Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: tails

"Compliments of John E. Kaughran & Co., Dry Goods. 767 & 769 Broadway, cor. of Ninth St., New York." This is one of a six-part "Comic Visiting" card series printed by E. Currier & Co., Boston (probably related to the Currier of Currier & Ives but I'm not sure how). Other cards show a woman offering a cracker to a parrot (see below), a man peering through his eyeglasses at an owl, and a baby dangling a cup or something else to get a dog's attention. For the front and back of another Kaughran advertising trade card, see J. E. Kaughran, New York and John E. Kaughran, Dry Goods, New York (below).

Even if ewe didn't do it on porpoise, please quit your lion! (Sorry, I couldn't resist!) Punning humor from a 1910 postcard with an illustration of a lion (which itself is lyin' or reclining) that substitutes for the word lyin' (as in fibbing).

"I am (Comic Imp Card). Who the devil are you?" A card pasted in a Victorian-era "Agent's Sample Book" that was issued by an unidentified calling card company. I also have a blank copy of this card without the "Comic Imp Card" description or a name. See I Am ________, Who the Devil Are You? (below). For an example of another card that was in the "Agent's Sample Book," see the Fireman's Card (below).

"A Happy New Year. Haddocks. Come to your milk now." A Victorian-era New Year calling or greeting card with a hand-drawn sketch. "Come to your milk" seems to have had a specific meaning in the nineteenth century beyond pulling on a calf's tail to try to get it to drink out of a milk bucket. Besides a few hits on the phrase in Google Books, however, I haven't uncovered any source that reveals what that meaning might have been.

"'Pansy' the Roller-Skating Cow, featuring Rose, Betty, and Harry Rapp (A Rapp & Rapp Production)." Pansy the Roller-Skating Cow performed for fairs, carnivals, and circuses throughout the United States during the 1940s and 1950s. Other than some newspaper ads and brief mentions in Billboard magazine that turned up in Google searches, I haven't been able to locate any information regarding Pansy or the Rapps.

This "Mule Barometer" joke (sometimes also called a "Burrometer") has a long history and has appeared in many different printed versions (often with a more dramatic condition like "If tail is gone--Tornado" as the punchline). Although it's frequently published as a postcard, this example is actually an advertising card printed for the Central Brass Manufacturing Company, which has been in existence since 1895 and still continues to manufacture brass faucets and fixtures. Today, the Mule Barometer gag regularly reappears as a " weather rock ," which is--as Wikipedia interprets it--"a humor display that pokes fun at the intricate technology used in modern weather forecasts, as well as the fact that their accuracy is less than perfect. A rock is typically hung from a tripod and accompanied by a sign indicating how to read it." -------- Mule Barometer Directions: Hang outside. If tail is dry--Fair. If tail is wet--Rain If tail is swinging--Windy. If tail is wet and swinging--Stormy. If tail is frozen--Cold. Further information upon request. There is no kick coming to those who use the highest grade brass goods for plumbing and water works made by the Central Brass Mfg. Co.

"I am Sam Kahn. Who the devil are you?" I have found cards like these two--the one for Sam Kahn above and the other for Anna "Butch" Engle below--among collections of graduation name cards that date as late as the1940s. I don't have any definitive proof, but I suspect that high school or college students were able to order amusing cards like these from Jostens or some similar company at the same time they ordered their formal graduation announcements and name cards. These "who the devil are you" cards are, of course, just updated versions of earlier nineteenth-century Devil Cards and Comic Imp Cards (see examples below).

"I am Anna 'Butch' Engle. Who the devil are you?" For a similar card, see I Am Sam Kahn, Who the Devil Are You? (below).

"I am ________. Who the devil are you?" For another copy of this card, see Comic Imp Card: I Am ________, Who the Devil Are You? (below).

"I am C. Y. Young, who the devil are you?" These two "devil cards" date to 1877.

"I am (Devil Cards), who the devil are you?" A selection of devilish acquaintance and calling cards from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (see above and below).

A pipe-smoking devil carries a "Louis Klug" sign across this nineteenth-century German calling card.

"The giant cracker is a big red brute, with a tail that's like a snake. You can easily tell when they're about, by the awful noise they make." An anthropomorphic firecracker strikes fear into the hearts of the local populace.

"Solo Match. Made in Austria."

This advertisement consists of two die-cut pieces--shaped like a cow and a milkmaid--that have been glued together. For the back of this two-part advertising trade card, see De Laval Separators Have Revolutionized Dairying . "De Laval Cream Separators. Save $10 per cow every year."

This advertisement consists of two die-cut pieces--shaped like a cow and a milkmaid--that have been glued together. For the front of this two-part advertising trade card, see De Laval Cream Separators . "De Laval Separators have revolutionized dairying. All styles and sizes, $50 to $800, farm and factory." "Nearly 500,000 farmers, all over the world, have found a De Laval Cream Separator the best investment they ever made. Send for catalogue and name of local agent if not stamped above."

Heading to the circus at the Vintage Photos Theme Park . Elephants walk trunk to tail down the street as part of a parade to announce that the circus is in town. As Circus World points out as part of its History of the Great Circus Parade , "Circuses would travel from town to town, quickly erect tents, do several performances, then move on to the next venue. As the circus entered a new city, people would gather to watch the wagons, exotic animals, and equestriennes roll by." For another view of the same parade, see Circus Horses on Parade .

Or check out the Weird Vintage Postcards group instead.