The (Truly) Great ’25 Valentine Reveal!

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!

It’s a Honey

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Toy Post: This is a spectacular and truly delightful gift from Kim for Christmas this year! This rarified item is said to be the Deans rendition of cartoon Bosko’s sidekick Honey. It came to us via Britain’s specialty teddy auction at Special Auction Services and was identified as such there. While this sale focuses heavily on extremely rarified teddy bears, the occasional oddball character toy like this shows up on the scene with some regularity. Today’s post might ask more questions than it answers, but maybe we need to think of it as a work in progress.

I’ve never seen this pair before, not even in my book of Dean’s toys, although that rather complete book (based on their catalogues) came with a CD which theoretically has every toy they made. I am not in NY so I have not been able to have a look there. This doll is so rare that I have not been able to find another example online aside from this postcard of it – evidently also extremely rare – which was produced in 1941. (Note that although the same doll Honey’s clothes and coloring are a variation below – black and white tights, black hands, etc.) Although it gives appropriate copyright info, it only credits the cartoons and not the maker of the dolls.

*From the chat on the Cartoon Brew site. Not in Pictorama collection.* *(Bosko does have very Deans-esque teeth here, much like their Mickey mouse.*

The auction listing read as follows: A rare Dean’s Rag Book Co Honey from Bosco and Honey, circa 1931, originally created as African American children with cream and brown velvet head with black boot button eyes, yellow and red velvet integral clothes with brown hands, red and white striped stockings, black shoes and orange skirt —13in. (33cm.) high (some fading, nose probably replaced and a little damage) – Bosko and Honey are animated cartoon characters created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, both former employees of Walt Disney. Bosko is the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger’s cartoon series, and is the star of over three dozen Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros.

A different Bosko doll also turned up (in the chat room on a site called Cartoon Brew found here) and that one had a label belonging to an unknown company, not Deans, and is clearly a different model. All this means that my chances of completing my set with a Bosko will be very challenging at best and it also begs the question of if this is indeed the one made by Dean’s Rag as it lacks the Deans Rag Hygienic Toy label – or any label for that matter. (I also question if indeed Dean’s made one or if this is somehow fully apocryphal.)

When you look at the toy below it is worth thinking about the Aesop’s Fable dolls – the eyes and the sewn mouth are very similar. (A few from my collection are featured here and here.) Those dolls, which do not have a maker’s label or mark are evidently from another company called Woodard however – as I confirmed with an original box a few years ago.

*From a chat on Cartoon Brew, not in Pictorama collection.*

*This was noted on the post about the above Bosko.*

*Pams-Pictorama.com collection – the eyes are similar.*

I have written about the Deans Rag toy company on many occasions (for a few posts of Deans toys from my collection look here and here for starters) and in some ways they feel like a square one for the period and type of vintage toys I collect. Founded in 1903 by Henry Dean the company was originally established to create brightly colored cloth (essentially indestructible) books for small children. These soft cloth page books were hard to destroy or deface and were also notably hygienic – as attested to by the label.

*The clear indication that a toy was made by Deans Rag.*

The success of the books somehow gave way to licensing cartoon characters for manufacture – most importantly a deal was struck with Disney for the distribution of Mickey and Minnie dolls which promptly sold more than a million according to their own period advertising. (My very early post on my Deans Mickey’s can be found here.) Not surprisingly, they continued to purchase character licenses and Felix, Oswald Rabbit, Donald Duck and others to follow.

*An especially nice example of the Dean’s Rag Mickey via a Hake’s auction listing.*

While Mickey, Felix and perhaps Donald were big paydays for Deans, one suspects that Honey and Bosco were perhaps not, as confirmed by their obscurity today. I think about it and since the Bosko cartoons were also (much) less popular than Mickey or Felix that makes sense.

For those of you not in the know, a brief Wikipedia history of Bosko says, Bosko is an animated cartoon character created by animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising. Bosko was the first recurring character in Leon Schlesinger’s cartoon series and was the star of thirty-nine Looney Tunes shorts released by Warner Bros. He was voiced by Carman Maxwell, Bernard B. Brown, Johnny Murray, and Philip Hurlic during the 1920s and 1930s and once by Don Messick during the 1990s.

Wikipedia goes on to describe Bosko as an animated cartoon version of Al Jolson in the Jazz Singer and as a character in a cross between human (child?) and anthropomorphic animal. Honey – aside from being his official sidekick – sings and dances her way through the cartoons. However, even in their day, Bosko and Cookie cartoons were sidelined because of the racism baked into their design.

