Plywood Caveman ? Vintage real photo postcard of the Ozark Bluff Dwellers

Plywood Caveman Cutout! Real Photo Postcard directing tourists to the Bluff Dwellers Cave in the Ozarks. The cave was discovered in 1925 and opened to the public two years later. Once inhabited by the "Ozark Bluff Dwellers" but sealed by a landslide 2000 or so years ago. The card is unmailed and not dated but likely not long after the owners opened it for tours. "SEE MY CAVE" roadside sign RPPC collection Jim Linderman

R. Winter Folk Art Environment Real Photo Postcard collection Jim Linderman

Richard Winter was another visionary builder who sold real photo postcards of his creation. Among the KEEP OUT signs there is one reading “Postcards of this park for sale” Here’s mine! Dated too…makes it easy to identify the site. Mondovi, Wisconsin is a town of a few thousand. Remnants of the little park remain but not much. The seated figure has had his head lopped off now, of course. R. Winter’s Park. Mondovi Wisconsin dated 1922 Real Photo Postcard Collection Jim Linderman / Dull Tool Dim Bulb #folkartenvironment #rppc #realphotopostcard #outsiderart #folkart

Antique Folk Art Sculpture Thresher and Steam Tractor c. 1920 Real Photo Postcard

Someone received a nice giant toy! Antique Folk Art Sculpture Thresher and Steam Tractor c. 1920 Real Photo Postcard Collection Jim Linderman

Gorillas in Chains! Folk Art Real Photo Postcard

A handsome giant gorilla is shown in the Crescent City Totem Pole Park, and a rudimentary smaller version from my shelf. Real Photo Postcard Gorilla, c. 1940 and carved version of same. Collection Jim Linderman

Risky Risque Sequential Real Photo Postcards

Risky Risque Sequential Real Photo Postcards circa 1940

Who is Driving at Rockin' Chair Park?

Who is Driving at Rockin' Chair Park?  Real Photo Post Card no date 
Collection Jim Linderman

Mimi Garneu Ricky Rocket and Captian Zoom Zoom the Trained Fleas of the Amazing Mimi

Are flea circus acts real?  Mimi Garneu's was.  Here Mimi makes her tiny troupe run through the act on her desk.  The world's smallest slave labor!   The film shows a competing group, but you get the idea.  I once tied a fly to a piece of thread and he few around in circles, but I felt it cruel and let him go.  Fleas, however, get no pass.  Creepy little chiggers.  At least Mimi knew how to control her infestation.  Mimi was a sword swallower too.  To see more information about the Amazing Mimi Garneau, see the book project on her HERE 

Radium Real Photo Postcard ! Reading by the Warmth of the Fire in Red

Not to worry, this RED real photo postcard from the early 20th century isn't glowing from radiation despite being produced by the Radium Studio in Muskegon.  Some RPPC images were printed on red paper (or on paper tinted red) to indicate warmth.  This is a perfect example, as the gent is reading by the warmth of a fire.  A discussion figuring out the process is HERE on the Post Card Collector site.

Radium Photography, an unusual name for a company, is still in business!  They were founded in 1909 and for over 100 years have been providing service to the Western Michigan area!  See their website HERE.  Imagine the number of images a century old company has produced.

Undated RPPC in red Collection Jim Linderman

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John Meyers of Michigan and the Bear Den of Spikehorn's Bears RPPC

 

Favored local crank and bear wrangler John E. Meyers, A.K.A "Spikehorn" peers around the corner of his ramshackle "bear's den" in this real photo postcard circa 1935.  He seems to be waiting for potential lawsuits…and yes, there were maulings.  Welcome to Michigan!

Maybe that primitive rendering of a child petting the hungry stomach of a big one wasn't too smart.  Kids COULD shake bear hands, and no, there wasn't a "Don't pet the bears unless you are THIS tall" sign in the yard.

