New York World's Fair: Elco Yacht at RCA Exhibit

This boat is fully equipped with all the latest radio devices for communication and safety at sea. It is part of the radio-marine section of the Radio Corporation of America Exhibit and was supplied by the ELCO works.

CELEBRATE THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1939-40 WORLD'S FAIRS
Look for more World's Fair Postcards on the Postcardy Blog on Fridays.
To view past World's Fair posts, click here or on the exposition label.

Ripley Believe-It-Or-Not Odditorium at A Century of Progress

RIPLEY'S BELIEVE-IT-OR-NOT ODDITORIUM AT THE 1933 CENTURY OF PROGRESS EXPOSITION

Robert Ripley began as a sports cartoonist. One time, when he was stumped for a topic in 1918, he drew a bunch of small odd sports comics all on one panel. This arrangement evolved into the Believe-It-Or-Not comics that began appearing in newspapers and  books. Ripley traveled the world collecting and reporting on oddities. He also had a weekly radio show from 1930 to 1944 and made 24 short documentary movies in 1931-1932. In 1933 he opened his first odditorium, a museum-like display of oddities and human freaks, at the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago. This was followed by odditoriums at other world's fairs. Ripley died in 1949. The first permanent Believe It Or Not! museum was opened in 1950. There are now 32 Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museums in ten countries, dozens of Ripley books and hundreds of television videos in the company’s archive vaults.

These postcards are official souvenir postcards from the 1933 Century of Progress Odditorium.

THE EYE-POPPER
MAN WHO SPEAKS WITHOUT VOCAL CORDS
2871 LEGIBLE LETTERS WRITTEN ON A GRAIN OF RICE

9 BASEBALLS PICKED UP WITH ONE HAND
PARROT WITH A HUMAN MIND
HUMAN HEAD REDUCED TO THE SIZE OF A BASEBALL
ARCHIMEDES SCREW

MULE-FACE WOMAN
MAGIC MULTIPLYING SQUARE
HINDU FIRE EATER
CANNIBAL FORK USED BY FIJIANS
4 ORIGINAL COOTIES FROM FRANCE
A ROCK THAT FLOATS
A STARFISH WITH 21 POINTS

LONGEST RED HAIR IN THE WORLD
LIFTING AND PULLING HEAVYWEIGHTS WITH THEIR YEE-LIDS

BABY WITH 4 LEGS AND 3 ARMS
LITTLE HALF GIRL BORN WITHOUT ARMS OR LEGS

ALLIGATOR SKIN BOY
RUBBER-SKINNED GIRL
RUBBER-NECKED MAN
LEOPARD-SKINNED MAN

HUMAN PINCUSHION --THE  PAIN-PROOF MAN
LIFTING HEAVY WEIGHTS WITH HOLES THRU HIS BREAST

MIRACLE MAN -- HUMAN OR ROBOT
MAN WITH AN OSTRICH STOMACH

THE ARMLESS WONDER
OSSIFIED MAN TURNING TO STONE

Read more about Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not here.

This week a new public television series about Ripley began on January 6, 2015. The first video has a brief overview of that show (this may not be viewable in all areas--you may be asked to choose your local station). The second video has one of Ripley's early films.

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Map: Southern California's Romantic Highways

Southern California's highways are the most romantic in the world. It is literally but a moment from thriving modern cities to the sleeping haciendas of the early Spanish Rancheros. An hour's drive takes one from the shores of the beautiful Pacific to snow capped peaks, with golden flecked orange trees meeting in the valleys below. Resorts abound everywhere, and historical missions mark the route of the Padres. Modernity harmonizes charmingly with evidence everywhere of the glorious past.

Russian New Year Stamps

This is a square (5-3/4" or 14.5cm) postcard showing a collage of Russian New Year stamps. It was printed in Russia in 2013. I received this postcard from Postcrossing earlier this year.

The stamp on the back is one of the set of twelve 2009 Kremlin stamps. This one is the Ryazan Kremlin.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps at

See it on a Postcard

GGIE: House of Fook Look

HOUSE OF FOOK LOOK on Treasure Island. Here all the fun-loving Fair visitors gather to play the intriguing game of King-Look and other ancient Chinese games of skill. Thousands of merchandise prizes add to the fun and zest of visiting this popular attraction in the three-acre Chinese Village.

CELEBRATE THE 75TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1939-40 WORLD'S FAIRS
Look for more World's Fair Postcards on the Postcardy Blog on Fridays.
To view past World's Fair posts, click here or on the exposition label.

New Year Calendar Postcards

December 31, 1907
May this year bring joy & good Health.

December 31, 1908
Viel Glück im neuen Jahre.
(Good luck in the new Years)

July 11, 1910
I always try to write postals to the sick people so suppose you are sick now. I have just written a long letter to Mrs Brown and another to Aunt Sarah.

Calendar postcards were one of the types of postcards sent as New Year greetings during the postcard craze of the early twentieth century. Postcard calendars like these are nearly all from the years 1908, 1909, and 1910.

The 1908 and 1909 cards above were sent at an appropriate time with an appropriate message. The 1910 postcard, however, was sent in July with a rather odd message. I think I would find this one insulting. I wonder what the sender's intention was...

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New Year Arrival

Wishing you a Happy New Year