Postcard Friday - Sitting on My Ass at Margate

In keeping with the lovely summer weather, I was going to show you a postcard from my collection of grim-looking hotel scenes. But then I saw this, and I thought, let's cheer ourselves up, with a couple of really jolly women having fun on their hols, sitting on a fake donkey.

The back of the card says'"Lido Snaps", The Cliftonville Lido, Margate'. I guess the photographer just waited on the prom with his donkey and took your photo.

I absolutely love that donkey! I really, really want one to keep in the living room. Wouldn't everything be better if you could just hop on a fake donkey to cheer yourself up? Gee up there, Daisy!

Mind you, I can envisage some trouble over naming him/her. You see, Mr Kitsch is adamant that any horse or donkey we own would have to be named 'I Love Carrots'. Surprisingly, this has come up more than once in our wide-ranging discussions over the years, and is always contentious. I think that gives you some idea of the intellectual level at which we operate.

Pin-Up Girl

Perhaps I should write a book about bad craft projects. Here's one. There was a bit of a fad for these little pin dollies, back in the 1960s and 1970s. She's made of a hemisphere of polystyrene, decorated with pinned-on sequins and beads. Her head is attached with a vicious-looking spike.Her arms are pipecleaners (or chenille wire, if you prefer), pinned to her body with the bouquet. Her headdress and veil are pinned to her kitsch plastic head.

Basically this was a craft for someone who didn't actually want to learn any craft skill beyond sticking pins into things.

Curious Friend - Eartha Kitsch and her Trojan Dog

As it's the Fourth of July, I'm very pleased to introduce a guest blogger from the States. Eartha Kitsch lives in Nashville, but I first 'met' her on Flickr, where her photos and her writing captivated me immediately. Now she also has a fabulous blog, Ranch Dressing with Eartha Kitsch, where you can see both her beautiful home, and some of her very odd vintage finds. Like this one...

The Mister and I found this creation in a box lot of fascinating goodies that was given to us. We have no idea where it came from originally or what on Earth the mysterious Jamie Potts who made it was thinking! Well, it's obvious that he was thinking about sex but the way that he expressed it is a perplexing combination of shadow box vignette and cryptic dirty limerick.

On the front of the piece you see an innocent dalmatian in a natty kerchief. The items around him are what make this so puzzling. They are:

A rifle
A really old condom
Some "safe sex" tattoos (including the first hickey tattoo that I've ever seen)
A stack of logs
A small bowl
A straw hat that has been through the ringer

From what the creator, Jamie wrote on the back, it sounds like a bug may be missing from this scenario. Not that the missing clue would help it make any more sense! Here is what is scrawled on the back:

Hat - gonna get caught
Dog - the man
.... - ready to eat
Bowl - the woman
Bug - something humming around
Logs - heat gets stirred up
Shotgun - if daddy catches you
Trojans - safe sex
Sex tattoos - put and lick

------Jamie Potts

There you have it! I'm not sure if this was made for some steam-of-consciousness art class or if he made it to woo a suitor. I'm hoping that it's the wooing one because it makes me laugh so hard to think of what the intended sweetheart who received this must have thought.

Jamie Potts, I don't know who or where you are but I'd like to thank you for giving me the giggle fits and question marks over my head. Also, thanks for the eight year old condom.

Lucky Mao

Although I don't exactly believe in luck*, I am always drawn to lucky charms of all kinds. The whole idea of talismans, amulets, or just a simple lucky object is fascinating. And they are usually visually interesting too. So I end up collecting all sorts of lucky objects.

I don't know much about these Chinese charms, except that red is considered a lucky colour, and so the chillis are lucky by association.  And presumably, by the same token, Mao and his little red book were also lucky.

Each charm has a picture of Mao on one side, and then another portrait on the other side, presumably of some hero or official of the Communist Party. I'm not too familiar with the heroes of the People's Liberation Army and the like. (After a quick bit of research, I think one or both of them could be Zhou Enlai?) It doesn't really matter who it is, there's just something a bit bonkers about having a lucky Communist Party mascot, isn't there?

* What I mean by that, is that, although I don't believe that certain things are lucky, I still find myself 'touching wood' or feeling I should buy a lottery ticket if I'm having a 'lucky' day. Does that make sense? Not really.

All Out Nuclear War (Harmless)

Yes, it's another ad from the comics - "Make all out war in your own home". To be honest, with four siblings, all out war was not unknown in our house when I was little. However, I don't think that's what they had in mind when they promised, rather scarily "enough nuclear battle equipment for maximum effort warfare".

Despite all the talk of "firepower and manpower", inter-continental ballistic missile launchers, "oxy-radar packs", a "double-stage warhead" and "hand-gun radi-activators", it also claims that this set is made of "multi-colour unbreakable plastic", and is "harmless".
Phew! And so the free world was saved...

Friday Postcard - Mr Cool

Oh yeah, he's cool alright. Just call him Mister Freeeeze, chillaxing in his white suit, writing... what? Poetry? A love letter? His shopping list?

What on earth is this old postcard about? I mean, why would anyone...? Why is he...? Just WHY?

And to be totally honest, that does not look like the comfiest couch.  Nor the most practical lamp. And as soon he stands up, he's going to kick over that badly-placed plant, and there'll be John Innes No. 3 all over his carpet.

Beautify Your Home

Much as I love me a bit of kitsch art, I think they may have gone slightly overboard on this 1968 advert for the "exquisite reproduction" of the "dramatic painting" called 'Rock Pool Rendezvous'.

Apparently, in the opinion of their Managing Director, it's "the most tasteful and beautiful horse painting he has seen". Golly! "See what a dramatic change an expensive picture can make in your home....You'll be amazed at the wonderful change that takes place in your room the moment you hang this giant picture (forty one inches wide by twenty five inches deep)". Yep, I can see how it would make quite an impact...

Not that it's really expensive. Oh no. "Thanks to an international scoop", you could get this magnificent artwork for just 19/6, instead of the "nine or ten guineas" you could pay.

As these 1960s kitsch prints are getting more and more collectable, I thought I'd try to find a photo of one of these that might have survived all these years. Sadly, I couldn't find one. I tried various searches, and it made me laugh when I was scrolling through the results for 'kitsch horse painting' to find a couple of photos of mine, and one of Mr Kitsch's (none of which were horses). I think if you type 'kitsch' anything in Google, eventually you'll find something of mine...