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The Cat Card Comes Back

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This is a story of one that got away, but came back and gave me another shot. I loved this card, but lost it to an insanely high bid on eBay several months ago. I was very unhappy about it – it combines my favorite elements of early photography and, of course, a great, dignified cat who seems to know something about posing for the camera. Last week what I assume is another copy showed up on eBay and I bid as high as I could – and won it! It is wonderful – a crystal clear photo. I took a loop to it in order to check out the strange doll in the carriage – yes, it appears to have a monkey head. I guess that got the kiddies going with a smile if Mr. Cat could not. The tag line reads COME ALONG WITH US.

Like so many of my best photo postcards, this one hails from Portland, Oregon, the origin of great, early photo postcards. The copyright is 1910, also inscribed on the front and it was taken by D.A. Ovens. It is unused and otherwise undated. I did not have brilliant results in finding out about our photographer, Mr. Ovens.  I found some copyrights on his photos with no images and this one image below off a Oregon library history site:

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Assuming he had a photo studio in Portland I am unable to uncover any information about it.

For myself, I fantasize that Mr. Ovens traveled around pushing this baby carriage with doll, cat and camera and stopping to take your photo. How splendid that would have been to encounter on a downtown street in Portland, Oregon in 1910 and pose to have our photo taken with the kitty!

 

Flying Dutch Kitties

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: There are endless examples of early images of kittens dressed up and doing cute human-type things. However, I have never purchased one until this one hit my radar recently. It just cracks me up! As you can see by the writing, it is Dutch. A very rough translation gratis Google tells me that this is a bit of advertising and the back informs the recipient (this one not used) that the vendors hope to see them this week and that they offer high value for their orders – whatever those might be. The front makes reference to “our kitties which will soon be in the air!” (Any readers who speak Dutch please reply below!) What were these kitties selling? I’m buying!

I am always threatening to dress the cats up and take their photo – Kim begs me not to injure their dignity that way and I am brought to my senses. This image strikes me as a perfect marriage of low tech and professional – like those glorious ‘homemade’ cars and machines the Little Rascals used to have. I especially love the balloon!

I gather the key mover behind the cats-dressed-as-people movement was Harry Whittier Frees (1879-1953) – sort of a Louis Wain of early photography. I snatched the quote below from Wikipedia and it come from his own book, Animal Land on the Air, discussing the superiority of kittens as models,

Rabbits are the easiest to photograph in costume, but incapable of taking many ‘human’ parts. Puppies are tractable when rightly understood, but the kitten is the most versatile animal actor, and possesses the greatest variety of appeal. Yay kittens!

The practice spread widely beyond Whittier Frees – as we can assume this card was made by someone else. For a healthy serving of these I suggest this site on littlethings.com. I have stolen a single image from it, shown below by an unidentified photographer.

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A Girl and Her Toys

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Another fine example of an item where Kim and I disagree! He’s never been fond of this triptych of toy photos, but I have always liked it since buying it many years ago on eBay. In recent years I have allowed it to be replaced on the wall by some images that we are more mutually fond of, but I stubbornly continue to champion it. My guess is that the small cat toy – barely visible here and in the lower right corner, is how it came to my attention. It really is all about this enormous, lovely teddy bear however. What a lucky little girl!

The background shifts a bit with each subsequent shot until we end up with that interesting bit of advertising featured behind her in the third shot. I will admit that these are somewhat inept from a technical point of view, going from slightly over exposed to too dark in the third shot. I am in love with the idea of a series like this though.

As the child of a man with a masters in film and a news cameraman (his entire career spanning more than thirty years spent at ABC News) you would think I would have been subjected to projects such as this. He did labor over his photos and I have memories of what seemed like endless adjustments of the light meter at a variety of family landmark moments while we stood impatiently. However, such a formal approach never appealed to him. I offer a Christmas snapshot of me as a tiny sprout with my favorite dog toy, dubbed Squeaky, one Christmas morning, who incidentally I still own. I think we can see early signs of a nascent toy collector in this one!

