Pam’s Pictorama Post: Back in May of ’20 I purchased a card in this series for Kim. I had never seen the work of the artist Clivette and I wrote a post on him and the card which can be found here, and another shortly after which can be found here. I understand from a reader that Mr. Clivette was a much bigger deal than I had figured out so I am not sure I have given him his full due. A few weeks ago I was making a purchase on Instagram and threw this card onto the order at the last minute.
Although unstamped the back does have childish writing in pencil. It says, Miss Ina S Chilling, Wray, Colo.
Back of the card.
Unlike the Butler Deitch kits, whom we will discuss in a minute, these are white cats instead of black ones and if you are like me you might subscribe to the theory that different color cats have different natures. White cats are a bit more prim than black ones in my opinion. Years ago my mom had one named Kittsy. She was extremely timid, pinkish eyes and never grew much beyond kitten-sized.
We are two little kitties As kind as can be I love her and she loves me
Although this card professes the affection between these felines they don’t look especially fond of each other frankly.
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
For those of you following the tale of our summer decamp to New Jersey you already know that Cookie and Blackie have taken the move hard and have gone on a hunger strike of sorts. Although Cookie is showing signs of starting to eat on her own after a week of hand feeding, Blackie will not take the plunge. In addition, they appear to take no comfort in each other and in fact I just had to break up a growling, hissing fiesta. Brother and sister they have always been together, but sibling affection evidently only goes so far in Catland.
Turns out that Beau is Blackie’s doppleganger! Here they are having a moment. Beau has been very welcoming.
I have known cats who evidenced real affection for each other. Growing up we had a long skinny orange chap named Squash and he had an extreme fondness for another cat of the house. I am having trouble remembering which cat he used to curl up with. They would sleep with their arms around each other.
As I write this, late on Friday night, at long last I hear the gentle crunch, crunch, crunch of Blackie eating some dry food from the dish!
Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Today’s photo post is a page from an album which I purchased on Instagram primarily for the two cats, but I confess to just liking the overall effect. It is from a small, horizon album and the photos are snipped into shapes to fit with some skill. Everyone is identified in nice neat white writing.
Left to right we have John Langley who we assume is the baby perched on this woman’s lap, the full skirt of her dress covered by his voluminous baby blanket. A clothesline with a baby bonnet hanging is in the background and lush shrubs in front of a fence or edifice as well as visible fencing in the distance. Master Langley is attired in bulky diaper only.
Detail. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
Much more comely is Jeanette Howard. She is all pretty white dress, beribboned curls and something unidentified in her hands. (I recently read a chapter in a book about the care and cleaning of clothing in this period and the laboriousness described comes back to me as I look at the attire. Oh the children’s clothes!) Jeanette is in profile and looking off camera, but the flowers make a nice foil for her.
Detail. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
At long last, we have our two kits. Fifi appears to be some variation on a black and white tuxedo, face in shadow beyond that white nose and muzzle. This is a fluffy kitty. Only Fifi’s name is in quotations, making me wonder if it was a nickname?
My favorite is Lord Bobs. This is a black and whiter with some nice cat-attitude. He is a very fluffy kitty, big whiskers and all the genteel self-possession we would expect from someone sporting his moniker. I especially like the “s” at the end of his name. He is a handsome fellow.
The back of the sheet – as I think of it anyway – is less interesting. The Nashua Library, is trimmed down to its outline. Nashua, in case like me you are not in the know, is in New Hampshire and it is a very difference edifice today as shown below.
Verso. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.Nashua Public Library today.
Lastly we have the photo marked Charlie Chase. I am probably one of a smallish subset of people who even remember who Charlie Chase was – although the likelihood of Pictorama readers knowing is perhaps marginally higher than the population at large. For those who are not familiar, he was a very well known silent comedian and this is probably not him. (As seen below in a Wikipedia post, he is fairly distinctive in appearance.) I think that he is maybe another Charlie Chase is also a possibility – alas, we are unlikely to ever know.
Comedian Charley Chase in an undated photo.
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A postscript to regular Pictorama readers in case you are wondering – we survived moving the contents of the storage facility yesterday and I write (if somewhat exhausted!) from my perch in NJ today. Next week, Kim and cats will follow so more to come!
Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Taking a brief break from the big box of Felix, I share a recent photo postcard acquisition of this serious fellow with his cat and dog in a lush garden setting. He is surrounded by bounty from his garden, including an enormous melon, leafy greens and something that looks like eggplant perhaps. He is plant and pet proud! It is the sort of photo which, Felix notwithstanding, is the mainstay of the Pictorama collection. This card was never mailed, nor is anything written on the back.
Kitty, a nice orange tabby, who is distracted by something off camera to the left of our view, sports a collar and perches nicely on Dad’s lap. The black dog at his feet is has a bright white chest and a substantial collar. Our man is dapper in a vest and collared shirt, neatly trimmed mustache and combed hair. His expression is serious, but he is pleased with the photo taking. He sits atop a simple wooden bench with spindly legs.
I am curious about the ropes or twine coming down from the tree, perhaps vines were being trained up them. There is a mass of unidentified leafy foliage behind him. A house peers through an arbor covered with ivy or something similar. There is an opening to a fence on the other side and these draw our eye back, deeper into the space.
Mystery bush in the backyard which has grown enormous. My tomato plants, which remain totally happy, are hidden behind them.
I myself am fresh back from a few days of hectic gardening in New Jersey and this photo of pets and vegetable bounty remind me of the garden there. All the cats are indoor ones and cannot join me in the yard, but otherwise I might give this fellow a run for his money posing on the deck.
The herb garden in an earlier state.
Yesterday I was feeling the residual effects of digging some deep holes for transplanting lavender plants, not to mention hauling soil and water around earlier in the week. Evidently my gym and running trained muscles are not those employed for gardening! Among my duties, was transplanting a sizable jasmine plant, purchased online and which arrived in my absence. It needed to be moved to a proper pot which was one of the more pressing duties.
This is more or less what the jasmine should look like in bloom.
I lived in London many years ago and I have never forgotten how much I loved the smell of jasmine in a pub garden I used to frequent so I am very keen on trying to grow it. Jasmine’s ability to survive a winter in New Jersey seems questionable, so I have put it in a large pot and will consider bringing it into the garage over the winter. I purchased a trellis for it and was surprised how quickly it seemed to take to the idea of climbing up it. In the summer humidity it almost seemed to grow before my eyes. The arbor in this photo puts me in mind of it – would be lovely to have one with jasmine climbing up it.
The first dahlia of the season!Hydrangea blooming away behind them.
However the trellis seemed like a sort of marvelous thing in itself and I thought it was wonderful to purchase for $14 – such an interesting object, simple and made neatly of wood. There are several others in the yard, most notably a few holding up large pink honeysuckle bushes which mom ordered. I only found out fairly recently that she was especially fond of honeysuckle. Not sure if it was to provide bounty for the insects and birds or just because she liked them.
Largely the garden was planted by her for birds, bugs and small animals to nibble and attract. Blueberry bushes bulge and despite my mother’s more charitable inclination in providing for the bunnies, squirrels and birds, I am determined to at least let some ripen and taste them this summer. To that end I fought with a complex bit of netting I purchased and, in my own ham handed way, draped it around one of the bushes. We’ll see how that goes. I think I saw a squirrel laughing at me.
One of two blueberry bushes, laden with not-quite-ripe berries.
I also had it in my mind that I wanted some sunflowers as I have very fond memories of growing them as a kid. I purchased some seeds and planted them a few weeks ago. Although I haven’t grown anything else there from seed I thought that growing a line of them against the fence would be a no brainer when I tucked the seeds in the ground.
When I arrived the other day I anxiously checked them and found the spot utterly barren. Upon further inspection, something had delicately dug and nibbled the seeds all up – a nice meal. Arg! I purchased two small plants which were already well underway instead, not to be utterly thwarted. Admittedly my approach to the garden has been to plunge both headlong and headstrong into the process.
Hope springs eternal! Here are the two new sunflowers I just planted.
I should not only talk of failures – a stunning dahlia is already well underway blooming and meals there are liberally seasoned with an abundance of herbs from a garden I put in near the kitchen. It is, as an herb garden should be, close enough to the house that I occasionally wander out in my pj’s to snip some for a morning omelet. I am sorry not to have recent photos to provide for some of it, but will share an update after my next trip back later this week.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: Yesterday, the first day of my vacation, started quite poorly with a migraine. I am an occasional sufferer and although certain food (good-bye red wine!) will trigger them unfailingly, otherwise they arrive largely unannounced several times a year. For a period of time they manifested as vertigo which was really nasty business. I don’t take anything for them although I try to remember one doc’s advice that they would dog me during times when I wasn’t eating and sleeping sufficiently.
