Sunday, October 30, 2016

Greeting card purchase from circa 1963



 At least two questions spring to mind here.

1.  Why did I purchase this card in the first place?

Because its MAD-influenced humor made me laugh out loud when I first read the card's text.  At the time of this 25-cent purchase, I was probably with Mike Foster, which whom I became best friends in 7th grade, our first year at Beaty Junior High School in Warren PA.  We were hanging out 'overtown', as everyone called the  main business district, wandering the aisles of Kresge's and Murphy's, the competing 'five-and-dime' stores. (MAD was the first magazine to which I paid my own subscription.  With the money I earned on from my paper route.)  

2.  Why have I held onto this card for more than 50 years?

For the memories it unfailingly unearths of growing up in a relatively isolated small town, a once-thriving community on the cusp of an inexorable economic decline and concurrent loss of population.  At the time of its creation, I'm sure Hallmark had no idea.




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