Mar 4 2015

Pigs Parrots & More Wednesday Whimsy

I’m finishing up this run of Victorian trade cards and pictures featuring animals depicted as people…hope you’ve been enjoying the series!

P. T. Barnum brought Jumbo the elephant to the USA in 1882, against much outrage in England, where he’d been domiciled previously. Queen Victoria herself was asked to intervene to keep the elephant in England. Her response (if any) is not known but the Great Showman got what he wanted, one way or the other, and Jumbo arrived here, setting off “Jumbomania.” I have an entire series of these cards, with Jumbo dressed up and shown in human guise. Sadly, the elephant was killed in a circus train wreck just three years later, His skeleton is in storage at the American Museum of Natural History as far as I’m aware.

This pose with Jumbo reminds me of the scene from the 1953 movie “Calamity Jane”, where she’s in Chicago, in a theater like this one, watching ‘Adelaid Adams’ and the showgirls sing “Harry”…which might have been in this same Victorian time frame. Here’s the song clip:

OK, back to the trade cards!

Feb 4 2015

Wednesday Whimsy Dogs

In honor of my favorite Super Bowl commercial – the Budweiser puppy tale – I’m devoting this week’s Whimsy to dogs. And me being a cat person no less LOL!

The Victorians used all kinds of dog breeds in their advertising cards, usually accompanying or playing with children, but not always.

“Dogs are better than human beings because they know but do not tell.” Emily Dickinson

“Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.” Robert A. Heinlein

“I’m an introvert… I love being by myself, love being outdoors, love taking a long walk with my dogs and looking at the trees, flowers, the sky.” Audrey Hepburn

Uh oh =>”I visualize a time when we will be to robots what dogs are to humans, and I’m rooting for the machines.” Claude Shannon (the “Father of Information Theory”)

“Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.” Diogenes (sez the philosopher LOL)

“We shall see that at which dogs howl in the dark, and that at which cats prick up their ears after midnight.” H. P. Lovecraft

“If dogs could talk it would take a lot of the fun out of owning one.” Andy Rooney

“The dogs with the loudest bark are the ones that are most afraid.” Norman Reedus

“I was a dog in a past life. Really. I’ll be walking down the street and dogs will do a sort of double take. Like, Hey, I know him.” William H. Macy

Sep 25 2014

Q Is For Queen – Victoria That Is

Continuing with the A to Z challenge, when I came across this Victorian era trade card, I thought I had to have it. It’s entitled “Queen Victoria at Home – Balmoral Castle” and was one of a series of six from Clark’s Spool Thread. (The US entry in the series was Mrs. Grover Cleveland.) I didn’t make this a Wednesday Whimsy because I don’t think of “whimsy” when thinking of this Queen, do you?