Kitten Card

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Today I have plucked this hand-colored card out of the pile. It was used as a birthday card and it certainly is cheerful enough to make a good one. Kitten pictures are like dopamine hits and during stressful times if I can, I find watching videos of them or looking at pictures of them very soothing. Given the feline nature of Pictorama this is probably not surprising.

Meanwhile, I have seven cats, no shortage here, and yet looking at more cats still appeals to me, although I do recognize that I do not need to acquire any at the moment. (I’m not sure I documented the sudden acquisition of five cats when my mother died, although longstanding readers probably figured it out. For new readers, that is how I went from always having two to having seven more or less overnight. It’s a lot of cats.) All that to say I am cheerfully contributing to your dopamine acquisition online today, a bit of cat fluff to cheer your weekend, (another) rainy one if you are in Manhattan. (Not to mention to help get with the time change – that certainly snuck up on me.)

This young woman might be from the early 1920’s to as late as the 1930’s when we take her clothes and hair (careful marcel wave) into account. She holds two very likely little suspects, a tabby (always a good look on those) with his small paws wrapped around her arm, and fluffy white one with spots, the true color of which is hard to peg.

The kittens are small enough to be easily subdued by the young woman holding them. Her dress has a wild print and has been painted in this interesting orange, red stripe running down the front and a sort of Keith Haring-esque pattern. She sports a bracelet which appears to be silver and has a charm hanging off of it. Her ruffled cuffs and collar have been left a bright white. There are some sort of illegible decorations down the front of her dress and artificial looking ropes of flowers are color sketched in behind her. If she wasn’t such a pretty woman, she would recede behind all this visual noise, however she holds her own.

Inked on the back in neat script is says, Dear Kathie, Wishing you many happy returns of the day. From Lily & John. However, there is no postmark, it must have been handed to her or on gift perhaps.

Given my affection for such antique missives, it probably isn’t surprising that I am still a sender of cards. Although the circle is smaller than it used to be, physical cards still go out for birthdays and for some, Valentines, Easter and for a large group (as you have seen) Christmas. Are the best of my cards being saved to turn up in the future? It’s hard to say, but I believe the folks I send them to seem to appreciate the physical reminder that I am thinking of them and have chosen a card for them. (And who doesn’t love a bit of unexpected mail that isn’t a bill?) However, it is undeniably an anachronism, albeit one I hold dear. So this is a cat card for all of you today – I will say that personally I needed a cat pic today and this one has done just fine.

Any Luck?

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: It’s a Wain wannabe card again today. While Mainzer has the most Pictorama posts (one of those can be read here) dedicated to his pursuit of the Louis Wain feline illustrator fame, today’s card is a very fair competitor in this race.

This card reminds me of where I used to go running along the river here in Manhattan and where often in the warmer seasons there would be folks fishing – some looking quite business like about it and others more at their leisure. Although I haven’t done a lot of it myself, I grew up around fishing and long-time Pictorama readers might remember that my maternal grandfather repaired outboard motors and made lead sinkers – weights for bottom fishing. There was a time when I would clean fresh caught fish in the backyard – making me very popular with the cats – and although I guess muscle memory would take over I have no desire to gut fish these days.

It’s a sunny day in the cat neighborhood here and our protagonists are an orange striped fellow wearing a sporty sort of huntsman’s hat and City kitty, tricked out in a bowler, bowtie and carrying walking stick. Fishing cat has a tin of bait and a straw bag to hold his catch; his line is bobbing in the water and the look he gives the other kitty distinctly lacks welcome – annoyed that his fishing is being interrupted.

Tiny boats are way off in the distance on the water, including way that appears to be steaming along at the very tip of the horizon. Gulls have been sketched in, wheeling above in a sky with puffy clouds and there is some pretense at water current. A cheerful blue border puts the finishing touch on this as a summery scene.

Meanwhile, our town puss has a genial look with his white collar and paws that could almost pass for white cuffs too. He is clearly the one inquiring, Had any luck? His hat is set straight on his head (no wise guy this one) and I like the way he fills the space – it is a dynamic composition even if a bit awkward. His stick points one way and the fishing pole another. It might be fair to say that neither of these cats is very firmly installed on the ground below him – they both float a bit in space despite a light shadow cast by each.

The image is signed VR and a quick search turns up Cornelis Van Vredenburgh as a Dutch cat card artist with that signature. Clearly riding the wave of Wain and active during part of the same early 20th century period Van Vredenburgh has a less ironic and sometimes sweeter attitude. Nor does he find his way into the psychedelic realm of Wain’s latter period. I show a Wain beach scene from my collection for comparison. (The post can be read here.)

