All My Christmas Dreams Came True

"All my dreams came true."

Info on the back of this postcard: "Genuine Frees Animal Series. Photographs of real live pets. No. 765. Christmas Comics. 6 designs....Publ'd by the Nyce Manufacturing Co., Vernfield, Pa."

This printed postcard reproduces a photo by Harry Whittier Frees (1879-1953), who posed cats, dogs, and other animals in amusing scenes like this for magazines, books, and other publications. Mary L. Weigley's fascinating article, "Introducing Harry Whittier Frees, World-Famous Animal Photographer," which originally appeared in Pennsylvania Heritage, Spring 2014, describes how Frees captured these images:

"Frees's photographs were uncommon because he used live animals and no tricks were involved... He attired them in dresses, work uniforms, smocks, shawls, robes, and aprons made by his mother or his housekeeper Annie Edelman. The clothes were held in place by pins so the animals could be quickly dressed and undressed. They were then posed in human situations--ironing clothes, cooking on an old-fashioned cast-iron stove, hanging laundry, playing a piano, pumping water, even casting votes in a wooden ballot box! The work was challenging, time-consuming, and nerve-wracking. It caused Frees so much anxiety that he photographed his furry subjects for only three months a year."

Weigley's article goes on to tell about the popularity of Frees's photos and his success in publishing books (such as Animal Mother Goose, with Characters Photographed from Life, which came out in 1921) and providing illustrations for magazines, advertisements, and picture postcards.

Sadly, though, Frees died alone and ended up in an unmarked grave (check out the article for the full story). His imaginative photos, however, continue to delight us today.

Here's another postcard from the "Christmas Comics" series: