Not Likely to Melt Soon

Chinese post card, c. 1970s—

"Ice Sculpture" (no other detail)

Four Little Pages

At the local library book sale, I sometimes check out ten-to-a-pack baggies of loose illustrations. These have been removed from miscellaneous materials, but most are from damaged books.

I always have mixed feelings about buying these. There's the sad fact that books are being destroyed. It's also frustrating to find an interesting illustration out of its published context: artist and source material are usually unknown and not likely to be identifiable.

Even when the reverse of a picture has some text, that is rarely specific enough to identify an author, illustrator, or title.

But among my last purchases at this sale was a pack of dog illustrations that included:



Poses, props, and overall Depression-era look of the photos had to be the work of Harry Whittier Frees.

Reverse sides had bits of the story, and among the characters' names were, "Wags and Tags and Rags and Obadiah."

That led the way to a Frees book: Four Little Puppies.

According to this database, the book was last reprinted in 1983, and first published by Rand McNally in 1935.

The original publisher recycled this book in the '50s and '60s, under the "Elf" imprint. These pages must come from an edition like this example.

My pages have some story fragments—

After that, Wags practiced his banjo lesson.
He practiced all his scales.
He practiced his one-paw exercises.
And he practiced his new piece, "Bone, Sweet Bone."

Another page—

But Fido and Fritz did not answer. They were taking a drive in their new dog cart.

Too bad the illustration is missing. Though one can probably get the general idea from the cat cart in this 1937 Life article about Frees.

Frees' work, from the 1930s and earlier, just keeps getting recycled, in print and elsewhere.

I first learned Frees' name way back when sister J. sent me this image: an updated-for-the-1980s post card—

Tasty Treasures

Did someone say treasure?

This little booklet, a 1972 translation of a French children's craft book, certainly is one.

Yes "YOU CAN MAKE" the recipes inside; whether they would be all that tasty is another question. But the whimsical period designs are something else.

Behold: "Crummy & Crochety"...
...Pies that are bought or baked, then decorated in different funny-face schemes.

Recipes and directions are complicated enough to keep the kids very well-occupied, although I can't see most of these being made without adult supervision.

Among the first items are these candle holders made from fruit, to "Welcome your guests with pretty twinkling lights..."The cat looks like its apple peel tail is ready to catch fire, any second.

Here's the "Melon Martian"—Not merely decorative:

Cut the top off a... melon... scoop out the fruit... Mix the fruit with ice cream or sherbet. Fill the melon with the ice cream mixture, then sprinkle with nuts and raisins or whatever you like.

"Camel caravan"—

"A shepherd, his sheep, and a camel are on their way—to your tummy."

Somehow, I can't see edible results coming from young fingers recreating this tableau of cookie structures, caramel corn sheep with melted chocolate holding on their almonds heads, etc. And if the text hadn't mentioned it, I never would have identified the thing on the right as a palm tree.

"Animal antics" are drink decorations made from assorted fruit and vegetables, accented with maraschino cherry pieces, bits of drinking straws, and toothpicks.

Fish:

Clockwise: water beetle, porcupine, walrus.
And a production taking up several pages: "Pastry men on the munchmobile"—

"Remember, your Pastry Man doesn't have to look like the one in the photograph. If you prefer, a Pastry Lady or even a Martian with elephant ears will be every bit as nice."

And, voilà! Ce jeune homme: a natural in the kitchen.

He models the project in several pages of photos and directions:


Steps 1-15 yield the pastry man; 16-18 cover the second batch of dough, cut into shapes for filling in the mobile:

Our artiste adds the finishing touch.

The true gem of this book is the "Magic Menu." With mock dinner courses made of sweets, "It won't be hard to lick these platters clean."

Shades of a Francophone painter! ... The not-eggs are canned apricot halves, atop a dish of whipped cream.

If this "fish" is less than convincing...

... It's followed by this pièce de résistance—

"This isn't really a chicken, but it certainly looks like one, doesn't it?"

Made from sponge cake layers held together with jam, and cut into a chicken shape, with ladyfingers for drumsticks...

And how else to end a French meal?

"The Camembert cheese is made from whipped cream (see Recipe section) mixed with several crushed vanilla wafers. If you have an empty Camembert box (or any cheese box) wash and dry it carefully and fill it with the "cheese." Sprinkle with powdered sugar to make it look like the crust of a real Camembert."

January - Card of The Month

Japanese post card, c. 1960s-1970s; captioned on reverse—

January - "Kamakura" snow shed

It is one of time-honored customs in Akita Prefecture where used to have heavy snow fall in winter. Snow sheds, such as one shown in photo, are made in January on the side of the street. Children in this area invite their friends each other to the sheds for new year party held around a brazier.

This is one of a series published by Fukuda, under this logo—



Cards in this series feature a children's festival or activity for the month depicted. I'm missing four months, but the eight I have are wonders that will follow in the matching months...

