Two Half-Lives in Philadelphia: 04/25/13

Introduction

While I was born in 1951, sometimes I feel like I was born in 1914. My father told me so many stories about growing up in Philadelphia, and occasionally even about his family, that I feel some sense of at least one person's life in those years before I was born. While my mother, of course, wanted a child, I'm not sure that my father did. I think there was a part of it all that scared him, so they waited quite a while to have me. I hope I was "a relief" to my father, and I think I worked hard to be a good son. Looking back, especially at those few older pictures I have of my father, I think the very best part of his life was the first half - back when things were simple, he had good friends, and the burdens of adulthood were not yet upon him. Looking back, I feel like the best part of my life was the first half, largely due to my parents. It was a time when life was simple, controllable, and when I was actually organized! I'm sure my father found many good things in his entire life, as do I, but I believe we had this in common - that there is nothing better than growing up in Philadelphia. So, do not find the title of my new blog in any way depressing, my friends, its just a perspective that I've found interesting to investigate.

I'll start by writing about my family. I realize we are nothing special, but as we've learned from millions of pages of memoirs written and published, there can be much to be learned from those who came before us.

As I get past some family stories, this blog may be of interest to anyone who grew up in the Delaware Valley/Philadelphia/Delaware County in the 1950's and 60's, or to anyone married/partnered to one (if you are, there is much you need to understand before the two of you can communicate!).

Please check out my book, Saturday Night at Sarah Joy's. All proceeds go to the Hurricane Sandy NJ Relief Fund. Information is available at: saturdaynightatsarahjoys.blogspot.com.

Thank you!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Wampole's Preparation Stimulation Tonic

This is a "card", of roughly postcard size, which serves many purposes. It is an advertisement for Wampole's Tonic, it is an ad for a Philadelphia drug store, it is part of Wampole's bird series, helping you to identify that bird sitting on your clothes line, it serves as a ruler (rulerS, metric and inches), and the other side was a blotter material, a common necessity when writing with the slow drying ink of a fountain pen. I can only guess that it's from the 1940's. Another card from the Bird Series was spotted on EBay; it was suggested that the card was from 1941, but there was no accompanying support of that date.

Rather than tell you about Wampole's Preparation, I'm going to send you to Chris Otto's amazing blog PAPERGREAT (The world of books, ephemera and knowledge, one piece of paper at a time). He offers an extensive discussion of Henry Wampole and his Tonic. Go to

http://www.papergreat.com/2011/02/delving-into-henry-j-wampole-company.html

you won't regret it!

Oh, how did I get this card? No idea. It surfaced at home. I did learn from Mr. Otto's blog that these folks had a factory on 4th Street "near Arch", which is where my Aunt Helen lived.