photo postcard

Sporty

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Pam’s Pictorama Post: Sam 3 mts. old it says on the back. This cat is a hot number. This appears to be taken on the deck of a large ship. Sam is clearly a perky fellow, and he is mesmerized trying to catch that mouse toy. This is British, no date – a photo, not a postcard. I love the suited arm that is reaching into the photo. A man in a suit having his photo taken on board a ship, playing with Sam the cat!

Cats standing on their hind legs could be their own genre. This one below is a photo I have owned for quite a while – a cat preparing to stand for a cat treat. Not as young or as sporty as Sam – this fellow is a tad stout from those treats. This time a mysterious female arm. (The humans are always on the edges of these photos – an arm, a shadow.) Although this looks like a photo postcard and has those dimensions, it is a lighter paper. Nothing on the back. I do not remember where this came from, but I am fairly certain it is from the US. I bought it because at the time we had a beloved cat, Roscoe, who was a fiend for cat treats and would catch them in his mouth if pitched. It reminded me of him.

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This one below had its own post recently. (Peeved Puss Postcard, August 24, 2014.)

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We aren’t quite sure what they were doing to encourage him to stand up but clearly he isn’t happy about it.

Cookie and Blackie are the most standing up cats I have ever had. Kim and I have speculated that it is an evolutionary aspect of cats. I don’t believe I have captured this in a photo so I will have to work on that. Mouse toys at the ready!

Men in Hats with Cats

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Pam #1

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Hailing from McMinnville, Oregon, October 3, 1911!  Still yet another terrific turn-of-the-century postcard from the great Pacific northwest. Evidently McMinnville is in the heart of the wine country, between Portland and the coast – these fellows look as if they may have been imbibing a bit, or preparing to, but that is pure speculation on my part.

Here we are cats and all ha ha is inscribed on the back with the date and the location. It is a photo postcard and these gentlemen are all dressed up and raring to go I’d say. Of course I love the fact that they are holding these two tabby cats – wearing typical looks of cat concern. The cats are identical so I take them for siblings. The one on the right is clearly considering making a break for it, and the guy holding him seems well aware of the cat’s intention to become a projectile any moment. The other guy is holding the cat in what my family refers to as cat prison – the two-handed you ain’t goin’ nowhere hold. (My father gets credit for naming this cat hold.) As a result he is able to look squarely into the camera. (His suit is a bit ill-fitting; too big for him. Perhaps it was a loaner? Growing into it?)

The guy in the lower left looks like a bit of a bum for my money – not as natty as the others, pork pie hat shoved back on his head; couldn’t be bothered. No cat holding for him – he’s too cool. I love that these guys, all dressed up, bowler hats and all are posing with these two kitties. Tabby cats always strike me as especially scrappy, so they seem a good choice for these young gentlemen. Cool with cats, I’d say.

A Photo Only I Could Love?

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  More Pre-Halloween seasonal fun! I fell hard for this card, but it was one if those rare occasions when Kim just couldn’t see it. Don’t get me wrong – he would never actively discourage me from purchasing a photo I was crazy about, but sometimes when he seems truly mystified it does take the wind out of my sails. There’s nothing about marriage which makes me think you should like all the same stuff – more interesting if you don’t really and Kim readily agrees. And I know that the kindest thing he can say about some of the most ratty of my toy purchases is that this one or that one look like a stuffed demon, or worse yet, a roll of the eyes and a (sad) shake of the head – but somehow I expect our esthetic sensibility for images such as photos to be more aligned. But on the other hand, how can my husband fail to see the bizarre greatness of a card of someone in a homemade Felix costume, with a mask made out of a bag and an advertising sign that says, Felix left off walking when he bought a bike from Curry’s? Or am I really just crazy? I mean, it was The Prize Winner at Boston. Really Kim!

Another time this happened was an attempt to purchase these photos of co-eds donning Felix-y costumes. I was seriously jazzed when I saw them and Kim…wasn’t. I was so befuddled I put it out to Facebook for a vote. The buys had it (by a good margin, but not unanimous) but so shaken was my confidence that I underbid and ultimately lost it. (Below is the scan pulled off of Facebook from eBay.)

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There are those occasions when Kim seems unimpressed until the photo enters the apartment. There are numerous examples of this, but the most recent is the photo featured in my post Cat Hat, sadly this was not one of those times.

For me, the costume, complete with broken cat tail and white socks for feet (those folks at Curry’s were nothing if not resourceful), posed on an early British version of Astroturf just tickles me silly. I hope it does as much for you, my reader.

Tea Party

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Krazy lunch

Pam Pictorama Photo Post:  Much like the recent My Little Pony post, this is another glance of real life into an idyllic looking childhood.  This photo postcard, discovered in a search of Mickey Mouse photos (Mickey in chair, left) is beyond charming – I want to be this little girl with the dolls and the adorable pet rabbit! (I think the rabbit is real not stuffed, don’t you?)  Check out that nifty rocking toy behind Mr. Bunny, shaped like a chick, reminiscent of Boston’s swan boats – and the nice chair Mr. Buns is sitting on. This kid had great stuff!  She sets an elegant table – and she’s wagging her finger at the doll in the high chair – you rogue. Dolly, you!

My Little Pony

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  What child doesn’t fantasize about having their own pony?  Kim and I were just discussing this and of course, we both wanted, and were denied (Mom! Dad!) pony ownership.  I mean, it’s like having your own elephant when you’re a kid, right? Top ‘o the world! This little girl has it all going and she knows it. Not just that natty little pony, but the jaunty outfit and tack, complete with chaps, saddle bag and saucy hat. Let’s face it, accessories do make the girl. Completing this photo are the cobblestones and the upright picket fence behind her.

