Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
We could float among the stars together, you and I
For we can fly, we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon?
We could float among the stars together, you and I
For we can fly, we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
The world's a nicer place in my beautiful balloon
It wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon
We can sing a song and sail along the silver sky
It wears a nicer face in my beautiful balloon
We can sing a song and sail along the silver sky
For we can fly, we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon
Suspended under a twilight canopy
We'll search the clouds for a star to guide us
If by some chance you find yourself loving me
We'll find a cloud to hide us,
We'll keep the moon beside us.
We'll search the clouds for a star to guide us
If by some chance you find yourself loving me
We'll find a cloud to hide us,
We'll keep the moon beside us.
Love is waiting there in my beautiful balloon
Way up in the air in my beautiful balloon
If you'll hold my hand we'll chase your dream across the sky
For we can fly, we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon.
Way up in the air in my beautiful balloon
If you'll hold my hand we'll chase your dream across the sky
For we can fly, we can fly
Up, up and away
My beautiful, my beautiful balloon.
"Up, Up and Away" song written by Jimmy Webb
and recorded by the 5th Dimension in 1967
and recorded by the 5th Dimension in 1967
* * *
Earlier this year in my post entitled: The Girls of Austrian Postcards, I introduced the beautiful artwork of Hermann Torggler, (1878-1939). A native of Graz, Austria, Toggler studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, and in 1908 moved to Vienna where he established a studio specializing in portraits of the nobility, military officers, and upper classes of Vienna. Three of these postcards date from his earlier career and were published by Fr. A. Ackermann, Kunstverlag, München.
These two lovely ladies seem very breezy in their balloon basket as they float among the clouds. The caption reads:
Behüt' Euch Gott!
~
God protect you!
~
God protect you!
The postcards was sent from Karlsruhe in the state of Baden-Württemberg, Germany on 29 July 1901. What intrigues me about these two carefree balloonists, is that this was how human flight was depicted 118 years ago. In 1901 Orville and Wilbur Wright were at Kitty Hawk, NC working on a glider that was still a long way from any true controlled flight, and Europeans would have to wait until 1908 to see the first exhibitions of the Wright airplane. But in 1901 it was the lighter-than-air dirigibles of Ferdinand von Zeppelin that inspired the imagination of the world. And Zeppelin was a native of Württemberg and his airships were sponsored in part by the King of Württemberg.
* * *
The second portrait of a young woman has a title:
Schau! Schau!
~
Look! Look!
~
Look! Look!
This postcard was posted from
Frankfurt am Main in Germany to Wien, Austria
and received on the 28 November 1899.
Frankfurt am Main in Germany to Wien, Austria
and received on the 28 November 1899.
* * *
The third card shows a joyful maiden holding aloft
a steaming tureen of soup?
Hot punch seems more likely as
it is 1900 and time to party!
The caption reads:
Hip, hip, hurrah!
a steaming tureen of soup?
Hot punch seems more likely as
it is 1900 and time to party!
The caption reads:
Hip, hip, hurrah!
The postmark was stamped at the Burgdorf train station in Switzerland
on the 1st of January 1900.
on the 1st of January 1900.
* * *
The last image of a red cross nurse lighting the cigarette
of a wounded Austrian soldier comes from the war years.
Hermann Torggler painted several portraits
of German and Austrian generals,
and of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
This was a special postcard to sell as a benefit
in aid of the thousands of wounded veterans.
It has a caption in all capitals.
of a wounded Austrian soldier comes from the war years.
Hermann Torggler painted several portraits
of German and Austrian generals,
and of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
This was a special postcard to sell as a benefit
in aid of the thousands of wounded veterans.
It has a caption in all capitals.
Raucher, gedenket durch eine Spende
der Verwundeten Soldaten!
~
Smoker, commemorated by a donation
to the wounded soldiers!
der Verwundeten Soldaten!
~
Smoker, commemorated by a donation
to the wounded soldiers!
The postcard was never used
but obviously dates from 1914-1918.
On the back is another caption.
but obviously dates from 1914-1918.
On the back is another caption.
Offizielle Karte
zugunsten der KriegsfürsorgeOfficial card
in favor of the war welfare
Torggler's postcards were clearly very popular as ways to convey simple messages like 'Good Luck!', 'Thanks for the letter!', or 'I wish you were here.' Considering that the publishing firm in Munich probably produced thousands of printings for each card it is not surprising that some of his postcards were preserved. Yet I think the charm of Torggler's etchings worked much like how good music does. Irving Berlin said it best in his 1919 song of the same name.
A pretty girl is like a melody
That haunts you night and day,
Just like the strain of a haunting refrain,
She'll start up-on a marathon
And run around your brain.
You can't escape she's in your memory.
By morning night and noon.
She will leave you and then come back again,
A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune.
Wouldn't you like to ride
in their beautiful balloon?
in their beautiful balloon?
This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday
click the link to see what's in other bloggers' baskets.
click the link to see what's in other bloggers' baskets.
8 comments:
lovely!
Beautiful postcards by a talented artist and all featuring baskets in one way or another. Nice going! :) That said - Big hint!!! I'm sorry, but I am so tired of trying to prove I'm not a robot. I check things off and others appear and still others and still others. Can't you do something to fix that? Otherwise, I'm afraid I won't be commenting on your posts anymore. What a shame!
Funnily enough the only nursery rhyme I could find in my books from childhood was this one: There was an old woman tossed up in a basket, Ninety times as high as the moon, and where she was going I couldn't but ask it, for in her hand she carried a broom. "Old womn, old woman, old woman," quoth I. "Oh whither, Oh whither, Oh whither, so high?" "To sweep the cobwebs off the sky." "Shall I go with you?" "Ay, by and by." So baskets and the moon and an old woman rather than a young one. Great post!
I remember singing that song in school.
Several of us were singing songs as we prepared our posts this week. Interesting post and postcards.
Great collection of artistic post cards...and I used to love that song...up up and away!
A lovely collection of cards. What I find interesting is that the message on these is to go in the tiny space on the front of the cards. Only the last one has space on the back for a message - although it, too, has a small space on the front. I wonder when postcards transitioned to putting messages on the address side instead of the photo side?
Loved the images and the poems, plus yiur usual brilliant customary research.
Post a Comment