family photos

Canine Cutey

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: In both life and in collecting I show a marked preference (purfference?) for cats over dogs. Having said that, it isn’t that I don’t like dogs and I think if I had more resources, including space, I might collect dogs too in greater or even equal shares. (To say nothing of additional pet ownership which cannot currently include canines.)

Last Christmas I wrote about a black and white toy dog I carried insistently everywhere as a child – Squeaky. (As it happens I still own Squeaky and that post can be read here.) I suppose it isn’t surprising that I was very involved with and possessive of my stuffed animals as a child, early signs of a collector. I was a bit linear in my affection – first it was Squeaky who was carried everywhere, followed by a Koala bear my father brought me from a work trip to Australia. The bear had no name, but he was carried until he was bald of fur (probably rabbit fur, sadly, in retrospect) in spots. I no longer have him unfortunately although I did find this type of toy and shared previously here. There were probably earlier denizens who I do not remember.

Me and Squeaky. This is a Christmas morning shot, but I don’t think it was when I got him. Just professing my undying affection for him probably!

My childhood was also filled with a series of real pooches, from our German Shephard Duchess to a rather maniacal mixed breed hound named Charlie Brown. I like dogs and generally they like me. Occasionally I find my enthusiasm gets the best of me and discover I have encouraged a very large dog to try sitting on my lap as a result. (When this happened with a friend’s German Shephard it did give me some pause. There was also an enormous Tibetan Mastiff who like the cut of my jib when he met me and just about knocked me over with love.)

Has a little green tail! The only green bit on him.

All that leads to today’s purchase, a gift from Kim who offered to grab him up for me! This new guy came via Instagram and our friends in Texas @Curiosities. There is something about him that reminds me of blankets of my childhood. Some of his color is fabric overlays (the red on his jowls) and other is painted on. His nose and mouth are sort of shaved into the surface “fur” or texture of his face. He has glass eyes and I think a friendly dependable expression. There is pink under his mouth which I think is a random addition but works with the color scheme overall.

Squeaky!

I am told that the original seller said he was German, or at least that he came from Germany. He has no tags. His colors and design make me think of Pendleton blankets, a Canadian export embraced in my childhood as well. His red ribbon is worn and I assume is original – matches the red on his face perfectly. His ears (which are stiff with wire) have been carefully resewn in back. He’s about 12 inches high, including his ears.

He is much softer in person than I imagined and he is somewhat stained with years of love and handling. I think the orange stripe from his mouth and on his cheeks are especially interesting. He is made up of a fascinating bunch of colors. In sum, he is a handsome fellow who has been much loved.

So another dog sneaks into Deitch Studio and the Pictorama collection. May the kitties beware!

Christmas is Coming Cat Card

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Today’s is an odd photo postcard I picked up recently. In 1902 Kodak introduced photo postcard packages were able to print their negatives right on them and I imagine that this card, sent in 1905 seems to be of this genre.

As I envision the making and using of these cards (something I actually have spent some time pondering) I wonder if they made a little pile of them at a time or only printed the one off. Will I someday be searching through eBay or a pile of photos and find the exact card but with a different message? (Imagine my surprise!) It seems like it could happen, but it never has to date.

This card, as is declared decoratively at the top, was sent on December 21st, 1905 from Berlin, New York. After some serious study, it appears to have been sent to Mr. J. E. Whiteker in Barnstead, New Hampshire. (There’s one word I can’t quite figure out – center? outer? Barnstead.) There is also a notation in pencil in the upper right corner, 7/27/75 15￠.

Shown as a plump puss with a fairly satisfied look on his face which belies the message to some degree. He is perched on some sort of print fabric and behind him there is a check tablecloth piled high with books.

The message on the card appears to read as follows, Dear Brother (?) This is the cat that didn’t kill the rat – we didn’t get a good picture. (Serve?) him a good Xmas dinner and make him grovel for it. “A personal Christmas to you from us. Herbert. Clearly a message of great holiday cheer.

Inability to execute a rodent notwithstanding, kitty looks pretty well fed and happy. A smile lurks in his genial expression. At a glance, he doesn’t really have the promising appearance of a rat killer, although with cats looks can deceive I suppose.

Miltie, napping nicely.

This sort of stripe-y tom is reminiscent of several of the New Jersey crew I inherited. Milty, a stray from Newark and Peaches, rescued from a basement in Long Branch, both fall into this distinctly indistinct category of cat. Most notably, our outdoor man, christened Hobo by me a few years back, fits this bill as well. (Peaches hates Hobo and looks the most like him!) The ongoing Hobo story is known to Pictorama habitués, but his tale is below.