My mother was evidently quite a rider when she was young – mucking stalls for riding time along with her best friend. A riding accident eventually persuaded her that it was too dangerous for her children to pursue so I never learned to ride. I’m sure I would have gone through a prolonged girl loves horses stage. Instead, I pretended our German Shepard was a pony and rode her (and would dress the cat up and put her on the dog’s back – circus kitty) and became intimately absorbed in the life of the cat and dog instead. But boy, oh boy, I would have loved this set up!

Pam Postscript: I found this on eBay shortly after posting this. In my less romantic childhood, this was my trusty steed.  Cowboys and Indians alike watch out! I think I even thought it could go to the moon – perhaps not surprising having into consciousness in the 1960’s.

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Happy

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Pam’s Pictorama photo post:  On the back of this photo postcard, very faded and in barely visible script it says, This is “Happy” the pet of the family taking a piece of bread. Some of you may remember another photo postcard post with a cat named Happy Hooligan – Happy clearly a good name for a cat at the turn-of-the-century.  I am a real sucker for tuxedo cats and Happy is no exception – he is a dead ringer for at least two of mine from days gone by.  (RIP Roscoe and Zippy!) As handsome as Happy is, nothing takes center stage entirely away from that woman’s hat.  Wowzers! The hat, her sheer girth, her enjoyment of Happy, and Happy reaching up to grab the food (bread??) out of her hands – proving once again that cats haven’t changed a bit in the last 100 years – made me leap to buy this photo. (Ancient Egyptian cats were probably head butting their humans when happy and using their paws to grab a bit of food from people’s hands.) It is a satisfying scene – sunny day, the horizontal siding on the house, broken by the window – but I am vaguely mystified by the covered table outside. Was this scene and composition carefully thought out and arranged in advance? Or were we just lucky to catch them that day?

Passin’ Through

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  This card would be pretty interesting even if it was just the musicians, but I really love that it was snapped as the cat was tip toeing through.  Everyone is looking sort of like they just stepped out of a band box – oops, pun I guess. But truly, the neat straw hats, her dress – this is their good bib and tucker.  No idea where this was taken and frankly, the background does look a bit down and out.  A photo postcard with no writing on the back. I would like to hear them play. I imagine it was jolly despite the frayed surroundings.

The cat is the same black and white cow print as my very first cat and best friend when I was a tiny tot, the aptly named Snoopy. A very nice cat, a bit heavier in the tum than this fine looking fellow. When I was a little older we acquired several more cats, all fairly territorial, as cats will be about their yard. Our neighbors, meanwhile, had a marmalade tabby tom of medium size – I think his name was Phil. Somehow this rather shy and peace-loving cat had negotiated a treaty with our cats whereby he could enter the yard as long as he kept moving – was allowed to cross it – without being chased. He would pass with a determined, steady and continuous stride at all hours of the day and night. He was renamed and forever known to the Butler clan as Passin’ Through. This cat has that same let me get out of here yet un-hurried look just like Passin’ Through used to have. While I am not sure, maybe there is a cat as diplomat lesson to be learned there.  If not, we still have the great photo.

Strange Hijinxs

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Cag tree...tranquil scene

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: The cat photo is a recent purchase and it made me dig out the other, which I have had for years and was sitting on a shelf.  I guess it is the peering between the trees thing that scratched at my brain.  I love the photo of the cat showing his (or her) tummy in the tree, although it does make you wonder what the heck they were thinking.  I mean, if the cat liked to hang out in the tree like that, that why do you need to hold him up for the photo?  Cat looks concerned – often do in photos I have noticed.  This isn’t a large photo, about 3″x5″ and you can see where it used to fit into an album. Hmmm, wonder what else was on that page.

The other one is a photo postcard and a terrific photo.  Clearly the folks are having some fun, although I suspect the specifics might be somewhat lost to us. I like the way the dog is looking one way and the man in the tree the other. Perfect reflection in the water which adds to it too. I do wonder how I even found this photo (no cat in it to turn up on a search) which brings to mind one of the things I do not like about living in the age of eBay.  Ebay is beyond wonderful for finding things you are looking for, but is somewhat limited to what you are looking for – it is not impossible, but a bit harder to stumble on things you didn’t know about, the way you might at a flea market digging through a dusty box.  I have managed, and this photo is evidence – and I am the first to say that the good outweighs the bad!

Cat in a Box

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  Introducing a nice little fellow, immortalized in his (or her) favorite spot.  Anyone who has a cat knows that they can rarely resist a box.  There is, of course, the most famous box loving cat of our day, Maru:

which proves that cats the world over are the same.

And this photo helps reminds us that it has also been ever thus. People are the same too and we have loved recording our adorable darlings in their irresistible poses first in daguerreotype, then wet plate, and endlessly on film. One imagines that the “cloud” is weighed down with digital cat images and, let’s face it, where would Youtube be without them? I worry though about the future of those digital images.  Where are tomorrow’s cat pictures of today?

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Cookie examines a recently arrived package in our apartment

Tom the Fire Boat Cat

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  I don’t have all that much to say except that I fell in LOVE with this postcard when I saw it a few weeks ago.  I will confess that I paid dearly for it (which just shows that other people saw his charm as well), but the pain of purchase is already fading in my memory  – my pleasure with the card rapidly eclipsing the cost.

September 1910, more than a hundred years ago this month, Tom, The pride of the Fire Boat, Portland, Oregon, posed for this photo. (Yep, another wonderful photo find from the great city of Portland, OR.)  What a nice fellow!  He has a great sense of readiness about him and it is easy to imagine him helping with all the necessary boat tasks.  A very solid little citizen, nicely well-fed, muscular, but not quite fat.  And he just about qualifies as a tuxedo – I have a soft spot for those, as many of you know.  I salute Tom and I hope you enjoy him too.