Gamle PostKort

My husband was on his way to Lillehammer for a conference last week and had a brief stay in Oslo. A friend recommended he check out this store in Oslo's historic district. It was overwhelming, but the store owner guided him to some old cards. I wish I had remembered to tell him to search out glansbilder! 

I would have spent days in this store and missed the train to Lillehammer. Which is why it is a good thing I was not on this trip!

Here is one of the four charming postcards Rob found for me. No date, but I'm guessing the 1920s.

This lovely image with the store's address was stamped on the oversized envelope that held the cards.

The Pleasures of Postcards

The New Yorker has an excellent article about Leonard Lauder's collection of postcards. You can read "The Pleasures of Postcards" here. Be sure to see the slide show, which includes the two posted here and a few more. Lauder (the son of Estee Lauder, of the cosmetics empire) had 125,000 postcards that he found in antique markets in Portobello Road in London, along the Seine in Paris, and New York City among other places. The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has an exhibit, "The Postcard Age," with a selection from Lauder's collection on exhibit until April 14, 2013. The catalog (featuring the image above on its cover) looks beautiful.

The New York Times also has a slide show from the Lauder collection, which includes the above image, a Tuck postcard.

And a tip of the hat to Christine at The Daily Postcard blog, who posted her 1,001 and last post yesterday.  She's making time for other adventures, but the blog will remain up. It's well worth taking the time to browse, as Christine did a great deal of research on her postcards, and found some amazing  stories.

Brownies Theater, 1895

 From the Dec. 8, 1895 Boston Sunday Globe,  a play theater. Above, the proscenium.

 The stage above is set, with places numbered for the actors to hit their mark.

Presenting: the Brownies. Alas, I only have a few of the actors and their props.

Palmer Cox was a Canadian artist who created strange elfin creatures with round heads, little pot bellies and skinny arms and legs. Toy Collector has an excellent overview of the Brownie craze. I'm not even sure the Boston Sunday Globe art supplement had license to use the Brownies; apparently the beloved Brownie was adopted freely, with few if any alterations. You'll often see the real deal touted as "Palmer Cox's Brownies," so you know Mr. Cox was fighting for control of his creation. I remember the Brownie camera was marketed as late as the 1960s. Toy Collector says Kodak was not authorized to use the name or character when the camera was first introduced more than 100 years ago.

I love theater of all kinds: puppet, toy, Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theater, and reading about old time vaudeville. One of the best movies about the theater is "All About Eve." I'm on a Stephen Sondheim kick (saw the great "Follies' last year), and highly recommend his book about his creative life, "Finishing the Hat." 

Below, some random theater-related items from my collection.

A new postcard of a vintage magazine cover. The great Billie Burke was married to Florenz Ziegfeld. Her theater work is lost to us, and it's likely she would not be remembered today if not for her lovely turn as the Good Witch Glinda in the 1939 movie of "The Wizard of Oz."

I didn't see this 2006 one-woman show, I'm not a big Bernhard fan, but I couldn't resist the postcard (free at a shop somewhere in the theater district, of course). A terrifically expressive face.

A classic. Lillian Hellman was a favorite when I was in college.

A great way to start buzz in the old days -- offer to stamp and mail the postcard to spread the word. But what if it's a negative review. Hmmm. Probably goes straight to the circular file.

I have a soft spot for toy theaters and marionettes. This postcard is from an exhibit of toy theaters that I attended in Brooklyn four years ago. Great Small Works produced a number of toy theater festivals and their web site has many pictures as well as a brief history of toy theaters.

The curtain rises on many other theatrical presentations at Sepia Saturday. Click the logo below.

Dayton, Ohio factory and workers, c. 1910

This company has a long and storied history. NCR was based in Dayton since 1884, but in June 2009--so recently!-- sold off its properties and moved to Atlanta. I remember working an old brass register at the NYU bookstore in the village, c. 1974, one of my first jobs. It was like driving a truck! Heavy handle to push down, and that loud noise when a calculation was complete. From cash registers to computers, NCR has stayed relevant and in business for a very long time.

These are unused post cards, but I will guess c. 1910 because of the fashions. The postcards have a slightly glossy, not a matte finish. I found these cards at the Rutherford Labor Day Street Festival here in N.J. I love cards that show workers from long ago, but I especially love these cards because the 2012 Paper Doll Convention will be Aug. 9-12 in Dayton. More on that in the months to come.

The Daily Postcard blog has great pictures of workers at the turn of the century, such as these ladies at the Endicott Johnson shoe factory.

(And I see many other favorites posted in recent days, like old New York City hotels!)

Memorial Day 2011

From around the web... two beautiful cards. The first card had been listed on eBay, and the seller has others you can see here. The second card is from a web site that has many others posted here.

Decoration Day was the original name of the holiday. After the Civil War, survivors of the Union and Confederate army dead decorated the graves of loved ones. Last year on Veterans Day, I posted a Raphael Tuck Decoration Day postcard from my collection. You can see it here.

Josephine Baker postcards

These postcards are part of the massive postcard collection of Kenneth Oden, which will be auctioned next week.

Read more about the auction here (it's the last item in the column, after the equally fascinating entries on Jimi Hendrix and Victorian merchant banners) and browse the catalog here.

More Toy Town and other cut-outs

 

The rocking horse is a Toy Town  post card, but I'm not sure about the others. All images found on the web, mostly eBay. And don't forget to visit the host of Postcard Friendship Friday, Beth at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy.