
The concept of the perfect Felix costume has long stoked my imagination and I believe informed Kim’s Alias the Cat. (That book – one of the best ever! – for purchase can be found here.) While I search to acquire the perfect mask photos of Felix costumes can also satisfy. I just posted about another and it is unusual because I don’t really have that many in my collection. (A post about that recent acquisition, shown above, can be found here.)
Opening of Kim’s Alias the Cat.
Early in my collecting I found an interesting clutch of early photos of folks donning Felix costumes. Tiny snapshots of people in masks or full costume. Oddly, I didn’t acquire them together either which is sort of fascinating. That post from the early days of Pictorama can be found here.
Today’s photo is a tintype and as to be expected that means the writing on Felix’s chest is reversed. Hard to know if Felix was an adult with these two small bunny attired kids. More likely an older child. While it is definitely an off-model mask it was commercially made, as were the bunny outfits the other children sport.
One from a series of photos from the post mentioned above.
I have no explanation for the staff or cane held, but the older of the two rabbit kids. If I had to guess (and it would be a guess) I would say the older of those two is a girl. I have no idea at all about the younger. They are outside and a careful look shows a woman behind them and some buildings, or more likely pictures of buildings, behind her. There are other indistinct people and things, however the picture grows wavy there and they are unreadable.
I was surprised to be reminded that this photo actually came from Louisiana, not Great Britain. The holder strikes me as oh so British and of course it’s most recent home before mine was not necessarily its place of origin. I believe that virtually all of the Felix tintypes I have of this sort have come from either England or Australia. Having said that, most of them are people posing with large Felix dolls and this is just kids in costume.
Wall decor at Deitch Studio.
I have yet to decide how the Pictorma library will stretch in the Jersey digs and have yet to start to hang things, although some of the yard long photos are on display. I mostly leave the items here that have ended up here, but I hope for the leisure to make some determinations about decoration. More to come when I figure that out. For now it has gotten too hot for the garden and there are numerous cats requesting pets.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: The suitcases are largely packed, art supplies for weighing in massively in a Fresh Direct bag – what did we do before Fresh Direct bags? I have moved everything imaginable in them. For those of you who don’t have Fresh Direct, they are super large reusable bags with handles which our food is delivered in. The company will take them back or you can stockpile them for moves to you summer house, move your office and more.
Kim’s bag of art supplies, carefully prepacked.
The cats are looking at us suspiciously. They duly noted that the suitcase after last week’s trip to San Diego never went back down to the basement. Something is clearly afoot! No one has gone near the carriers but we will need to grab them fast in the morning if we don’t want to have to dig them out from under our bed. I will them to become used to this twice a year ritual now but they are resisting it. Cookie will undoubtedly spend the entire vacation under a chair again, hissing at us. (We continue to try to deploy new ways of dealing with it and I will report back on those efforts.)
It looked like so much in NYC and seems like next to nothing here in NJ!
This year things are different than last. I have less vacation time earned at my new job so I will spend more of my time commuting, some remote days and then some vacation at the end. I am reminded of how different work is, having a new job is an adjustment still in month six.
Much of my staff is new and haven’t accrued much vacation and I worry that when the busy season of fall hits we will all get exhausted. We are all still getting used to each other and the team is still emerging and finding itself. We are told our offices will move, maybe as early as October. We are somewhat camped out in our current space (leaks! mice!) so we are looking forward to it, despite the fact it will come at a busy time.
The bounty of cherry tomatoes and a couple of tiny strawberries.
My new commute takes me way over to the East side of Manhattan – handy for a girl who lives on York Avenue most of the year, but adding time onto the commute from New Jersey. I am eyeing the ferry which would leave me on First and 35th just to shoot up to 62nd and York and cuts the trip to 50 minutes. On the other side the commute is a bit longer home and I have to decide if it is worth it. The ferry is, without question, a more pleasant way to travel!
Oh the cucumbers…
I am looking most forward to time in my garden however, and evenings out on the deck. That has become real summer for me. Reports of my cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers come from a friend daily. Cucumbers in particular seem very happy, with their prickly strange nascent bounty – pickle size bits! My cucumbers have grown lavishly and would cheerfully take over the world given time. I gave them small trellises to climb which they covered immediately and kept going. We eat a lot of cucumbers so I am good with this, at least in theory.
First year this dahlia bloomed – was given to me in memory of my mom.
The cherry tomatoes had spit out a few specimens on my last trip but are quite laden now. The larger tomatoes had not yet yielded fruit. The strawberries in their pots appear happy, but a bit slow. Perhaps they too need a trellis and a spot in the yard next year. There is a tiny grapevine which has taken hold and I am hoping that it will winter and return for further growth next year.
This grapevine is rather impressive. Has grown a lot in the few weeks since I was last here.
Mom always had grapes and strawberries growing wild across fences in the backyard growing up – we never harvested them much and they were really there for the wildlife. I take that attitude with my blueberry bushes which are laden with berries and disappear in the twinkling of an eye. These days the birds, bunnies and chipmunks and I are locked in a race to see who gets what. of the other produce I am sorry to say I am less generous than my mother was.
The deck last summer.
Few things restore me better than an evening on my deck with twinkling fairy lights and some music playing. It makes all the effort of moving us there worthwhile. Time slows which these days is magical.
However, as I write this, the front door area in this small apartment is laden with packages and cats are giving us a sideways look. They know! Shortly I will do a final clearing of the fridge and throughout and we will hit the road. With any luck I will send a sign off from the other side!
******
We arrived, relatively without incident. Cash, my favorite car dog friend, was displeased with cats in his car, but he remained at a reasonable distance in the front seat. Just looking at Jeff occasionally and asking Why? (I have written previously about Jeff and Cash here.)
Cash looking at Jeff and asking, Why are these cats in our car?
Cookie and Blackie have disappeared into the house, under something somewhere. B will likely come out when he hears us in the bedroom later, not sure about C. We are trying something different and giving her a room to herself, Kim’s studio, upstairs.
Rainy day here so I only have rainy pictures of the garden. Alas, hoping it clears for us this evening!
Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today’s Pictorama tidbit comes via our good friend Bruce Simon. Bruce and his wife Jackie live on the other side of the country. My job used to bring me to their doorstep periodically and they have family this way and therefore not-quite-annual meet ups were possible. The Covid years resulted in several years where we were deprived of visits. This year we somehow managed a visit on each coast and we saw them earlier this summer and then a bonus round with Bruce a mere weeks later in San Diego when we flew in for Comic Con.
Kim and Bruce go way back to Kim’s west coast youth, but Bruce won my heart early on with splendid collections of early cartoons he sent. Krazy Kats, Aesop Fable cartoons – he has made a serious contribution to my cultural education. So it is a hats off to Bruce Simon for this post!
Much to my surprise Bruce brought me this splendid Felix tidbit found in his ramblings for the books he produces. (Some of those can be found on Amazon here and here.) This bit of a classified ad hails from The Muskogee Daily Phoenix and the Muskogee Times-Democrat. A quick look online reviews that this is an Oklahoma daily publication still in existence today. It was founded in 1888 so its had quite a run thus far.
This ad would appear to be an ad for the Classified Ad pages of the paper at the bottom while boasting this Kit Kat Klub Revue with the Krazy Kats of Rhythm. A nice swipe of Felix is chuckling in the lower left corner under On the Screen A Woman Rebels starring Katherine Hepburn. You could only see the Krazy Kats on Wednesdays and there is a balloon which informs us that this is A Wliburn Cushman Circuit Unit.
A replay of this pic of Bruce and Kim in San Diego where we had a lunch of waffles one day.
A snippet of another newspaper available online informs that this was a five piece band and Mr. Cholet was the singer and front man for the band. They played sweet hot and swing music. This was back in 1937 and 150 people had the opportunity to see it on a given Wednesday at the Ritz. If you read the fine print at the bottom it seems that putting an ad in the Classified Want Ad would get you one free ticket for the show.
Someone asked me recently how it felt to no longer work for an arts organization and I had to admit, I am missing the many hours of live music I have enjoyed in recent years. Radio Dismuke (I wrote about this rather wonderful online radio station as resource in a post here) helps fill the gap, but it is a big change, as was leaving the Met after many years of enjoying it – more or less like having all that art in your own living room.
Admittedly this ad puts me in the mood. However, it is an itch which is unlikely to get scratched soon as tomorrow I pack Kim and cats up and we head to the New Jersey camp for the remainder of the summer. So more on that annual bivouac tomorrow, stay tuned.
Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: So what the heck is going on in this photo? To start, I am mad for this Felix costume which is sort of exactly what Pam Butler is looking for in a Felix costume. A wonderful full head be-wiskered mask (with hard, perky pointy ears) and then a simple black “cat suit” to complement it – not the covered paws however.
This isn’t a photo postcard, it is a slightly larger (4″x6″) studio photo. What the heck are they dressed up for? If it weren’t for the crown (a rather splendid one) on the girl on our right, the fact that they are in costume might have eluded me. Was it a play? But then why Felix? I am a bit sorry the origin is lost to us, but I am very pleased to have this unusual photo join the Pictorama collection.
In addition to being a rather posh studio photo these children look well-heeled. There is a nice symmetry to the picture with the long-waisted dress between the two notched in at the middle. Headscarf on the middle and tallest of them. Behind them a bland sort of backdrop which must have made do for all photos, faux scenes of fake landscapes outside drawn and painted windows.
Embossed at the bottom is the legend Service Studios and something I cannot read below – Olesbrough is what is visible. On the back it says, Service Studio, Middlesbrough (Felix the Cat – 1920’s.) Perhaps one of Pictorama’s British readers can help sort the location question out.
All of the Felix photos in my collection are essentially one-of-a-kind although occasionally I have found and purchased several from a session and I do occasionally find my photos elsewhere online. Of course in theory there could be some multiples of any of them, at least from those which were printed from a negative. Meanwhile, the other day while we were in San Diego and I had a few minutes to see what was up on Instagram, I saw a photo of a little girl on a beach with Felix which looked familiar. Turns out it was some sold listings on a sellers feed – and I had purchased it from her!
Pam’s Pictorama Post: We announced that we would head out here a few months back when we were told that Kim would be inducted into the Eisner Hall of Fame.
It’s been more than a decade since our last trip to this con, although I made at least one return trip for work subsequently. 150,000 people are said to crowd into this tiny town which does appear to literally be bursting at the seams under the weight of it.
As Kim said, there’s one in every crowd. Although, you actually don’t see many Supermans. A lot more Batmans.
Without getting too into it, travel was difficult and verged on disaster at times – a worldwide meltdown of all international and domestic airports, followed by a fire near our terminal at JFK which meant the evacuation of thousands mere hours before our departure. Add in some sort of traffic mess (3 hours from York and 86th Street to JFK essentially not long enough, we almost missed our flight) and my personal favorite, our hotel reservations turned out to be canceled when we got here at 11:00 at night. Visions of bad films with no place to sleep being the punchline occurred to my sleep deprived state. (2 AM NYC time!)
Seemed sort of classic.Sidewalk stroll at the Con.
San Diego is just clogged with folks. Young, old, those in costume (I Dream of Jeannie anyone?), those not. We are concerned with an ever-shrinking comics related part of the con which is like a snake eating its own tail as first the animation and then action film industry slowing takes over.
From where I sit in our highrise hotel, the Hilton across from us is wrapped in an ad for FX which says, What we do in the Shadows with creepy heads. Gigantic seagulls cartwheel in from of our 20th floor window. Isn’t it too high for them?
View out our window.
Kim was part of an interesting panel on Harvey Kurzman first thing out of the bag Thursday. Luckily a woman named Becky jumped into the fray and got us our badges in time for getting into the session. (The lines to get in are like Disney World long – this apt comparison from our friend Bruce. The lines are like miles long.)
Kim with our friend Bruce Simon at lunch on Thursday.
Kim offered to take an afternoon adventure with me and I found an antique mall out beyond the airport here. It was a large place, in the style of the ones we go to in New Jersey.
Being San Diego, it was somewhat open on two sides to the outdoors where furniture and plants were on a sort of porch. Kim found a Dumas novel he hadn’t read – something found and published posthumously. Sadly, I found nothing portable enough or that I was will to solve a shipping issue for. This Felix tea set below tempted me a bit.
In retrospect I am amazed I resisted.The interior of the antiques mall.
*****
The morning (Friday) was taken up with the Eisner Lifetime Achievement awards. Many stories were told – some especially moving ones by the grandchildren of the people being honored. (The family of the guy who created Classic Comics – see my post about those here.) However, Kim and Gary Groth (editor of Fantagraphics, Kim’s publisher) were among the living folks honored.