Spikehorn's tombstone "bears" his name and the title "Central Michigan Naturalist" but they omitted "inventor of the sugar beet lifter" whatever that is. 

In 1937 the Owasso (Michigan) press reported Spikehorn was providing entertainment with trained bears at the founding of an early Michigan conservation club, so he must have had a den on wheels too. 

The bear dens burned down in 1957, and Spikehorn spent the last two of his 87 years in a rest home in Gladwin, MI. 

In 1994, T. M. Sellers wrote a book on Spikehorn, and later one of the cubs born in his den grew up to become famous as "Cubbie" in a children's book.  

Every few years a Michigan writer claws up the tale of Spikehorn, and this is mine…but he is increasingly known only by those who attend postcard shows.

See Spikehorn Meyers in action (in color!)  below.

 

Spikehorn Meyers  Harrison Michigan Real Photo Postcard circa 1935? Collection Jim Linderman

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Olof Krans Folk Art Painting on a Real Photo Postcard c. 1927

Olof Krans Folk Art Painting on a Real Photo Postcard 

An original real photo postcard from 1927 showing a magnificent naive painting by Olof Krans.  Krans was a Swedish immigrant brought to Illinois at age 12 by his parents in 1850.  They settled at Bishop Hill, as noted on the image, a utopian settlement founded by Devotionalists. 

Olof Krans painted for much of his life, initially producing stage backdrops and signs.  Could he have also painted backdrops for photographers?  He worked at a photographer's studio in the late 19th century (according to the Museum of American Folk Art Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century American Folk Art and Artists by Chuck and Jan Rosenak) but his major works were done from 1900 to 1916.  Estimates of his output range from 90 to 200 paintings.  Many are portraits, but his best works are his farm scenes of prairie folk lined up as straight as a horizon.  Sow straight and reap!
 
How, or why, one of his paintings was shown on this postcard (mailed in 1927) is beyond me.


In 1996 Krans was the subject of a 30 minute documentary produced in Sweden by Göran Gunér available for purchase HERE.  A translated description of the film follows.

Målaren från Bishop Hill/The Painter of Bishop Hill
(30 min, 1996). Written, directed and produced by Göran Gunér. English narration.

This is the story of a Swedish Utopia on the prairie founded by a religious sect in 1846. Led by their prophet Erik Janson some 800 Swedes emigrated to the US this year, which also marks the start of mass emigration from a poor country in the north. Soon the prophet was murdered in a court house, but the colony continued to prosper until the breakout of the Civil War in the early 1860s.
Olof Krans, the painter of Bishop Hill (born in Sweden 1838, brought to Bishop Hill By his parents in 1850) recalled at old age his childhood memories and painted them with naïve charm. Through these images it is still possible to visualize this Utopia on the prairie. Bishop Hill is nowadays considered the most remarkable cultural monument outside Scandinavia. And Olof Krans is one of the most prominent names in American folk art. He has his own museum at Bishop Hill, Illinois, a few hours by car from Chicago. 

Real Photo Postcard 1927 Olof Krans Painting  Collection Jim Linderman

Books and ebooks by Jim Linderman are available HERE

 

Cactus Kate from just North of Joshua Tree 1950 RPPC

Cactus Kate and her Turtle.  Cactus Kate was a character from North of Joshua Tree.
Cactus Kate Real Photo Postcard (dated on reverse 1950)  Collection Jim Linderman

 HERE at Blurb.

Fake Native American Band RPPC Real Photo Postcard collection Jim Linderman

Real Photo Postcard circa 1910 Collection Jim Linderman

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Don't Take the Train

Real Photo Postcard circa 1900 Collection Jim Linderman

Rough Hewn and Hacked Vernacular Architecture Extreme RPPC

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Looks like they forgot the primer.  Rough Hewn.  To hew or shape by hacking.  Can't really call it a log cabin, as the logs have been squared off.  Well, sorta.  At least they got what they need.  Heat, water and a dog.