I can’t remember precisely when Hobo showed up except that I believe it was after mom adopted Stormy, a gray and white kitten who was also being fed at the backdoor. Like my mom’s other rescues, she showed up persistently and was looking increasingly poorly when mom trapped her with the intention of spaying and releasing her. She turned out to be a very shy, but good natured kitty and she never returned to the outdoors. (She still chases her tail, like our Cookie!) Therefore, Hobo probably came into the fold around April of ’22.

Stormy.

Hobo, a bit of a reprobate, has resisted trapping. He’s a wily fellow who, when he is around, will ask for meals several times a day, leading me to think he has worms and wondering if I might slip something for them into his food. Last year this time mom was fairly focused on trying to get him trapped and in before the winter, but try as Winsome and I might we could not entice him in, making me wonder if he had been trapped in a cage before.

Peaches and Hobo. Next to Peaches is a favorite toy rat which is often a gift on my bed when I am there.

Unlike the others mom eventually trapped and adopted (I inherited five cats, plus Hobo from her when she died in April – yes, plus two here in NY), Hobo has the real earmarks of a life lived outside. I’m sure he looks older than his years and of course living the outdoor life, while sort of swinging and intriguing, is likely to drastically reduce his life span. (A Peaches to Hobo comparison below!)

Over the summer I had a video texted to me by a horrified Winsome who came across Hobo feasting on a rat! Evidently he had also brought her a dead mouse – gracious acknowledgment of the many meals she has given him. Clearly however he was supplementing his protein with a bit of a la carte dining. I had the opposite reaction and said he deserved a promotion and give that cat some treats! (We are not far from the water and we are always somewhat in danger of being overrun by rats.)

Sadly, Hobo seems to be on the lamb these days and hasn’t shown up in more than a week. Winsome reports daily and has tried leaving food out for him in case he is visiting at odd hours. It isn’t the longest he’s been gone and I believe (hope) there are other folks in the neighborhood who feed and look out for him. (We’ve seen him picking his way, very dignified, through other yards and down local streets.) We are decamping for several weeks in New Jersey and I am hoping he reappears then if not before.

Edit: I received an update tonight that Hobo showed for a late dinner! We’re very glad he is back in the fold.

Swimming

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: This photo has been on my desk for a long time and it drifted to the top of the pile today. As I write on a chilly November morning, summer and swimming is already a distant memory while the long winter days of January, February and March lay, daunting, ahead. It reminds me that it has been many years since I have been swimming in the ocean, or even a smaller natural body of water.

I thought about taking up swimming during the pandemic. I think I would need a few lessons to get to the point where I am swimming laps successfully. I may still do it. Long term the low impact of swimming may make better peace with my arthritic body than the endless pounding of running.

This photograph has a remarkably dreamy quality. The way the definition of the water disappears, yet there are just a few people going way out to the horizon line. The four women are wearing old-fashioned bathing caps, but even the somewhat saggy bathing suits don’t mar the timeless quality of the image. We see their reflections, but not below the surface. It manages to reach across time which is what the best old photos do for me.

Years ago I wrote a post (found here) based on the quote, save something for the swim back, and that quote comes to my mind when I look at this photo. The post was about the struggle I was having in the fall of 2019 where I did feel I was drowning at times. Little did I know how much would change in the next six months when March of 2020 rolled around.

This image feels like the liminal space between things – those times where we are parked in one of the great waiting rooms of our lives. That’s not to say those periods are fallow. I wrote several times about the time I spent caring for my mom during her final illness. (One of those posts can be found here.) While it was a world away from everything else, it was a time I learned a lot. Time seems to slow and morph. It is a period that seems to be outside of the ongoing time-space continuum of my life otherwise.

I have been in a similar space again recently as I began to commit to leaving my current position at Jazz at Lincoln Center and moving to another, very different one. That weird period when you realize that you are probably leaving, but you haven’t committed yet and are not ready to tell anyone. You stop investing in the future of what you are doing beyond a point because you won’t be there to do it so you are mentally treading water. However, after six and a half years I gave notice right before the holiday and more about that adventure in coming weeks for readers who stick around.

Lastly, to note: this is a photo postcard, but it is mounted on another piece of cardstock. I did not purchase it so it has the rare distinction of not being of my choosing as is virtually everything posted about here. Pictorama is pretty much wholly curated by me. However, this card arrived in the mail last December and there is a note from the fellow cartoonist Robert Crumb to Kim on the back. And we decided however, that the photo merited its own place here in Pictorama.

