moon photo postcard

Kiss Me Good-Night

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: I love a good moon postcard and this one above was one of several I have to share from my recent big buy. I ended up purchasing the other two for Kim, similar but not the same series and from an entirely different source (spotted them online and picked them up for our anniversary – they arrived in the house day of!), and since these will go up on the wall soon, I wanted to give them a moment in the Pictorama spotlight.

Postcards that belong to a series like these seem to have been popular in the early 20th century. It’s curious to think about – so was the thought you’d buy the whole series and send them, one by one, to the same person? With them waiting to see how the “story” comes out? It’s hard to believe that, even at a time which saw daily postcard mailing, that such continuity existed in the real world.

These are remarkably alike in some ways – it is hard to believe that they are not at least by the same company, however no, they are not. The hand coloring of Kiss Me Good-Night is more lurid, although perhaps the others have faded. Kiss Me has a great moon face with a sort of open-mouthed expression. The couple, surrounded by cushions and drapes prepare to embrace in a good-night embrace. That moon looks a little judge-y maybe he suspects something about this couple canoodling the night away that we don’t.

Back of the card at top.

Unromantically, this card was sent by Ruthie to her sister, Miss Lana Russell, 2025 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia Pa. It was mailed on January 17, 1917 from McConnellstown, PA and says, Dear Sis – Just a card to see how you are. I am at Mc at the Present. Just here for a few days. Will write later. Ruthie. Very little romance in that!

However, the two other cards have a bit of a story as both were mailed to Miss Addie Clask, 1715 Pitt Street, Dallas, TX. These share the idiosyncrasy of a big flourish around the M in Miss and are from the same series of romantic cards. I like the card where Teddie signed with the little stars or flowers! Both appear to have been mailed in May (May 4 and 21 respectively – although weirdly 22 has been penciled in on the latter and he has in fact hand dated it May 23) 1915 as far as I can read the year.

The more practical, thank you card from a brother or friend.
Somewhat illegible back of the May 4 card.

The earlier of the two is the more prosaic, What’s on your mind which seems appropriate as the message is distinctly more fraternal. It appears (roughly) to read, Helluw Just (?) of cards and my letters so this least. We all ok and many many thanks for sending any mail for me so answer soon as E (?) of friend. The signature is also illegible and might be Joe something. Something about his abbreviated speak reminds me of my lazy texting. He appears to have writing #7 twice at the top, quite definitely.

Not surprisingly, the more romantic missive of the two.

However, perhaps not surprisingly Would you refuse me a kiss appropriately has the more personal message. Although the handwriting is better is it still a chore to decipher. He provides a return address as Mc Gregar, Texas with the (wrong) date and with a bit of additional flourish it says, Miss addie, My Dearest – I am safely landed and am fine and dandy. Will et Piel (??) a letter soon I miss so…[can’t read] Teddie. B.

I found these two additions to the series online. I wonder if the one on the left originally had something written under it – this from a poster image taken from the card.

I like these cards with their moon seat poses and the starry backgrounds which I can’t quite decide if they were applied later or were a real background. These are from a larger series and several, shown below, were easily found – some have been transformed into different forms – a poster in one case – but you get the idea. These cards appear to be American produced and are identified as Moon Series with corresponding identifying numbers.

Addie must have appreciated a nice M flourish!

While I believe the first card (Kiss Me Good-Night) is also from a series it was not easily findable online like the others. That card, while mailed in the US was German produced. I found only the image below which might be from the same series.

A beaut but not in the Pictorama collection. Seems to be for sale on a site that might be Czech. Look at that leering moon face!

I have a few more moon cards up my sleeve for future posts. Aside from posing with a giant Felix doll, I can’t think of a better way to have been captured in time and place.

The Girls on the Moon

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: It is a cold gray February morning here in NYC as I write. Snow (I think of it as more snow), which just commenced, is expected throughout today. Somehow it seems like a good opportunity to consider these pretty young women in spring dresses taken in July of 1912.

They are wonderful and somehow that shines through the fact that this photo was an unusually ham-handed product. Perhaps it is the sheer number that these photographers took at fairs or seaside resorts, but they are usually of at least adequate execution, if occasionally showing signs of exhausted chemicals (dunked in a nearby bucket a few too many times) or an image not washed of developer properly and fading over time. This photo would be the exception to the rule – the bottom of the image is out of focus and the top physically cropped crudely – although reading it, that seems to have happened later. Maybe it was cut down slightly to fit in a frame – there is no evidence that it was in a photo album. Perhaps the slightly slovenly execution is why this card was actually sent rather than just saved as a memento as is most often the case with these, at least those which are generally seen and collected today.

For all of that these two are charmers. One grasps the nose of the moon – poking him right in the eye! And the two hold hands. They are both enjoying themselves mightily and smile broad, sincere grins from their moon-side perch. One looks at the other and she looks out, at us and into the future.

