Cat Cameo

Pam’s Pictorama Post: Being in New Jersey inspires me to push along with my mother’s estate and closing out various accounts or putting them in my name. I had been dragging my feet about closing out the credit card as numerous things were tied to it, but there were many charges that started to accumulate which I was unable to track down (New York Times, this means you), and so I decided I really needed to take it on the other day and settled in with the tv and some light work to do as I consigned myself for a marathon phone wait.

The wait turned out to be reasonable and after a litany of questions (I had the special joy that my mom had continued using a card in my dad’s name despite him dying in 2018 – they loved that) which had to be worked through, I finally accomplished it. The next morning, as I went to file the paperwork I had used the day before I realized…there was a second credit card. So later that afternoon, I consigned myself back to the phone fiesta and settled in for a longer wait.

I got the anticipated wait and someone decidedly less sympathetic eventually came on the line. She demanded some info which I needed from my dad’s death certificate and stayed on the line while I went rooting around for it. While I had my arm deep in the file cabinet (where it was tucked to one side) I found a little jewelry box marked APA since 1848.

After I finished my long hassle with the woman from Chase and effectively closed down the “hidden” credit card account, I decided to have a look inside the box. Much to my surprise I found a lovely little cat cameo. This morning after taking a photo of it and blowing it up I confirmed that etched in the back is, 14k 1985. This would coincide with a trip my father and brother took to Greece that year. They stopped over to visit me spending a year living in London.

APA appears to refer to an artisan family descended from a fellow named Giovanni Apa who was a master carver establishing the business in 1848 as per the box. Today there is a showroom Torre del Greco, nestled at the foot of the Mount Vesuvius. From a quick look the showroom is as much museum as salesroom and the artisans work on site. They are primarily known for cameos and jewelry made of coral. Sadly their online shop is not accessible right now however.

I have no memory of my dad bringing this home from my mom but since I wasn’t living home then it is possible I never saw it. He had a great eye for jewelry, inherited from his mother as far as I can tell – I have always believed that my flea market gene came from her via my dad who was an veteran garage sale shopper. It screams of dad’s taste.

While I’m sure mom liked it very much the truth is mom never wore jewelry. She was not even especially attached to her wedding band and engagement rings (which she gave to me and my sister) and I can only remember her wearing them infrequently and until a certain age.

I can barely think of an occasion where she wore a necklace, bracelet or other ring. She had a pair of pearl earrings (which I also have) which she may have worn to a wedding or the like somewhere along the line. (She did have a few pieces of Art Smith and a post on those can be found here.)

This little cat happens to be of a sort I have wanted for a long time. He’s a slightly rotund little fellow, tail wrapped around he feet. One of my all time favorite pieces of jewelry in my collection is a horse cameo where an old cameo was put in a ring. (A post that includes the history of that piece can be found here.) I have always wanted a cat companion, either a cameo or micro-mosaic of a cat ring. Made in the traditional way it is as close to the esthetic of the antique one as possible. Although I may try wearing it as a necklace I suspect I will wear it more as a ring. I will ask my friends at Muriel Chastanet in Los Angeles if she would like to take a try at it – so follow up future post to come. Seems to be a fitting find for someone who inherited five cats and is heading to a new job at the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center.

Feline Greetings from Fair Haven

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today is the annual Christmas card reveal. clearly this year we celebrate the whole Butler crew, all eight kitties, including Hobo.

We are ensconced here at Oxford Avenue for the holiday duration this year. I have inaugurated the holidays by acquiring a violent stomach virus so this may be a bit brief. It’s an odd year, my first without my mom and I am feeling it even more keenly than I thought I would. I am usually pro-Christmas and manage holiday cheer even under duress. This year is tough, although I am curled up here in New Jersey with Kim and all the kitties which helps. Drinking fluids! No baking while this is going on.