And It’s Spark Plug

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Possibly one of the strangest sub-genres here at Pictorama are a clutch of photos of people posing on Spark Plug who in 1922 made his way into comics fame when he made his entrance into the Barney Google strip. The patched together equine captured the reader’s heart in that initial episode and he joined the ongoing cast of characters. His distinctive appearance made him a picture perfect photo foil and evidently photos posing with him proliferated in addition to sheet music, Halloween costumes, games, candy containers and toys ranging from wind-up’s to more cuddly soft versions.

Not in Pictorama Collection. This sheet music is widely available.

I stumbled on the first photo in a Hake’s catalogue years ago and bid on it. That photo went very high and much to my disappointment I didn’t acquire it. It stayed with me however as these things sometimes do and I started to look for them.

I manage to acquire my first one back in 2018 and it is similar to the one I lost at the Hake’s auction. (That post can be found here.) It is a pro photo, much along the same lines as the concept of people posing with Felix, although the Spark Plug photos are not postcards and are generally regular prints which are 5×7 or larger. If you read that post you will find an interesting exchange with the descendent of the fellow identified in the picture who found the post while doing genealogy research on his family.

Pricey Chien litho toy for sale at the time of writing.

The next photo didn’t show up until ’21 and it is a postcard where Spark Plug is an almost abstract design. Lodged as he was in the public consciousness however you merely had to make a nod to his appearance and label him and you were good to go. (That odd little gem can be found here.) This acquisition marks the third in the series.

Today’s entry into the archive is what appears to be a very competently homemade version of the pasted together pony. Junior, in comic splendor complete with glasses, nose and mustache all of a piece under his topper of a hat, must be concealing his legs under Spark Plug’s body and stubby faux limbs are astride the horse. Spark Plug’s identifying patch is evident on the side and, as is always helpful, he is clearly labeled on one side. His head, while a tad small for his body, is a credible reproduction.

Next to him is another kid, in blackface, with a faux banjo. Something about him reminds the viewer of the jockey statues that used to be in evidence as outdoor decor. Behind them are adults who do not appear to be in costume – the maid notwithstanding but after some consideration I have decided that she is just working in uniform, not in fancy dress. She is pushing a cart of something fluffy and like the other adults she is in somewhat soft focus. They form a distracting blur behind the costumed kids.

Another pricey item for sale as I write – interesting that a somewhat forgotten cartoon character still fetches thousands for toys today!

This photo is approximately 5×7 and printed on a super light paper which is curling with age. The back is entirely blank and there’s no evidence that it was in a photo album at any time, perhaps it was framed. While the pictorial quality is somewhat lacking this photo nevertheless is another interesting entry into the Pictorama archive.

Strolling with Felix

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: It is another (dreadfully) rainy morning in a string of them this week here in New York, but I have just the thing to cheer us up or so I hope. This especially fun Felix card showed up here at Deitch Studio this week. I am always happiest when one of these turns up for acquisition into my burgeoning collection.

This time the photographer has cleverly set this large Felix up to pose for a stroll down the road with all comers and this tiny tot is just the right size for a companion, a full head shorter than this magnificent Felix. The kid has a nice hold on Felix’s crooked and proffered elbow and is attired in short pants, sun hat and beach shoes of the day.

I don’t recognize the location and don’t know what seaside town in Great Britain this was taken in, almost looks like more of a park. The scruffy vegetation and the stony wall do put me in mind of being near the ocean. However, the men walking behind Felix and child are in dark suits and hats – not exactly beach-y attire, perhaps an important gathering of corporate tycoons? A Davos of the day?

A card added to the collection earlier this year, February post. Pams-Pictorama.com Collection.

Felix and the kid are looking right at the camera. Felix sports a wonderful flowing bow and somehow his cock-eyed legs create the allusion of movement; he’s marching down the path. They are right in the center of the picture which is a great composition.

This card was never sent and there are no notations on it for date or location. Part of me is curious to know if there is a whole series of pictures of people strolling down this path with Felix (wouldn’t it be fun if others turned up?) or if this was a single lucky shot. For now though I think there is a perfect horizontal empty spot, right under the calendar and across from where I am sitting, for it to join some other jaunty giant Felix souvenir cards.

Jersey Finds: Four Feet of Fun

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: For those of you keeping track, a few weeks ago I featured a panorama photo of a local high school on a class trip to Mount Vernon in 1931 and I promised a follow up. (That post can be found here.) Mere days after that purchase I can across the one I am featuring today and snatched it up as well. It too is a Jersey image – the First Annual Outing and Picnic of the F and M Foremen’s Club of Garfield. (Of course I have been left to ponder what a Foremen’s Club might be – a gathering of various foremen? From one place? Many?)