Kim accepting his lifetime achievement award.
After fighting our way through another morning of crowds at the Con we decided to take a shot at a used bookstore I had read about, Verbatim Books. Unlike yesterday, when the car took us to the middle of industrial wasteland no man’s land, we were delivered to a sort of interesting up and coming part of town about a ten minute car ride away.
The trip through the Balboa Park neighborhood was filled with the most wonderful old cottages. Our driver told us that they, not surprisingly, sell for around $1m. Many were in a Spanish style, but some cute Craftsmen ones as well.
Rather good Mexican food for lunch.Strange ancient pinball machine in Mexican place.
You’ll likely be seeing the loot in future posts, but among other things I found a few interesting books of early 20th Century fiction – let’s see if there’s a new writer for me in it. (I saw but did not buy a vintage Judy Bolton novel. For those of you who are late to the Pictorama game, a post devoted to reading that entire series of mystery books can be found here.)
And I restrained myself from purchasing a very large book on collecting American toys. Restraint ultimately failed me however on one or two other purchases that will require some navigating.
We decided to roll the dice again and had an Uber take us to another bookstore, Bluestocking Books. Much to my surprise, I scored several books and a photograph there. We tried to parley it a bit further and find an antiques shop described to us by the folks at the bookstore, but after a six block walk to a somewhat dodgy neighborhood we gave up and circled back. Our afternoon of adventure at a close and soon our San Diego adventure as well.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: In yesterday’s postal post I went on a long tangent about my recent interactions with the post office. Today, I will focus a bit more on the advertising aspect of the other letter opener I purchased, one for Oneeda Biscuit.
I tend to think this one will be designated to go to the office although I am realizing that on my messy desk at home (as opposed to my messy desk at work) I might more easily located this one in order to use it, rather than the smaller Red Lodge Montana souvenir one I wrote about in my prior post. I used this one yesterday for the first time. I’ll have to give that some thought.
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
This letter opener only has the image on one side which I find disappointing although I guess the trouble to create art for the back of this little boy in his raincoat seemed unnecessary for a give away item like this. (I am pausing for a moment to reflect on the idea that this sort of give away doesn’t really exist any longer, does it? Sad for the future collectors of the universe.) Nonetheless, it was a tad disappointing.
Artwork from an undated Uneeda ad.
Having said that, The art on this is sort of splendid and although slightly chipped in places, in good condition overall. A quick look for these online shows everything from pristine to really ratty. If this makes your pulse quicken and you set your heart on owning one you have ample opportunity.
Uneeda Boy items proliferate with online.
Oneeda Biscuit, as many Pictorama readers may already know, was the forerunner to today’s enormous corporation Nabisco. Founded at the dawn of the 20th century, it played the food field with the likes of nascent Heinz, Kellogg, Hershey, Campbell Soup and Wrigley.
The early days Uneeda produced hard tack, crackers for seamen and soldiers that had a more or less infinite shelf life having figured out a way to ship and store crackers in something other than a barrel. However these folks ultimately brought us beloved snacks such as Oreos, Saltines, Ritz Crackers and Nilla wafers. Theirs is a fast paced history through the early growth of a US company through competition, war and peace. (The full history can be found on a site devoted to its history as touched on here.)
Animal Crackers packaged the way I remember, with the string for handy carrying and the animals in the cages – they have subsequently been “uncaged” evidently.
Enterprising rival companies tried to trade on the early version of the name and efforts to stamp out the likes of Uwanna Biscuit and Iwanna Biscuit were tracked down and eradicated. Uneeda cadets were sent out to ensure cracker freshness in the field as well as these copyright infringers.
As indicated above, Uneeda figured out the moisture proof packaging needed to deliver crackers in individual packages to consumers. The wax paper wrapper was the industrial breakthrough and this little fellow in his slicker is meant to illustrate the moisture proof nature of the packaging. (It took me a bit of research to figure that part out and I would say, at least in this day and age, it isn’t entirely self evident.)
From a popular 2021 post – this cracker tin sits on my home office desk.
This little fellow, Biscuit Boy, becomes the center of their national advertising campaign in 1901, two years after its founding. (Arguably the very first national advertising campaign ever.) Its forerunner was the slogan, Lest you forget, we say it yet, Uneeda Biscuit, but they decided they needed something more.
In addition to the treats already mentioned, they were the early creators of Animal Crackers – always a personal favorite. Later in the tale, Triscuits, a Deitch Studio favorite, were also created and added to the long-lived line up.
Is it possible that the name is meant to invoke the baked by electricity process?
Meanwhile, the Biscuit Boy himself was the nephew of the ad exec who created the campaign. His name was Gordon Stille and he was five in 1900 when he was photographed in a slicker and boots for this campaign. He was paid the princely sum of $100 for his services, but given the popularity of the image he ultimately felt he was undercompensated and sued, but died an elderly man without resolution. (All of this and more entertaining information about the history of the company can be found on this blog site devoted to food history here.)
From an eBay offering, the Morton Salt Girl in one of her numerous guises.
Kim and I both immediately began to wonder about how this Uneeda boy advertising might relate to the Morton Salt girl of our youth. She makes her debut a few years later in 1914 with the brilliant slogan of When it rains it pours, and one can’t help but wonder if they weren’t somewhat inspired by the trench coat kid when they designed her. (I remember studying this salt container as a child!) I can find no evidence of this however online, only statements that images like Morton Salt, Aunt Jemima, Fisk Tires, etc. became very much in vogue for advertising in the period. However, the idea that this jolly little girl (significantly less dour and damp looking than our friend from Uneeda) is also out in the rain to prove that Morton Salt would still pour in the rain – another triumph over humidity and the nature of food storage.
My hat’s off to my friend at Red’s Antiques (@reds_antiques or www.ebay.com/usr/reds_antiques) for supplying these two items which will be used daily as mail is still received here at Deitch Studio as well as, hopefully increasingly, at my office.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: Not often, but occasionally my purchases are essentially practical and today’s purchase was one, although certainly some style here. Somehow in the most recent office move from my last job I failed to pack my letter opener which was of the most utilitarian variety although I had some fondness for it because of the sheer number of years (decades) it had been in my possession, however there was nothing notable about it.
I have been in the work force long enough to have gone through a period with a lot more physical mail than I currently receive. Early in my career I have distinct memories of opening piles of mail every day at the Met. In fact sometimes I worry that the mail at work has failed because we go so long with absolutely none. Physical mail is so seldom now that I had a staffer who didn’t seem to know where to place the stamp on a letter he was sending for me.
Meanwhile, as a fundraiser I was surprised that my current office had never used a business reply envelope. For those not in the know, that’s what those envelopes which allow you to respond for free are called. (There is a permit number on the return address and sometimes it says, A stamp here will save XYZ money.) The postage for each envelope received back is paid by the organization, but hey, if you are sending me money I’ll pay a dollar for your envelope back to me. It’s a good return on investment and removes at least one impediment from making a gift – having to find a stamp.
When I discovered this a few months ago I went down the specifically postal rabbit hole of applying for a permit. I never worked any place without a permit so this was all new to me, nor could I find anyone else who had to apply for one within my circle. After getting an old account out of the way (a ghost account which seemed rather romantic but, not surprisingly, didn’t seem to actually do anything) I spent a lot of time on the USPS website and on the phone with their service people. I, in fact on some bad advice, went to the Main (Farley) Post Office here in NYC. As some might know, the building was purchased by the city and space recently carved out under this grand building to create a new home for Penn Station.
The interior of the post office, the James A. Farley building, is beautiful and I couldn’t resist a few shots despite my disappointment.
It was my first (and likely my last) visit to this post office as they do absolutely nothing there. (Does this mean there is no main post office in NYC?) Yes, you can mail things and yes, you can evidently apply for a passport there, but even an attempt to buy stamps will send you online. As you can imagine, I was told that the administrative office I was seeking was now long gone. They did, to their credit, supply me with the number to phone for help.
I am here to report that, once you get through the red tape of an annoying phone system and get to the folks (all women in this case and I spoke to several) to help you they are a great, smart and helpful group. My hat goes off to Ana, Sabriya, and Arkeda. They know their stuff and they were dogged in their efforts to help me. They coached me through filling out arduous forms, filing them and then shepherding them through the various routing. They even told me when they would be on vacation and who I could work with during that time. I praised them unstintingly in a series of final surveys and thanked them profusely. Frankly, I would hire any of them in a heartbeat if I could.
