Sunday, August 25, 2024
Wish You Were Here, from Rudolph Dirks
The first time I ran one of these Moving Picture cards, which Hearst papers gave away in 1906, I asked readers to explain to me how the movement was supposed to happen, because I failed to get the concept. DBenson explained in great detail how the silly things were supposed to work, and now I get it ... I guess ... but colour me underwhelmed.
Mark Johnson also offered help, suggesting I take a look at one of his Ask The Archivist online columns which addressed this exact subject. Well, maybe that column was in its pristine state back in 2019, but today look at the poor thing! The images are gone, and the text, at least on my browser, is so faint as to be illegible. Hey King Features, get your act together and fix these superb columns by Mark Johnson! They're fading away before our very eyes!
Labels: Wish You Were Here
It is a real shame about my old blog. There's a lot that should be preserved, but perhaps KFS has no more use for it, and it's slowly being wished into the corn field. Or might be that it's still a valuable draw, (They said that while I was doing it, it had the largest following) and if one pays for their "Comics Kingdom" subscription, the pix and words would return.
Just can't find it now, but I had shown in at least one posting, a card from this series that was uncut, with careful instructions around the edges as to where to cut and fold to make the up-and-down action when squeezed. As you can imagine, the action is usually some Hearst hero receiving deserved or not lumps.
