The colors on these cards are just as they are presented here, and were probably produced in the early 1950s.

Bayfront Park, Miami, Florida

“Bayfront Park in all its tropical splendor adds to the Miami visitors (sic) comfort and relaxation. Here among the beautiful flowers, shrubs, and palms, concerts entertain visiting guests and inhabitants.”  I got this card oh, probably about ten years ago, in an antique shop in Florida.

This second card came to me from the collection of Kay Anthony:

Florida Southern College on Lake Hollingsworth

“Lakeland, Florida is the metropolis of Polk County. Being 227 above sea level, it is tempered by breezes from the Ocean and the Gulf whch are within easy riding distance. Fishing, bathing and boating can be enjoyed on the 15 fresh water lakes which lie within the city limits. Two eighteen hole golf courses, a public library, air-conditioned first run moving picture houses and a municipal-owned water and electric plant are some of its many advantages.” Moving picture houses, indeed.

Näsinneula, in Tampere, Finland

I had sent Jenna, my favorite Finnish Postcrosser, a postcard showing the observation tower atop Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia, and received this in return, in yesterday’s mail.  After seeing the mountaintop tower (which needs no pillar to stand on in order to be above everything else), Jenna observed, “Your observation tower is a little bit different (from ours).”  Actually, even at first glance, I would say that it bears a striking resemblance to another American tower.  Here’s what Wikipedia has to say:

Näsinneula is an observation tower in Tampere, Finland, overseeing Lake Näsijärvi. It was built in 1970–1971 and was designed by Pekka Ilveskoski. It is the tallest free-standing structure in Finland and the tallest observation tower in the Nordic countries at a height of 168 metres. The tower opened in 1971 and is located in the Särkänniemi leisure centre. There is a revolving restaurant in the tower 124 metres above the ground. One revolution takes 45 minutes. The design of Näsinneula was inspired by the Space Needle in Seattle (emphasis added). The idea of a rotating restaurant was taken from the Puijo tower in Kuopio.

So Näsinneula was ours first.  Sorry, Jenna!

Also in yesterday’s mail was an actual greeting card, apparently sent in lieu of a postcard, from 12-year-old Arttu in Hämeenlinna:

Kesäinen tervehdys (Summer Greetings)

...and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter...

It’s a reproduction of Marc Chagall’s “Over the Town” which he apparently worked on for four years, from 1914-1918, and currently hangs in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.  This card contained no message except for a return address label (a label!).  In fairness, there is a smiley face drawn next to the Postcrossing postcard ID — but would it kill you to say hi?

By contrast, the second card is from a ten-year-old girl named Sanna, in Finland, postmarked 30 June:

See those bumps in the water? It's Nessie's Finnish cousin.

Unfortunately, the card yields no useful information about the scene or its location.  Sanna, however, seems especially chatty.  The message, as well as my address, were apparently (and laboriously) hand-written first in pencil, then traced over in ink: “Hi! My name is Sanna. I’m 10 y.o. I’m from Finland. I like dogs. I have got two dogs. I play the piano. I like bakeing. Bye-bye.”  Not too shabby, considering that she’s ten and English is not her native language — but my point is that she’s only ten, and she gets the point of sharing postcards with others.

Stop, you decadent flappers

Natalia in Saint Petersburg, Russia was kind enough to send (along with several postcards featuring night views of her city) a couple of replicas of Soviet propaganda posters, scaled down to about 5 x 7 inches (12 x 18 centimeters).  The first, from 1929, features a poem entitled “Night Panel” (no, I don’t get it either) and a fine, upstanding young citizen shouting “Stop!” to flappers and other revelers.  My Russian is terrible, but I think that the gist of the poem, which starts with a phrase something like “Here is how things should be”, is that the youth should work and have faith in the government instead of in drink and debauchery.

And speaking of work:

Night-vision goggles not included

This second poster from 1947 reminds the proletariat that, hey, you can work at night, too!  Of course, we’ll have to put you on the waiting list for tractor headlights; you should have them in about two years.

The best line from this movie? "Amazing growth!"

Nancy Archer’s a rich gal with a cheating husband who flaunts his affair all over town.  Naturally, she gets irradiated by a spaceman, and exacts her revenge.  Hey, back in 1958, when Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman was released, radiation was all the rage, if you’ll pardon the pun.  Nancy’s wardrobe is also much improved.  What did they make her clothes out of, anyway?  And, for that matter, why?

Nancy doesn’t need that philanderer, anyway.  I plan to introduce her to Glenn Manning:

Holy Gargantuan Gandhis, Batman!

Glenn is an Army officer who, naturally, gets irradiated, Army life being what it is.  In The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), it’s a plutonium bomb rather than a spaceman and, coincidentally, he also grows to a height of 50 feet.  Unfortunately for Glenn, his circulatory system can’t keep up with his growth, and his brain becomes oxygen-starved: the bigger he gets, the dumber he gets.  However, he still knows how to get his point across:

Both of these postcards were published by The Museum of Modern Art.

"Foreshortening panoramic street Partenope and Saint Lucy"

This card attempts the same description in Italian, English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Chinese; the English description reads “Foreshortening panoramic street Partenope and Saint Lucy”.  Looks like somebody’s Babel Fish is playing tricks on them; I believe that the correct English translation is “panoramic view of Via Partenope and Santa Lucia”.

The Russian translation is even worse; it reads “Foreshortening panoramic улица Partenope и Святой Lucy”.  German is probably the most accurate; however, I can’t speak to the Chinese version.  Nevertheless, the view is stunning; it’s a great oversized postcard.  I don’t think we could get away with these colors in the US; our architecture isn’t suited for it.  But here it’s gorgeous.

Via San Gregorio Armeno, Naples

The second card shows the Via San Gregorio Armeno (“Saint Gregory of Armenia Street”), also in Naples, where — well, I’ll let Marco explain: “This postcard shows the famous street of the Nativity scene makers. On this street, many handcraftsmen create true masterpieces of miniature, to decorate the Neapolitan Crib (presepe in Italian). Most shops are open all year, but a good period to visit the street is in September – November, when all the handcraftsmen start to prepare their shops for the busy Christmas time. During Christmas time, more than half a million tourists come to see the shops with the original miniature figurines, and the shops are especially busy.”  I couldn’t have said it better myself.

In case you don’t already think Marco is awesome, he also found three age-appropriate cards for each of the grandsons, and tied up each group with a personalized gold ribbon.  He also sent the envelope with a number of interesting Italian stamps, which came all the way from Italy without being cancelled.

It turns out that Marco is a great fan of all things American, especially New York City.  I sent Marco a similar number of cards, trying to find as many as I could that were as uniquely American as possible, including an NYC postcard that I hope he will find very dear.