Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Landmarks Main Street - And Taking Care of Grandpa's FACE
Posted by Vance Lauderdale on Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 10:55 PM
- Main Street at Night
The caption at the top of the card says it was taken from the roof of the Randolph Building, which stood at the corner of Main and Beale. The postcard artists took some license, I think, when they painted in some of the signs, but certain landmarks stand out. The cluster of buildings in the left foreground is the old Gayoso Hotel. Illuminated signs for many long-gone businesses are dimly visible, especially the one for Brennan's Stag Hotel, which would have stood just a few doors down (if not right next door) to the Gayoso, and Goodman's, its huge sign mounted on the rooftop at the right. I'm not sure what Goodman's was, and yeah, sure I suppose I could look it up, but I don't feel like it.
Because ...
I'm mainly intrigued by the penciled notation scrawled across the front of the card (this was before you were allowed to write messages on the back, which was reserved for the address). Somebody has written, "Della, Grandma says for you to take good care of Grandpa's face."
Oh gosh, what was wrong with poor Grandpa's face? And why couldn't Grandma take care of it herself? Has she gone off on a vacation, and left the poor man in the care of Della, who might have forgotten to "take care" of his face if not for this postal reminder? And who was this Della, anyway? She sounds very unreliable, if you ask me.
I'll never get to sleep now ...
Comments (5)
Showing 1-5 of 5
That's hilarious! Poor Grandpa!
I really enjoy reading this blog. Fantastic job, Mr. Vance!
like
dislike
What a cool old postcard. I bought an old postcard from 50 years ago of the Cool Springs area, where I live, and it was all corn pasture!
Tntuxedo,
That's possible, though a careful scrutiny of the the word "grandpa" suggests it does seem to end with an apostrophe-s, not a period. And the last word, to me, still looks more like "face" than "Jack."
And the postcard was actually sent by somebody named Ira, not Jack. There IS a message on the back, saying: "Well, Grandma and Mrs. Boaz got here alright and are feeling very well. I think Clarence met them at the train but it rained all the way on thru. Hope all is well, Ira."
The postcard was addressed to: "Mr. B.R. Gurney, Folsomdale, KY."
Now I suppose it's possible that somebody named Jack added that message to Della on the front, since Ira's message took up all the space on the back, but gosh we may never know.