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Happy Hen

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Wonderful chicken toy can be purchased here!

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: (Christmas shopping tip included!) As I have said occasionally in prior posts, sometimes it is hard to explain why a given photo attracts me, but when I see them I have to have ’em if at all possible. This photo postcard of a chicken is one of those. It was never used, no clue as to when it was made or why – or why it was kept pristine all these years. What a perfect looking little hen! Proudly perched on this cage. There’s just something very right about it. Reminds me of stories my mother has told me of people she who keep them as pets – yes, in the house. Evidently they are smarter and more charming as a pet then you might think – and live longer. Regardless of whether or not we want to live with one in our tiny Manhattan abode, there is something undeniably proud and perfect about this chicken. Makes me pleased to know I am a vegetarian.

This put me in mind of several years ago when I first purchased a stunning stuffed beaver toy made by the Hansa toy company. I don’t remember how the beaver originally came to my attention, but it was clearly a very exquisitely made toy. I was deeply interested in beavers and scooped it up. Once I saw how beautiful it was I located the toy company online – a stuffed animal paradise. Following in the tradition of early Steiff, Dean’s, and Chad Valley there is beautiful construction, but also a look of intelligence and life in some of these toys – they have knowing eyes. They tackle animals from the everyday and domestic to the exotic – even extinct.  Each is perfectly executed – need a stuff wombat, flying squirrel or nice executed life-size German Shepard? These are your people. This hen just seemed extraordinary and Kim purchased her for me. She has a prime spot in our living room. (A quick look on the site today left me imagining a young Pam begging for a 40 inch ride-on reindeer, on sale for $591.92, or life-size buffalo for $2,495! Mom, Dad, look! Free shipping!)

So during this holiday season, I leave you with this top notch helpful hint for that hard to buy for person on your list.

The Old George

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Offered as a reproduction on Amazon, The Old George Hotel, in an earlier incarnation.

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: The Residents shown here are identified as Bonzo, Tou-Tou and Joseph. Silly me, I assumed the dog was Bonzo until I looked up Tou-Tou and realized it is French for doggie. So that leaves us to wonder if the cat is Joseph (my guess) and the turtle Bonzo or otherways around – or, of course, the cat or turtle could be named Tou-Tou and the dog Bonzo. Both the cat and the dog (and the turtle?) seem to be looking upward at where Residents is written – very nifty indeed.

Evidently the original Old George Hotel building dates back to 1314, although very little of it remains today – it’s ground floor knocked out to become the entrance to the Old George Mall shopping precinct. As recently as 1994 there was a restaurant, the Bay Tree, in residence – followed by the Old George Tearooms, which closed in ’09.  I gather that the building is open to the public on special occasions such as Heritage Days, whatever those might be. All this according to a BBC history site which goes on to share a short list of some of the famous guests which include Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Pepys and Buddy Holly – quite a diverse list. Pepys recorded the following in his famous diary:

Lay in a silk bed, and a very good diet…

The next day he wrote:

…paid the reckoning, which was so exorbitant…that I was mad and resolved to trouble the mistress about it and get something for the poor.

Actually, pretty tame for Pepys!  In addition, Shakespeare and his players are believed to have played in the courtyard, which had room for 50 horses. Last, but not least, Dickens mentions it in Martin Chuzzlewit. H.G. Wells has a turn in The Secret Places of the Heart referring to the Old George smoking room and he writes,

 The Old George at Salisbury is really old; it shows it, and Miss Seyffert laced the entire evening with her recognition of the fact. ‘Just look at that old beam!’she would cry suddenly. ‘To think it was exactly where it is before there was a Cabot in America!’