*Pam-Pictorama.com Collection from a 2018 post.*

Evidently cat cards were a sideline for VR who signed his full name to his Impressionist landscape oil paintings (example below) for which he is perhaps better known although these cards are sought after today as well.

*Landscape by Cornelis Van Vredenburgh* *– found online. It is possible to buy prints of some of his non-feline work.*

This card was mailed from Luzern, Switzerland in 1913, not sure how to read the month and the day. In a light blue ink it reads, Luzern, Aug 1 I leave for Mayence then a boat ride down the River Rine, EGA and mailed to Master Jamie Thayer, Farmington, New Hampshire, USA. In pencil and likely a more contemporary note, it says in caps, VIOLET ROBERTS. The publisher is The Photochrom Co., L1D, London, Tunbridge Wells and it is the Celesque Series. Photochrom was a significant publisher of postcards (they started with Christmas cards) which were characterized but a tri-color Swiss photochrom process.

It is snowing – yet again – as I close this post. Luckily I think today we will get away without any real accumulation. However, not a wonder as this snowing winter makes its way into March that I needed to pull a sunny summer’s day card out of the pile this morning.

Birthday Bits

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I know I did a sort of a birthday tease yesterday and I promise I will get to a birthday gift review soon, but first I have a few other birthday bits I acquired and tales of a day downtown as Manhattans mountains of snow finally started to melt around us. Luckily, despite temperatures hitting almost 40 degrees, the melt remained slow and rivers did not actually form in the streets, at corners here the way they will. My feet are so tired of wearing and walking long distances in boots! I had sneakers on and luckily we weren’t washed away. It was Valentine’s Day and the warmest day in months so all of Manhattan was out and about.

*Perhaps a dubious purchase of the day, see below.*

We started at Forbidden Planet. Kim has been looking for reprints of classic DC comics and wanted to see if they had anything to feed the kitty on this score. He’s been buying them in NJ at Jay & Bob’s Secret Stash in Red Bank but has pretty much come to the end of the line of their stock. Can’t seem to find them online – in case folks have suggestions.

*Inside Forbidden Planet – I’ve never been in this location before.*

As we headed east we discovered a tiny new store on East 9th Street called Pillow Cat Books (328 East 9th Street, or online here). It is tiny and was quite crowded when we got there, almost so much I debated if we could go in. With a name like that I had to try however. Finally, it thinned out though and so we did and eventually it emptied to the point where we could see things and eventually buy something.

Several shelves of vintage books of all sorts are along one wall but maddeningly high and virtually out of reach. A few attempts did show them to be extremely pricey so we gave up on much trying. Algonquin Cat with illustrations by Hilary Knight of Eloise fame piqued my interest although it was in a locked cabinet, so I didn’t get to have a look. I do see that recent reprints of it are very affordable. I suspect this was an earlier edition. I may take a flyer on it out of curiosity, even not having seen it. I do not need a first edition.

*The old books were on the top shelves!*

While there, I did however buy a Kit-Cat Klock (aka Felix) clock. Now you might be surprised that I don’t have one and I have had a few in the past, all have suffered one fate or another. The Kit Cat Klock was introduced in 1932 by the Allied Clock Company, created by Earl Arnault and designed by Clifford Stone. These clocks have in some ways come a long way from their 1930’s roots when they were made of metal rather than plastic, minus the later addition of whiskers and bowtie. Still, they are remarkably similar to the original.

I find them very cheerful and the new design has the advantage of functioning while sitting on a shelf without the tail, if you are so inclined. (In my experience the tail is the weak part of the operation, and I believe in the older design the clock didn’t work without it swinging.) I always had it on a wall in the kitchen and I may return to that location – I like a clock in the kitchen although now there’s the microwave. Anyway, I purchased the classic black option – as interesting as the other colors were. My former brother in-law was scared of Felix clocks in the way some people are afraid of clowns. I never understood it but was concerned back in the day when I thought he might come to the apartment.

*House puss by the front door at Pillow Cat Books.*

Meanwhile, a pleasantly plump tabby cat of the establishment sat by the front door, enduring a certain amount of attention. I think there was sign on the front door which warned of his mercurial temperament. He deigned to receive a few head scritches on our way out.

