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Hotsy-Totsy!

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: It was not, and is not really, my intention to start collecting early, risqué photo postcard of women and cats – although there seems to be a deep French tradition of these photos and cards to be explored.  This one got me, in part, because it is a sharply composed photo – all the angles are sort of just right. And there is that super, nicely jointed, little teddy bear she is holding and teasing kit with.

But really I bought it because I like how peeved the cat looks. He has no intention of smiling for the camera – he is most interested in attacking that nice little teddy bear, goddamnit! He is moments away from pouncing and I can imagine that a moment after the shutter clicked he attacked the bear – as well as the arm and the hand holding it. There was probably yelling and maybe even hissing. The cat looks like a nice, big, tabby Tom who knows his way around – hunting mice in that photo studio – a denizen who enjoyed the cushy pillows and soft throws when no one is needing them, layering them in cat hair. Not a prissy kitty at all, but a fellow who knew when and how to sing for his supper as photo prop nonetheless.

Mascot – U.S.S. Custodian

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: I never would have guessed how many photos of cats on ships I would acquire over time. I do find these photos irresistible. The stalwart cats of the sea – the preferred mascot for ships, probably due to their predilection for mice and rats which must abound in the cargo and supply areas of these ships. There seems to be real affection for them – hence the photos, many which include a crew member holding them. It is almost an archetype – hard to imagine a dog being a ship’s mascot. This photo postcard is unused and I can find no information on the T.S.S. Custodian.

This scrappy fellow presents his own archetype of  elder statesmen tabbies.  Ears intact, he hasn’t spent his life scrapping with other kitties, but looking at this barrel chested fellow you can imagine that more than a few rodents fell under his claw paws! He probably knew just where and when to prowl the galley in time for a hand-out too.

I have mentioned Zipper, an alley cat rescue who joined our family when I was still quite little. (See prior post, Old Tommy for more on Zipper.) Zips was very grateful for his adoption, but despite having been rescued when he was very young, he never transcended his alley cat roots. His tail, cruelly broken before he came to us, remained perpetually downturned and crooked at the tip. He lived cheerfully among us, but somehow never quite fully domesticated. Zipper ruled our neighborhood with a roving band of fellow kitty miscreants and there will be many future posts devoted to his antics. Still, as I write this I realize that I don’t believe we have a single photo of Zipper. I don’t remember him ever sitting on a lap or accepting more than a few occasional pets. Our large, gentle cat Snoopy, endured him with a bit of a sniff. Snoopy was top cat of the house, but didn’t need the title of King Cat of Waterman Avenue which seems to have belonged to Zipper.

When I was about 12 we moved several blocks away. Zipper, however, refused to make the move and returned repeatedly to his stomping ground. Luckily, there was an elderly neighbor who had a soft spot for him and said she would take him in. Zipper never had to give up his title and fight for new turf, and when he was ready to retire we were pleased to know he had the devotion of someone who doted on him, fed him delicacies and gave him a proverbial place by the fire.

Little Red Riding Hood

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: Sometimes even I am amazed at the unexpected things that turn up in this tiny apartment. The other day I came across this which I had purchased early in my photo collecting career and tucked away. While I do remember the purchase, on eBay, it was like it was new.

It is a photo postcard and it is printed upside down on the postcard paper – and sloppily as you can see, overexposed and with a messy bottom edge. Still, what a wonderfully whack-a-doodle card this is! Clearly an interesting and homemade (and somewhat terrifying) take on the Little Red Riding Hood story – the “wolf” a bit cat-like (which might explain how it even ended up in my hands) but that axeman more than scary enough to keep any wolf in line. Little Red Riding Hood pales somewhat in comparison to her angelic cohorts who seem to be additions to the story. Grandma does not seem to make the scene at all. By necessity, their story seems to take place on the barren prairie rather than the forest. Still, one assumes a good time was had by all and that it was one heck of a show.

Oddly, the writing on the back of the postcard makes no reference to the image. A neat script on the back says, I suppose you are farming now. I hope you were not sick long. Mrs. Walsh. It is addressed to Max McCandless, St. John, Kansas. It is not stamped and therefore there is no postmark date.

The Little Red Riding Hood story has always interested me. I loved the outfit – the red riding hood I suppose. I grew up on a sanitized version of the story where the woodsman just saved Little Red from the wolf – it was a while before I encountered the original where she has to be cut out of the wolf’s tummy. Ick. I always felt badly for that wolf whose sweet tooth for picnic baskets, little girls and grandmas got him in a whole lot of trouble.

Velox Demonstrations

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post: This great card is one that almost got away – not just at auction, but due to a prolonged detour through the mysteries of the US Post Office. I was greatly relieved when it arrived safely on my doorsteps after a nail biter of a week or so. (The eBay seller, lovesoldthingstoo, was wonderful and was ready to refund me when it showed up about ten days late and we both cheered!) Anyway, it landed safely in my hands and I must say I don’t have anything else remotely like it.

Not only does it have these wonderful bunch of kittens romping among photography equipment (two of my favorite things in the world), but it is an ad for the very Velox paper photo postcard were printed on!  And to think, on May 6 and May 7, 1907 you could go to the Chas. Kuhn Company at 500 Fulton Street and get a demonstration. Man, I would have been there with bells on! (I wonder if the kittens were working that day.)

This card was sent to Miss Anna Kuhn (a relative we will assume) in Woodstown, NJ on September 2, 1907. Brooklyn, NY is printed in pencil at the bottom and T.H. Tuohy in script, the same hand as addressed the back, at the bottom.

I was very entertained to learn that the Chas. Kuhn Company of Brooklyn had an exhibition space on the second floor. It can be found under listings of artist exhibition bios of the day. It is also mentioned in the context of photo suppliers of the day. One of the places to see and be seen in the Brooklyn of the teens.

Although photo postcards date back further, Kodak’s introduction of Velox paper in 1902 – the ability to print an negative right onto a ready postcard – is the beginning of the form’s real popularity. Collector’s Weekly has a handy history of real photo postcards, found at Real Photo Postcards, and they mention the Kodak 3A folding camera that was made for use with this film. Priced at $20 it was a princely sum – but very appealing either to wealthy amateurs or, more likely, those setting up shop as itinerant photographers. Suddenly everyone was a photographer and your blogger’s future as a collector crystalized decades before her birth. The format was available at least into the 1970’s, but I could not find a definitive end date for production. The postcards will bring endless pleasure.

Moon Photo

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Pam’s Pictorama Photo Post:  Allie, This is you and Lonnie, isn’t it?  I love photos of people posing on the moon! While this is a pro card (special for Valentine’s Day evidently) I have a few choice examples I will follow-up with some of the photo studio ones – I have one in my office I am especially pleased with.  I continue to search for an opportunity to have my photo taken on one. I love just sorting through them on eBay and looking at all the different ones.  They could be their own book.

The French took the moon postcard into a whole different realm – naked women, even cats – all sorts of variations. I am less fond of these, preferring the unexpected and unique ones taken at fairs and seaside resorts, but some are quite wonderful. I look forward to organizing these into their own section and sharing more of them.