Alan Mays' photos

"Please send home that shirt you borrowed." Postmarked Los Angeles, Calif., Jan. 30, 1910, and addressed to: "Mr. Clarence Fox, RR #5, Sterling, Kans." Is it an amusingly nonsensical message to send to a friend? Or could it be a catchphrase from some forgotten song or play? Whatever the case might be, I've only seen it on early twentieth-century postcards like this one.

"Advice to Vacationists. Take the children to the country with you--this will keep you from becoming lonesome. Hey. Help. Help. Splash. August Hutaf. P.C.K. 1908." One in a series of humorous "Advice to Vacationists" postcards by illustrator August Hutaf (1874-1942). For more of his work, see my other Hutaf postcards .

"To wish you a load of Easter happiness."

"Best Easter Wishes." Not to be confused with Girls with Guns .

"A Happy Easter. Stecher Lith. Co., Roch., N.Y." Addressed to Miss Frances Hershey, Rohrerstown, Pa., and postmarked Rohrerstown, Pa., April 22, 1916, with the message, "Dear Frances, I wish you a very happy Easter." The unknown artist for this postcard was evidently trying to imitate the "fadeaway" style of Coles Phillips , an illustrator whose technique of using negative space caused viewers to mentally fill in the missing parts of an image. Unfortunately, the head, hands, chicks, and shoes in this work seem to be separately dangling in space rather than forming an outline of a little girl enjoying the Easter holiday.

A photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park with a discussion of the flip side (what’s on the reverse of a photo) . Handwritten description on the back of this photo: "Morro Castle, H.B. L. H. Miller, H.B. Two Has Been's. Asbury Park, 1934." I purchased this photo after noticing how the young man, identified on the back as "L. H. Miller," was posing in front of what seems to be an almost ghostly ship. I didn't really understand what "Morro Castle" referred to, but I liked how the location-- Asbury Park , New Jersey--and year--1934--were written on the back. When I checked Wikipedia later, however, I discovered that Morro Castle was the ship's name, and I found out how it ended up at Asbury Park in 1934. As the Wikipedia article explains, " SS Morro Castle was an ocean liner of the 1930s that was built for the Ward Line for voyages between New York City and Havana, Cuba. The ship was named for the Morro Castle fortress that guards the entrance to Havana Bay. On the morning of September 8, 1934, en route from Havana to New York, the ship caught fire and burned, killing 137 passengers and crew members. The ship eventually beached herself near Asbury Park, New Jersey, and remained there for several months until she was towed off and scrapped [on March 14, 1935]." The burning ship drifted until it was just yards away from the Convention Hall pier at Asbury Park, where it became a macabre tourist attraction. An article on the History Bandits site, Dark Tourism and the SS Morro Castle as a Visceral Seaside Attraction , provides further details about the disastrous fire and includes aerial photos that reveal how close the doomed ship came to colliding with the Convention Hall. Given such a terrible tragedy, though, it's hard to imagine why L. H. Miller thought that he was such a " has-been " that he could compare himself to the Morro Castle . Or could it be that someone else wrote on the back of the photo, intending it as a tasteless joke to suggest that Miller was past his prime? Whatever the case might be, the photo reminds us of the fate of those who died or were injured aboard the Morro Castle more than eighty years ago and leaves us wondering what happened to L. H. Miller.

For more information, see the front of this photo:

"Reward of Merit. Book Mark. To: Nellie Briggs, by Hattie E. Perry, teacher."

"Easter Greeting of P. Fleischner & Co., 1026 Chestnut St., 208 N. 8th St." A flowery Easter bookmark from a Philadelphia company, circa 1880.

"When other lips and other hearts / Their tales of love would tell, / Remember, oh! remember, pray, / That l___s go to h__l. Needle-Points." Printed on the back of this postcard: "B.B. London & New York. Series N.P. 1. Printed in America." The first two lines of this quatrain ("When other lips and other hearts / Their tales of love would tell") come from the beginning of a song, "You'll Remember Me," from the opera The Bohemian Girl . The last two lines ("Remember, oh! remember, pray, / That liars go to hell"), however, are unique to this postcard, which probably dates to the 1910s. For the original song, see the full lyrics to Then You'll Remember Me on the Aria Database, or listen to John McCormack sings, "Then You'll Remember Me," from Balfe's The Bohemian Girl, 1916, on YouTube.

I believe it was U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt who said, " Speak softly, carry a big stick , and go roller skating." Or words to that effect.

"S. Elliott & Son, wholesale and retail dealers in pure artificial ice, manufactured by the Consumers' Ice Company of Lancaster. 242 S. Queen St., Lancaster, Pa. S. Elliott. S. G. Elliott. Bell 'Phone, 4924. United 'Phone, 1846 B."

A 1909 real photo tall-tale postcard by William H. Martin. For a similar postcard with an automobile and oversized apples, see Apples–How We Do Things at Fearnot, Pa. :

"How We Do Things at Fearnot , Pa. Apples." Postmarked Valley View, Pa., Oct. 11, 1912, and addressed to Clarence Wolfgang, Valley View, Pa. Handwritten message: "Dear Friend, I wish you good luck for every day. I came home safe. Hoping to hear from you soon. Minnie." A tall-tale postcard by Wisconsin photographer Alfred Stanley Johnson, Jr. For a similar postcard with an automobile and oversized eggs and potatoes, see The Modern Farmer :

A photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park demonstrating the quality of being vice versa .* A real photo postcard of a couple amusingly posed on a piano bench with the woman wearing men's clothes and vice versa. I was able to identify the sheet music on the left side of the piano as " Flower Song (Blumenlied) ," Beaux Arts Edition, by Gusatv Lange, ca. 1907. An issue of The Etude , a music magazine, is barely visible on the piano between the woman and man (I couldn't determine the date, but it may be one of the issues from 1907 or 1908 judging by the typeface used for the title and its position at the top of the cover). The framed print hanging on the wall at upper right appears to be a copy of a lithograph entitled "2 Spirited Horses," one version of which was published by Jos. Hoover & Sons, Philadelphia, in 1908 (it's also similar to a Currier & Ives lithograph "Horses in a Thunderstorm," but the the horses in that print are facing to the right instead of the left). *The full description of the theme: "Vice versa"--"A lady and a gentleman dressing in clothes of the opposite sex are vice versa." This definition comes from a letter in a 1923 newspaper regarding a fancy dress/costume competition, and as the judge ruled in 1923, “the dress of each is complete without the aid of the other." Your photo can be of an individual or a couple.

"Pie Social, to be held in the Lecture Room of St. Paul's Reformed Church, by Class No. 17, on Thursday even'g, Dec. 6, 1900, for benefit of Building Fund. Price, 10 cents." Happy Pi Day !

"St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. Erin Go Bragh." Printed on the back of this postcard: "St. Patrick Series No. 4." For some more Saint Patrick's Day postcards, see below:

"The wee bit of shamrock we all love so well. Erin's Isle." Printed on the back of this postcard: "Raphael Tuck & Sons' Post Card Series No. 157 The Emerald Isle." Postmarked Portland, Maine, March 15, 1914, and addressed to Mr. Cou M. McCarthy, Tunnel, Broome County, N.Y. Handwritten message: "3-15-14. Dear Friend, I received your welcome letter and I will write to you in a few days. Alex Gibson."