Like Bosko Honey is of indeterminate species and ethnicity. She dresses, as does the doll, in a little girl’s dress, hair bow and striped (Pippy Longstocking style) stockings. As you will find in the cartoon above, she has a high squeaky childlike voice. Her lips are painted on and the hair from a velvety cloth of a different color. As noted by the auction house, her nose is probably a replacement and is definitely plastic. It seems like a reasonable replacement however. SAS claims that the eyes are original shoe button and I don’t have very strong feelings about it one way or the other.

I have reached out to famed toy collector Mel Birnkrant for any info he might have on the Deans Honey and Bosko question, but have not heard back yet. I plan to also see if cartoon enthusiast Jerry Beck (who I believe moderates the Cartoon Brew site mentioned above) has any insights for me. We are back in New York and although I quickly located the Deans book the CD (of course) was not with it and I am unsure what “safe” place I have tucked it into. The teeth on the postcard version are very Deans indeed though and the best endorsement I can find.

I will endeavor to update this post if I do find out more. Meanwhile, Honey has a happy home here I think, tucked onto a shelf near the Jeep and in a sea of Felix-es!

From the Archives – a Tatty, Odd Felix

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today I am pulling a little fellow out of the archive, such as it is. Amongst the (admittedly dusty) Felix toys here at Deitch Studio, there are a clutch of damaged ones that I purchased, usually for the sheer diversity of them. This small example is one of those. Despite his grotty condition, he is outstanding because I have never ever seen the precise likes of him before or since.

He stands about 9 inches high and he sports this large and somewhat elaborate original ribbon. He is in the hands behind his back walking and thinking pose. There is nothing really atypical about his body, although it does have a fair amount of damage, a hole in one leg and a wire sticking out his tail. It is not really excessive damage in the world of 100 year old stuffed toys though. He leaves a small trail of ancient straw and bits when moved around although this is also not unusual.

He maintains his whiskers which are nice and black. He has a small shoe button nose which is also fairly unique. I think that is his nose too – sometimes they look a bit like this but were meant to be covered and I don’t think so.

*His good side if you would! Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

He has one remaining glass eye and that type of eye is pretty typical in the world of these toys, although many have the white felt behind black shoe button eyes instead. The brown stitched teeth are odd and I do believe they are brown not just discolored like the white on his face.

However, it is the shape of his face, head and rounded ears that are unusual. I’d almost think it was Steiff except that is not what the Steiff Felix looks like in the least. They seem to have had only one model and it is decidedly different. Most of the early off model Felix toys are pointy and doggy, definitely unlike this well rounded chap. It implies a different maker and I have no idea which that might have been. This Felix was well made – his head turns, although it must be done very gingerly now and every the extravagant bow makes me think he was a better made toy.

Sadly though I have not figured out cleaning the white of his snout which is what seriously disfigures him. It is grimy and darkly discolored but is also fragile (the remaining eye, nose and especially ears) which has left me in a fugue state about how to proceed. It turns out that I am not a brave nor creative repairman of tattered toys. I know colleagues who jump in with good results, but I am a scaredy cat when it comes to cleaning it turns out. Therefore I guess perhaps I am not the best steward of those in need of repair.

I have owned this fellow for longer than I can remember purchasing him on eBay – probably easily a decade – and still I have not taken the plunge. I am open to suggestions! Let me know your thoughts. Maybe I can devote another post to a before and after on him if I were to get great results.

Odd Illustration: Bonzo and Felix

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today is a rare post about something I do not own. I don’t make a habit of it, but this tidbit came to me via our good friend Bruce Simon. (He was mentioned most recently in our trip to Comic Con in San Diego post which can be found it all of its glory here.) Bruce thoughtfully sends wonderful odd treats from dvd’s of cartoons to items like this. Thank you Bruce! If you saw yesterday’s page in all its Felix glory this makes a sort of interesting bookend to the weekend. This one is casually dated ’25, so it is a year after yesterday’s magazine page. (For those who missed it you can find it here.)

This illustration appears to be in a copy of Punch magazine and was drawn by a British man named Arthur Watts. Watts was an illustrator and cartoonist for the likes of Punch and Tatler dating back to 1911. His line appears to have been social commentary on the divisions of class and etiquette of Britain.

*There is just a single blurry photo of him on the internet so I offer this – he’s in uniform and does look quite dashing however.*

He evidently had a strong dislike of modern art and so perhaps this is a bit of a rib on that among other things? Felix and Bonzo dancing together (ha cha cha!) as a huge mural? I mean, I love it and I’d have it in my restaurant in a heartbeat! Circles that remind me of champagne bubbles encircle them as cartoon cat and dog shake a leg. Was this his low brow elevated to high brow comment?