*Last year’s card – Blackie and Cookie solo in front of our apartment window.*

The card has a double meaning this year as I leave Jazz at Lincoln Center for the very different world of fundraising for the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center. Animal lover and rescuer of animals as she was, all of us think Mom would find that an appropriate switch; she was always concerned that my job at Jazz was too exhausting for the long haul, with its travel and many nights.

AMC will be unlike anything I have done before and I don’t dismiss the difference and the adjustment – all fundraising is not the same. Still, my brain itches to engage with new challenges and I think building a full fundraising operation for them is the next best chapter.

Blackie is stalking around the New Jersey house; Cookie has returned to her safe spot under a chair in the bedroom. Beau and Blackie had a hissy hello last night. I think the other New Jersey cats remain largely unaware. There is always an adjustment period.

Kim has taken over my office for the duration and, after a few false starts for a new dip pen holder and something for his ink, he is inking away upstairs.

*The original Pam Butler pencil drawing.*

This year’s card was conceived of and drawn by me as a tribute to my new cat family and job – I include my original pencil for the first time. Kim inked it and added the logo which is properly Deitchien. Each cat gets a proper portrait. Kim added a little maniacal twist to Cookie who is chasing her tail (as she still does almost daily at 10 years of age) and Beau and Blackie are facing off a bit.

So our best wishes for the holidays and the New Year from us at Deitch Studio and Pictorama. Hope you enjoy it!

An Ending and the New Year

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Today is a personal post. For those of you who are just in it for the photos and the toys, you might want to go back to finishing the holiday cards (ours coming up next weekend!), but for others you might want to get that second cup of coffee and settle in.

As I have alluded to in recent prior posts, I am finishing my last few days at Jazz at Lincoln Center. For almost seven years I have been their chief fundraiser and occasionally chronicled my work life here. The early days of figuring it out, nascent traveling with the orchestra, learning the rhythms and pace (very fast) of the place. I have likened it to leaping onto a speeding train.

*JLCO taking a break outside of a Cracker Barrel restaurant during BBH Tour 2017.*

Tonight I will attend my last Big Band Holiday concert as staff. Early in my work life I toured with the orchestra for Big Band Holiday, through Florida and much of the southeast. (That post can be found here.) I had made a nascent trip to Shanghai (and wrote about that here) in the first few months, but it was the Big Band Holiday tour that really made me understand what it was like for the orchestra when they were on the road and what was and was not going to be possible in terms of fundraising on those trips.

I wrote occasionally about the long Zoom-filled pandemic days – especially hard at a performing arts organizing which can no longer perform. I had to dig deep into my creativity to fundraise successfully, always hand in hand with Wynton Marsalis who proved to be an invaluable leader. Coming out of those pandemic days have been hard on managers. We are expected to mitigate both the needs of executive leadership and our staff. First the Great Resignation as folks settled into new careers and lives sometimes across the country from where they started.

*Final evening at Dizzy’s this past week. Mary Stalling and the amazing Emmett Cohen Trio.*

The longing to return to a pre-Covid office life is understandable, but not entirely practical as our staff has become accustom to more flexibility. Ours was a great office culture before Covid so it has been sad to see the office anemically filled, no longer teeming with musicians and bustling with energy. Sadly, longing for something doesn’t make it so. You need to create something new instead. A September mandated five day return to office was not the right catalyst.

As many of you know, my time there also morphed into the period I cared for my mother who had her final illness in New Jersey over the first four months of this year. I am beyond grateful for the thoughtfulness of Jazz at Lincoln Center and my colleagues while I traveled back and forth, frequently working days from there weekly until for a period at the end when I stayed in New Jersey. (Those days and that unusual time is in posts here and here.)

****

Mom died in April and left me her house with five cats (plus Hobo, our outdoor pal). With the addition of Cookie and Blackie (the New York cats) that bring us more or less to eight. I became a crazy cat lady overnight – but I like to say mom had me in training for years! Kim and I packed the cats up and we spent five weeks in Jersey at the end of the summer. (A few posts about our lazy summer days can be found here and here.)

