Here's a beauty of an old postcard; one of the most colorful ones I've had the opportunity to feature. It's part of the Halloween Series issued by Julius Bien & Co. It's labeled "The Witch's Dance" and it, indeed, features a red-headed witch dancing with a pair of anthropomorphic pumpkin men and an extremely gleeful black cat. The fiery autumn leaves lay on the green grass and stars are twinkling in the crescent-moon sky behind them. What a fun postcard! Not at all creepy, but 100% Halloween.
Dancing a little jig is a totally appropriate response to it being the day before Halloween, too. (And I still have two more dandy vintage cards remaining to share tomorrow.)
Underneath the illustration, someone has written, in pencil, "IS THAT YOU? HA HA." So, perhaps, this postcard was intended for a red-headed witch, a black cat or even a pumpkin-based person. Probably it's the first one. The address on the back had this going to Hulda Jacobus in Millstadt, Illinois.
Hulda Jacobus is a great name and I intend this in the best way possible when I say that it totally sounds like a name that an awesome witch would have. Clearly, a good witch. Because her name is so uncommon, it's not hard to find a little information about Hulda. She was born in Millstadt1, a village filled with Americans of German descent, on February 22, 1896, to Peter Jacobus and Caroline Tegtmeir. She had a sister named Viola. She married Eugene Edward Brucker (1896-1987) and had a child. And she died on December 7, 1961, in St. Louis, Missouri.
And that's it. A little more biographical information would be nice, but that's a good start.
This postcard, by the way, has no stamp or postmark, so I'm not sure if or how it was ever delivered to Hulda. But here's the short note:
Hello,Viola! So we can be 99% certain, I think, that this postcard was from her sister. I'd like to think they were both good witches.
How do you intend to celebrate Hallowe'en. I was to a Hallowe'en Party last night.
Viola
Footnotes
1. As of this writing, the Wikipedia page for Millstadt includes a short section that I hope remains there forever. If not, here it is for posterity: "Some of the great stores in town include Dollar General, Casey's General Store, and Circle K. Circle K is a popular kid destination."
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