Come On to the PTA PARTY!

Most likely 64 years ago tonight there was a PTA party in the county of Marin, California. I provide you with the handmade invitation from Montez Lawton's scrapbook.

So why can I narrow this down to 1951? The give away are the first few lines on the inside of the card:

"Come on to our school, our school,
We geeve you—dinner!"

This is a word play on the Rosemary Clooney 1951 hit "Come On-a My House." Too many people will have no idea who Rosemary Clooney was, unless they just think of her as George's aunt. And even fewer people will know the people are who are referred to in the information below from Wikipedia:

"Come on-a My House" is a song performed by Rosemary Clooney on her album Come On-A My House, released on June 6, 1951. The song was written by Ross Bagdasarian and his cousin, the Armenian American Pulitzer Prize winning author William Saroyan, in the summer of 1939, while driving across New Mexico. The melody is based on an Armenian folk song.

It was not performed until the 1950, off-Broadway production of The Son. The song did not become a hit until the release of Clooney's recording.

It was probably Saroyan's only effort at popular songwriting, and it was one of Bagdasarian's few well-known works that was not connected to his best-known creation, Alvin and the Chipmunks. Bagdasarian, as David Seville, went on to much fame with his Chipmunks recordings.

…the song touches upon traditional Armenian customs of inviting over relatives and friends and providing them with a generously overflowing table of fruits, nuts, seeds, and other foods. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)

So take a minute and imagine the PTA party back in '51. I'm betting there were a lot of crepe paper decorations.





And the Rosemary Clooney record playing.

More from HILDEGARD WOODWARD

The following images are, like yesterday, from a book entitled Christmas: A Book of Stories Old and New published by Charles Scribner's Sons. The illustrator is Hildegard Woodward. These are only a sampling of the black and white illustrations throughout, including spot drawings.







And please take a moment to look at my new book Tattered and Lost: Forgotten Dolls.

Christmas with HILDEGARD WOODWARD and FORGOTTEN DOLLS

The following images are from a book entitled Christmas: A Book of Stories Old and New published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1937. Well, actually I'm not sure when it was published because the copyright page says 1935, but the title page says '37. Perhaps this is a different edition. The anthology was put together by Alice Dalgliesh with illustrations by Hildegard Woodward.

Endsheet


Click on image to see it larger.

Hildegard Woodward was born in Worcester, Massachusetts February 10, 1898. Her parents were Rufus and Stella Woodward. She was educated at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and in Paris. She is the author and illustrator of many children's books, two of which were awarded a Caldecott Honor. In 1948 she was recognized for her illustrations of Roger and the Fox written by Lavinia R. Davis and again in 1950 for The Wild Birthday Cake.

In 1953 Woodward painted a mural on the wall of the Center School cafeteria in Brookfield, Connecticut near her residence in Hawleyville.

She began to lose her sight in the 1960, but didn’t stop painting. When she went blind she developed a method of "painting by touch".

Woodward's art was not restricted to children's books; her portfolio includes numerous works of fiction and humor for adults. Although most noted for her watercolor illustrations, she painted in oil and [6] was a children's portrait artist.

Woodward never married or had children. She died in December 1977 in Connecticut. (Source: Wikipedia)

Frontispiece


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New book NOW available on Amazon.
Tattered and Lost: Forgotten Dolls

This one is for those who love dolls!

Snapshots from the last 100+ years of children and adults with dolls. Okay, there are a couple of dogs too.

Perfect stocking stuffer for the doll collector on your list!

COWBOY illustrations

I've never been a fan of Louis L'Amour books, but my father has a big stack of them given to him by the wife of a deceased friend. I think over the years dad has probably read all of them, but has no interest in me buying more of them. These days he's a big fan of Craig Johnson's Longmire series, a pseudo western. When my dad finishes reading a book he always hands it to me, no matter if I'm interested in it or not. I am the repository of books. I still say that anyone could walk into my home and find at least one book they'd like to read.

These three books were stuck in a paper bag of books I'd taken off a bookshelf when some new windows were installed last year. Yes, it's taken me this long to get the bookshelf back in place and start sorting the books. This time I'm going through and picking out stuff that will not go back on the shelf. Mind you, it's hard for me to get rid of a book. I love books, but then I'd have to since I make my living creating them.


1979 edition. Click on image to see it larger. 

What first struck me about one of these is how much one face looks like a friend's husband. Now, that would seem highly unlikely, except for the fact that he was an actor who did appear in several westerns. So maybe, just maybe, the illustrator was working from a photo of him. I've sent the image along to my friend to see what she thinks.


1985 edition. Click on image to see it larger. 

No information is ever given about the illustrators of these books, which to me is a shame. Just a brief callout on the copyright page would be nice. I'd like to be able to compare images they've done. It sort of boggles the mind how many illustrations have been done for paperbacks since their inception. Artists cranking out one cover after another, but still giving their best. A lot was riding on these illustrations, no pun intended. Point of purchase sale was the most important element behind what finally got chosen. Did the illustration capture something that would make a buyer stop and become a reader?


1979 edition. Click on image to see it larger. 

Will I toss these books as I put the shelves back together? Probably not. I'll never read them, but I do like the covers.

The low ENO'S FRUIT SALT diet

Honestly, until I saw this ad in the July 1918 issue of Delineator magazine I'd never heard of this product. Surprisingly I guess it's still being made. You can read about it here and here. Not really interesting enough to post any information other than it was "invented in the 1850s by James Crossley Eno of Newcastle, the Fruit Salt sold like hotcakes to sailors looking for something to keep them healthy on long journeys." However, I love the illustration, which sadly has no signature.

Click on image to see it larger.

And what is an aperient? Not a word I recall ever hearing. Well, it's a drug used to relieve constipation. So, there you go. Learned something new today. Not a total waste.