My friend and regular correspondent Susan always manages to find some really swell postcards for me from days gone by. Admittedly, the view here does tend to improve what would otherwise be a shabby room. But, gentlemen, please: let’s keep our lechery a little more wholesome, shall we? And always be sure that the fairer sex is aware of your respectful, admiring glances; they’ll appreciate it more than you know.

There are plenty of other views to admire at this week’s Theme Thursday.

This gentleman seems to be playing way out of his league. Of course, beer and pretzels are definite crowd pleasers, and the young lady might simply be seeing him through pretzel goggles. I love the card; it’s probably a design from the 1930s, but the card itself is a chrome, probably made in the late ’40s or early ’50s.

Now that spam filters work so well, Dani wanted to be sure that I knew what I was missing out on — and so she sent me this particular selection from Secret Weapon: 30 Hand-Painted Spam Postcards. All of the cards are paintings of spam subject lines. Guess I’ll have to turn off my spam filter to see if this particular message represents truth in advertising.

This man has some important decisions to make — so important that they keep him tossing and turning. I hope he doesn’t expect to sleep any better once he does make a decision. I’m pretty sure that won’t happen. This terrific card arrived the other day from Susan, with the added bonus of some slight abuse from our friends in the Postal Service.

They say that you should never try to teach a pig to sing: it wastes your time an annoys the pig. This pig, however, seems remarkably indifferent to being in the saddle.

This card from Joey in Norway is labeled simply Seterjentens fridag (Farm girl’s day off).  One would think that she would try to find a barn dance or something, but I don’t see any barns, and this particular farm seems pretty remote. People must wander by from time to time, however; the hut on the right has a sign proclaiming Ekte geitost til salgs (“Real goat cheese for sale”).

Joey says that this card has sold over two million copies. This is Norwegian high humor, folks. Actually, come to think of it, the better saying might be the one about never wrestling with a pig: you get dirty and, besides, the pig likes it.

Susan in Ohio sent me this terrific vintage postcard, circa mid-1960s and published by Dexter Press. The models in the photo clearly appreciate just how campy the final product was to turn out. I love it!

Who knew that America’s Finest News Source had a local print edition? Actually, this postcard arrived today from Chandra, who’s amazed at the number of people who would believe this headline. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to read the news.

Patty from Just Letter Rip, of whom I’ve been so neglectful from an epistolary point of view, sent me this beautiful Curt Teich linen postcard, published in 1935. Even the US Postal Service couldn’t bring themselves to mar this pristine postcard; it arrived in excellent condition. Thanks, Patty!

Another terrific card from GirlZoot that taxed my eyes and brain for a few minutes, until I put it into the scanner at high resolution. In case you’re getting blind and senile like me, pictured (from top left) are Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch), Shirley Jones (The Partridge Family), Marion Ross (Happy Days), June Lockhart (Lost in Space), Barbara Billingsley (Leave It to Beaver), Jane Wyatt (Father Knows Best), and Esther Rolle (Good Times).

GirlZoot says that “they have got a passel of kids between them, so you know these women… have something going on!!!” I’m surprised they had time to make dinner; if I remember correctly, they have 24 children among them. You should make some time yourself for some more blasts from the past over at Postcard Friendship Friday.

Valentina in Belgium translates this caption from Dutch: “If I come in topless, it just means that I don’t have my laptop with me.” It took me a few seconds to make the mental leap that topless = laptopless, thus getting the joke.

Maybe I was overthinking the translation, or maybe I was just distracted by the accompanying image. You decide; nolo contendere.