If I had to guess, yesterday’s migraine fiesta can be attributed to a long winter and spring of stress with mom’s illness and work. Regardless of cause, yesterday saw not one but a rare two rounds with it. Bright lights in one eye which melt into sort of fascinating, undulating psychedelic patterns. (Think caterpillars examined on acid.) Interesting though, in tandem is the feeling that someone has poured crushed glass behind your eyes, followed by a dullness and a sort of well, sore head. I gave in after round two and slept through the afternoon.
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
When I woke later in the day, generally revived, I had a rare and unusual treat awaiting me. An entire box of Felix items had arrived from an auction in England! As a general rule, I do not purchase blocks of items as my limited space does not invite duplicating items, nor storing them against future resale. (Although now that I own a house too, watch out I say!) However, this is the second auction where I did purchase a lot and I have been quite pleased both times. The first time was a few months back and it was in order to purchase this rare Felix bottle, shown below. (The full post can be read here.) It was paired with a pencil sharpener. All in all, a satisfying experience.
This time I went a bit further out on a limb for a multi-faceted package and those of you who are willing and interested can be along for the ride as I examine this odd lot of booty. I will start with some of the small items which I did not buy the box for, but are in their own way, a wealth of stuff.
Back of pin with information as below.
Starting with some of the smallest items, I offer two pins which came my way. The one is is very poor shape, however I am not sure I have ever seen this exact version before and in its day he was a jolly little bar pin. (A prior Pin Post of Felix specimens can be found here.) A barely visible Felix shrugs his shoulders in a familiar pose with a sad face. While well beyond wearing, I think it is fair that he should come to rest in the Pictorama collection.
Pins from Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
The other is one in a series of pins that are somewhat available and my examples were among some of my earliest Felix purchases in a London flea market many years ago. I own two others in the series, but this third is the first time I am seeing one on the original card.
Some (most?) of these are marked with some variation on the back along the lines of, Pathe Presents Felix The Cat In Eve & Everybody’s Film Review. (I have grabbed that off an old Hake’s listing for this pin so I don’t have to take it off it’s aged card. Under any circumstances, it is a lot of text for the back of a pin which is only about 1.5″ long.) These are generally also marked sterling, which is additionally a bit surprising although silver was much more commonly used for costume pieces back at the beginning of the 20th century. Some were also produced on brass, copper or some other non-ferris metal.
Not in Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
Having said all of that, I have seen this mold, pattern or whatever, used in a vast array and variety of pins. I was only able to grab one other design off the internet, but over the years I have seen many variations on the pins, as necklace charms and otherwise utilized in a variety of ways. They are fairly available and one in good condition seems to run about $50 these days.
Bracelet by Charles Horner which I have seen for sale and occasionally been tempted to buy.
One interesting clue I ran into while researching these today is that they were designed by a man named Charles Horner who is best known for his Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau pin designs. Horner’s company, Charles Horner of Halifax, (23 Northgate Halifax), was founded on a design for a new and improved thimble. The Dorcas thimble sported a reinforced top to reduce needle pricking. (In my mind this does raise the question of what the heck good were they before that.) It was patented in 1884 and remained in production until the 1940’s.
Horner Mickey Mouse pin, sterling, sold by Liberty of London according to one source. A bit more rarified than the Felix pins, these will cost you a bit more.
Mr. Horner did a similar turn for Mickey Mouse in a series of pins, but I don’t know if they were also a premium tie-out or if Felix proved so remunerative he struck a deal with Disney. (From what I can find there is only a Disney copyright and the Horner hallmark on the back of these.) One of Charles Horner’s hat pins is in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art according to their online catalogue – it does not bear Felix’s image. After his death in the 1890’s his sons took over the company and expanded to watches and tableware and continued production until the 1980’s.
A reel of Pathe Felix film.
What I cannot find is specifically how Pathe films distributed these pins, although I assume that it was they who were the origin of them, and that Horner just kept using the designs in the other pins and bits of jewelry that one finds which do not all appear to tie out to the Pathe name. Pathe did not limit themselves to pins as premiums and they also produced an odd line of largely useless pieces of decorative china – ashtrays, pin trays and the like. I wonder if the premiums were give aways in theaters or with the purchase of their line of home movies, a Baby Pathe Felix film is shown below. To my knowledge (which is limited) these premiums seem to have been entirely the purvey of the alternate universe that was Felix the Cat promotion in Great Britain.
