Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: creatures

"Putnam Fadeless Dyes-Tints." A late 1920s paper advertising fan with a wooden handle. The elaborate Art Nouveau design of the fan features a green nymph in flowing robes who's using Putnam Fadeless Dyes and Tints to paint colors onto the wings of a quizzical-looking butterfly. Two other leafy green creatures kneel on either side as they hold bowls of Putnam products. Purple gnarly tree trunks and branches along with green leaves frame the fantastical scene. See also the advertising copy on the back of the fan .

Partial transcription of the text on the back of the Putnam Fadeless Dyes and Tints Advertising Fan : Putnam Fadeless Dyes, Tints To dye, use boiling water. To tint, dip in warm water. Colors all materials. Putnam No-Kolor Bleach removes the original color, which enables you to dye material any color desired. No-Kolor will not harm any fabric that boiling water alone will not injure. Why Putnam Fadeless Dyes and Tints are best for you.... Tint with Putnam (no boiling is required).... A free offer if you have gray hair.... Putnam Dry-Cleaner. The original dry cleaner.... Monroe Chemical Company, Quincy, Illinois. The Regensteiner Corporation, Chicago. Compliments of Geo. F. Hoy, Hublersburg, Pa.

A witch holds her broomstick tightly as she rides in the back seat of a watermelon car driven by a wide-eyed veggie creature. A black cat sits next to her, and a bat flies above. A date of "Oct. 31st, 1908" is written on the other side of this postcard, which was published by the British firm of Raphael Tuck & Sons and issued as part of its popular Halloween series 150 .

Postcard addressed on the back to Earl Elliot, Douglassville, Pa., and postmarked at Douglassville, Pa., Oct. 31, 1906. The handwritten message on the front is "Greetings for the day," and the initials "L.U."--presumably those of the sender--appear in a number of places on the front, including on the wall next to the fireplace. The clock strikes midnight on Halloween as a woman gazes into a fire and children bob for apples in a wash tub and on a string. Jack-o'-lanterns form a border around the scene, and ghostly figures hover in the message box at the bottom. The woman in front of the fireplace may actually be playing a fortune-telling game involving three nuts, which she has named after three of her suitors. After placing the three nuts in the fire (I think the nuts are visible here on the top of the grate at the front of the fireplace), she watches to see how they burn. The following poem, which appeared in 1900 in The Jolly Hallowe'en Book , by Dorothy M. Shipman, p. 68, describes the practice. The Test of the Nuts I've named three nuts and placed them Side by side on the grate, The one which cracks is unfaithful, The lover I know I should hate. The one which blazes with brilliant fire, Tells of high regard, 'tis said, But the one which burns with a steady flame Names the man whom I shall wed.

Message on the back of this postcard: "Wish you a Merry Halloween from Isabelle." Addressed to: Howard Knicley, Brookville, Pa., R.F.D. No. 2. Postmarked: Punxsutawney, Pa., Oct. 27, 1909. Printed on the back: "Raphael Tuck & Sons' 'Hallowe'en' Post Cards, Series No. 160." In the scene on the front of this Raphael Tuck & Sons postcard, anthropomorphic apples jump into a wooden wash tub filled with water to initiate bobbing for apples on Halloween. Here are some other colorful Tuck Halloween postcards:

A Halloween pickle-pumpkin person postcard! Postmarked: Howard City, Mich., Oct. 29, 1920. Addressed to: Mrs. Ida Roush, Coral, Mich. R.F.D. Handwritten message: "Howard City, Oct. 27. Dear Ida, Will be down Sun. if the weather is good. If you have anything else on, call and let me know and we can come some other time. Lovingly, Ida Gates."

"Guaranteed--to rid any cellar of rats, roaches, or other undesirable creatures. In case of failure to do so as represented, your money cheerfully refunded and no questions asked . September 15th, 1906 A.D." Addressed to: Miss Olive L. Carpenter, Box #99, Yantic, Connecticut. Postmarked: Philadelphia, Pa., Sep. 16, 1906. Judging by a Find A Grave search, the recipient of this real photo postcard was probably Olive L. Carpenter Bullard (1878 - 1917) ("wife of E. E. Bullard"), who is buried in the Yantic Cemetery, Norwich, Connecticut. If so, she would have been 28 years old when she received this postcard in 1906 and only 39 when she died in 1917. I wonder if it was her husband who sent her this card. For another real photo postcard with a similar "scare away the rats" joke, see Use This to Keep the Mice and Rats Away (below).

Postmarked: Hagerstown, Md., Oct. 30, 1908. Sent to: Mr. J. D. Payne, Box 816, Martinsburg, W.Va. Handwritten message: "Compliment of the season. You have a fine appetite, so [ac]cept a slice of cake at 12 p.m. on Halloween eve and have pleasant dreams."

A black cat scaring veggie people in a Raphael Tuck Halloween postcard.