Are You There God? It's Me, Horthy.
My friend Annie and I found ourselves in the gift shop of a photography museum we didn't feel like going into (full disclosure: only I didn't want to go in.) So the gift shop seemed like a fair compromise, fulfulling Annie's love for education and my love for spending hard-earned cash on worthless trash. This particular giftshop was fairly artsy, with beautiful coffee-table-worthy books and framed photos.
One thing it had which drew me in immediately were about 4 or 5 binders filled with old postcards, anywhere from 1910 to 1950. The first binder contained vintage postcards from Budapest, mostly black and white, which had been addressed and written on, stamped and sent. How they found their way to this gift shop was beyond me, but it made for a great read. Most of the postcards were addressed to Paris, and the handwriting on nearly all of them was nothing short of perfection.
The next few binders were definitely creepier. One was made up of pictures of couples, some black and white, some painted over with pink and blue watercolor to evince a rosy cheek, or a sparkle in one's eye. These postcards gave me... gee, I'm not sure what the Hungarian word for it is... um... CHILLS DOWN MY SPINE. Everyone looked like Chucky, or "My Buddy". Not into it at all.
One binder, though, had postcards of famous actors from back in the day -- Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastrionni (or as I call him, Marcello Master-Antonio), Rick Moranis -- most of the actors' names and faces foreign to me.
But there was one postcard that piqued my interest. A postcard of the tragically obscure Horthy Sandor.
I have no idea who this man is -- perhaps Hungary's answer to Groucho Marx? -- but I do know this: Horthy HAD to be pee-in-pants hilarious. Don't believe me? See for yourself -- the very postcard I purchased:
So now you, too, have the image of Horthy. Print it out, give it to friends, just to say "Hey, guy (or gal), we ALL have days like today." Here's to hopin' Horthy's still horthin' around.
One thing it had which drew me in immediately were about 4 or 5 binders filled with old postcards, anywhere from 1910 to 1950. The first binder contained vintage postcards from Budapest, mostly black and white, which had been addressed and written on, stamped and sent. How they found their way to this gift shop was beyond me, but it made for a great read. Most of the postcards were addressed to Paris, and the handwriting on nearly all of them was nothing short of perfection.
The next few binders were definitely creepier. One was made up of pictures of couples, some black and white, some painted over with pink and blue watercolor to evince a rosy cheek, or a sparkle in one's eye. These postcards gave me... gee, I'm not sure what the Hungarian word for it is... um... CHILLS DOWN MY SPINE. Everyone looked like Chucky, or "My Buddy". Not into it at all.
One binder, though, had postcards of famous actors from back in the day -- Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastrionni (or as I call him, Marcello Master-Antonio), Rick Moranis -- most of the actors' names and faces foreign to me.
But there was one postcard that piqued my interest. A postcard of the tragically obscure Horthy Sandor.
I have no idea who this man is -- perhaps Hungary's answer to Groucho Marx? -- but I do know this: Horthy HAD to be pee-in-pants hilarious. Don't believe me? See for yourself -- the very postcard I purchased:
So now you, too, have the image of Horthy. Print it out, give it to friends, just to say "Hey, guy (or gal), we ALL have days like today." Here's to hopin' Horthy's still horthin' around.
posted by Michelle Collins on
Monday, January 09, 2006