*The back area at the Rare Book Room – it is tantalizingly close, but we may not paw through it. Sigh. Always sure great treasures are hidden there!*

After swinging further east and discovering that nothing we wanted to poke into was open, we hit Alabaster Books on Fourth Avenue. We’ve purchased books there although not recently. Years ago and for many years they had a lovely calico cat I liked to visit. While there I did note and contemplate an illustrated children’s book by Rumor Godden (who wrote Black Narcissus), but curious as I was about the writing, I didn’t care for the illustrations.

*The view from my perch at the Rare Book Room.*

Next up and always a favorite was the Rare Book Room at the Strand. They tend to move their small selection of random fiction around and I had to go looking for it again. Luckily they now have it perched next to some comfy chairs which allowed for better looking while seated low. Last year that shelf revealed Maisie’s Sister by Rosa Mulholland which set off a year of tracking down and reading those books. (Posts about them can be found here and here.) I brought home two books, one more promising than the other, The Wild Ruthvens by Curtis Yorke, and (the less promising Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall by Charles Major. Curtis Yorke is evidently the nom de plume for a prolific Scottish writer, Susan Rowley Richmond Lee. Perhaps more to come on her in future posts.

*Valentine view of the bar at Old Town yesterday.*

*Pulled this off the internet – nice to admire their neon sign!*

We rounded off the afternoon with lunch at the Old Town Bar on 18th Street. Kim had a veggie burger and I had a rather notable grilled cheese with mushrooms on pumpernickel – which they noted was a personal favorite of former governor Pataki. That notwithstanding, it was a memorable grilled cheese and plate of fries. While many stores were jam-packed, we were pleasantly surprised to find the bar a quiet and half-filled interlude by two in the afternoon.

Valentine’s Day 2026

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: The sands of time have been running through that hourglass quickly again and we find ourselves at Valentine’s Day for our much beloved and long anticipated Kim Deitch Valentine reveal! For those of you who are newly initiated, Pam’s Pictorama has two major reveals annually – our holiday card which we collaborate on and the Valentine which is 100% Kim Deitch special for me!

As someone whose birthday falls right before Valentine’s Day (it was this past Wednesday and more about a very extraordinary birthday gift in another post), back in our first or second year together I asked Kim for a drawing for my very own. The earlier efforts were a bit more simple, but the project grew like topsy in subsequent years and now it is an elaborate full-on several week drawing extravaganza, and each year really does seem to top the year before. As the ultimate Kim Deitch fan (yes, it is me!) there really couldn’t be anything more exciting or a greater honor. A handful made their way to an exhibit in France years ago and it is my greatest pleasure to be depicted so lovingly in these – always surrounded by my passions of cats and vintage toys!

People always ask if it is a surprise and I have to remind them that Deitch Studio, while grand in many ways, is still one room so not much goes on here that we don’t both know about. Still, each year his vision for it and how he realizes it is always entirely different. I share some other years below.

*A cat band version from my Jazz at Lincoln Center years! Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

*This one from 2016 has me in a similar ermine outfit with Felix dioramas! Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

This year I am pleased as punch to be Amazing Pam and the Queen of My Heart! I wear my spiffy little ermine trimmed outfit – sort of a cross between a jacket and top you’d actually see me in and a regal regalia, even fur trimmed. (Obviously no ermines were hurt in the making of this card. Kim is threatening to retire this outfit in drawings.) The inspiration for the two cats on either side of me is the wonderful off-model Felix on a scooter toy which lives at the foot of our bed, shown below.

*My faux Felix toy! Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

This fake Felix was made by Chien toys. The Chien toy empire was founded by Julius Chien in New York in 1903. He got his start making the Cracker Jack toys and found his way into inexpensive tin toys, mechanical and often character toys. The business peaked in the 1930’s and ’40s and in later decades (sadly) broke off into housewares. He probably also had the license on the actual Felix so I wonder how this impressive Not-Felix came to be and why. There market was flooded with them as shown in part below.

*Gunterman Felix, not in Pictorama collection.*

My version is a bit incomplete, dented on one side and I don’t believe I have ever written about him before. There is indeed an official Felix version like mine, and also the ones (a version above) that always goes incredibly high at auction with him chasing mice. I am very fond of an Italian version (below) which comes up rarely and I have tried to get but never snagged. However, I started using it as my avatar on Zoom during Covid and still do. We’ve always liked this knock-off version however, with his spiffy little jacket, polka dot vest (who doesn’t love a polka dot vest?), toothy grin, glasses and big old schnoz of a nose. While they must have used the same cut out mold as the Felix they have entirely reimagined him, arguably for the better on this occasion. He has sat at the foot of our bed for a very long time and is in my mind sort of an unofficial mascot here so I love that he is memorialized as such.