Without realizing it, I guess this brought me to the end of one period of my life and to the threshold of something different. I am not sure I knew that until late this fall someone put me in touch with the Schwarzman Animal Medical Center which was looking for someone to develop its fundraising arm. As I spoke with them I began to get excited about the opportunities I could see for them and my brain started shifting gears.

*Paying a visit to Blackie at AMC. Was crawling on the floor trying to get him to eat tuna from my hand.*

Some of you will remember that a year ago, Blackie was very sick and spent (and very expensive) week there while they saved his life after a dramatic infection suddenly took over his body. Although I mentioned it, I never posted about the very dark week we had while he was there. He was, in their words, a very sick kitty indeed and we are of course very grateful patients.

*Blackie sporting a bright pink bandage after he came home.*

The Animal Medical Center was founded in 1911 by a group of women who were volunteering for the nascent ASPCA and recognized the need for veterinary care for animals as well as their welfare. I plan to dig into this lore and I’m sure I will be sharing tidbits over time.

Today it is the largest animal hospital of its kind in the world, serving more than 50,000 animals a year. It is an elite veterinary facility where young vets train and research is done. I hope to help them expand what they do in these and other areas, including funding the free services they offer to the City’s police dogs and horse, our zoos and rescue animals which need surgical intervention.

*Yoda the police dog being honored at the Top Dog AMC Gala this week.*

I will miss my colleagues at Jazz, especially the endlessly talented musicians in the band, not to mention the nights at Dizzy’s – listening to Bill Charlap while the summer sun sets over Central Park – and the concerts in the hall. Dinners planned around the music and the stunning views of Columbus Circle. I will miss the daily encounters with folks who know me and I know them and we are part of a well-oiled machine together.

I find change painful and as I navigate the first holidays without my mom, this additional parting of the ways has sometimes overwhelmed me. Change is hard. Growing is hard, but you need to pay attention to the voice that urges you forward to the next thing.

Tonight, a final Big Band Holiday concert in the hall. Then we head to New Jersey for three weeks at the end of this week. Obviously I will post from there, but I am hoping it can be a few weeks of cookie baking and reflection. The new gig starts mid-January. So we gently close one chapter and head to the next.

Getting to the Root of Burdock Blood Bitters

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: These cat related bits wandered in together from Miss Molly (@missmollystlantiques) who said her mom found them. They are similar to a post I did a few months back with an interesting cat piece that Miss Molly sold me, but evidently not from the same point of origin. (That post, The Fish Eater can be found here.) My guess is that these did not relate to each other earlier in life either and the Burdock Blood Bitters and the cat head show evidence of having been hand trimmed. All show signs of having been pasted down so they came out of an album.

The Burdock piece was a trade card for a patent medicine. It still has some information about the product on the back, including that it hailed from the Foster, Milburn & Co., Buffalo, N.Y. Kittens seem like a benign if misleading representation of this particular stomach cure. These kittens also seem oddly placed in this basket – not really sitting on anything, floating. This piece is the heaviest, made of card stock. In a sort of sleepy state this morning (concert last night for work) I started down the rabbit hole of Burdock root and Burdock Blood Bitters online this morning.

One entry tells me that an 1918 bottle of bitters that was tested contained zero burdock and excessive amounts of alcohol and lead. Although it was ostensibly most frequently used to settle stomach and digestive ailments (think constipation and liver and kidney problems), the company also claimed that it would work to purify your blood (whatever that means) and cure nervousness. The internet seems to be willing to grant that Burdock root is high in fiber and especially high antioxidant and something called pre-biotic qualities. Herbal remedies with it abound on the internet today.

The seated kitty is holding a rat under one paw and whatever his origin, he is on very light paper, slightly embossed. You probably can’t see it, but he has a couple of fangy teeth bared. It presumably hails from some sort of rodent killing product ad. Although is bow is untied he looks otherwise unruffled, almost surprised that he is holding that ratty fellow.

