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Further Mysteries of Felix

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Minstrel Felix

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: If you’ve been reading my blog over the past year, you realize that Felix worked his way into all sorts of walks of life. The background and reason for some of these are utterly lost to us now. My early post, Felix Mask-o-Rama is one of these and this recent acquisition is another.  Only Felix the Cat written on the back – recently I assume, probably by the seller.

Of course I couldn’t resist it when it turned up on an obscure postcard site for sale, but wowza – what is going on here I wonder?  All but one person in black face, several with white stars on their eye – Grand Pooba, master of ceremony type in the middle – along with Felix and one guy who is not in blackface. Several appear to be children. Let’s face it, this would be odd without the presence of Felix, but he really mystifies me. It makes me speculate – could one consider Felix with his black coat and white muzzle black face? That would, of course, mean that we assume Felix is white to begin with – or is it white face? Hmmm. That’s probably a can of worms I am not going to poke around in, but I certainly can say this, that Felix sure did get around.

Felix, the Sporting Life

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  At first glance I thought these were sisters gathering around their Felix toy, but closer examination shows some strange items at the bottom of the photo – anyone know what the heck those are? Looks like a giant spatula and pail. In a way, another Mysteries of Felix post.

On further consideration, there is also something loosely of a uniform among these, mostly, striped dresses, belted the same. What is that cheeky little armband the woman in the lower left is wearing? She and the other one seated on the floor, both with their bobbed hair, look like they know how to have a good time! This is a smaller, home version of Felix however. Perhaps the mascot of their ‘team’? Like most of these postcards, this one not written on, nor was it sent. However, I do think it looks like a team that might be worth joining.

Lining up for Felix

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: I guess this camera man gets slapped on the wrist for cutting the top of the one kid’s head off, but everyone having such a good time, why quibble? Felix looks like he just stopped by the house and had his photo with the family out front, in fact that is what seems to have happened. The number down by his foot makes me think this was an itinerant photographer traveling about with Felix in toe, drumming up business in a wealthy neighborhood. It is undeniably British and everyone is nicely dressed without feeling like they have dressed up for it. I love the way the photographer lined them up, ending with jaunty Felix, a smile on his face. He’s a good size – almost as tall as the little girl.

Perhaps this was one of my past lives – wandering the streets and seaside resorts of Britain, Felix and photo postcard camera in tow!

Pretty as a Picture

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Pam’s Pictorama Post Post: The sheer gorgeousness of this image just appealed to me, cat-less though it is. I believe that eBay suggested that I might like it and I do. The whiteness of the clothes in that halo of sun – an idealized afternoon in the country, an attractive group of people posed complete with the handsome and faithful looking family dog. The card originated in a place called Hamilton, Canada (which appears to be in Ontario) and was mailed in 1907. It is postmarked from the place of origin and the destination, but neither postmark has a legible full date.

The back includes a note in a beautiful, neat, female hand which is as follows, Dear Cousin, Rec. your letter O.K. & was glad to hear from you. Am sorry I could not write before but will write in a day or so & explain. I am sending that piece of music by same mail. Bertha It is addressed to: Miss Jessie Brazell, 132 Lake Avenue, Medina, NY. Medina appears to be a small town in the same northern most part of New York State as Niagara and the Canadian border.

It is this kind of slice of life photo from the distant past that first interested me in old photographs. Just a window into a forgotten moment in long past time. Perfect to enjoy on a new summer day, so many years later.

Let Sleeping Cats Lie

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This fellow caught my attention recently. He looks so nicely settled into this pillow with that little tuft of hair sticking out at the back, over his hind leg. He’s giving us quite a look, under his slightly furrowed brow and almost closed eyes. The ability of cats to deeply enjoy (and employ!) sleep is one of their most well recognized traits. I don’t know about you, but when I am leaving for work on a cold and dreary day, the sight of my kitties settling in for a day-long snooze on the still warm blankets fills me with envy! While our bed is a cat free-for-all even that territory is generally carefully divided. Day-time sleeping allows for a different (more liberal) distribution than nighttime, which seems to break down to Blackie further up the bed, either between me and Kim or behind my knees. Cookie has a pillow at the foot of the bed (a relic from my foot surgery) that she generally claims at night. It is Blackie’s responsibility, evidently, to wake us in the morning. He never got the hang of the time change this year and persists in thinking that 4:30 AM is the right time for the first pass at us.