But come on, they don’t even sell stamps?
It has left me with mixed feelings about the post office. At their instruction I went to the local post office to my job to file the forms with a check to cover the annual fee and open the account. The staff was rude and at one point stood around in a group talking about me in the third person and told me to shut up when I tried to speak. What’s more, I probably shouldn’t need someone to coach me through a labyrinth site and series of mystical forms. So although I give the women above the highest grades, I give the USPS a failing grade in general. My experience as it relates to this interaction is that these women are an island of competent help in a morass of sub par service. (With apologies to others at the USPS who are hard working and doing their job!)
This was the Plain Jane variety opener I had been using for decades.
Anyway, all this to say, if I have my way more mail will come to my office shortly, hopefully in the form of contribution checks. And, to bring us back to my recent purchase, I actually like to open envelopes neatly with a letter opener. When you are handling money coming into an office for various reasons the envelope can be important (proof of mailing date, return address) so better if you don’t end up tearing it to shreds to get it open. I have keenly felt the lost of my letter opener, but did decide that rather than purchase another ubiquitous one from Staples that I would look for something a bit more interesting.
Of course my mind turned first to cats and if I had been willing to invest some real money in a vintage letter opener I found on eBay I could have had a honey. For a variety of reasons this wasn’t a moment I was inclined to do that.
Top of a very nice cat letter opener I deemed to expensive to buy. Tempting though…
A week or so ago one of the dealers I purchase from on Instagram (@Reds_Antiques or via eBay at www.ebay.com/usr/reds_antiques) had a bunch of smalls he was selling and I picked out two advertising letter openers he had listed. I’ve bought some lamps, photos and other bits from Reds, he’s a dealer on the west coast and he lists some cabinets and tables I drool over but can’t see getting across the country to us. The vibe of his stock is a little masculine for me overall (think gas and oil signs, vintage tools and car related ephemera), but we align on certain things and he has a good eye.
Anyway, I figured one opener goes to the office and one stays here or goes to Jersey. That still leaves room in my life for a good cat one should I come across it.
Detail of the top of the letter opener.
As is clearly stated on the back it is solid copper and it is from Red Lodge Montana. The top boasts a somewhat cheesy scene of a teepee and two figures, one on a horse. A tiny banner declares Festival of Nations.
Back markings.
First of all, Red Lodge (for the ignorant like myself) is a town, not a lodge as such, found at the entrance to Yellowstone national park. The area, full of skiing and hiking, looks stunningly beautiful with a downtown full of period buildings that have been preserved. (For a post on the adventure Kim and I had at a whorehouse museum in Butte, Montana, go here.)
Starting in the 1950’s the Festival of Nations was launched as an annual festival to celebrate the various (European) cultures of the area which had never much mixed beyond some tentative cultural experiments such as a unified local band, all this according to a local historical society website. It seems to still run in August of each year.
I think this one is likely to stay in the apartment. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post and the other one I purchased which will head to the office, reporting for envelope duty, next week. Could be a cat one in my future as well.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: This sheet music actually wandered into Deitch Studio several weeks ago but other things pushed forward on the Pictorama agenda until today. Longstanding readers know that I have a smallish, but pointed collection of sheet music which I have written about before – many devoted to Felix although there is cat sheet music in general. When I worked at Jazz at Lincoln Center my walls were decorated with bits of old cat centric music. (Previous posts of musical interludes, Felix-y and otherwise, can be found here, here and here for starters – there are more if you look too!)
Page one of two.
The British produced a lot of these Felix novelty songs and to my pleasure they continue to turn up. While the lyrics certainly reference Felix they are somewhat less Felix-centric than you might expect, however this is considered part of the musical Felix the Cat canon. This music was printed in 1925, as it states under the Pat Sullivan signature. (Another website puts the composition as created in 1923 so perhaps it had another issue with a different cover?)
Page two of two of lyrics.
None of the folks credited here seem to have any break out hits of note. It would appear that Horace Shepherd was the lyricist although I gather he composed as well and the other two wrote the music. (Frankly three people seems like a crowd to have produced this item, but what do I know?) It is a fox trot with ukulele accompaniment, which I like the idea of – arrangement for “Banjuele” Banjo and Ukulele by Kel Keech. I feel like four people is a lot to have produced this scant bit of music, but again, what do I know? There is an advertisement on the top and back for Roland’s pianoforte tutor the best in the world. English and foreign fingering.