Of course, with the possible exception of H.G. Wells and Buddy Holly, all of this was most likely well before Bonzo, Tou-Tou and Joseph arrived on the scene and had their photo taken in the garden. (Of course, hard to tell with turtles.) No date on this photo postcard, nothing on the back. Photo postcards stopped being marketed by Kodak in 1930 although I am sure, like tintypes, they continued to be used for quite a while beyond – and since this is a promotional postcard for a hotel it could easily be much later.

In the end, I imagine it was a lovely place to stay and can see myself, drink in hand, enjoying the garden with Bonzo, Tou-Tou and Joseph and all those interesting ghosts from its earlier incarnations.

The garden at the Old George Hotel, 1928 in a photo for sale online.

Mad Jenny

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Facebook followers may remember this unusual acquisition. The jest of what is written on the back, in French but somewhat obscured, seems to be Souvenir of … and … of Madame Jenny Bell Theatre 8. Oct. 1910. Jenny, looking quite mad indeed, poses with collaged cats and a monkey – what is that strange swing the one cat is on? (Photo collage is prized in my collection – see also Cat Photo Collage.)

A quick bit of sleuthing (and some good luck) reveals a notice in the October 9, 1910 issue of the  San Francisco Call announcing Jennie and Her Trained Angora Cats and Performing Dogs featured at the Wigwam. Dogs! And no mention of the monkey! This means that our French owner of the card must have been visiting San Francisco – since we know Jenny and her cats were there that week – evidently at the Bell  immediately followed by the Wigwam. I found a rather excellent photo of the Bell Theater which I share here from the Cinema Treasure website. While it seems likely to be the one in question I mostly see listings that say it didn’t open until 1911. Hmmm. October is late 1910.

Bell Theatre, San Francisco, CA

Back in 2005 I read a New York Times article about the Russian cat circus visiting Manhattan and I purchased tickets and dragged ever-patient Kim off before he knew what hit him. I can see online now that there is a fair amount of controversy about Yuri Kuklachev and his cat troupe. (Russians have an especially deep history of training animals – I remember being taken to see performing animals in Moscow one night when I was on a tour there in 1994.  Cats, dogs and much to my surprise, ducks and goats.) All I can say is, it takes a whole lot of cat treats to make a cat circus run. Speaking as someone who has trouble asking the cats to move so I can rollover in bed, I probably don’t have a future career in cat on-command trick training. I am shown with Yuri and furry performer below. Cookie and Blackie take note – this is a working kitty.

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Me and My Felix

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  It doesn’t surprise me that, if you had a wonderful Felix the Cat doll, you would want your photo taken with it. As many of you already know, my collection in this area is fairly deep.  (Some of it was already immortalized and shared in an early posts, Felix Makes the Picture Better and more so in Ugly Children Good Toys.)  Shown here is a little girl dressed in her finest, holding a delightfully large Felix doll and looking mighty pleased with herself.  It is a photo postcard and nothing has been written on the back. Her Felix is a more pristine example of one I own – I am sparing you a photograph of me holding it!

The other card has a small holiday riff and I will use it as a tip of the cap to the newly launched 2014 holiday season. It is hard to see, but the tinfoil greetings has an impression of holly around it.  This little fellow had to pose in his winter clothes (and hat) in front of a very soft focus bit of outdoor scenery.  Note those snappy buttons on his trousers though! He’s dressed up too.  His Felix on the other hand is an absolutely whacky pop-eyed fellow.  Love those ears standing straight up – part bunny! This also unused and perfectly preserved.

I have wondered if these toys were just props at the photo studio. For some reason the little girl has always struck me as the owner of that Felix, the little boy perhaps not. Maybe because it is a bit less clear that the girl is in a photo studio – the portrait could have been made at home.

Those of you on Facebook know that I can’t resist posting a photo of me with new toy acquisitions. A natural impulse I think – representing a long tradition of proud ownership. On the other hand, who wouldn’t smile in a photo studio if they handed you a huge Felix doll?  I would!