For the Hobo fans, I will pause and tell a recent tale. (For those who are just entering the story, Hobo is the tough old male stray who visits our backyard in New Jersey. I fed him and even tried to trap him at my mother’s behest, but he is wily and although he enjoys his handouts he will never get that close.)

*A recent through the screen door pic of Hobo. King of outdoor cats.*

Anyway, after mom died we continue to feed him and the other day the caretaker of cats and house, Winsome, because to her horror she stumbled across Hobo behind the bushes in the front yard munching (and crunching – she sent a video) on a rat. (Evidently he had left a mouse for her earlier in the day so she shouldn’t have felt so bad!) I told her he deserved a promotion.

Lastly there is a cat head, slightly embossed, which appears to be the only one that was constructed for pasting down. Hard to see but even the whiskers and the hairs are defined and it is professionally finished although it seems to fit all of a piece with these two more recycled bits.

I’m sorry the original page of this Victorian album arrangement no longer exists, but happy to welcome these small bits to the Pictorama collection.

Getting out the (Woman’s) Vote

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: While I try never to get political here at Pictorama (we get enough of that in the world without my two cents), I have been known to occasional opine on the importance of voting in general. Therefore, the women’s suffrage movement and the right of women to vote both in this country and others, has long interested me. In particular the struggle of the women of Britain is an interesting parallel to the one in this country, bolder and bloodier with brutal hunger strikes and violence done to the protesting women.

While reading the juvenile series, The Ranch Girls, I realized for the first time that here in the United States women gained the right to vote ad hoc one state at a time in the beginning. (Find that 2021 post about The Ranch Girls here.) The west, where the strictures of society in general were less in evidence, enabled it first. Eventually, in 1920, it became a federal mandate when the 19th amendment was passed.

Of course any good movement needs ways to get its point across and to identify its participants, declared through political buttons and pins. Those, which I find endlessly fascinating in general, seem to go back to the very beginning of politics and voting in this country. I was just looking at a Hake’s catalogue which boasted buttons having to do with George Washington! Today we are handed stickers that declare that we have voted as a way of reminding others that they should do the same.

The Women’s Suffrage movement produced some distinctive items. Again, mostly in Britain, there were pieces of jewelry with telltale stones of green, purple and white. Wealthy women adopted brooches of emerald or peridot, amethyst, and pearl or diamond in a sly form of support, but in addition to those rarified items, paste stone versions also survive aplenty today.

On my last trip to the London markets, before Covid, there was an abundance of these items available at all levels – also some discussion around which were truly a part of this history. Of course inexpensive and vibrant ribbons and buttons were also boasted, but nothing demur about those. This country favored those buttons (yellow for pro) and also the wearing of a yellow rose in favor of the vote or a red against it. Another perhaps sly symbol was the wearing of all white by women to support the movement.

In learning about this I was of course interested to find that cats, often black cats, were the face of the movement. I wrote about this at some length in another 2021 post when I acquired my first ceramic, I Want My Vote black cat statue. Purchased from a Hake’s auction, I stumbled upon it and its history. (That post can be found here.) There was a double edge sword to the symbolism – those against suffrage meaning if you let women vote men will be stuck home with the home with the family cat, that women would wear the pants in the family.

*Not in my collection but I wouldn’t mind finding it!*

However, women took back the symbol of the cat in 1916 and made it their own, often turning this symbol of the domestic to a meowing sometimes even snarling feline. The cat might be beat up and bedraggled to show the wear and tear of the fight over time, or it might, like mine today mew in obstinate favor.

Driving across country (employing the still nascent automobile) Nell Richardson and Alice Burke, campaigned for women’s rights. Along the way they adopted a black kitten, dubbed him Saxon after the maker of the car, and made him their mascot. He became a living incarnation of the movement.

My item came via a Hake’s auction. It was another occasion when I put in a lowball bid and discovered weeks later that I had won it. I knew about this statue from my prior post and was pleased to add it to my collection. I keep an eye on suffrage items, although often they are a bit rarified and go quite high.