Another Pathe premium, not in Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.The odd marking on the bottom of one of the china premium pieces.
And this folks, is merely the tip of the iceberg for the wonders that wandered into the house yesterday. Stay tuned Felix friends! It promises to be a very Felix summer ahead for Pictorama.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: While I was trotting back and forth to New Jersey on an odd schedule with mom’s final illness, I kept a couple of potential Pictorama Post items in my computer bag in case I was caught out of town and wanted to write a post. While I also would put photos on my phone for this purpose, I had this and another item (an odd and seasonal one, which I will now likely save for a more appropriate time of year).
I barely remember, but I think I scooped this up in a bunch buy on Instagram. (It may have been that midwest maven @MissMollysantiques again – she and I have done a lot of business in the past few years.) It’s a strange item, thin cardboard, lightly embossed. It is smallish, only about five inches across.
While cute images of cats going after a goldfish abound as a trope both in pictures and three dimensional trinkets, this one hardly qualifies for cute and makes an odd decoration. Our tabby spotted kit appears to have been served up a bowl of small (live?) fish and has one hanging from his or her mouth, right before chomping it merrily down.
This cat has no shame and stares out defiantly. He or she is perched on a bit of defined grassy turf with some other sticks and bits about. More fish are indicated in the shallow dish. While there is a bit of paper loss to the tip of kitty’s nose the rest is in excellent shape, right down to the fish and a bit of fluffy jowl hanging off one side below his whiskers.
What on earth was it? I cannot imagine it was advertising and hardly seems like a decorative image. A bit of a mystery I think.
Currier and Ives print of kitty and goldfish.
I have written before about my childhood adventures of keeping cats away from our fish-keeping experiments. (Some of this territory was covered in a post that can be found here if you wish to delve a bit further in the subject!) We started with small fishbowls of a gold fish or two. (I don’t remember if these were acquired at fairs or at pet stores – in retrospect our acquisition of them seems so unlike my mother who had strong feelings about animals in captivity I can’t quite add it up and my dad was not the pet guy when we were little. I can only assume that my sister or I were insistent about their acquisition and she acquiesced.)
Zebra fish also seemed to be denizens of our tank.
It seems to me that this was a doomed premise, the goldfish bowl. We started with a pair I remember quite distinctly (and because of this clear and somewhat possessive memory, it is likely that I considered myself in charge of these fish) from when I was about four years old. We were moving from a town, Engelwood, in Northern Jersey, down to Rumson where I would spend the rest of my childhood years.
The fish were being transferred in a large soup pot, one had nice black spots on him and I liked him best. The pot, a light blue enamel one, seems like an especially bad idea (Mom – what were you thinking?) and also in the car with the swaying pot of fish and water was our cat Snoopy. I do think Snoopy was too distracted by his own drama (oddly he also just seemed to be free range in the car – no cat carriers at that time in our lives) to bother the fish however. The fish must have made it through the hour or so journey because I do not remember this being the cause of their demise, although that said I do not remember under what circumstances they ultimately left us.
Cat and goldfish teapot for sale on eBay, not in Pictorama.com collection.
It was, however, the beginning of a line of fish which at first, lived atop of our refrigerator because for some reason mom thought the cat (which became cats shortly) wouldn’t notice them. Generally they didn’t, however eventually a single fish disappeared overnight. No sign of him or her. Just an empty bowl come morning.
I think Betty realized at this point that we were committing an ongoing act of fish cruelty and, having raised complex tanks of fish in her youth, she set up a proper fish tank for us. We purchased a handful of brightly colored neon tetras (I remember them best), a few angel fish and a gourami or two. There were some tiny shark-y looking things and something we just referred to as the algae eater.
In retrospect, this tank was a lot of work. I remember the periodic water changes and tank cleaning it required, the plastic plants to be scrubbed and the real ones replaced. Again, I amaze a bit at mom taking it on with everything else she had on her hands with three small kids, two cats and a large dog. (Dad would allow himself to only be marginally roped into fish care activities and would at best follow mom’s direction if he was around for a fish care fiesta day.)
Neon Tetra
I loved the fish however and I would often ask my mother to tell me about the exotic sounding saltwater tanks she had kept as a teenager. Mom was a resourceful teen it seems and also made it all the way into the upper ranks of the Girl Scouts. These tales created an image of teenage Betty as a pillar of resourceful early DIY-type industry and ingenuity which really was probably a fair analysis. (It is making me tear up that I can’t call her up and talk to her about it however. She would have enjoyed reliving it with me.)