At 46 inches long (click on the photo and try to blow it up) the size of this photo is clearly one of its most outstanding features. Unlike the photo from Mount Vernon, this one is a parade of period picnic attire. While a few men hold out for jackets, others have ties even if no jacket, for the most part folks were letting their hair down in the literal sense here. There is no date and because of the nature of the clothing it is a tad difficult to date it. A few of the bathing suits (on both the men and women) convince me that this was probably the 1920’s. Most of the women are in variations of pretty cotton dresses which in terms of style could stretch over several decades.

IThe accordion player is a good addition. I like to think of him roaming around and playing in the late afternoon after the lunch hampers were largely repacked and everyone was sated and resting while considering another dip in the lake or perhaps a lazy trip in a boat. The kids in their various states of attire are great. Some kids are even wearing ties (hats) while others are stripped down for action.

Unlike the other photo this one has noticeable distortion with the people on the viewer’s far right significantly larger than those on the other side. The guy who is blurred is the distortion line, with it increasing from there going right.

Neither of these pics grace the walls yet, but I am enjoying living with them and getting to know them. More to come about further acquisitions of this kind – and other Jersey finds from this trip. However, as Kim recently said as he looked around the living room – it is starting to look like we live here.

Our Friend Felix

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Today I write of another delightful addition in a long line of my real photo postcards of people posing with Felix. These were mostly taken in Great Britain (although Australia and New Zealand were in it too, although those appear to largely be of the tintype variety) and this one made the trip across the ocean to join the Pictorama archive.

Like virtually all of these cards this one is postally unused and nothing is written on the back. Although I am not in New York with my full collection at my disposal, I realized almost immediately that this Felix is likely the star in at least one if not more of my other photos.

First there was this most recent purchase, shown below (with a post that can be found here) and while it is possible, the ears are perkier in the prior post and possibly a big white tooth missing or not shown in the latest one. The window backgrounds are also very similar.

However, in an earlier post, this one is pretty much a cinch to be the identical fellow – missing or unshown tooth and all! In some ways it is surprising this doesn’t happen more often. After all there are only so many places taking these photos and presumably not that many Felix-es in play. (The post with the below photo can be found here.)

Images from Pams-Pictorama.com collection

While both these little girls are cute the older one with the hat steals the show – even from Felix. She is delighted to have a hold of Felix’s outsized and overly long arm (all the better for throwing around fellow subjects it seems) and she grins broadly. Her outfit is pitch perfect with that lovely straw hat, decorated with flowers, embroidered collar, short pleated skirt and right down to her white ankle socks and black Maryjanes. The younger sibling (we’ll assume) is in layers of pretty white cotton, complete with bonnet and matching Maryjanes, but she has just been place in front of Felix and shows no real interest.

Of course Kim, cats and I are spending a few weeks at the Jersey shore and having a true summer vacation experience. Tomorrow night we are slated to enjoy the local fireman’s fair (which I wrote about a long time ago here – it turns out that my childhood fireman’s fair is quite a well known one) which I have not attended in decades. While I am excited for some cotton candy or perhaps a candy apple and a ride or two, sadly it seems unlikely I will get to pose with Felix for a photo – the seaside not being what it used to be. More to come about that, perhaps, on Sunday however.

Giddyup!

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: I bought this photo during my work trip to Poughkeepsie recently. I had a couple of hours one morning and a colleague and I ran out to a few antique stores and over time Pictorama readers will be the beneficiary of several posts about those over time.

I snatched this one up in the first shop which was a real treat with shelves and walls laden with interesting bits. The photo caught my eye almost immediately. Such a happy little fellow!

At first glance I thought this photo was taken inside (something about the stairs and something that looks like a banister but I think is a fencepost) and that was a bit of a head scratcher. That made me wonder if the pony was real. At closer examination it was taken outside and of course it is a real pony – a bit blurry since he didn’t stay still.

Huge cowboy hat (a ten gallon hat on a five gallon size head?) atop his head, this young’un is decked out from head to toe with a kerchief and chaps, down to his tiny riding boots. On careful examination there are stirrups that hang down for decoration or use by a larger person and our pint-sized cowboy has his boots tucked into smaller, shorter ones.

Our pony is a natty little fellow too with his or her shiny bridle. There’s something about the precise focus of the little boy versus the slight blur of the pony’s head that creates a sense of movement and dimension. There is some sort of chemical mistake behind the horse, a dark blot drawing your eye back.

Set up as freestanding.

The cardboard self-frame is nice and cheery. There is a ribbon to tie it closed or it can stand on its own which is how it was when I first spied it.