Real Photo Postcard circa 1905  "Cyko" stock.  Cyko was an early competitor to Kodak.  Collection Jim Linderman

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The Little Girl Who Invented the Hot Dog (Holiday Special Dull Tool Dim Bulb)

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Just in time for your holiday cookout, Dull Tool Dim Bulb presents the origin of the Hot Dog!  Share it over the campfire.

Real Photo Postcard 1948  Huntington Indiana Collection Jim Linderman

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Wood Man with Saw Sawn From Wood Folk Art

The last time I wrote about chainsaw carvers, I received hate mail from a chainsaw carver!  Now I didn't see those slasher and slicer movies, but I do NOT want to piss off anyone with a chainsaw this time.  So let's just say this is something for the contemporary chainsaw artist to aspire to.

Believe it or not, the chainsaw was invented back in 1785!  Jeepers!  That seems to be a long time to perfect the craft, and I will let others debate whether the craft IS an art this time.  This is a good carving, no matter how it was done.  I think it is art.

Real Photo Postcard, 1936.  Garden City Grange Fair Collection Jim Linderman

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THREE Big Pauls Paul Bunyan, a Beatle and a Friend with a Gun Me and Paul

One of the three most famous and deserving "Pauls" in the world, the other two being Sir Paul of Beatle and just plain Paul who played drums and carried the gun for Willie Nelson for 50 years. (The club owners who hired Willie were often slow to produce the night's receipts...Paul was there to make sure they did.)  If you are interested in Paul, the song "Me and Paul" tells the story.  You already know Sir Paul's story, and if you don't know Paul Bunyan's tale, you can read it HERE from several years ago, and see a bunch of his big effigies.

The Paul here was built by Cyril M. Dickinson and Jim Payton, in 1936, in Bemidji MN.

Paul Bunyan Real Photo Postcard circa 1936 Collection Jim Linderman

WAY out on a ledge Umbrella Rock RPPC collection Jim Linderman

Real Photo Postcard images of Umbrella Rock at Lookout Mountain are not uncommon, but few bring an intake of breath like this one.  What were these guys thinking?

Real Photo Postcard undated (circa 1900?) Collection Jim Linderman

Jean Lussier Balls the Falls ! Dapper Dry Debonair Devil of Dare

Jean Lussier balled the Niagara Falls only once, but he made a living off it for over 30 years.  As you can see here, he sold pictures of himself as a famous daredevil who defeated the mighty falls as a young man all the way into his old age.  He is looking pretty dapper in the last one, having apparently awarded himself some kind of "captainship" or something.  Dapper but dry as a bone...and dry a long time.


Lussier was smart enough to figure out a rubber ball was the way to survive the fall.  So he created a rubber raft inflated with inner tubes.  The round contraption with him inside went over in 1928.  The rubber beast is seen here poked with flags behind young Jean in the first photo, and it appears he has already started ripping sections out to sell as souvenirs.


I'm not kidding...Jean DID sell off his rubber, one patch at a time.  When he ran out, he sold random chunks of tires he purchased claiming they were historic!  He also toured the country giving lectures at special screenings of the film made while he bobbed and dropped.


After living off his 30 minute trip for 30 years, Lussier decided it was time to rekindle interest. He claimed he was planning another ball drop, this one three times as big around (no doubt to provide him with enough historic scraps to last him the rest of his life) but it never happened.  He passed away in a beat-up boarding house in Niagara Falls, New York.


COLLECTION OF THREE JEAN LUSSIER AUTOGRAPHED REAL PHOTO POSTCARDS circa 1928-1940  Collection JIM LINDERMAN


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Wegner's Garden of Prayer (Booking Weddings Now)

Act NOW to book your wedding at the Paul & Matilda Wegner Grotto and Garden of Prayer in Sparta Wisconsin.  Site is HERE

Real Photo Postcard circa 1935  Collection Jim Linderman