*Alas, poor men will be left home with the kids and kits.*

She’s about three inches high and Votes for Women is across the bottom. Some entries seem to find the mewing expression as a negative although in general she seems to be accepted as a pro-vote item. I have seen her in two colors, this blue and a brown. (I will note that on Worthpoint there was a two color version, the brown, but with green eyes and the mouth and ribbon in red!)

*Advertisement for The Suffragette newsletter.*

It was made commercially by cast ceramic mold. There are vague numbers on the bottom, but I cannot transcribe them and no other maker’s information. I cannot find maker’s information online, although this is not an uncommon item both in Britain and the US and I assume was sold in both places.

All this to remind us of the sacrifice and struggle women (and others) made in gaining the vote. So regardless of the size or contention of the elections in your area on Tuesday exercise that right and cast your vote.

Kitty Savings

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: This plastic bank crossed my path recently and although it is a bit newer than most of my collection he wasn’t expensive and I recently purchased him on eBay. There are no markings on him save an almost indecipherable Made in Hong Kong on the bottom on the removable black plug which allows for coins to go out as well as be saved within.

My guess is that he is a premium of some sort, however the lack of markings make him a sort of poor one in that regard. Perhaps at one time he sported a missing piece of advertising. He is unusual as far as I can tell. I have not seen another nor can I find another searching for identification so the survival rate seems low. Perhaps if we knew where he came from more would pop up.

I have a few other banks in my collection, all of which display their commercial ties better. A rather wonderful one can be found here. There are a few non-feline entries and a few of those can be found here and here.

*Yet another wonderful (non-kitty) bank at Pams-Pictorama.com. From an October 2021 post.*

This bank is made of plastic and while it isn’t incredibly fragile it isn’t really sturdy either. I have seen more ephemeral things survive, but I assume that’s why there not more of his brethern around. This would be even more true if you started filling him up with coins I think. My guess he is of the vintage when I myself could have had him as a child, the 1960’s. The seller described him as made from a plastic blow mold which is a term I was not familiar with, but is pretty much what it sounds like.

*Eyebrow holes above the eyes. Wonder what went in there?*

Unarguably he has a jolly smile and his red bow tie really adds something. There are tiny holes above each of his eyes and I somehow think he must have sported eyebrows – red maybe? That would change his look quite a bit and I am having trouble imagining it. There are impressed indications for legs, feet, whiskers and a button nose. Coins can be inserted at the back of his big round head.

He is modeled on a certain kind of cartoon kitty of the time I think. He is more Top Cat than Felix, both in design and in vintage. Kitty is very perky, big eyes and pointy ears. His tail curls around into a snail shape.

I can’t help but wonder if small children today still take joy in banks and pressing a few precious coins in now and again. I am not sure what intriguing things the few dollars you might fit in such a toy bank would buy these days. I wonder if the appeal remains and banks seem somewhat fewer as I look around – not to mention interesting premiums. And I wonder if those days of piggy banks lead to a life of savings accounts and retirement funds. Those of you with small children let me know if they still enjoy them. I am curious.

Autumn in New Jersey

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: An extra day off last week enabled a nice few days in New Jersey. I was shocked that autumn had overtaken there so fully already. In many ways fall is my favorite season, although I guess spring is special too. Kim and I got married in the fall and in part that was because I thought it would be nice to have something to celebrate in October. (That would actually be today – our 23rd anniversary of marriage! Yay us!) I am one of those people for whom fall is a reenergizing and recharging time, cool air permitting jackets, leaves changing.

*Dahlia continues to bravely bloom. The jalapeno pepper continues to produce as well.*

This year I find the season a bit tainted with missing my mom and a nagging sense having forgotten something has chased me throughout the post-summer months. A five day return to office at work, combined with the start of the season there, has been an ongoing adjustment complete with disgruntled staff. Meanwhile, I balk at the exponentially greater need for office clothes and figuring that out. We have had record rains which have curtailed my running. A tough start to season. I feel restless and not entirely myself.