Yuletide Entertainments

Title page:

YULETIDE ENTERTAINMENTS

CHRISTMAS RECITATIONS, MONOLOGUES, DRILLS, TABLEAUX, MOTION SONGS, EXERCISES, DIALOGUES, AND PLAYS

SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES

BY ELLEN M. WILLARD

CHICAGO, T.S. DENISON & COMPANY, 1910

(Back cover)

The front matter includes this assurance:

The songs in this book are to be sung to old airs that are presumably familiar to everyone. If any of them should prove unfamiliar, however, the music will be found in Denison's "Songs Worth While," one of the best arranged and most carefully edited collections of old favorites ever published. This book is beautifully printed, in non-glossy paper, measuring 10¾ by 7 inches, and is well bound in a stout paper cover done in colors. It may he obtained from the publisher for the price of $1.00, postpaid.

(Ad page, at back of the book).

Then we have these words of guidance:

INTRODUCTORY

It becomes more and more a part of Christmas gayety to present the legends, or the spirit of it, to the eye as well as the mind.

For this purpose the following pages have been prepared in play and pantomime, songs and marches, drills and recitations. While the needs of adults have not been forgotten, those of the children have been most largely remembered, since Christmas is pre-eminently the children's festival.

A word to those who take charge of such affairs may not be amiss.

Precision of movement is the keynote of success for everythinng of this kind. This does not mean stiffness, but it does mean exactitude and certainty. Uncertain gestures in speaking; scattered attack and close in singing; hesitation in acting; and, more than all, careless motions and marching in the drills (corners not formed squarely, motions only half in unison, etc.)—all these are fatal to that success which makes such entertainments entertaining.

Here, as everywhere else, "What is worth doing at all, is worth doing well."

Rather exacting entertainment...

There are no real illustrations, just a few diagrams, in this paperbound book, "Price, 40 cents." Those figures include a frame and screen arrangement for use as a stage, and diagrams of the movements to be made for specific drills and dances.

The latter two look pretty complicated. "Dance of the Holly and the Mistletoe; For Eight Young Girls or the Number May Be Doubled," has six illustrative figures and seventeen steps in the directions.

The period skits include the usual moral tales about learning the true meaning of Christmas.

There are the usual ethnic stereotypes, such as, "The Pickanny's Christmas."

"Santa Claus in Many Lands" features actors who each dress as a "country," with countries including "Hindustan" and "Esquimaux." "China," has lines in excruciating pidgin to express how much "me likee Melican Santa." Though the dialogue sort of suggests that even countries that don't celebrate Christmas have their points, and at the end, Santa arrives to say he loves all the children.

If this all does not provide adequate entertainment, the publisher also offers:

Tiger of the Month Club: December

As all good things must come to an end...

Frate Indovino: December Divining

Caption: "The law is equal for all but more equal for some."

Well, that's a change from the sentimentality expected throughout this time of year in the U.S.

And a more honest appraisal than publicly acceptable here, at any time.

In any case, the theme is that justice has always been elusive:

As far back as the ancient Greeks, Plutarch complained that "the spiders' weavings blindside flies, but leave hornets alone," and the Latin poet Juvenal stigmatized the censors who "forgave the crows, but made havoc with doves." And many centuries later, things have not changed much, and people say it this way: "In jail he who steals wood, on the throne he who steals a kingdom"; "Many times money and friendship, break the legs of justice" etc., etc. ...

After more quotes and expressions highlighting the theme, there's a long passage about the the slow wheels of justice... Which I can't quite follow, but: it seems to be about an Italian incident [or more than one incident] involving a legal [and maybe political] conflict, that began in 1816 and ended in 2001 [? - the math doesn't quite seem to work, either].

The writer says the dispute ended only

... because the losing party did not contest the umpteenth ruling issued, just think: after 192 years!

The mini-essay concludes that

The justice of God is a bit different but equally "mysterious," as evidenced by the fact that the first to "steal" paradise was the good thief.

Perhaps an inspiring seasonal reference there, after all.

In other wisdom, the almanac says:

A Dicembre nevoso - segue anno fruttuoso
Snowy December - a fruitful year follows

In the skies:

A total lunar eclipse on the 21st, visible from Asia, Australia, the Pacific, America and Europe, and lasting 3 hours 29 minutes.

Also:

Magnetic storms will influence the weather, with the possibility of gales and storms at sea... in the first ten days: negative influences on mental activity.

"First ten days": quite early for holiday behavior, American-style.

Though with the opening of the shopping season having been pushed to the night of Thanksgiving and following dawn, this may fit here, after all.

Sadly, the year of visiting with Frate Indovino is coming to an end.

One last bit of wisdom, as we wave bye-bye to crazy, dear Italy:

Besides death, three things are certain for the Italians: the New Year's television horoscope, the size of the budget, and the soccer league.