I liked to sit and watch them and have some very specific memories of sitting with our cat Zipper and watching the fish together. The air filter would bubble away, rising behind a faux treasure chest nestled in the gravel creating a world unto itself. Meanwhile, Zipper was a feral tabby who came to live with us about that time and unlike Snoopy he had no compunction about his thieving desires where the fish were concerned. He would sit with me and gently pat the surface of the tank somewhat mischievously, looking at us with his huge green eyes full of deceptive faux innocence. After an early incident the tank had something heavy placed on top of it after one of his more adventurous attempts.
The algae eater more or less as I remember him. Usually we saw his tummy as he stuck himself to the glass to munch on the available algae.
Sadly over time it became clear we were just not destined to be good fish caretakers. Eventually the gourami grew huge from eating the other smaller fish – alarmingly we’d find remains in the morning. He was sent to a new home in a larger tank (where perhaps someone ate him dad would darkly speculate), but somehow after that the tank seems to have petered out. Our investment in stray cats and dogs increased over time, tales for the future, but the Butlers left the world of the aquatic behind.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: Sometimes even I wonder about the vast amount of cat detritus I tend to accumulate, but I continue to find all these cat related bits and bobs that interest me and here we are.
Recently in an attempt to plan a tidying up of my jewelry (currently heaped on my dresser) during my summer vacation, I reached out to a dealer in Great Britain who sold me one a year or so back. Mia has sold me a wide ranging number of objects and jewelry as well, and several of those have found their way to being posted here over time. Among those many items and posts is the cat door knocker shown below (post here), and a truly curious item also shown below with a post here. (A post about the other jewelry box can be found here.)
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection. (I wonder how he’d look on the door in Jersey?)
I found Mia on Instagram during the pandemic. In addition to her meandering stock of goodies, she lives in the British countryside and treats followers to stunning photos of her walks and long distance runs (she was among those who inspired my nascent running) in the lush green area around her home. There are outings on the water with her son and husband and a running photo diary of her multiple cats, dogs as well as a bevy of foxes and hedgehogs who come for respite and repast at her home. (Her moniker on IG is @therubyfoxes in fact and her night photos and videos of the aforementioned are always fun to see.)
A wonderful curi-oddity! Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
Mia dug around in her stock and produced a dandy vintage box, if slightly larger than I was looking for, and offered it at a price I could not resist. The deal was forged! However, less than 24 hours later she had a clutch of these listed on Instagram and of course I had her pop one onto the order. Both arrived last week to great satisfaction.
This token is a product of the Samson Novelty Company which, although it was an American company, was the dominant producer of arcade machines and games in Britain in the late 20’s and 30’s. These were used to play their machines and perhaps also sold as novelties as well.
Lucky Pams-Pictorama.com
The fat cat on one side is the main event for me, promising no less than Good Luck Always and reassuring us that I Bring You Luck on the back. I would have been tempted to pocket one of these back in the day if they weren’t available for sale and I think it would have enhanced my day at let’s say Brighton, where eventually I would have had my photo taken with Felix as well. It is perfectly satisfying with its bright gold appearance and just enough heft. I would recommend making legal tender of them and minting them in gold myself.
A machine of chance, shown for sale at the time of publication, originally distributed in England by Samson.Presumably our token or one like it would give you a lucky roll.
The internet offers dribs and drabs about Samson Novelty, most interesting was that the founder Jack Holloway was a Mason and the Samson company name somehow came from that affiliation. The company was founded in 1925 and although evidence of its machines (one armed bandits and the like) and tokens abound on the internet, the history of the company and its fate are not easily found. Jack brought his brother Charlie and three nephews into the business which seemed to thrive at least into the 40’s where information trails off.
I have great hopes for the promised luck (which I can always use) and this little item will continue to live safely (emanating good luck) in the jewelry box it was shipped with. Over time I am sure I will report back on what other items are added to the Pictorama archive and housed there.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: There is an online antique store where, as part of my maniacal collecting mania, I have signed up for notification on a variety of cat and Felix related items. Every morning I receive one or two emails from them and wade dutifully through a variety of somewhat sad or uninteresting items. Annoyingly, on the few occasions something wonderful appeared it was already sold which made me a bit crazy – you can imagine. Simply stated, the in general the algorithm has not been kind to me. However, the other morning I rolled over in bed and flipped through my email and found this item which I managed to snatch up before my first cup of coffee.