Up a Tree

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Treed Cats

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: My personal experience with a cat up a tree is that it is an anxiety induing experience for both the human witness and the cat. To me it is a perfect metaphor for that dreadful mistake we all make once in a while – who hasn’t found themselves at least metaphorically up a tree? After all, everything about a cat is well designed for getting up the tree – and poorly outfitted for getting down. Having said that, many a cat’s hide has been saved by a quick run up a tree where a dog or other predator could not follow. While I have never had to resort to calling the fire department, nor even taking out a ladder, growing up with cats in the suburbs we periodically would find ourselves standing in the backyard trying to convince one kitty or another to make the slow trip back down the slippery trunk of a tree.  These fellows look like they might make the trip up this tree on a regular basis however. It did not excite my anxious nature.

The back of this photo postcard is a bit hard to read.  The postmark is Boston, November 3, 1909, 9:30 AM. It is address as follows: G A Orustredt, Bridgeport, Conn, general delivery.  It reads: J. P. 11/2/09; Friend Gus [sic] Received your Postal last evening and feeling o.k. Indigestion better, the girls are all feeling fine they all send Regards. [sic] So you are on the old camping ground again hope you wont stay too long. We will expect you back in Boston by xmas anyway. I am Forwarding Letter and Postal. hope you will receive them O.K. Friend G.A.G. I guess maybe the indigestion had a negative impact on his punctuation? And no mention of the cats in the tree in the photo.

Plenty Joes

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This one is in pretty bad shape – and Kim even helped out by taking it into photoshop and lightening it up! I couldn’t help it – I love this image. These two little fellows, Peter and Plenty Joes (possibly the best cat name I never heard before) are such adorable little guys. They look like they have a little attitude to back up those names – especially Plenty Joes. No surprise that I find kittens quite irresistible, but anyone who has adopted one or (God help us) two at this age know that they are quite a handful – and I can only guess from looking at these guys that they were no exceptions!  Blissfully, Cookie and Blackie have entered the easier to take adolescent stage – and only try to climb the walls to knock the pictures off occasionally.

Kitty Rescue at Sea

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Pam’s Pictorama Phot Post:  I am a real sucker for a cat photo with a story, and so I went all out to get this unusual postcard. It appears to be a memorial card for the Loss of the ‘Gladiator’ – no date, not postally used.  In case you can’t enlarge the image enough to read it, the typed article at the bottom reads as follows:  Cat Found Alive. The only living thing found on board was the ship’s cat, Mickey – a black and white animal. Mickey was found in the men’s quarters rushing wildly about, mad with fear. The man who rescued Mickey was a stranger to him, and could not possibly calm the animal’s feelings.  One of the crew of the Gladiator was fetched and the cat immediately recognized him and nestled lovingly in his big arms.  The sailor then carried Mickey ashore, where he was received with great jubilation.  Additionally the following is etched into the negative, Loss of the ‘Gladiator’ CRIBR. (?) This Bluejacket is seen with Mickey dressed in borrowed artilleryman’s clothes

Some quick research turns up the story. The British cruiser was rammed by an American liner, the St. Paul, in a snowstorm on April 25 of 1908 off the Isle of Wright. The Gladiator quickly sank – the St. Paul was damaged, but less so. Several lives from the Gladiator were lost, however the article in the New York Times archive mostly notes and praises the men for having awaited rescue in parade formation. No mention of Mickey is made in the Times article. I have included two images here of the ship and the accident – both are being sold on Amazon as historic prints.  They are of interest, but I will stick with Mickey I think.

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Cats on board ships are a major category unto themselves.  I can’t say I thoroughly embrace these stories because more often then not these fine furry fellows seem to come to a bad end. Life on a ship for a cat seems to be cheap – although a bit rough on the humans too I guess and most of the cats, like Mickey, often seem to be much beloved by sailors. (Perhaps the high life of fish eating and vermin chasing may somewhat compensate for this?)   However, Mickey, a fine looking tuxedo, seems to have kicked in with a few of those nine lives and made it out of this one alive and well.