*Italian version I use as an avatar at work. I love those wheels with the stars and moon.*

While my faux Felix is actually quite flat, Kim has given him some frontal dimension imagined on one side of me. Meanwhile, with Cookie and Blackie in special places of black cat pride, I am in this card (and for the first time in a Valentine) acknowledged as the Guardian of 7 Cats. (I just typed 8 by accident – maybe a sign? Did I mention a close call with kittens on my birthday? Some at work, looking for homes – close call.) The Jersey Five are illustrated and named below starting with Beau (another black cat) followed by Stormy, Gus, Peaches (the meanest cat ever – read about her here) and Milty – our senior citizen cat. (You can read about him here.)

*Vintage Valentine I gave Kim this year.*

This drawing is largely just wild color and fun design that draws you in – like it can hardly contain itself! It is Kim at his best in that way I think and I am so pleased to have been the inspiration for it.

Whisper and I Shall Hear.

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: This is a very odd card and while I rarely purchase things on the basis of that, I somehow just needed to see this card and what it was in person. It appears to be a photograph of a painting, and I would guess that it is actually done by painting over a photograph which gives it the almost photo quality it has. Not just a photo but some sort of a mash up of photos I would think. It is on glossy cardstock which is unusual for a card in 1909 in my (let’s face it not insignificant) experience.

I assume given the title of the image that the cat is whispering in the ear of this strange doll. It looks as if it is illustrating a fairy tale none of us are familiar with. If you look at that cat’s expression I would say, cat lover though I am, he’s up to no good. The doll looks inert but there is a frightening bit of a lifelike glimmer in its eyes – he shall hear alright! Very strange and more than a little creepy. They are perched on a rooftop, some snow in evidence, with a night sky and cloud obscuring a full moon behind them. Cats seem to be depicted on rooftops a lot although my personal experience of them does not bear this out. I can’t think of the last time I saw a cat on a roof. You?

The card was printed by the Shamrock Co. Photographic Printers & Publishers London, E.C. According to internet intel, Shamrock was a card printer active in the 1890’s – 1910’s. It was particularly known for producing high-quality religious devotional cards, postcards, and sentimental photographic prints. I could not find any compelling further evidence of their product online to share.

The handwritten message at the top says, Writing Wednesday if at all possible. I was just writing to someone else (hey Wayne!) saying that it seems postcards were frequently used to say that a letter was coming, buying time. Funny that after all these years it is the postcard that has been saved and the letter likely lost. (People do still write letters folks – as I type this out, Kim is at his desk across from me handwriting a letter right now. That lucky recipient is getting a preview of the color sketch of my Valentine – hopefully that reveal next weekend. Kim often writes using xeroxed sketches and other bits for his letters. Lucky recipients! He is a frequent and thoughtful correspondent. I on the other hand, send cards – birthday, condolence and with this job, sadly, frequent condolences for the loss of a beloved pet.)

The postcard is dated by hand, 30.10.09 (a European style of writing the date) but the postmark is obscured so I don’t know where it was sent from. It is simply addressed to Mrs. Herbert, Millertown. Millertown, New York in Dutchess County is the likely destination – even today Wikipedia only puts it at 900 occupants so I can imagine that in 1909 you could address something this way and it might get there. Odds are much better than a fully addressed postcard today I dare say.

*Back of the card which seemed legible at first but actually a bit challenging to decipher.*

The (also unusual) note reads, Mr. E.S. away till afternoon. Case will go next week with (illegible) from attic. Mrs. M. unable to meet – (something) two weeks. Had a splendid trip around, but sat up at Junction on acct it coming from Typhoid region, but only got 5, a-on (?) Had nearly all five day (?) here. Enjoying everything very much. Love (name unclear). It was sent from P. Isld. Not clear where that is – Pennsylvania was suggested by the internet but I do wonder about the reference to Typhoid – yikes! Also, this is sent in October and most of the P. Island’s I can find are summer locales. It was mailed with a penny stamp so I assume this was mailed domestically.

These days I am having my own travails both with US Postal Service and with UPS the company – finding both of them falling down massively on the job. As I worked to (finally) try to close my mother’s estate there are papers that company swear to have sent that never arrive, a Christmas card from North Carolina I fear I will never see and more. Kim had two letters show to their destinations empty – one torn in transit and the other just…empty. Meanwhile, at the building that houses my office they have informed us that mail will no longer be picked up on a regular schedule. We’d long discovered that the mailboxes on the street are an iffy proposition so now it is either the one in our apartment building or all the way to the post office to mail things.