Unlike many things executed in a pre-caffeinated state, I did not regret the decision when this showed up in the mail the other day. It is easy to see why this sprightly Felix has made it through the decades.
Felix would have sported a replaceable calendar and sadly we are not even left with an outdated example. I do wonder a bit if it showed each day of the year to be torn off or a tiny version of the month. I was unable to find other examples online so for now the mystery remains. Felix is cut out of a lightweight wood with his visage firmly affixed on. There is a sturdy metal stand on the back which makes it stand upright. In pencil, noted neatly in script on the back it says, No 29 11- Last one.
Back of Felix calendar.
This fine fellow traveled to the shores of Pictorama from Great Britain, as do so many interesting Felix objects. He is deep in his thinking position and giving us a charming roguish side glance. While he is somewhat off model, he has some of that early charming squared-offness that I am especially fond of. He paces atop a tiny brick wall and there is a tiny window of sky behind him. Even his pointy ears survive intact. I would find this jolly Felix very cheerful on my desk daily and delightful to travel through the year with him.
I personally mark the passage of time with a small wall calendar and the help of Outlook on my computer and phone. I am a visual person who often needs to look at how a whole month lays out in order to plan activities and workflow – in my work life I have always been that way as I figure drop dates for invitations and save-the-dates or plan to manage a project.
Truly delightful 3-D cat calendar I found online this morning which, sadly, is not in the Pictorama collection – yet!
The paper calendar generally helps with planning while Outlook keeps me on the straight and narrow for each day which in an early incarnation would have been a separate paper calendar. The home version is a small wall calendar from the Metropolitan Museum which neatly fits on the side of a bookcase across from where I sit now, which is also the nexus of Kim and computer; at work it is a free calendar, of the same size, gratis the New Yorker, in New Jersey it is a series of animal photos from a wildlife charity mom gave to. That calendar, which used to keep notes mostly on docs coming and going, now tracks the arrival of various workmen and contractors which seem to stream endlessly there.
Utility wall calendar here in NYC.
In my early working days I didn’t have enough money to embrace the File-o-Fax concept of the handsome holder and refillable interior. I employed dull looking, less expensive daily planners. I never kept them, nor have I been a journal keeper, so my comings and goings have drifted infinitely into the past which I think is just fine indeed. As we know, regardless of how we track it we cannot tame it, slow or speed it up, time continues march along at its own pace.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: Sometimes it is easy to forget that the purview of Pictorama is a cat one, although frequently a predominantly black cat and a Felix one. Today’s item crossed my path on Instagram, being sold by an antique store in Texas (http://www.getcuriosities.com) and whose denizens have become friends who keep an eye out for Felix-y and other cat items for me. Although Jason hadn’t lined me up for it I don’t think he was surprised when I reached out. It was inexpensive and admittedly purchased on the fly while I should have been doing other things.
I like this little fellow. As far as I can tell he hung on a wall where he offered matches and I suspect that the bit under his chin was once a place you could strike said matches now gone. Such wall hanging holders for matches, for use and those which were spent, proliferated at a time before mine yet I am fond of them.
Kitty is made of light balsa type wood and has shiny eyes. His tail is where he hangs from and you can imagine that you are seeing a whole cat condensed into a front view, tail in the air behind him. While simple I think he was mass produced rather than homemade.
I wrote about this match holder in a 2020 post – I think it also came from the crew @Curiositiesantiques.Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
Matches were a daily need when gas stoves required regular lighting this way and of course that was long before the current demonization of gas stoves. (Of all the hazards of exposure in my life I continue to throw caution to the wind and happily embrace my crisply roasted veggies and sautéed comestibles with gas stoves and ovens both here in New York and at the house in New Jersey. In Manhattan our building just completed a six month turn off of our gas in order to check the lines and it was recently, joyfully, reinstated. A post on preparing for that period of privation can be found here.) I imagine a certain amount of lighting cigarettes probably also went on and matches in a time before inexpensive and ubiquitous lighters were handy to have.
Decorative cat matches in the Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
Wooden matches, the type that I imagine would have most likely lived in kitty, were of course the sturdy workhorse over the books of them that you carried if you didn’t carry a lighter. (Matchbooks can be delightful cat items as well and both posts on matchbook art and match safes can be found here and here.) I keep some in the house in case the gas does need re-lighting on the stove pilot light and because they are easily lit in general.