Advertisement on the back of the music.
And of course most notably a very regulation Felix of the day is walking uphill across the front, concerned expression, hands in thoughtful behind his back position. He is a round Felix, not the more squared off, blocky early one such as on the more common sheet music below. It is of note that this sheet music isn’t hugely available. I snatched it up because, although I may have seen it online, I have never seen it offered before. (I found a Hake’s lot from 2011 where it was sold with two other somewhat more commonly available ones.)
Much more popular and available Felix sheet music. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
The most Felix-y part of these lyrics goes like this: Let’s all follow Felix. We can’t do better than that.When he’s been up to mischief he licks every other crazy cat. He’s bound to make us hold our sides and Laughuntil we grow fat. So let’s all follow Felix that dog-gone crazy cat. I am unable to find a recording of this song so this is not a listening post as such, but if anyone can supply one I would love to know.
It was a pleasantly Felix crazed world in the mid-twenties, exactly 100 years ago. I was just reading that Lindbergh took a Felix doll on his flight across the Atlantic and for some of us Felix continues to frolic (if not actually fox trot) today.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: I have used the term little gem before, but I can’t think of an item it fits better than this one. Within days of purchasing the Neatness award (featured in a post from last week here) the folks at Curiosities Antiques in Texas (@Curiositiesantiques or via their website here) inquired if I would be interested in this little book – and would I!
I have one or two similar period volumes in my collection, at least from the same period and sort of litho images. The one that immediately comes to mind is one I hunted for an ultimately purchased on eBay I think. It is The Cat’s Concert and a 2018 post about it can be found here.
Today’s post is going to attempt to give you the chance to really see this book so many images coming up. I hope I do it justice. Obviously I had to be careful about how I propped the book open in order to take the photos so they are less than perfect, but I would not have been able to scan them which would have required flattening the book.
Inside front cover which peeks through. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
To start, the peek-a-boo cut-out cover which has kitty peering between the cat tails is the most fragile part of this book, folded almost to pieces from opening; the entire book held together with a ribbon. Kitty is a nice tortie and sports a bow in the same shades and shapes as the reeds decorating the front, very elegant and I assume that the gold and silver of the reeds were shiny in their day. These elements on the cover are embossed, the decorative plants and the cat on the inside page too, the whiskers especially stand out. This little volume was lovingly printed and produced.
Title page. No copyright information but a printing number in the lower left?
Inside it is inscribed on the inside cover, A Merry Christmas , Dec. 25th 1893. To: Miss Lola Ritter, With Best Wishes, Lizzie. This decorating the cat part of the inner cover.
The contents are poems, cat verse. They are original works by Edward Oxenford. This little book was printed in Germany and published and printed by the Art Lithographic Publishing Company, Munich, German and New York, USA. Edward Oxenford has a few other available titles to his credit I could find, one book called Sports and Play which is a similarly litho edition to Cat Tales, but cut out in the shape of a saddle. (Apologies for not providing an image but there’s only one online and it wasn’t willing to be grabbed. An odd looking volume though.) As for the publisher, this sort of novelty book seems to have been their meat and potatoes, although I did not find any real history about it. Seems like they may have produced postcards as well.
The other book of his is called Holy Gladness and it also sports beautiful lithographs but unlike the other two books, it is a larger bound edition. Neither of the other books are widely available and Cat Tales seems somewhat rare as well. Edward shares a name with a much earlier writer who also went under the name of Edward de Vere and has much more writing and controversy to his credit.
This illustrator gets a credit at least! Not in the Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
I’m a bit surprised (and sad) that the artist of these illustrations isn’t identified and get credit. These are wonderful illustrations beyond having been beautifully printed. There is no copyright date, only the inscription on the front identifies the year.
I’d like to point out that there is a Miss Blackie’s Yarn below. My Mr. Blackie is decidedly unimpressed by these so called Christmas verses at the close of this book. Oddly all three of these poems seem to end badly for the cats in question. Not at all sure I approve either. A jolly volume, these last few verses notwithstanding.
Pam's Pictorama 