As for UPS I can only vouch for a long series of phone calls to outpost calling centers in India where no one seemed to be able to help me with my package (sitting in Newark) and who kept urging me to go online where an AI assistant could only answer the most routine questions. I will spare you the details, the package eventually returned to sender despite my ongoing efforts, but I do think these issues will start to impact my collecting, much of which has always come from abroad.

Dear Louise

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Here at Pictorama we’re in lucky black cat territory today. When I reflect on the difference between the British who honor their black cats with being lucky and our own culture’s tendency to assign them bad luck, I think I may have been born on the wrong side of that big pond. This is an English published postcard, never used postally so hard to get a date on it. The image is a fairly common one and I would say this postcard could be from any time from the ‘teens to the forties.

Although the phrase on the card, I will meet you in the evening dear Louise, seems to bounce around (I found it on at least one other, albeit mundane, postcard) I cannot find the precise origin of it. However, one can imagine this sharp looking little fella being a popular image on a postcard. Red bow, tongue out, looking over to the side with huge eyes, he is perched atop a brick wall, rooftops and pipes in the distance with a huge yellow moon rising from the mist. I can see it being just the right cheeky card to send to your loved one for an assignation of sorts.

I have written about the roots of British black cat good fortune before. On the maritime side, they believed that a black cat on board a boat was good luck (perhaps not for the cat although maybe a mousie and rat filled paradise of sorts), and my favorite tradition of giving a bride a black cat on her wedding day – what a very nice wedding gift that would be!

*Blackie on the bed in NYC in a recent photo.*

As mom to two black cats, Blackie and Beau, I often profess to their particular good nature. I remember that my mother wanted to adopt Beau especially because he was an all black cat and I gather they are less likely to be adopted. There seems to be some truth in that but meanwhile certainly she found herself the most devoted little friend ever. Beauregard would sit on her lap happily for hours if allowed and there is not enough petting in all the world for that cat. He is a great companion.

*Beau possessively on my lap one morning in NJ recently.*

When his weight became too much for her as she grew more frail, he shifted first to next to her and eventually to the chair next to her where he kept persistent watch over her – really of his own accord and understanding. He did not need to be reminded after he first realized it. At times it would be my job to move him to another room – doctor coming etc. and at first it was difficult. As experienced as I am with cats he wasn’t used to being picked up and carried and he is, frankly, an enormous cat. He allowed it and over time he accepted me as one of his spare humans while mom was the unquestionable primary.

With mom gone more than two years now I am the closest thing to her and when I spend time in NJ he claims as much lap time as he can get. His preference is still sitting in my mom’s recliner chair, and I like to think my way of petting, learned at her knee, is somewhat reminiscent of hers.

*Milty, who is actually a small cat, looking like an evil genius in a recent photo.*

At times I have felt bad about not trying to bring Beau to New York with us, but he rules the house and the other cats in New Jersey, and I am not convinced that displacing him would make him happier. It was my mother’s wish that they would all continue to live in the house and I promised to at least try and it has worked for the past few years. Beau, Gus and the two girls (Stormy and Peaches) are quite young cats, only Milty is a senior citizen (of slightly indeterminate age – late teens, early 20’s) and he is quite tenacious. Therefore, the Jersey Five remain intact at the house there.

Yum! Un Repas Succulent

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today’s card is a favorite that has been in my pile clamoring for attention. This by the artist Maurice Boulanger who was one of the heirs apparent to the Louis Wain throne. (I wrote about another one in my collection recently and that post can be found here.) Here we have not the chef kitty, but instead a bibbed-up consumer cat served up this very large rodent, albeit unadorned by trimmings, on a platter. Mr. Rodent hardly looks deceased, but we will assume he is. Kitty is toothy and anxious to dive right in it seems.

Boulanger cats have a Wain-esque tendency toward an anthropomorphic wackiness, but they seem to not to be as sly and are less of a commentary on human nature, more feline in a way. This grinning fellow clearly has a ferocious appetite and can’t wait to dive into munching on this rat on display atop this dish, from whiskers to the tip of the tail. He stands on two feet and wears a bib (which probably covers a white bib of tabby design fur no less) but only his paws are in evidence – we imagine just teeth and claws in play. No human utensils for him. Below this dish at the bottom it declares, Un Repas Succulent – A Delicious Meal. Or in my mind the more descriptive, a succulent repast!

