19.00 USD
Probably printed in 1900 0r 1901, this "Private Mailing Card" was mailed in 1902 to Constantinople.
Private Mailing Cards when introduced in 1898 represented a major change in American postcard publishing. Prior to this point, the federal government had enjoyed a monopoly on the printing of all postcards in the US, but following this act of congress, these postcards could be published by companies in the private sector. Government regulations stipulated that the cards needed to be about a quarter inch narrower (5 and 1/2 by 3 and 1/4, instead of 3 and 1/2), and that the "Private Mailing Card" text (as seen on the back of this card) be printed on all of them. This, in addition to lowering the cost of mailing such cards to one penny, even when personal messages were written on the cards, opened up the postcard trade in the USA and encouraged a boom in picture postcard production and collectibility.
Do notice that although this card was published by an American company, it was printed in Germany. This would be the case with the vast majority of high quality picture postcards up until 1914 and the beginning of WWI.
Florodora was a Broadway musical production imported from London's west end that opened in the year 1900 at the Casino Theater on East 39th Street. It was a huge hit that ran for over 500 showings into 1902.
This card offers us an image of the original six American "Florodora Girls," who created quite a stir with their aura of charm, grace, and innocence. In fact, they became the real stars of the show, stealing it from the leads.
Why then were these six actresses replaced in the line-up, and over the course of the show's run more than 70 girls needed to perform in this sextette? Well, it was because throngs of wealthy men kept proposing to them, marrying them, and carrying them off, requiring sudden replacements in the cast. Seriously.
A myth has arisen surrounding the first six Florodoras, that all six of them met and married millionaires while under contract at the Casino Theater. Though this is not strictly true, at least a few of them did exactly that (who knows how many of the next 70 did also), and all of the original six wound up being very comfortably wealthy indeed, apparently as a direct result of their association with the show.
The six originals, as pictured on our card, were from left to right Margaret Walker, Daisy Greene (who was only 15 on opening night), Vaughn Tex-smith, Marjorie Relyea, Agnes Wayburn, and Marie Wilson.
In the process of researching this card, we ran across a site offering some quotes from a review of the show on opening night. The review describes the show, in so many words, as scandalous, immoral, offensive and deserving the attention of the police! The problem here is that the site we visited quoted a review of the wrong show, a review that happened to have been printed on the same page of the paper as the review of Florodora. We only mention this in case some of our more curious friends do further research and run into the same review repeated elsewhere. These Florodora Girls were popular in part because of their very sweet, chaste, and winsome (what exactly is "winsome," anyway? jk :) appearance and behavior, and probably never showed more than an inch of ankle during their graceful promenades before the footlights. Apparently very little was required of them beyond this--certainly nothing that would have compromised their reputations.
We hoped to contact the site's manager to point out the error, but weren't able to. Oh well, just another example of how important it is to double check information gleaned on the web, a lesson we've learned more than once (oh, how it stings), and one that keeps us on our toes, we hope :)
For more details on Florodora, follow the link below to a great post from which we drew much of our information!
http://vitaphone.blogspot.com/2007/02/are-there-any-more-at-home-like-you.html
This card definitely shows some wear, but is a wonderful piece of history that would fit beautifully into an American Theatrical, Broadway, or Gilded Age, card collection.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
The item you are considering for purchase is, unless otherwise noted, a vintage postcard of approximately 5 and 1/2, by 3 and 1/2 inches. Postage is for fully-insured, first class shipping in a secure photo mailer (to avoid any damage to your purchase in the mails), and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will not charge for postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more. We do not charge for insurance or shipping materials, and as of the date of this listing are still charging below our overall cost on shipping.
And please come visit our blog at:
redpoulaine.blogspot.com
where we post biographical and historical tidbits, images of cards and photographs for sale, some already sold but remembered fondly, related images of historical interest and sometimes even images of items that have not yet arrived in the shop, but that are expected to arrive soon, as well as coupon codes, links to other related sites, and more!