Devilish Doings

"Our Gilt-Edge Goods. Nothing is too much trouble or too expensive to make these goods all that the name implies. The newest requirements of the people are satisfied with a pleasing completeness. The newest ideas are tested for practical worth and freely used, being carefully embodied when they contribute increased advantage. Selected workmen of special training and superior skill aid in securing perfection. The use of the purest pigirons only and the best materials for all fittings establish their superior quality, utility, durability, convenience, & beauty. Nothing better made. Reilly Bros. & Raub, Lancaster, Pa." Front cover of an advertising leaflet for Reilly Bros. & Raub, a hardware store that was located in Lancaster, Pa. (the building that housed the store is still standing). Note the distinctive typefaces and the devilish figure with pitchfork at top. An inside page from the leaflet (see below) contains an advertisement for the Valley Novelty Range. Compare this with a similar ad for the same stove on a separate advertising trade card from Lebanon, Pa. (below).

Rebus: "Eye AM Uriah E. Heckert. W-Hoe T-He Devil R Yew?" Translation: "I am Uriah E. Heckert. Who the devil are you?" Acquaintance cards--like this rebus version--continue to attract some media attention. The latest is a Daily Mail posting by Annabel Fenwick Elliott on April 24. See her discussion of these "cheeky cards": " May I Have the Pleasure of Seeing You Home?' The 'Flirtation Cards' 19th-Century Men Used to Woo Ladies (But They Had to Be Returned If She Wasn't Interested) ."

"I am (Devil Cards), who the devil are you?" A selection of devilish acquaintance and calling cards from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (see above and below).

"I am C. Y. Young, who the devil are you?" These two "devil cards" date to 1877.

"I am (Comic Imp Card). Who the devil are you?" A card pasted in a Victorian-era "Agent's Sample Book" that was issued by an unidentified calling card company. I also have a blank copy of this card without the "Comic Imp Card" description or a name. See I Am ________, Who the Devil Are You? (below). For an example of another card that was in the "Agent's Sample Book," see the Fireman's Card (below).

"I am ________. Who the devil are you?" For another copy of this card, see Comic Imp Card: I Am ________, Who the Devil Are You? (below).

"I am Sam Kahn. Who the devil are you?" I have found cards like these two--the one for Sam Kahn above and the other for Anna "Butch" Engle below--among collections of graduation name cards that date as late as the1940s. I don't have any definitive proof, but I suspect that high school or college students were able to order amusing cards like these from Jostens or some similar company at the same time they ordered their formal graduation announcements and name cards. These "who the devil are you" cards are, of course, just updated versions of earlier nineteenth-century Devil Cards and Comic Imp Cards (see examples below).

"I am Anna 'Butch' Engle. Who the devil are you?" For a similar card, see I Am Sam Kahn, Who the Devil Are You? (below).

A pipe-smoking devil carries a "Louis Klug" sign across this nineteenth-century German calling card.

"The Great Raymond. ¿No lo ha visto ud? [Have you seen him?]. Ya llegó [He is here]." This circular advertising piece--similar in size and appearance to a luggage label--shows two small imps or devils whispering in the ears of Morris Raymond Saunders (1877-1948), a magician whose stage name was "The Great Raymond." If the translation from Spanish (above) is correct, one imp is asking, "Have you seen him?," and the other is answering, "He is here." According to Rhett Bryson, professor in the Theatre Arts department at Furman University, "The image of the sagacious magician looking knowingly at the viewer with small imps whispering the enduring secrets of magic in his ear has been often used on magician's advertising posters. This image of the magician getting the 'secrets' from these underworld demi-devils apparently started with Harry Kellar (on his 1894 poster)." For further discussion and additional images of imps imparting information to magicians on posters and other advertising materials, see Bryson's A Visual History of Whispering Imps on Magic Posters . For another example of whispering imps, see the Howard and Jane Thurston Good Luck Throw-Out Card (small image below).

Magician Howard Thurston (1869–1936), who performed with his daughter Jane, used cards like this in his card throwing act. For another example of a magician using "whispering imps" in advertising, see The Great Raymond Is Here (small image below).

Artist's initials: "HBG" (H. B. Griggs). Postmarked Oct. 31, 1912, on back.

Or check out the Weird Vintage Postcards group instead.

"The Procrastinator's Hereafter. Take a friend's advice: Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today--Answer that letter." Sign: "Bottomless Pit Drop In." Pity the poor procrastinator who doesn't answer his letters! This pathetic fellow obviously failed to keep up with his correspondence while he was alive, and now in the "hereafter" the devil is looking over his shoulder to make sure he responds on time--and for all time! In order to avoid falling into the fiery "Bottomless Pit" below, the procrastinator is precariously perched on an endless roll of paper as he scribbles out his message. The last few lines he's written on the paper suggest that he's trying to explain away his current predicament: "...in my new home. Although everything is up to sample, I'm not stuck on the place but circumstances over which I have no control impel me to stick...." -------- Reverse of postcard: Postmarked: "Hartford, Conn., Aug. 25, 1912." Addressed to: "Mr. W. J. Ross, 131 River St., N. Adams, Mass." Handwritten message: "Dear Will: What do you think of this for a card? I don't hear from Flora very often. I'm working and not having much fun either--just existing. Not as tired as when I came here. Hastily, Cora."

A trick or treat photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park. Handwritten note on the back of the photo: "Halloween, 1955." A little cowboy--wearing a Howdy Doody kerchief around his neck and Howdy Doody boots--poses in front of the fireplace alongside his brother, whose costume features a devilish image on the front.

Or at least it looks like they're trying to drive away in "The Red Devil." Unfortunately, there aren't any clues regarding the origin of the devilish vehicle on this real photo postcard.

"Leap Year. Between the devil and the deep sea."

"Heaney the Magician. Good luck to you. Good luck. Heaney, World's Foremost Magician, and Company. Adults. Admit one. Heaney the Magician." This is the top portion of a 10-ticket sheet for stage magician Gerald Heaney (1899-1974), also known as "Heaney the Great." Those devilish creatures crouched on Hearney's shoulders are "whispering imps." Other magicians also used whispering imps in their advertising. See Howard and Jane Thurston Good Luck Throw-Out Card and The Great Raymond Is Here for examples.