Obviously, this is a French postcard for all intents and purposes as I believe that the writing across the front and the back is in French – although the postcard actually appears to have Eastern European produced. (If anyone wants to take a stab at translating the message I would love to have a sense of what is written here.) And as is often the case, the neat scribble on the front adds to the decorative element. It was mailed to an address in Paris in March of 1906, but I can’t read much else from the cancellation. Again, the small, neat writing on the back escapes my rudimentary translation skills.

*Reverse side of card – can anyone out there read and translate this?*

For those of you in the same neck of the woods as us at Deitch Studio, you know that at the time of writing this it is the end of another frigid week of weather in New York City. Although I can think of several equally impressive snowstorms, I cannot remember one where it stayed so cold that that snow just didn’t go anywhere and here we reside a week later in piles that are still knee high, garbage piling up even higher where trucks cannot get it. (Speaking of rats!) The City makes attempts to dispose of the snow manually while Mother Nature continues to deliver a bit more here and there.

Clearly, we will have one of those spring thaws where things long buried will emerge on the streets. The temperature in the early morning and the nights hovers in the single digits and dips well below zero with the wind. The (blissful) heat in the apartment runs constantly and despite being 1.5 small rooms I expect the bill to be high. The cost of heating the house in New Jersey, even without us there, is a bit staggering this year. Meanwhile, the heat in my office is oddly mercurial and reduced substantially by an ill-conceived wall of windows so it has been a very chilly week indeed and I hunker down with a mug of hot coffee to write this.

All this to set the stage to talk about the wonders that hot food can manifest in this weather. Recent weeks has seen me doubling down on soups and stews. (I shared a miso based soup recipe recently – you can find the post here.) We don’t eat meat, so pots of bubbling beans and tofu make up the stews along with whatever greens or leftovers in the fridge need cooking up. Each one tends to come out different for that reason – black beans seem to be the winner recently, although the chickpea curries are gaining ground. There is a simply wonderful spicy chili crisp tofu recipe that I retrieved from the New York Times (it can be found here at the time of writing) which has become a bit of a staple.

Last week I had a yen for a brothier soup after lots of thick ones and threw together one I will make again. Roughly it was ginger, garlic, onion, and carrots to start with two containers of vegetable broth, some miso, a small can of diced tomatoes and flat leaf parsley and finished with a package of cheese tortellini added at the end. I let it simmer all afternoon on the stove and really, it was heavenly! This week I am experimenting with a simple potato leek soup a friend makes but boy – last week’s soup will go into a regular rotation.

Soup and stew, hot food in general, the ability to make it, afford it and eat it, is a blessing especially in the cold weather. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the very act of making it calms and reassures me. Hot meals for the cold week ahead. Lower perhaps in pure protein than this feline repast but will fill us up and keep us going nonetheless.

Jack and the Giant Kitty

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: It seems only fair to launch 2026 with Pictorama’s best foot forward so today I share a tatty but wonderful Louis Wain card to help set the tone.

As always, it is impossible to entirely follow Wain’s train of thought. While we all know Jack and the Beanstalk, what might have possessed him on a given day to make a one off cat version? Hard to say, however I will share that frequently as Kim and I go through the world, he pops with one-off ideas that could be one or two page comic strips but because of the nature of his work (long, complex stories) he will likely never use. We might blow them out a bit while we’re walking but know they are unlikely to ever go anywhere. For example I pointed out the other day (we were discussing the idea of a short piece about the orderly way he tends to eat food – I call him a largely linear eater) and he took it down the line a bit of how it could be a comic. That would be if he had a weekly deadline, like back in the days of papers like New York Press, and then he’d be using them all.

Anyway, I imagine Louis Wain, at least at one protracted point in his career, was just grasping at every single idea and utilizing it. Either that or his brain just overflowed with them. Hard to say. (I have happily embraced writing about Louis Wain, his life and work, via a number of items which can be found here, here and most recently here for starters.)

Wain is in his full glory in this card. His humanoid-ish giant cat wields a bread knife with a small potpie in front of him and an oversized mug (stein?) which tiny (rat-sized) sword wielding kitty hides behind. (Would the giant be less dangerous if he had a larger pot pie? Just asking.) The giant has a three-prong fork grasped (awkwardly) in his other fat, white tipped paw. It is a formal table setting and another fork and spoon are in front of his pie. There is a lit candle and, sort of funny, a salt cellar and pepper shaker to his right, our left. A potted plant on a doily is on the other side which is sort of a funny middle-class household look. You can almost imagine Wain added that touch from his own tabletop.