Beyond the bed, sleeping spots are won and then carefully guarded and occasionally fought over. The top of the couch, near the windows is generally ruled over by Blackie, while Cookie has possession of the chairs – and best of all, a spot on a cushion near Kim where he works. Oh my – she is the Queen of Everything seated there and fiercely defends it against any possible intervention by Blackie; who is indeed jealous. Have a look at her just the other day below.

Cookie as the Queen of Everything

My mother has pointed out that when a cat in the family dies, the cats all shift their sleeping spots to new ones. Not that they take over that cat’s spot, but for some reason the disruption seems to demand a whole rethinking of spots and who belongs where. A bit of cat etiquette and ritual we are unlikely to ever understand.

Floating Dock

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Continuing on in a theme of summers gone by, here is another offering. Unlike my post Alice Smalley this one is undated and without an label. It is not a photo postcard either – instead a small photo on the thick paper stock of the 40’s and 50’s with the rough, decorative edges that photos sometimes had in those days. This one of a woman and another fine tabby, a bit older but clearly just as scrappy. The woman here is a bit dressed up (that’s quite a skirt with polka dots no less – one doesn’t see polka dots as often as you once did – why is that?) perched here with sandals which I can tell you, probably weren’t that steady on that dock. It is another beautiful mountain spot. My only complaint is that this one is a bit dark.

This photo has special appeal for me because I grew up with a dock much like this at the end of our property. We moored a small sailboat off it and generally had a rowboat tied up next to the dock for the purpose of getting to the sailboat. The rowboat required bailing after each rain and that was a job that fell to my sister Loren and I for the most part. I admit that Loren was a bit better about it than me – and there is the time that she quietly untied the row boat while I was bailing – leaving me without oars and drifting off! Needless to say I was madder than a wet cat when I got a hold of her.

It probably is not surprising that the dock was a never-ending source of fascination, especially during long summer days. There were crab traps hung from it, but we would use nets to grab up crabs and fish too. Mostly we enjoyed low tide which allowed a closer examination of the bottom of the inlet of the river we lived on – named Polly’s Pond, although not really a pond in any technical sense. It’s historic name was Oyster Bay – no oysters there when I was growing up, but recently I understand that they have had success in seeding those beds and reintroducing them. For me, it will remain a mystical place of crabs and fish and long days laying out and getting tan, shared with my sister and brother and a number of curious kitties, always attracted to the possibility of excitement in the form of fish and rodents, perhaps a bit of protein hunted on the fly.

Alice Smalley

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: I went for this photo in a big way. I am not sure why exactly, there was competition, but I had to have it – there is something very idyllic about it. To begin with, the spot is gorgeous – the back of the card reveals that it is a state forest camp in Eagle’s Mere, PA – and the woman and cat are sort of archetypal. She is in her saddle shoes and is with that sprightly little tabby. He looks like he probably grew into a heck of a fellow.

Meanwhile, I gather Alice did not approve at all. The card is addressed to Miss Amelia Sonna, 121 Main Street, Boise, Idaho. It says as follows, in careful print: Taken On Our Vaction Trip. At a state Forest camp near Eagle’s Mere, Penna. Over the 4th. I think this is a swell photo – but Alice claims the hair + costume makes it ‘terrible’ – How do you like ‘Figaro’, our motoring cat? Love Henry S. It was mailed on July 27, 1940 from Washington, D.C. at 11:30 PM.  Well, I disagree with Alice about the hair and costume and I absolutely love Figaro, the motoring cat! This is one of those photos that leaves me wondering about these folks and what became of them.  A quick search on Henry or Alice Smalley in period Washington, DC does not turn up anything. Eagle’s Mere remains a rather stunning park area with many hiking trails (and a museum of early trains) on a lake in Sullivan County, PA. It gives me a yen for hiking in Pennsylvania, something I have not done for a very long time. I have never been so far west, but used to go to the area near the Delaware water gap with my friend Christine Butler (no relation!) for photos and hiking. Heavenly.

