Interesting findings about the Halloween card

[traveller1st Profile]

Considering it's one piece it would imply access to reproduction equipment. Camera, darkroom, repro-camera, something for printing onto card.

Or if he created the whole thing freehand onto card...some pens lol. There's no indication that it wasn't printed though.

[LIVE55 Profile]

I'm seeing the "ghostly face to the right of the ribcage"

[Wrench Profile]

Check out the top of the right leg bone move in and out. The leg bone's connected to the, hip bone. The hip bone's connected to the... sorry, I digress.

[Theforeigner Profile]

Considering it's one piece it would imply access to reproduction equipment. Camera, darkroom, repro-camera, something for printing onto card.

Or if he created the whole thing freehand onto card...some pens lol. There's no indication that it wasn't printed though.

Or maybe just a Xerox 813 Copier, avaible on the marked in 1963:

[traveller1st Profile]

Perhaps although my first thought on that would concerning the weight of the card.

I doubt the copier would have been capable of it. Modern copiers in the 90's couldn't even handle anything that could be considered card.

[doranchak Profile Website]

Here's an isolated version of the skeleton if anyone wants it:

[traveller1st Profile]

FWIW. In respect of the possibility that it was a hotch-potch creation of different elements I found this. A dangling skeleton that uses filiment or string or possibly wire to connect the different elements. This would be easier to disassemble than one with eyelets.

skeleton 3.jpg [ 80.68 KiB | Viewed 277 times ]

[duckking2001 Profile]

I'm thinking that maybe the skeleton wasn't a small sized segmented one, but was cut out of an ad or from a packaging for a full sized one, like Trav posted.

Here's a package for one that I think would be about the right size, although I don't know the actual size of the package (just that it's smaller than the actual skeleton inside), and it's a bit older, from the 20's I think. But you get the point.



It's curious that it's reproduced and not just pasted on. The limbs could have been cut out and put into their positions overlapping the joints, instead of having a rotating point of attachment. Or if it did have punched holes to connect them they were colored over by Z to produce the seamless connections seen on the card. The theory of it being a knock off image is a good one and does a nice job of explaining that.

I was thinking about if Z drew it himself that it could require a fair deal of artist skill due to it's detail and anatomical accuracy.

I looked up some of the skeletons they had in the 60's and all of them were either more detailed than Z's, or just a shape with no details. The head didn't look like any I've seen.

Here's one that I think is the closest. It's a Beistle (sp?) from the 50's I think.



Finally I found a craft site where a person made a skeleton card using a modern skeleton stamp and it sounded a lot like how Z might have made the card (besides the stamp, which i have no idea if they made such a thing in the 60's.) http://mjalbright.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/scary-skeleton/

Based on all these things I think that Z's skeleton was traced over/colored in from a cut-out image and not an original manufactured image.

[traveller1st Profile]

With you on all those DK. Especially the packaging bit, was wondering even about packaging from say, a skeleton costume due to the lack of detail compared to other greetings card skeletons of the time as you had also noted.

I think the skeleton I posted was Beistle as well. I noticed too that their style of head seemed to be closet.

[smithy Profile]

Quite a few votes for Beistle, but I'm with Dave-O on that, I think the style's different enough to not be one of theirs.
Here's another thing I think I've just noticed... The skeleton on the card has that "jumping out" position, which actually shows up as perspective on the legs - especially the lower right leg as we look at it. It looks shorter. (I guess I better print out the isolated skeleton so kindly provided!)
That looks to me as if it wasn't posed and camera'd, more like it had to have been drawn that way. FWIW.
No?