You'll Never Get Rich (You Son of a Smif) You're in the Army Now

 It's been a while since I've had a vintage postcard find.  Here are a few from a recent find.

These WWII-era postcards feature the popular (at the time) comic strip character Snuffy Smith, or "Smif" as he's known back home.  They were all sent by Private Louis F. Cimo of Rome, New York.  

No Gilliland is an Island

As Valentine's Day passes, let us keep in mind those whom Cupid's arrows have missed; those souls seeking unsuccessfully, perhaps even futily, a mate.

I found these postcards this past summer among a collection previously owned by Frances Julian of Easley, South Carolina  They were sent by James Gilliland Couch from Camp Croft in South Carolina and Fort Bliss, Texas during 1945 and '46.

I'm not sure what James' (actually, he goes by his middle name, Gilliland) intentions were toward Frances, but if he was seeking romance, he did it quite awkwardly.

I've transcribed the postcards, misspellings and all, below.

What Kind of Putz Are You?

I went to an estate sale in Affton a while back that boasted a large vintage train collection.  I figured the trains would be priced out of my budget, but I figured it was worth a look.  I met a friend there who came with the goal of buying a turntable.  We were both met by lots of train enthusiasts, further dimming my hope of getting any trains.  We weren't too far back in line, so we made it in the house with the first wave.  We were told the trains were in the basement and the mass of people moved in that direction.  The group, mostly older men, swarmed the trains like piranha devouring a fallen cow.  The group was complely ignoring what had caught my eye -- cardboard houses used as decoration for the train set. 

As far back as I can remember (and I'm sure a long time before that), my grandparents displayed little pasteboard houses under their Christmas tree.  Over the years I've collected a few of them myself.  These houses are commonly known as "glitter houses" or my favorite term "Putz" houses.  In this case, "putz" isn't meant to imply a stupid person, but rather the German-American vernacular for "puttering around".  The assignment of this term to these houses comes from playing with and rearranging or "putzing around" with the houses under your Christmas tree or with your Nativity display.  The earliest examples dating from the 1910's were German-made while Japan entered the market some time in the 1920's or 30's.  A good example of a typical putz house is this church I found at the same sale:

A Banner Year

A couple weeks back I went to an estate sale at an old farmhouse in Jefferson County.  I wasn't expecting much as rural folk tend to have fewer frivoulous items and this was not an exception.  However, while looking through some books, I came across a a couple yearbooks from the 1940's.  I'm always baffled how a family can let items like these go.  People ask me why I would want someone else's yearbook.  First of all, at a quarter, I don't have much to lose.  But also, I think I want them because somebody else didn't.    I become keeper of someone else's memories.  I just realized something.  My home has become the Island of Misfit Memories.   Memories cast off by others, gathered, sheltered and seeking a new home.  And I now have a new category for my posts!

The book I chose to profile is the 1945 edition.  The book is from Kulpmont High School in Kulpmont, Pennsylvania or more appropriately, the newly (in 1945) rechristened Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial High School.

Your Man in Service

I found this mixed in with a bunch of 45's at an estate sale a few weeks ago.  Hard to imagine a family would let something like this go.

Pepsi-Cola sponsered these records which were recorded at Red Cross stations overseas during World War II.  It was a way for servicemen to send their voice home to their loved ones.  The envelope reads "Your Mother's Voice", but it is a distinctly male voice on the record, although what is said on the record is unrecognizable to me.  I transferred it from a phonograph at 45 rpm and converted to 78 rpm which is the speed at which the record was recorded.  I tried to remove the noise, but what's being said is still very faint.  I'm not sure if it was a bad recording to begin with, or the acetate has degraded that much over the years.  Maybe you can make something out.

Mott Ramsey

It's an unusual name, Mott Ramsey (saying it's an "odd" name would seem rude). But, that's what I thought when I first saw it, stamped on a wooden crate I picked up at a garage sale a couple weeks back.

I'd picked up a few items at the sale, nothing of great interest -- a mechanics crawler so I don't have to lay on a piece of cardboard on the ground when I change my oil and a few other items that weren't interesting enough for me to remember at the moment. But as I was leaving, I saw a blue/green wooden crate on the ground marked "Free".

I put the purchased items into my car and headed back up to check it out. I opened it up and inside were odds and ends you might find in a garage collected over a lifetime -- nuts, bolts, switches, light sockets -- all collected in cigar boxes and carefully pieced together vintage wooden Velveeta boxes. As I was looking it over, the elderly lady hosting the sale came over and pasted a much larger sign that said, "FREE!!!" and strongly encouraged me to take it. Not one to turn down free items and being there was enough potential inside to find something, I agreed.