Puzzling

Nothing says "mail some fun today"...

...like a painting by Max Beckmann.

Not that this product offers any attribution, but the artist's style and imagery are unmistakable. A bit of image searching identified the painting: Begin the Beguine (1946), at the University of Michigan Museum of Art.

The museum's site attributes the painting:

Max Beckmann
Netherlands, 1884–1950

Although Beckman painted this while living in Amsterdam, that's no excuse for the bad history—not when the artist and his work are inextricably identified with Germany. The influence of German Gothic painting is often noted of his work, especially in the triptychs. "A German Goya," says one critic, who adds, "The triptychs are like medieval passion plays, although the moral is almost always unclear in Beckmann's work."

There was also that little business about "degenerate art": the Nazis held up Beckmann's work as a prime example, confiscating it from museums and firing the painter from his faculty post. As Hitler broadcast a rant against modern art, just prior to opening of the Entartete Kunst exhibit, Beckmann left immediately for Amsterdam.

Begin the Beguine was among the many paintings he did in the city where he and his wife were forced to remain for a decade, their entry to the US denied until 1947. Beckmann died in New York at the end of 1950.

And now: back to our product.

Step 1. Write stilted message:

Dear Jennifer,
I thought I would send you a greeting on this new and innovative product that is called The Original Puzzlegram and I think it is going to be a huge success. It is so much fun to send I can just imagine how exiting it is to receive in the mail. I know you will enjoy the puzzle over and over again. I picked this cute image especially for you. I hope to hear from you soon...
The Original Puzzlegram

I found some other TOP images; the generic "cute image" pitch does fit them, as they are of this genre:

Also found this:

This seems to have been done by a competing "original puzzlegram" publisher in Rockville, MD.

But whoever wanted to claim being there first with a "new and innovative product": these folks care to differ.