Christmas special: Postcard Stockings galore! - Picture Postcard ...

STOCKINGS GALORE
continued from page 33
Not taking
any chances both stocking
and shoes have been put
out on this embossed postcard
postally used in the
States 1910. Publisher
unknown.
the payroll of some stores
and at the peak of the Golden
Age of postcards he
must have been known to
everyone.
It was the whole package
of this new and largely
secular Christmas which
was to prove a winner and
There’s an ominous lack of a parental presence as this
sheet is about to be cut up and made into giant stockings!
An embossed postcard from Whitney of Worcester, Mass.
Postally used 1915.
sonality in his own right.
But if knowledge of
Santa was patchy here in
1879 the pace of change
accelerated after that. By
1885 there was a Santa
Claus Society in London, by
the ‘90s it wasn’t uncommon
for him to be on
Bright eyed children showing no signs of tiredness after
staying awake till the magic hour. The artist’s signature is
faint but looks like A.L. Bowley. Tuck ‘Oilette’ No. C7160.
Postally used 1921.
the phrase ‘invented tradition’
sums up some aspects
very neatly. By gliding
expectations and giving
them a chocolate box wrapping
on both sides of the
Atlantic its future was
ensured. Stockings might
only have been part of the
developing magic but they
were fundamental, and it
was thoughts of them
which prevented boredom
one dark, rain-lashed Saturday
afternoon recently and
provided an excuse (as if
one were needed!) to reexamine
some of my own
Christmas stocking postcards.
It’s a long, long time
since I hung up a stocking
for myself. I wonder if I
(left) Caught at last!’ The six pullout
pictures on this postcard from
Dennis of Scarborough show a
wooden doll going shopping
before having a tea-party and
pulling crackers with a teddy. From
their Dainty Series.
34 Picture Postcard Monthly December 2009
(below) ‘I do wish Santa
Claus would bring me a
.................... this year from
Harrod’s Toy Fair’. To avoid
disappointment children
with indulgent families
could fill in postcards like
this in advance.
hang one this year St.
Nicholas/Santa Claus/Father
Christmas will be kind
enough to treat me as an
honorary child? My
requests would be
modest. I’d like a
‘green’ Christmas
please. Some recycled
oblongs of old postcards
which just happen
to have festive
illustrations on one
Children must have enjoyed
receiving greetings that
could be personalised in
this way. Valentine’s ‘Artotype’
Series.
Left: hanging up her stockings
on a Christmas night’.
A novel take on the subject
from Fred Spurgin on an Art
and Humour Xmas Series
postcard. Postally used
1916. The old English Father
Christmas - pre Santa - had
no dealings with stockings
but he’d probably have
noticed this pair!
side would suit me fine!
* This is the latest of Wendy
Mann’s Christmas postcard
contributions that have
been a feature of December
PPMs for many years. If
you missed any, ask about
availability of back numbers!
Got a point of
view or
something
to say?
Write to PPM
Postbag!