1950s Car Comic - 18 Miles Per Gallon

This is a standard/chrome postcard that just screams 1950s - though there is no date on it.  It touches a bit on relationships, and the abilities of automobiles at the time.  This one has run out of gas, and the caption is the wife complaining about her husband insisting the car would get 18 MPG. The husband is in the distance running off to find some gas, while the wife waits in the car reading a book.   This postcard is also artist signed - "Frye".

In the 1950s, 18 MPG for most cars in the USA would have been considered pretty good.  Maybe even better than pretty good - gas was cheap and mileage was not usually a consideration.  I got my first car in the 1970s (it was used, from 1966) and it only got 16 miles per gallon in the best of conditions, and I thought that was pretty ok.

When I was living in Germany, I tried to play a little mind game:  I'd try to figure out kilometers per liter and convert that to miles per gallon.  It's not easy. Gasoline was much more expensive in Germany, and cars, as a rule, were smaller and more fuel efficient, but I could never quite figure out my "mileage" to my satisfaction. Eventually I got to the point where I just accepted the liters and kilometers for what they were, and quit worrying about miles and gallons.

So, for those of you who may not be familiar with USA's version of the Imperial System of Measurements, 18 miles to the gallon is terrible mileage by today's standards, at least for a normal family car.  That was not the case when this postcard was created.

1960s Holiday Inn Advertising Postcard

This is a standard/chrome postcard advertising the Holiday Inn motel chain.  From the looks of the cars and so on I'd say it's from the 1960s.

Postcards advertising hotels, motels, restaurants and other places of business are very common, and postcards advertising Holiday Inns are as common as dirt.  But I like this one - it is very subliminal, which I suppose is a goal of a lot of advertising.

In this card there is an airplane, cars (one looks like a mid-60s Ford Fairlane, but I could be wrong), a Gulf gasoline station, a bunch of happy, good looking, decent, hard working white people kicking up their heels around a swimming pool, and even a trashcan to get rid of anything used, unhealthy or unpleasant.  The marketing people thought of everything.  The trashcan was a stroke of genius, no question about it.

The whole thing exudes safety, convenience, happiness and a natural destination for those traveling by plane or auto, a good place for families.   I suppose if you're traveling by Greyhound bus, you were out of luck.

If you'd like to check out my eBay listing for this card click here - the link is only good for a month tho.


Update:  Sold!

CBS Columbia Square Hollywood California Standard/Chrome Postcard

This is a standard/chrome postcard of the CBS building in Columbia Square, Hollywood, California.  Radio station KNX studios were there.

What I like about this postcard are the three cars - the solid green one and the two 2-tones.   I'm not up on my automotive history so I can't really say what year, make or model these are, but they scream late 1950s.  Back when cars were made of steel, back when they didn't have seat belts or a thousand other saftey systems we take for granted today, back when if you hit something while driving there was a good chance somebody was going to die. 

These three cars were everyday vehicles, nothing special about them, anybody who had a job and wanted one could buy one.  They were big, solid, powerful machines, with V8 engines and lots of horsepower.  They just don't make them like this anymore.

I digress.  I don't know the exact date of this card, but I assume it's from the late 1950s, because of the type of card it is & the way the cars look.   In the original card, the colors are a bit sharper than what I have displayed here.  It is very hard to get everything exact, no matter if you use a scanner, or like me, a digital camera and a light box.  In the original, the sky is a dark rich blue, and I can't reproduce that without putting everything else out of whack.  It's the limitation of digital photography, my freeware photo editing software and my abilities, but I do the best I can.

Update: Sold!

Charles M. Russell's Favorite Horse Red Bird - Art Postcard

This is an art postcard by Charles M. Russell (1864-1926).  The postcard is copyrighted 1952, I'm not sure when the original art was created.  The back of the postcard contains a short biography of the artist.

Charles Russell captured 19th & early 20th century cowboy & western themes in his art.  Sometimes his subjects are humorous, sometimes brutal or dangerous.   I like this card because it's a very realistic & detailed drawing of a horse - Red Bird. 

We've listed several of Russell's "Cowboy Art" cards this week in our eBay store, and still have a few more to go.  They are very nice cards.

Ketchikan, Alaska, Eagle & Raven Totems Postcard

This is a standard/chrome postcard showing a couple of totems from Ketchikan, Alaska.  The back of the postcard says these are eagle & raven totems, and that's about all I know about it.

There is an address of the manufacturer on back, in the format of "Berkeley 2, Calif.".  This type of address was used pre-zip code days, from about 1943 to early 1963.  I can tell just by looking at the card that it was most likely made in the 1950s or later.  The card is probably over 50 years old.

Update: Sold!

Political Comic Postcard - Carter, Nixon, Regan, Brown, Kennedy & Jolly Beans!

This is a standard/chrome postcard gently poking fun at some major political figures of the time.  It's copyright 1982 (making it one of the more recent standard/chromes), and is signed (again signed, not autographed) by Art Strader, who apparently did a series of these.

Ronald Regan was president at the time, and he had a well known fondness for jelly beans - hence the bean theme.  Jimmy Carter & Richard Nixon are the "Has Beans", Regan is the "Jolly Beans", and Ted Kennedy and I think (but not sure) Jerry Brown are the "Would Beans". 

I haven't seen cards like this very often, and I think it's interesting. 

I wonder why Gerald Ford wasn't in the group?  And is that really Jerry Brown?

Racey Helps - The Astonished Angler

This is an artist signed standard/chrome postcard by Racey Helps.  Racey Helps was a children's author & illustrator, and there are many beautiful postcards of his work, featuring animals in all sorts of situations.  This one is called "The Astonished Angler" - apparently a mouse has gone fishing and accidently caught a frog.

This piece of art was done under the auspices of the Medici Society in London, which till exists.

I'm not sure of the age, but Racey Helps died in 1970 or so, making this postcard from the 1960s at the latest.  I like it.

Update: Sold!

Don Keys Motel - Coal Grove, Ohio

This postcard is about as typical as they get.  It is a standard/chrome postcard of the Don Keys Motel in Coal Grove, Ohio.  Standard refers to the size, about 3.5 x 5.5 inches, and chrome refers to the photography method. The photos on these cards were typically made with Kodachrome or Ektachrome 35mm film.  I've seen standard/chromes as early as 1939, but they typically range from the 1950s to the early 1980s in the USA.

There is a message on the back of this card.  It is a thank you note signed by Don Keys himself, sent to some recent customers from Minnesota. It doubles nicely as a bit of motel advertisement.  It is postmarked in Ironton, Ohio (just across the river from Ashland, Kentucky) and dated Dec 3, 1969.

I checked online (for a couple of mins) and could find no evidece that this motel still exists. If it does they don't seem to have a website.  If anyone knows for sure, let me know.

Update: Sold!