*Autumn on the deck. There is a hibiscus someone just gave me which I planted while I was there.*

The few days in Jersey provided some balm. Although more rain prevented running I did get a bit of an eyeful of the Halloween decorations there. That neighborhood, chock a block with kids, outdoes itself for Halloween and thereby commencing the fall and winter outdoor decoration cycle which I love.

I am not a large scale outdoor holiday decorator (although if I was Halloween would be a bit of a go to I think), but I do like the outside of the house to look nice and seasonal. This involved a trip to the local farmer’s market “Pumpkin Patch” where I paid too much money for an especially warty, green and orange number which I paired with a traditional orange and an interesting green one. I added a mum and felt content.

*Purple mum didn’t make it into the photo but am happy with the seasonal aspect of the front steps.*

In the backyard and on the porch the lettuces are in their glory and some excellent fresh salad was made. (I brought some back for Kim so the salads continue!) I managed to harvest a beefsteak tomato while another dozen were still green on the branches. Weather permitting I will get a late season harvest on my next trip. The cucumbers grew with enthusiasm, but were evidently too late in the season. They have flowered and have tiny cukes but unlikely to come to fruition. (We wondered – will we get gherkins?) Next year I will do better. A random yellow pepper showed up as well.

*Lettuces are very happy and producing merrily although the bushy cucumbers are not actually spewing out produce.*

To salve the seasonal wound of it being too cold to sit out on the deck I grown to so dearly love, I added a fire pit in the backyard at the end of the summer. It had its inaugural lighting this week. I chose a traditional fire one, although my grill is propane. It is smokey – goodness! But that seems appropriate and I enjoy the smell of the wood. My friend Suzanne and I attempted s’mores, and comical although it was I am not sure I will try it again soon. (Think sticky marshmallow everywhere – even my phone – and chocolate not melting and graham crackers too hard!) I will perhaps stick to hot chocolate with marshmallows drinking by said fire going forward.

*The inaugural fire pit launch last week. Gourmet graham crackers to the right – too think for good s’mores.*

Fig tree is happily trying to take over the world, and the tomato plant could supply us with a dozen more tomatoes. Not in view is my jasmine plant which wound itself around all sorts of things in an urge to acquire territory which I will have to curtail when taking it inside over the coldest of winter.

The New Jersey cats welcomed me unconditionally and I slept with Beau and Gus draped around me. Gus brought me his favorite stuffed rat and placed it ceremoniously on the bed where I woke to it one night.

*Hobo at the end of the summer having a snack. Turns out, not surprisingly, he’s a mighty hunter.*

Speaking of rats, Hobo (our outside denizen) brought a gift in the form of a mouse the other morning and was later found munching on a rat. I guess he is looking for a little extra protein these days, but I thought it was considerate that he was thanking us for all his meals even if it was in dead rodent form which needed disposing of.

*I woke to Gus, Beau and the rat toy late one night.*

I hope to make another trip out there before Thanksgiving and look forward to the morphing of the fall decorations. Meanwhile, tomorrow (hopefully a sunny day) Kim and I are taking off for a day trip to Cold Spring for a somewhat belated anniversary celebration. More to come on that and an in the can post (and a rather special one I think) will appear in your inbox on schedule.

*The Pumpkin Patch at Sickles Farm in Little Silver, NJ.*

Boo Kitty

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: It’s another rainy weekend here in New York City. After last week’s flood’s we are looking at the rain and puddles with a jaundiced, and perhaps even worried, eye. Blackie, our beautiful black cat, is snoozing on the couch, but he needed some extra breakfast this morning (Beau, the impressive black cat of New Jersey is also reported to be having a second square meal) which makes me think the animals are already turning their thoughts to fall and winter. Mom would have been saying that they need their winter weight – I don’t know if that is a scientific thing or just Butler family lore.