Pams-Pictorama.com collection

The notes are charming too though. Written at the bottom it says, This was taken in Muskogee. We had the finest of times there going to the parks & shows & most everywhere. On the back, also in pencil but lighter and very hard to read, it appears to say, Dear Ma, Say have you sent me any money? if you haven’t pls send some to Aunt Pearl’s for me. I’m leaving this afternoon for K.C. I sure had a grand time here especially…[arrow to the part about money] If you have sent it I will get it alright…will forward it for me. Jane. It is addressed to: Mr. Densel Brown, 2255 E Street, Granite City, Ill. (Yes, she has written to her mother but addressed the card to her father. Welcome to 1912 I guess.) In her hand it is dated 7/19/12.It was mailed from somewhere called Gibson and one wonders if these two are cousins.

A play on the typical Moon photo which I purchased years ago.

I have collected a few of these cards. One of my very first posts was devoted to an early acquisition. (It can be found here. A post about the other photo below can be found here.) They are a competitive area of collecting however so I only dabble a bit. They are a special joy when excellent examples are pulled together and framed or shown collectively – more is more – something I have seen well executed a few times. Much like my beloved posing with Felix photo postcards these always seem to be joyful. As if to say, who wouldn’t get a grin on their face when, in the midst of a fine day at a fair or seaside resort, dressed in your spring togs, you got to sit on the moon or mug with a giant Felix?

A happy group enjoying themselves for a pose on and around the moon.

As huge flakes of snow obliterate our view now (cartoon snow is how I think of these giant pieces, chunks really, floating and blowing around) accumulate outside my window, I am grateful to have spent an hour in July, 1912 in Muskogee, Oklahoma with Jane and her pal.

Mooning Again

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: It has been a long time since I bought what I call a moon photo. When I first started collecting I looked at them endlessly, purchasing a few along the line. One is pinned up in my office – that place I used to go to daily and have barely laid eyes on for the past seven months. I realized the other day that I missed seeing the toys, photos and sheets of early music adorned with cat imagery that I surrounded myself with there. I retrieved a few things on a trip in recently, but am thinking I may need to rescue a few others on my next trip. (This very special box made by Kim resides on my desk there and I think it needs to come home to my now home office desk on the next trip. I wrote about it once here,)

A Deitchian decorated one-of-a-kind box

Years ago I saw a wonderful accumulation of moon photos, all framed together – each one top notch. It was at an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum. A quick search on their website shows some really great ones (you can find them here), but it was the great eye that had put them together in a frame a certain way that appealed to me. Some things seem to be better when you amass good examples of them together for display. If I had the space I would consider investing the time in creating a nice moon photo grouping like that. Instead I have my wall of people posing with Felix-es I guess. (The photo below from an April 2018 post which can be found here.)

Images from Pams-Pictorama.com collection.

When I first considered taking up photography (both the collecting and the taking) it was the idea of the sort of joy that people seem to bring to posing for photos like this that interested me. It is the same with folks posing with Felix – they get a big smile on their face just by being there. It remains one of my goals in life to find a moon set and get my photo taken in it. I briefly wondered about building our own moon photo set, but there are some things a studio apartment really cannot accommodate, no matter how creative you get.

An early entry into my collecting was featured in a short post at the very beginning of this blog. It is below and 2014 post can be found here. It is a nifty variation – a full moon and it seems like a professional postcard that was produced en mass rather than the sort of individual snapshot. Still, for me, all moon photos are of interest. They can run into a lot of money and if seriously collecting them you would be forced to pay up for the most part. Therefore, given my other weaknesses, I am a somewhat desultory collector of moon photos.

Pams-Pictorama.com collection

Today’s photo interested me in particular because one of the participants is holding a small animal – I am guessing dog although one could make the argument for cat. The man in the dark suit is holding it in a grip my father used to call cat prison – holding the kitties, with both of this large hands, in this no nonsense sort of hold – usually when they were within reach and doing something somewhat undesirable. It was not cat-escapable. When ultimately released the cat would shoot forward like a feline missile. Annoyed at the interruption of its wrongdoings and the temporary containment and limitations imposed on its inalienable freedom.

Pams-Pictorama.com collection.

It seems to me that dogs don’t seem to require this sort of strong arming for photos under most circumstances – they usually get with the program pretty quickly and pose with the family. Either way I have an extra soft spot for folks who bring along the family pet for such photos.

That roguish fellow with pet notwithstanding, our photo participant posers are a fairly serious looking group. Two out of three women are smiling – the woman in the middle isn’t and I don’t know why because she has the best spot, smack in the middle, white stocking legs, ankles crossed, hanging right over the edge of the moon. The photographer had a good eye for this set up and composition. It is a bit faded, one imagines that the developer used was probably well into its long day of use.

The set is a slightly less imaginative one than some and sadly the moon face is largely cut off from view – I always like to see those variations and here we just see the tip of the nose. (The photographer loses points for that. He or she also loses a few points for the distinct shadows behind the people which kill the illusion to some degree, although it does give us a better sense of the construction of the set.) The clouds are a tad lumpy, but there are stars which I tend to approve of in my moon sets. The card, like most of this kind, was never mailed and there are no notations on the back.

I leave you today with a snapshot of the Felix photo wall – there are a few additions pending and soon it will march over the ajoining top of the kitchen door and ultimately wander down the other side. (There is another, smaller annex of Felix photos, tintypes, in the hall near our bathroom.) Small apartment or not, I always say there’s always room for one more Felix photo.

Pams-Pictorama.com