When Postmarks Mattered

Movie scenes we'll never see again: detective approaches the door of the house, and checks the postmarks on the mail to see if, and how long, someone has not been home.

Spotted this in 'The Presidio' (1988), with a very young Mark Harmon showing pretty much the same range of expressions that he has been using of late on NCIS, with Sean Connery playing a role so similar to Leroy Jethro Gibbs that it gives one pause.

Can't wait for a TV detective to order a junior officer to check the mail, and for the latter to report that it is one of those new shpritz cancels, and s/he can't make-out the date.

Q/ What other references to snail mail have you seen or read lately that you do not expect to ever see again?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I always notice things like that too, Ikey.

There's another thread here somewhere about stamps in movies. One Foyle's War episode shows a guy with an Inverted Jenny hinged in an album.

Something I saw just the other night had a guy opening mail and I noticed Canadian stamps on the covers.

Kirk

Yes, of course, Kirk, there *would* be a stamps-in-the-movies thread; I did not even think to look :)

But, to be fair to me, I was thinking more along the lines of those "anachronistic sounds your kids wouldn't know" shticks they do on the radio these days, featuring pre-motorized typewriters, rotary dial phones, and the like.

So, what are the anachronistic gestures associated with the post?

For example, if you found yourself in the possession of something you needed to a) get rid of and b) get back, would you stick it in an envelope, stamp it, and mail it to yourself? Probably 'yes'.

But if you were writing a movie script, is that what your character would do? Probably 'no'.

(An alternative would be for the character to attach some cash to whatever they wanted to send, add a brief meeting with a doorman or hotel concierge to the script, and get a product placement fee from FDX or UPS or DHL or ...)

CSI pulling the DNA off of the licked stamp is, like, so last year.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Letters appear frequently, sometimes with a glimpse of the stamps, in the fine UK Granada TV series on Sherlock Holmes. This starred Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes, and David Burke, followed by Edward Hardwicke as Dr. John Watson. Sometimes there were references to a letter received in the afternoon in reply to one sent that morning. Some chance of that today.

Terry

I remember about 5 years ago seeing a lovely collection of letters sent from a bank manager during the mid-1870s from his office in central London to his wife in North London. One of these was to tell her that he would be late home that evening, posted to catch the mid - afternoon (3 p.m.) collection and early evening delivery. It is almost an early version of the SMS. On the other hand I am still waiting for a letter posted last year from Egypt to be delivered to Kazakhstan...

Stuff that dreams are made on, that.

Terry

You're right, Ikey.

The stamps-in-movies thread only complements your original post; it's not quite the same, but I really do enjoy spotting something philatelic on TV :-)

Here's one that I think is more relevant to your post -- when I was a kid, my grandparents and other elders would use the phrase "backing an envelope" as a synonym for "addressing an envelope."

Kirk

I've never heard of "backing an envelope", Kirk, but I'll ask a couple of 80-y/o I've got handy.

It did not mean sealing and/or applying the return address?

In the sandwich business, "backing an envelope" seems to mean "inserting a stiffener".

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

What you say makes sense -- the return address was commonly written on the back.

I have mis-remembered but what you say jogs my memory.

Not directly stamp related, but related to the movie references in this thread:




Almost exactly the last line from the movie "The Maltese Falcon". At the end, Ward Bond picks up the statuette and says: "Hey, this is heavy...what is it?"
To which Humphrey Bogart replies "It's the stuff dreams are made of."

Years ago, I was in John's Grill in San Francisco. John's Grill was a hangout for Dashiell Hammett, the author of Maltese Falcon, and when the Bogart movie was made, it was a location in the movie. The grill has very high ceilings, and over the bar about halfway up stands one of statuettes that was made for the movie. As the waiter took me past the bar towards my table. I heard a guy at the bar point at the statue and say: What is it?

Three guys at the bar turned and said in unison (in their best Humphrey Bogart voices): "It's the stuff dreams are made of..."

I guess they had been waiting all day for that chance...

One of Bill Shakespeare's better lines. Here's Bogart in those final moments of the film.

Terry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8_hGlwau3A