Anyway, as summer 2015 gets underway, there is something soothing and timeless about this photo. A reminder to go outside, enjoy – and take some pictures. Make sure to print them!

Who Me? Felix?

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Hard to say what Felix is thinking – him pointing at his head and the ? above it – it is a bit of a mystery. This is a toothy Felix – just the kind I like best! – and the jolly little hairs flying off his head are very entertaining too. Someone did a good job painting this Felix. The man and woman who have stuck their heads through here seem to be especially well suited for this shot. It reminds me a little of the photo in my post, On a Slow Train Thru’ Arkansas – another cheap and fun carnival photo opportunity. I guess Felix could always be added as an inexpensive but jolly photo novelty prop.

This card is unused so there is no sense of date or location. I do not know if it is American or not – but I suspect it is – it feels American. The very square and toothy Felix seems early. The woman’s hat seems to be from the thirties and the photo process doesn’t seem as early as the twenties, but hard to say for sure.

Given an option to go back in time, I might prefer to have my photo taken sitting on the moon, something I have always longed to do. However, I would nonetheless leap at the opportunity to have our photos, Kim and mine, taken with Felix this way. I mean really, who wouldn’t?

On Parade

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XX#6

Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This is an odd one. It was identified as Tunisian when sold on eBay, but there isn’t much explanation. The back reads: Bon Boisers Maria/Bon courage and is addressed as far as I can read it as: M’othel Image, Hospital ausciliaire, PO 16 Lens Yonne. Roughly translated the message seems to be something along the lines of Good kisses and good courage Maria which we assume she needs since she is in a hospital. Yonne appears to be south of Versaille although I have no point of reference to know more or less how far.

What a wonderful and whacky parade though! I had a perfectly excellent childhood, but my parents (sensible people who hated crowds) were not in favor of parades, which left me with a nagging hankering for them. My father, a cameraman for ABC news for years, frequently filmed the night-before balloon blow-up for NY’s Thanksgiving Day parade – and sometimes the actual parade! However he could not be cajoled into taking us kids, ever. As a result I visited the balloons pre-Thanksgiving for many years as an adult living in Manhattan. Never the parade however. In the end I inherited my parent’s dislike of crowds. But, for floats like this, I think I would happily make an exception.

From Your Loving Sister

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: At first glance this photograph was all about the foliage for me. I have a real thing for masses of climbing leafy and flowering foliage in high definition like this photo has. A 19th century garden of Eden. Then I focused on the three woman who are so clearly related – especially the one in the middle and the one on the right. Those two (and the cat) staring right at the camera. A formidable group! It is from Britain and is clearly very early. I have yet to identify the exact photo process, but like some others I have mentioned previously, it has a hard shine on it and a slight moire effect when photographed. (It drove poor Kim crazy getting it right when scanning.) I don’t know if this is a form of deterioration or just the nature of it. The definition of the print shows the large negative off to a real advantage.

This card was not mailed. However, written on the back in black pen is, To My New Brother From your loving sisters Elsie. And below that in pencil Family from Sutton Coldfield. Our friend at Google maps tells me that is the Midlands in the UK. As I mentioned, no doubt that these women are related. So interesting how some families, or even just a few people within a family can end up looking so much alike – others, not so much. At one time my brother and I (sporting similar haircuts) looked so much alike that someone I worked with walked up to him at a club in Manhattan and said, “You must be Pam Butler’s brother.”
Of course this card found its way to me because of that great cat. Very much a voting member of that family he has a place of pride, dead center in the photo and he looks right at New Brother – you can almost see him thinking, Yeah, Buddy, me too. Wanna make something of it?