PFF - Pendarvis Friendship Quilt

This friendship quilt is made up of blocks in the "tumbling blocks" pattern. It was made by Evelyn Kitto wife of the Pendarvis historic site curator, Mineral Point, Wisconsin. It contains over 900 diamond-shaped pieces with signatures representing 500 local people.

This postcard is not dated. The caption on the back is "Pendarvis Bicentennial Quilt." I am not sure whether this quilt was made for the United States Bicentennial in 1976 or for some other bicentennial. If you know when this quilt was made, please let me know.

VTT - Roy Rogers Museum & Merchandise

The postcard above is a view of the Roy Rogers Museum when it was in California. The postcard was postmarked in1971. This museum was on Highway 18 near the Apple Valley Inn. A larger museum was built in 1976 in Victorville. The museum had mementos and exhibits illustrating the life stories of Dale Evans and Roy Rogers. It moved to Branson, Missouri in 2003 and closed in 2009.

The Roy Rogers museum was in the news recently when its contents were sold in an auction. The most famous exhibit was Roy's palomino horse Trigger that was stuffed and mounted rearing up on his hind legs. Other items included Roy's saddle, dog Bullet, 1963 Pontiac Bonneville, and the Nellybelle jeep.

Below is a flyer with a picture of Roy Rogers and Trigger on one side and an ad for Roy Rogers merchandise on the other side. It says to listen to the Roy Rogers Radio Show. The Roy Rogers Show moved from radio to television in 1951.

The magazine ad below is dated December 1958. According to the ad, Sears had corralled America's largest selection of Roy Rogers gifts for girls and boys. I don't know what magazine this ad is from. On the other side of this ad there is an ad for Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce. Apparently the magazine had another Roy Rogers ad on the preceding page.

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SS - Riverside Café, Tarpon Springs, Florida

Louis Pappas' Riverside Cafe was founded in 1925 by Louis Pappas and his wife. It was replaced in 1975 by a new Pappas Restaurant (no longer in business). The restaurants were famous for their Greek Salad which included an olive-oil-based potato salad in addition to the usual ingredients of lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, and feta cheese.

Look at what is behind the woman (Flora Pappas?) in the picture. That sure looks like a postcard rack.

Smorgasbord Sundays (SS)
restaurant and food postcards

VTT - Ovens & Oven Mitts

This postcard has a light green Frigidaire kitchen range. On the back it says: "Now Frigidaire brings you the joy of COOKING without SLAVING in the new '59 electric ranges with the 'PULL 'N CLEAN" OVEN!'" This looks very similar to the green range my parents had, though theirs would have been a 1954 model without a "pull 'n clean" oven.

Other colors of Pull 'n Clean ovens, as shown in magazine ads of the 1960s, were pink and yellow. The first color-matched appliances were offered by Frigidaire in 1954. The Pull 'N Clean oven which pulled out for "stand-up cleaning" was introduced in 1958.

These oven mitts look like they would have been a lot of fun to use or play with. The long-eared one must be a bunny. The short-eared one is probably meant to be a dog.

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SS - Luau, Atlanta, Georgia

"A Dinkler Presentation" sounds more like a movie than a restaurant. I wonder how many other restaurants called themselves America's most exotic, exciting, and/or sensational restaurant.

The Dinkler version of the Luau restaurant in Atlanta was built by hotel magnate Carling Dinkler sometime in the 1950s. A few years later it became the Dobbs House Luau. There were Dobbs House Luaus in several other southern cities.

Smorgasbord Sundays (SS)
restaurant and food postcards

VTT - Women During World War II

This postcard is one of a series of WAC (Women's Army Corps) comic postcards published by Beals during World War II.

The WAC was the women's branch of the United States Army. It began as an auxiliary unit in 1942 and was converted to full status in 1943. About 150,000 women served in the WAAC and WAC during World War II. Women were allowed to serve in the Army and other military branches due to a shortage of men. The WAC was disbanded in 1978. Since then, women have served in the same Army units as men.

The Betty Crocker booklet Your Share is an advertising booklet published by General Mills in 1943. Its purpose was to give women serving on the "Home Front" helpful information about adjustments to make in menus and recipes due to rationing and shortages of various foods. The Food Rationing Program began in 1942. Rationed foods included sugar, meats, butter, fat, oils, some cheese, and certain packaged and processed foods.

Please click on the pages below to enlarge them to readable size.

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SS - The King of the Sea, New York City

The King of the Sea restaurant seems to have been a New York City landmark at one time, but is now forgotten. About all I could find about it was that it had a window display of their fresh seafood.

The back of the postcard boasts "The Sea Food you eat today slept last night in Chesapeake Bay." The mural on the wall shows fishing from coast to coast.

Smorgasbord Sundays (SS)
restaurant and food postcards

VTT - Cooking, Brides, Aunt Jenny, & Spry

By coincidence this postcard was sent just a bit over 100 years ago. It was postmarked June 22, 1910 in Minneapolis. Lena wrote to Miss Mamie McDonald in Clear Lake, Minnesota as follows:

Dear Mac,
I think that Scotch fellow don't come for the cooking but to see the cook. I expect to come out to see you if I go to Little Falls but will let you know later. I intend to go right after the fourth.

Spry was a vegetable shortening introduced in 1936 and was similar to Crisco. Starting in 1937, "Aunt Jenny" hosted a radio show sponsored by Spry. The Aunt Jenny character was also used in print advertising and several recipe booklets.

I don't know the date of this Spry recipe booklet "Aunt Jenny's Favorite Recipes." The booklet has recipes for biscuits, cakes, cookies, desserts, frostings, frying, main dishes, and pies--all including Spry as an ingredient or oil for frying. The front cover shows Jenny with her husband Calvin. The back cover shows how Aunt Jenny helped out a new bride. I doubt that a modern bride would be so appreciative of Jenny's "gifts" and advice.

My favorite page inside is the biscuit page. The poor bride is really "fed up on all those jokes about Bride's Biscuits." I had never even heard of Bride's Biscuits before. I discovered that they are also known as "Angels Biscuits," and there are many recipes for them on the internet. The reason they are called "Bride's Biscuits" is because are supposed to be easy for even a new bride to make. They include yeast (and sometimes baking soda) in addition to baking powder and are guaranteed to rise.

I never bake or fry anything, so I don't know whether many people still keep vegetable shortening on hand. If I did have some, I think I would try Aunt Jenny's Strawberry Shortcake recipe. It looks much better than the kind of shortcake they sell in stores.

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PFF - Cool Bear - Breakfast a la Mode

This bear sure knows how to stay cool. On the back it says: "A Rainier National Park bruin finds cafeteria service meets his desires best."

Hope you find a way to stay cool this weekend.