On this trip I was with a new colleague who I was getting to know a bit better. As it happens he hails from Nova Scotia and revealed in conversation that his family had horses growing up and he actually had a pony. However, he also said that he was kicked more than once by said pony, as well as some of the other horses on occasion. He was not left with a lasting love of horses as a result. Food for thought but despite that story, I can’t help think that the boy in the photo was one lucky fellow.

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Blackie sitting with my computer and bag of vitamins and meds this AM.

Update on the NJ cat fiesta. Cookie remains under the blankets on the bed. She slept behind my knees last night. Blackie is starting to venture out a bit and came to me for some purrs and conversation. Beau (another all black cat who was rather amazed to find a doppleganger in the house) tried to make friends, but Blackie was not ready and sent out a series of quiet hisses. However, neither of them is willing to eat! I am stymied by their combined continued refusal and even offered tuna. Please send advice if any!

Peaches and Beau, largely undisturbed by the visiting felines in the bedroom.

The Cat House, aka The House of Seven Cats: the Prelude

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Pam’s Pictorama (better late than never) Post: Today is the day! In a few short hours Deitch Studio will pull up temporary stakes and head to the hinterlands of New Jersey (out in the country my grandfather used to say although we would have defined it more as suburbia) with all the denizens of Deitch Studio (Kim, me AND Cookie and Blackie) for a month of Jersey shore magic.

For those of you who haven’t followed the tale, I inherited a small house and five cats in New Jersey at the end of April when my mom died after a long illness. Someone on the Jersey side tends to cats and the house and I go back and forth ongoing. It is my first go at home ownership aside from a studio apartment co-op in Manhattan which has the blessing of coming equipped with a superintendent and staff. Like all those before me in such a venture, I am somewhat overwhelmed by the demands of a house and yard – not to mention a grand total of seven cats when we add in the New Yorkers, Cookie and Blackie.

Beau and Miltie, utterly unconcerned with new cats in the bedroom.

I have taken to parts of it amazingly well. Mom had a beautiful garden and it turns out to be in the blood as I have not only maintained it, but already added to it. (Full disclosure, I have lots of help.) My addition has been a small herb garden, strawberries, peppers and lots of tomatoes! Comestibles! I don’t know how green my thumb is, but I have enjoyed the adventure thus far and it seems nothing short of a miracle to grow food we eat.

Blackie’s carrier earlier today…

However, compared to what has come before, the addition of two NY kitties to the bevy of cats in New Jersey is an event. Our cats, Cookie and Blackie, have never met other cats. As far as they know, they are the only such specimens in the world. Imagine their surprise later today when they are thrust into the den of five others – oy! They will spend their first few days (minimum) in our bedroom to acclimate.

The New Jersey crew consists of: Beauregard (aka Beau – undeniably mom’s favorite), Milty, Gus, Peaches and (the ever shy) Stormy. Aside from Milty, who is a true senior citizen but not going anywhere anytime soon, the rest are quite young so my cat farm enterprise seems unlikely to diminish in the near future. It was mom’s last and most urgently stated wish that I keep the house and cats so, crazy though it seems, that is what I am doing and hopefully today is the beginning of a new chapter of feline detente and future such trips can be planned.

Look very hard for the hidden Cookie!

I have employed our friends at Chewy.com (we’re super tight now) to send food and litter that will help fairly replicate C&B’s precise existence here in New York. I think we have a rough morning ahead however.

Likewise, over time, I have assembled a fair replica (I hope) of the working bits of Deitch Studio (our NYC home) so that Kim too will not miss much from our Manhattan perch. As for me I have a week or two of at least semi-commuting before I enjoy a few weeks of all New Jersey.

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We arrived! Cats were quite well behaved considering and while they were not silent, they made relatively little fuss. However, Cookie refuses to come out of her carrier (maybe she thinks if she stays in it we will take her back to NY sooner?) and Blackie took up residence in the closet but has now disappeared again which means at least he was willing to wander around a bit?

The deck at lunchtime today. Avocado toast on tap!

A friend and her houseguest wandered by earlier and we had lunch on the deck. Wynton’s newly released archival album of the Hot 5’s and Hot 7’s (recorded in 2006 and put out on Friday, find it for free download on Amazon music here, but available on a bunch of platforms) played on a new portable speaker. While Cookie and Blackie remain unconvinced, I think Kim and I are already adjusting to the quiet of summer life here. More to come, but I think a good month of low key adventure ahead.

I promise to return to the land of Felix and other toy treats tomorrow!

Album – Lord Bobs

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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!

Big Apple mini-storage yesterday.