Sunday, August 18, 2024
Wish You Were Here, from R.F. Outcault
Here's an Outcault postcard from the J. Ottmann Company, published in 1905. My batting average on this card is a perfect .000. I don't get the gag at all -- is Company G a Thing of some sort, or ... ? And then, in the sender's message, what in the world is a "poultry wall", and why's she asking about it????
Labels: Wish You Were Here
Comments:
If you look carefully, the W's have concave bottoms, not convex ones. It says "How is my little poultry man?"
What caught my eye is the use of white ink rather than just letting the paper stock show through instead. Looks really nice. Did they do that a lot back then? I don't recall.
What caught my eye is the use of white ink rather than just letting the paper stock show through instead. Looks really nice. Did they do that a lot back then? I don't recall.
joecab, thanks for decoding that penmanship -- poultry man, I guess, makes good sense. As for using white ink, that was pretty standard on postcards as the stock used was generally unbleached.
Since Company G was a citizen unit, volunteers but not army signed up for a set term, maybe the joke is the dog and kid are trying to sign up?
# posted by 
: 8/18/2024 9:01 AM
: 8/18/2024 9:01 AM
One possibility regarding "Company G" is that it's tied to the lyrics to the song "Shoo Fly." i.e., "Shoo Fly, Don't Bother Me, I belong to Company G." "Shoo Fly" was popular with soldiers during the Spanish-American War, when insect-borne diseases were rife (some accounts tie the song to the Civil War). Given the shortish interval between the Spanish-American War and this post-card, I think it should be considered.
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