There’s something comforting about the fact that these boxes of wooden matches can still be purchased and are pretty much identical to the boxes I would have seen as a kid. There are special devices for lighting your stove, but I favor matches whether they are held by kitty or not.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: A friend shared his pic of this nifty item months ago and I was full of admiration. Despite a rather robust program of constantly searching for early Felix ephemera and toys over several decades had never uncovered this rarified item. Therefore when one turned up on eBay it was a great surprise and after some careful deliberation and no idea how much it would sell for I managed to purchase it. In the end it went for a surprisingly reasonable price and found its way to the Pictorama Felix haven.
There are no tracks for these that I can find online. I thought the one belonging to my friend was perhaps a one of a kind, handmade item although it would require some craftsmanship. I still think there is a chance these are handmade and homemade.
A frame grab from an unidentified early Felix cartoon.
It is my thought that instructions for making such items were available and the somewhat ambitious home woodworker might have assembled them over a series of weekend afternoons and evenings. (I have a vision of some gent sitting around after dinner putting the finishing touches on this, circa 1930. Smells of my grandfather’s workshop rise unbidden in my mind from childhood – although while very handy, he was not to my knowledge, a Felix fan.)
Back of pipe rack, hooks for hanging attached at top corners.
While this may not have been a mass produced item, Felix himself was known to sport a pipe and there is at least one wooden toy where he displays one and a film or two where he is having a smoke of one kind or another…Kim reports having seen one where he gets stoned smoking a hookah in Chinatown which we have not yet turned up.
Felix toy not in Pictorama collection – I like the mismatched feet! My version of this toy does not have evidence of a pipe.
While we have no shiny beloved pipes to perch in here I would like to find a spot to hang it so I can admire it daily. As you can see, hooks have been provided although I worry a tad about carefully threading wire through these and gently hanging it in a quiet corner of the apartment – as if such a thing exists in our two rooms.
For those of you who know that I will inherit my mom’s house in New Jersey, yes, I am indeed considering how toy and other overflow might make its way there. However, there are five curious felines who roam that house with impunity, so at least for now, soft toys that could tempt kitty claws will remain in Manhattan where the cats live in close quarters with us everyday.
Pam’s Pictorama Post: The brilliant advertising of the Black Cat Hosiery Company, brought to us by the fine folks in Kenosha, Wisconsin, is sort of a square one for the kind of cat collecting I do. While this is only one of several pieces I have managed to acquired (you can find a post about the first one here), given the opportunity (and unlimited funds – I am not alone in my affection for it and it is generally pricey) I would collect deeply in this area and more or less surround myself with it.
In another prior post (which can be found here) I briefly cover the history of this company and its cat committed advertising campaign. Better known for its smiling black cats and stockings, the white kitty takes over (appropriately) for the union suits.
Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.
I have opined on how the smiling black cat in their advertising looks remarkably like our fine feline fellow, Blackie. This white cat reminds me of a little white rescue cat my mom had many years ago named Kitsy. An all white cat, she was not deaf like many, and she was a bit neurotic. I don’t actually remember her origin story, nor much about her tenure – there was a wealth of cats at that time – but she was most remarkable and memorable for being extremely petit, almost miniature.
This hand mirror crossed my path a few weeks ago and I snatched it up. Here our smiling white kitty sits atop a cushion that reminds us it is a trade mark. While a black cat was employed to implore us to purchase black stockings and socks, this feline urges us to Buy White Cat Union Suits. He or she smiles benignly over a big black bow. Comically somehow the all white kit does bring a union suit to mind. For a less than sexy item, this cat does a pretty good come hither appeal.
Back of damaged mirror.
Sadly the image is a bit damaged on the front of the mirror and the back no longer has enough detailed reflective space for most folks to apply lipstick. (Over many years I have developed a talent for applying lipstick without a mirror. Is this a good idea? I don’t know, but I have done it for years. Of course I would want a nifty little mirror like this to pull out if I needed one.)
Do people still wear union suits? A Google search offers you choices to buy (mostly red!), but also tells us these were mostly popular in the late 19th and early 20th century. I guess houses were colder. As someone who has rejected the jumpsuit craze for women repeatedly over the years (having to disrobe every time I go to the bathroom is just too much work for me) I cannot see embracing the all-in-one to wear – cat advertising notwithstanding.
Pam's Pictorama 