*Beauregard Butler, the beautiful black cat of New Jersey.*

Meanwhile, October is a great time for black cat proliferation and therefore a perennial favorite here at Pictorama – and I like to think I try to do it justice. This little wooden find is yet another kit that wandered into the house via Miss Molly (@missmollystlantieques) on Instagram earlier this month. I should just have her on retainer – she gets around to parts of the country I rarely if ever do and she has a very good eye. Another package is winging its way to us as I write.

This Miss Kitty is far more cheerful than scary. I assume it was in some sense handmade, although she doesn’t actually seem to be homemade. I am aware that there were patterns one could use for such things. (I continue to wonder about this however – so how did one purchase such patterns? I have never run across the original thing – magazines? Did people send away for them? What induced you to get out the jigsaw and make one?)

*Cookie and Blackie in a recent photo – a rare occasion of sleeping together on our bed.*

Kitty has a nice red mouth and stands on a bit of red painted wood. Over time her edges are a bit worn white. The little toe claws are a bit expressionistic and her expression (cheerful surprise) is just short of smiley, but jolly – someone took some time here. She’s not large, only 10 inches with her tail. Somehow she looks like she is arching her back because she’s glad to see you (give with some pets!) rather than trying to scare you, but I am of course reading into it.

There is a mysterious hole in the tip of her tail (you can see it is squared off) which may mean she had a form of utility that is lost on me. Any ideas folks? A pencil doesn’t really fit – not that it would make much sense either. I feel like there is something obvious I am missing. With the way I have photographed her I can almost imagine her wired to be a small lamp, but the hole is fairly shallow and she is not.

I could change my mind, but this little kitty may head to New Jersey with me as I begin the migration of new cat items there and the feline-a-fication of that house. Five real kitties however, makes vintage stuffed toys a bit of a risk – just the other day here Cookie decided she needed to try to nibble the nose of an Aesop’s Fable doll! I’m sure there’s something irresistible about the smell of those old toys for cats. I sometimes imagine that their finely tuned noses are giving them wild flashbacks to a past they didn’t know but the objects did. Just days of yore that only the toy really knows.

Cheerio!

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: First let us here in New York give thanks to the sun which has come out at long last! We intend to dry out today and those of you who follow my runs on Instagram will (hopefully) be treated to some views of the UES in a bit. I haven’t run outside in a week due largely to rain – which eventually even flooded our basement and gym! But now onward to an odd little piece (only 2.5″x 3.5″) that I bought on a whim one night on Instagram.

I purchased it from one of my secret buying weapons, @missmollystlantiques, who lives here in the Midwest. So exactly how this very British little item, a datebook hailing from the year 1940, came to our shores is a bit of a mystery. Whether it traveled here back in ’40 or after is of course also unknown, but interests me.

On the back of this tiny missive is an inscription, From Claudia to Gloria Wishing You a Merry Xmas. Gloria liked her gift enough to keep it and pass it on, but never attempted to write in it. In all fairness, it is very small and while perhaps handy to keep on you, has very limited real estate for scribbling within.

*Limited real estate for notes within. It is unused.*

It’s a nifty item. On the front, in addition to this great, classic grinning beribboned kitty, there is written at the top what is inscribed as an Eastern Proverb, Has thou a friend, visit him often, for thorns & brushwood obstruct the path whereon no one treads. I can’t vouch for the origin, but I like the sentiment. And of course there is the bright orange Cheerio, cut out to reveal a gold page behind for emphasis at the bottom.

The cat sits on a slice of moon and has stars around him, highlighted in gold with a cut out on the cover. Although the British consider black cats lucky, you’ll note that this fellow has a white chest making him a sort of tuxie instead. (Although our Blackie is all black save a white daub there too and we consider him a black cat – go figure.)