*Early Wain post from ’18. Pams-Pictorama.com collection.*

The giant and Jack are both brown tabbies – a coloring I am not sure is prevalent in the real world of cats. (Putting Bengals aside as I don’t think they were known at that time.) Giant bully kitty has his ears back (same color as the tapestry design covering the back of his substantial throne-like chair so they blend a bit) in a very real annoyed feline fashion. His fangy toothies show in his whiskered grin, but it is the look of merry mayhem in his eyes that tell the tale! Yep, he sees Jack and he’s thinking a bit of extra protein on the run for today.

Meanwhile, we only see Jack from the back, tiny sword in hand. As noted, he is a slightly darker odd brown version of a similar tabby stripe. He’s sort of portly (hang-y kitty tummy) to be our hero – usually portrayed as a kid or in this case kitten. At the top right it just says, The “Louis Wain” Series. Bottom left says, Jack the Giant Killer and Louis Wain. This card is a bit grimy and found its way to me with some folds – there are indentations (although not holes) which might mean it displayed somewhere – hence the grime but also the survival.

The back sports a somewhat illegible postmark but I can make out April 19 and 1907. This was sent in the United States (most I have seen were sent in Britain) and addressed to Miss Miriam Hall, Bangor, ME 395 Center Street. He writes, Dear Miriam, What do to you think of these Pussies? Papa. I think that’s what it says – Pussies looks more like Jussies though. (However, to go off on a bit of a sidebar – have any of you seen the articles about how the post office is no longer saying that mail will be postmarked on the day it is picked up? It is now going to sorting centers where it will be postmarked before distribution, hence days later. So much for a world where there were AM and PM postmarks!)

Despite the card having been mailed in the United States, it was printed in Great Britain by the ever popular Raphael Tuck & Sons company of Wain fame. The card, it is noted, was designed in Britain and chromographed in Germany. It also bears the indicia that Tuck was the fine art publisher to their majesties the King and Queen, and to TRH the Prince and Princess of Wales.

This jolly card joins a growing subset of Wain cards in my collection. Whatever else that can be said about Mr. Wain, more than 100 years later, he always puts a smile on my face.

Carrots for the New Year?

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: This odd little postcard was among the ones I picked up at the big sale earlier in the fall. I don’t know why but in my mind I identified these as turnips but they do indeed seem to be carrots.

In a house full of cats (quite literally at the moment) I am here to say I rarely find one playing with a carrot or two, but here are these two kittens, be-ribboned, showing real interest in two. A while ago there was an online meme of cats being afraid of bananas (incidentally, the New York cats do not seem to be performing to type on that) and the internet tells me it is both the smell and because they recognize the shape as a snake and instinct kicks in. I have always doubted that the New York duo have much in the way of survival instinct and perhaps this goes to prove it. I gather it applies to cucumbers too and I could test the Jersey Five – I suspect Peaches will attack it with vigor. Her instincts seem perfectly intact.

Meanwhile, the internet is a bit vague on the point of carrots as a symbol of the New Year (turnips actually fare a bit better) on that score. In other cultures (Jewish New Year, Chinese) carrots seem to be a symbol but not really for January 1. However, this was indeed mailed on December 31, 1906 so no question of the intention there. There are allusions to slices of carrots looking like coins and bringing good fortune. l assume these tabby kittens know something we do not. It’s a bit hard to understand what the creator of the card was thinking – let’s do kittens and carrots he said to himself.

The kits have a carrot each, large and small, as well as bows and bells. The one seems to be tackling the large one. The other one, more timid, just looks on. Below them A Happy New Year. The company that produced the card appears to be J.P. Belle, just identified as Belle in the lower right corner here. Founded in Paddington in 1881 it produced cards until 1939. The official name of the company was J.P. Beagles.

This postcard was addressed to: Madam Donshea, 22 East 21st St. New York City. It was mailed from Jersey City at 3:30 on December 31, just under the wire I would say.

It has me contemplating what I might cook up today and I have promised a friend this recipe so I thought I would share it with you as well. It is a good vegetarian base I use as a jumping off point for all kinds of soups to use up whatever is in the house at the moment. I do it by instinct now so I hope I have given complete instructions. Feel free to ask questions! Happy and healthy New Year to you all!

