Card greetings weren’t much different back then either – still simple rhymes around the most basic themes – it makes you wonder if there is anything new that could possibly be said about turning seven or eight.
Production values were a little less sophisticated in this era, though a number of Jimmie’s cards have fancy die cuts and one even has fake hair pasted on the heads of the characters. Card makers could do things by hand and still make a profit in those days.
One thing I’ve always loved about greeting cards is when they use hand-lettered type, especially of the sort that is image-based.
The other thing that impressed me was the number of card manufacturers. Almost every card in the envelope I bought (about 20) was from a different publisher. And only two were from Hallmark, the leader in today’s market. Here’s a collage of some of the maker marks on the back of the cards pictured here.
I have no idea if Jimmie is still alive or if it was, in fact, his garage sale I attended. But I do know that at least in the early years he was well liked and thought of by his family and relatives. I hope he’s doing well and has fond memories, if not the cards to prove them.
This article was last modified on February 28, 2021
This article was first published on August 16, 2012
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