For a tidy little book it actually contains a lot of information, some of it very British in nature. The first pages are devoted to a reminder of the difference in time across the world, using noon Greenwich time as the basis. (It also reminds the reader that the longitude affects time, every degree East of Greenwich is four minutes later and every degree West four minutes earlier – I guess in case we wish to do the calculation ourselves?)

Then a page devoted (strangely) to the weight of the four largest church bells in Britain, Great Paul (St. Pauls), Big Ben (Palace of Westminster), Great Peter (York Minster) and Little John (Nottingham) – 10.5 – 17.5 tons in reverse order of above. Below that is a chart of Conscience Money which frankly I don’t understand but appears to be some sort of tax?

The calendar pages follow uninterrupted until the centerfold which provides a list of Bank Holidays (they include summer’s commencement and end) as well as Saint Days, St. Patrick’s being the only one familiar to this author. There’s something called Whit Monday which I was also unfamiliar with and below it just Monday which is confusing – another Whit Monday?

The opposite page gives a reference for postal weights and regulations and at the bottom the charge for a telegram – the email of the day. Nine words for 6d (6 cents, I think) and an additional 1d a word! Names and addresses were an additional charge.

Two pages at the back of the book are taken up with the phases of the moon and the last page (and this is so British) are the Close Times for Game, referring to the hunting season of various game – black game (a category of grouse?), grouse, partridge, pheasant and ptarmigan – which appears to be another, white, grouse. Then a long paragraph on non-fowl hunting with rule for everything from snipe to moor game and widgeon. Hmmm, I can see why you might need to carry that around with you?

There is no maker’s imprint for this and I have not run across anything quite like it before, although I assume most people didn’t keep them – let alone in such pristine condition. I went through a long datebook stage starting with the small and decorative and moving to the strictly utilitarian as my burgeoning work life demanded, this in the years before our lives were kept electronically of course.

My first electronic device was one that kept my calendar and contacts only – sans phone which was the great innovation. I adored it and I have to admit it was like magic. Still, there was an intimacy of keeping a book with a handwritten record of your year. (I still keep paper calendars – I need to be able to see how a month lays out when planning.)

I would hang onto the books for a period of time after for reference and they formed a sort of unconscious diary – friends visited and those rescheduled, even the meetings which sometimes became work landmark events when launching a new initiative. The convenience of our electronic lives is without question, but as always, a tiny something is lost to the shifting times.

Pillow Talk

Posted by Pam's Pictorama

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: It’s a rainy sleepy morning here at Deitch Studio and I slept in a bit after a late night. However, as I sat down with my coffee and looked through the mail (the IRS sent something about my mom’s nascent estate – haven’t opened that yet) and found this gem which I forgot was on its way to me. An excellent way to start the day – IRS notwithstanding.

There is a somewhat manic quality to this photo, which Kim pointed out right away. The seller doesn’t seem to know anything about it and it was purchased from a US dealer. The card was never used and the woman, if she was notable, is unknown to me and us. Kim added that she doesn’t look like she was living right.

However, let’s focus on this really splendid black cat pillow she is displaying! Wouldn’t I love to have that on the couch here at Deitch Studio. (Incidentally I have a very nice black cat curled up on said couch right now – Blackie has rediscovered the couch post-NJ visit, after a long period of pouting in the closet. He and Cookie appear to have made up as well and they no longer hiss at each other in passing.) It strikes me as funny that she is displaying this pillow for us. I love it but it must have been a slow day at the photo studio for props and inspiration.

This card reminds me of a popular French card series in the early 20th century of nearly or entirely naked women posing with a small stuffed black cat. I have one (extremely popular I might add, the post is called Kim’s Favorite Photo) card in my collection. That post can be found here.

Small children and black cat toys featured on postcard are also popular, perhaps more easily understood. Also have to remember that the superstition about black cats is an American thing and the Brits even consider them good luck. (A post on the one above can be found here.) Of course black cat toy photos abound here at Pictorama!

Still, this can serve as my opening salvo for Halloween, the upcoming celebration of all things black cat.

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