*A photo of the soup taken a while back but you get the idea. this version may have had spinach in it.*

Miso Soup Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 heaping tablespoon miso paste (dissolve in a small bowl of water
2 carrots, sliced thin
3 cloves of garlic minced
1 tablespoon gingerroot, chopped
Salt, pepper, bay (2 leaves), dried basil and oregano to taste. (I like Maresh red pepper which is a mild red pepper, but you can use black pepper.)
half a large red onion
2 containers of vegetable stock
1 container extra firm tofu (shrimp could be substituted)
Small bowl dried mushrooms (soaked in water – reserve the water for the broth)
Green beans (frozen or fresh) trimmed to bite sized
Fresh mushrooms, chopped, optional.
Half a cup wine or sherry to deglaze
3 chopped scallions
Italian flatleaf parsley
Frozen dumplings or pantry gnocchi as desired
Also optional: sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, mirin and balsamic vinegar. If you want this spicy jalapeno peppers can also be added.

Instructions:

Start the miso softening in water, mushrooms in a separate bowl.
Chop the onion, carrots, green beans, gingerroot and garlic and soften in olive oil. (If you are using shrimp add them after.) Add salt and pepper. Chop the parsley and set aside. Cut the tofu in bite size pieces and put aside.
Deglaze the pan with the wine or sherry. Add the dried mushrooms and liquid and then the broth and then the tofu. Bring to a boil and add the parsley, scallions and tofu.
Season to taste and add the optional seasoning now. Keep at a boil for a few minutes and then simmer and continue to adjust seasoning – I almost always need salt at this stage.
If using dumplings add them at the end, if frozen when the soup is at a boil, but just before serving or they will fall apart.
This essential base is a good vegetarian option for a number of soups – sometimes I add beans instead of tofu, or shrimp. Any number of vegetables can be added, corn is a favorite, diced tomato and sometimes I use creamed corn to thicken the soup as well – but potatoes can be used to thicken it too.

Deitch Studio: Christmas 2025

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Arguably the most popular day on the Pictorama calendar – the holiday card reveal – and here we are again! For the third year now, with Kim’s blessing, I have attempted all seven cats – the Jersey Five and the New York cats combined as the illustration. As has become our pattern, I draw it and he then redraws, traces and inks it. The cats have stayed true to my drawing as has the design. Us in the sleigh is more him and the moon has become a good old Deitchian moon. I think it is a fair melding hybrid of our styles.

Kim noted that the cats look a bit like balloons here – of the Thanksgiving parade kind. Some more than others – Stormy hovering over Christmas is the most balloon like. (She is a pretty dreamy kitty. One of the last of the strays mom acquired.) Evidently a slow moving sleigh now that I reflect on it.

For the record and the curious, the top row from left to right are Blackie, Milty, Gus, Cookie and bottom row, Beau, Peaches and Stormy. Milty is the oldest and Peaches and Stormy roughly tie for youngest and last into the house. Cookie and Blackie are the only ones from the same litter (our New York kits) and Blackie and Beau share their all black cat-ness.

As I do the card reveal this year I need to apologize a bit – it seems I have lost my address book which I have had since college. Although many addresses have migrated to my electronic book, many of the oldest ones have not and among those I don’t necessarily have emails or numbers to text either. Someone pointed out that the universe was trying to tell me something.

I didn’t see it at first but someone pointed out that Kim has candy cane horns – I must ask him if it was on purpose or if he was having subliminal Grampus urges. Now I don’t know how I missed it.

If you are new to the card reveal, this joint card project goes back to the first year Kim and I started dating (predating Pictorama by decades) and has developed over time. Some earlier examples can be found here, here and here.

As you read this on Sunday morning we will (hopefully) be packed up and on our way to New Jersey with Cookie and Blackie in tow. We spent today (Saturday) organizing and filling boxes and suitcases so the cats are suspicious – sleeping on the bed with one eye slightly open I’d say.

When we get to the house I am anxious to see if my holiday swags of evergreens have lasted on the front railings. I will take out my few holiday decorations – oversized colored lights will go in the fireplace, an elderly Santa made of lead skiing and a few other choice bits that will live on the mantle – one of the few cat free spaces in the house. (That of course is always subject to change if a cat is enterprising enough!)

*Hard to read beyond Mr. and Mrs. Will Claff. How on earth did this get delivered I wonder.*

I thought I would bookend this post with another card I bought this fall. Sent on December 23, 1914. It was sent from Brockport, NY but the address is hard to read as is the message. Of course it was the idea of the nifty cat pull toy on the front that did it for me, bow and all. I like the little poem too which says, I send this kissy kat because I cannot go like Santa Claus, to give my Christmas love to you, or kiss you – as I’d like to do. So a Merry Christmas to you all – a few New Year’s cards tucked away next.