Interesting – I am just thinking about a truly odd vase I own where Felix and Bonzo are dancing – perhaps there was a thing about them that I don’t know? Was there a bit of interspecies cartoon romance? Huh. (That post can be found here.)

*Okay – at least I got the humor here! Undated Watts illustration.*

Perhaps it is just me, but I can’t quite entirely catch onto his sense of humor. In this picture, the man who is evidently the Detective is seated drinking alone, next to a crime scene, while the crowd of well heeled hoy polloi keep their distance and pile up to one side. Perhaps his humor is a bit too inside baseball to entirely get today?

His is a bit of a tragic story. Born in 1883, he showed artistic talent when young and eventually went to Slade art school. He served with note and honor in the Royal Marines Corp during WWI. He married a fellow artist, Phyllis Sachs, in 1911 and had a daughter. Phyllis died in 1922 (no record of how or why that I saw) and he remarried in ’24 to Marjorie Dawson Scott. They had three children and in July of 1935 he was rushing to fly home after the birth of their third child when his plane crashed in Italy flying from Milan, never clearing a mountain range and killing everyone.

The daughter from the first marriage became a well known costume designer, Margaret Furse. Among the other children one also became an illustrator, Marjorie Ann Watts – frankly I am inclined to like her crosshatch filled style a bit better.

*Marjorie Watts illustration – she seemed to be very interested in drawing anthropomorphic wolves.* *I like her more linear contrasting style.*

However, a hundred years later it is not news to Pictorama readers that Felix and Bonzo were the cultural icons of their day and make fun of them though Watts might, they are still quite fondly and well remembered even today!

I Yam What I Yam!

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Toy Post: It’s a Popeye post today! I am not sure how much I have shared my real affection for the sailor man here, but I am a fan. Years ago I was in a particular funk and I cheered myself immensely reading all of the daily Segar strips over a period of weeks.

Some readers may know that I have an unusual predilection for daily strips rather than Sundays. I understand what the fuss is about when it comes to Sundays – they are gorgeous and I admit that it is an odd preference. There is something about the day in and out of a weekday strip that I love, a real whiff of the past, reading them as folks would have followed it in their paper daily. I feel the same way about Krazy Kat.

*These were the volumes I read, but others are more available now.*

Anyway, I had not given Popeye significant thought since watching an endless loop of the cartoons as a child. Seeing his origin and those elegantly drawn strips by Segar made me a fan. If you’ve never read them do yourself a favor and pick up one of the volumes – I think Fantagraphics has them collected again. I know they have a book of the Sundays too. At the time I read them I acquired a shelf of hard bound volumes that Fantagraphics had put out years before. I am in New Jersey or I would provide a shot of them in a place of pride in one of our bookcases there.

*Not my toy, but this is what the parrot looks like.*

Speaking of New Jersey – today’s toy was an unexpectedly great Jersey buy last weekend. Kim and I spent an afternoon poking around at the Antique Annex in Red Bank near here. I’ve written about this establishment which I have frequented for decades. When I was in college my Dad used to buy antique jewelry there for Christmas and my birthday. We’ve seen it through many iterations. A post about finds there last year can be found here.

While the merchandise had definitely turned over since our last trip at Christmas, it had a slightly picked over quality overall. This is their peak tourist season and a train leaves you just blocks from this couple of buildings of goodies so it is convenient for day trippers to our shore town.

*We had lunch at a pizzeria called The Brothers – a blast from my past, Dad and I used to frequent it. Some very fine NJ thin crust pie here.*

However, buried deep in a cabinet of toys which clearly bore investigation, there was Popeye. He was a bit dear, however a bit of bartering (cash is king) and he became quite reasonable. Frankly I have seen this toy for more previously at auction so I felt good about the purchase.

*A rather great display of Santa’s at the Annex. I might have to go back for one of these.*

In doing some research I realize he is missing a parrot which would have perched atop the cart. One auction site says that the parrot popped out but if that it is true it is a variation on the toy because that would not have been possible – he probably wiggled back and forth though.

I like Popeye’s striped trousers, his pipe and of course his identifying moniker on his tattoos. His cart, the Popeye Express, has labels for Asia, Turkey and China on one side and my beloved New York on the other side. (Sorry, New York was the only city worth mentioning guys!) His shoes are sort of funny, but of course are designed to help him scuttle along on the ground, rather than a sartorial statement.

Kim gives Popeye a little push this morning for this video.

