Harry's Bar, Venice, 2001

 

Thanks to Beth for hosting Postcard Friendship Friday, connecting people and postcards all over the world. See more at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy.

Massoud, 2001

Our "Watch on the Rhine"? Perhaps not a perfect parallel. But still this 1998 film, which was screened at the Film Forum in 2001, can be considered prophetic.

You can read the New York Times review here.

Watch on the Rhine, 1941

Paul Lukas reprised his role in the movie version and won the Academy Award for Best Actor; the movie also starred Bette Davis. The drama centers on a German engineer in Washington D.C. with his American wife,  working underground to defeat the Nazis. He encounters ignorance and blackmail that puts his family at risk. The play, set in 1940, opened in April 1941, eight months before Pearl Harbor, when there was still a public debate about how involved the U.S. should be in the war against fascism.

On the back of the postcard: great blurbs from famed gossip columnist Walter Winchell and the NY Times critic Brooks Atkinson, who later had a theater named in his honor.

Gotham Book Mart

 
"Wise Men Fish Here," read the silhouette sign outside the Gotham. It was created by John Held Jr. But I didn't know that when I browsed there frequently in the 1980s, walking up 47th St. from 6th Ave., and always being delighted to see the sign amidst all the hustle and bustle of the Diamond District. An oasis awaited. A good place to pick up small literary journals, books on New York City history, poetry, the movies and movie stars. I believe the cat behind the postage stamp square is an Edward Gorey cat. The best book stores always have a cat or two wandering around.

The Gotham Book Mart closed in 2007. You can read about its glory days here.

Jenny Lind by Sandy Vanderpool

Jenny Lind is one of my favorite New York City stories. She was already famous in her native Sweden and Europe when P.T. Barnum promoted her in the U.S. with an appearance at Castle Garden in lower Manhattan. According to Wikipedia: 

Lind's first two American performances were given as charity concerts in New York City on September 11 and 13, 1850 at the Castle Garden Theater, now better known as Castle Clinton, with thousands attending and collecting an astonishing $10,141 and $14,200. The first "Regular Concert" was given on September 17, 1850.

 More than 100 years later, I was among the school children still reading about "the Swedish Nightingale."

This beautiful set comes with five costumes, and can be ordered from artist Sandra Vanderpool. $25 to Sandy at P.O. Box 695. Erie, CO 80516. She has many, many other sets: order the 24+ page catalog for $2.50 plus 3 first-class stamps.

And congratulations to Sandy, who will have her first paper doll book by Paper Studio Press published later this year, with four more books to follow!

Embossed Easel Post Card Novelty, 1909

A mystery of sorts in my collection:  a black farmer is featured on a paper toy, with the slogan, "I Think I'll Stay Right Here." I wanted to post someone at work  for the Labor Day weekend, and this man looks like he's on the job.

"Your friend G W" sent this to Miss Mary Gunn in Troufebury (?), N.Y. in 1909. Can't find the town on a quick Google search, but did find Whitesville, where the card was postmarked. It's in Allegany County, N.Y., not far from the Pa. border 

Our host Beth at The Best Hearts Are Crunchy has some wonderful things to see on her blog... 

Seashore by Susan Branch

These stickers were a free insert a few years back, in Woman's Day or Family Circle magazine. I could never bring myself to use them. Beautiful images for the end of summer. Susan Branch has a wonderfully distinct style in her art and writing. Delicate and whimsical.