Monday, May 12, 2014

Authentic vintage postcard of Chewbacca holding a York baby

UPDATE: This was meant to be a silly post.
But I really should have paid more attention to the postcard


Chewbacca is real, y'all! And I have photographic proof.

This AZO real photo postcard dates from between 1904 and 1918, according to the stamp box on the back. And it clearly shows an infant in a long, white gown being held gently by Chewbacca, the famous Wookiee co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon.1

This postcard was produced by Simon & Murnane — York, Pennsylvania, photographers who were located at 227 West Market Street ("At the bridge," according to the postcard).2 Obviously, Simon and/or Murnane must have been personally acquainted with Chewbacca in order to get him to agree to pose for this photograph.

We like to say that everything connects to York, and now the city — through this postcard — has a tangible link to some key events that transpired in a galaxy far, far away.

I'm hoping, as such, that this connection can be included in the next episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, and I shall be in touch with Neil deGrasse Tyson this week.

Moving forward, further research will be needed. Who is this baby? Did the child retain any memories of its time with Chewbacca? Maybe they became pen pals, and additional Ephemera of Historic Importance will be uncovered one day. Such ephemera could be in a trunk in your attic at this very moment.

Isn't digging through history GREAT??

May the Force be with you.

Footnotes
1. The Millennium Falcon, you might recall, made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.
2. For more on Simon & Murnane and other studio photographers of York, see my wife's 2011 post on Only in York County titled "Even more memories of photo studios in York County."

3 comments:

  1. Not to spoil your fun with the York Chewbacca baby, but this might actually be a post mortem photograph....aka "dead baby picture". It was something some grieving parents did during this era.

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  2. It looks like a christening picture to me. That baby is pretty bright eyed. And I always suspected that Chewie loved babies...he has a gentle heart, despite is burly, furry bigness.

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  3. Pupils are artificial. In the close up you can see part of the baby's real eyes in the upper left. And no baby stayed still long enough for the time it took to expose film in those days.

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