There are some scratches and paint loss but he’s in pretty good condition. There is no maker’s label but it is identified online as Linemar Marx. I gather Linemar was the Japanese made division of Marx toys – manufacture was less expensive there and the toys were shipped back to the United States for sale. Many were character toys of the time. In the biz from 1918 to 1980, Marx holds a somewhat legendary name in toys. Known for their trains and cars in particular, they will always be character toys like this one for me.

Some of you might remember a Popeye post from several months back, a lamp which currently graces Kim’s work table here in New Jersey, but may be making a move downstairs soon where I can see him more. (That post is here.) Maybe Popeye is becoming a sub-genre here at Pictorama. We’ll have to see what toy treats might be in store for me and all you readers.

Pencil Felix In

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: I did consider saving this item for a back-to-school post after Labor Day, but here we are, in need of a post and here it is. For those of you heading back to school in a few weeks, you can consider it a shot over the bow in advance of that event.

I have looked at Felix pencil boxes for years – it almost seems like no two are alike so many variations on the theme turn up. I have bid on numerous ones and never won one to call my own. I guess I had an idea in my head about how much I was willing to pay and I just kept being outbid.

Finally this one, a rather superior one I might add, appeared online for sale with a flat price I was willing to pay and I jumped on it. Then I did something with a bit of foresight which was I had it sent to the house in New Jersey. Then, in all honesty, I utterly forgot that I had purchased it! It was tucked in a box with another purchase and I was very excited to discover it.

*Back of the pencil case – Felix as artiste!*

Condition is often a major issue in these as kids used them hard and they are after all meant to be somewhat disposable. Often they have crayon or pencil marks or they have been opened and closed so often that they are tattered and torn. By comparison this one is in virtually pristine condition aside from a bit of wear in the lower right corner.

Felix and two junior Felix-es march across the front with some sort of towers in the background. Felix the Cat is penned across the top quite nicely and while these are the rounded off version of Felix the bodies have a nice blockiness. The image and writing is somewhat etched into the cardboard which, in addition to this rich green color, has an interesting texture.

The back has more towers (castles?) and Felix perches while painting or drawing a picture held up by a friendly mouse. The cat and mouse depictions on the tiny top side of this are perhaps less friendly and Felix is bizarrely stretched – chasing a mouse but also held back by one. The bottom side has, instead three mice holding his tail which is stretched, as opposed to his entire body. The short sides have a great sort of Deco pattern.

*Lovely mostly intact inside of the case.*

For Felix fun we aren’t going to beat the outside, but the inside was a surprising treat! Tiny ruler, an eraser (which is as hard as a rock now) and a darling little series of watercolor pans, one broken and one missing but four still perfectly in place. Three pencils remain – two unsharpened and that wonderful Deco pattern paper continues inside.

This lovely item appears to come to us from the American Pencil Company, New York, U.S.A. The American Pencil Company appears in a marking on the front under the flap and also bears the number 1964. Pat Sullivan also gets a copyright mention across from it.

There is the same figured paper on the flap but in a simple golden beige. The whole thing snaps open and closed and that closure is still in good shape.

All in all, as a kid I would have returned to school with great confidence if given this dandy case, an excellent start to the school year.

*Some of my peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers by special request yesterday!*

Hello Dearie

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

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.

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.)

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.

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.

Spare Felix?

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Portland, Oregon! Although the seller of today’s find was in California, this photo obviously appears to hail from Portland originally. Rogue homemade Felix seems to have proliferated in Portland back in the day and I would love to know why that city seems to have had a special relationship with him.

It’s been quite a while since I have purchased a Pacific Northwest Felix, but I had a spate of them early in my collecting career which gave me the idea that they had a specific yen for him. Parade floats and costumes – there’s was homegrown Felix fun in that part of the country and I am sorry to have missed it. (These location specific Felixes form a sub-genre of my collection. Posts for these pics can be found here, here, here, here and here!)

*One of a clutch of photos of the same batch from an early post. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.*

This natty fellow and his slightly off-model Felix-y wheel cover fits well in the group. While Felix looks slightly more like his identical cousin than himself, it is a pretty good likeness. the gentleman posing is so clearly pleased to show this off I’d say. Bow tie, vest and jacket, he’s dressed and posing for the photo.

*An early Portland parade post. Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

It’s a small photo. Only a little more than 3″ x 2″. Like the other photos I have mentioned above, there isn’t a lot of information in the image. There is a nice cottage in view behind him, trees and telephone poles. There’s no back license plate which might have supplied a year, and nothing is written on the back. However, Oregon (and our assumed place of origin) is supplied over Felix.

*Another Portland parade post (although a not Felix), pic from 1909. Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

I do not own a car and don’t really drive, although I assume with the house in Jersey this is something I will need to fix over time. Oh to be able to do it in style like this however.

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!

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!