Thursday, October 28, 2021

1909 Hallowe'en postcard sent to Miss Doughnut Bainbridge

OK, let's get the important thing out of the way first: There was a Miss Doughnut Bainbridge 112 years ago, and we have no idea who that is!!!

I looked through some of the newspapers of the day from Fort Bragg in northern California (mostly The Mendocino Beacon) and there are references to people named Bainbridge, but nothing that hints of a Doughnut Bainbridge. Clearly, that was a girl's or woman's nickname, because people weren't cool or weird enough back then to actually name someone Doughnut.

This Hallowe'en postcard, with its two grinning pumpkins and a smiling moon, was postmarked on October 22, 1909, in San Francisco. On the front, in small, orange print, it states: COPYRIGHTED 1908 BY INTERNATIONAL ART [?] CO. NEW YORK. The word I can't read between ART and CO. might be ASS. Stop snickering.

This is  my best decipherment of the cursive note on the back:
Dearie,
I'm [Am?] having a lovely time. Oh why wasn't you here. Bert Hart was over to see me last eve. Said he got a postal from you. Will write soon.
Alice [?]

And of this possible Doughnut-Alice-Bert love triangle, we shall know no more. 

No comments:

Post a Comment