Magical Mystery Postcard #12 "I'd Appreciate Your Company"

Magical Mystery Postcard #12 "I'd Appreciate Your Company"

"I'd Appreciate Your Company"

Japan, Montenegro, France, United States, England, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Romania, Serbia, Greece, Portugal.

That country list offers a framework for dating this card.

1915/May: Italy joins the Entente.

1917/Apr: The US enters the war.

1918/Nov: The Armistice ends the fighting.

1919/Jun: The Versailles Treaty folds Montenegro & Serbia into Yugoslavia.

1919/Nov: The US Senate declines to join The League of Nations.

Q/ Who were the targets of this cartoon?

A1/ The cartoon may have been aimed at still-neutral non-combatant countries (eg, Norway) while there was fighting.

That would place the card in the period 1917/Apr thru 1918/Nov.

But why would the combatants be represented as ladies at tea?

A2/ The cartoon may have been a sarcastic swipe at non-combatant countries who, nonetheless, wanted to join the post-war Versailles negotiations as co-victors.

That would place the card in the period 1918/Nov thru 1919/Jun.

In which case the message of the card would be "now that it is afternoon tea, here you come".

A3/ The cartoon may have reflected the broad invitation for all countries to join The League of Nations.

That would place the card in the period 1919/Jun thru 1919/Nov.

The caption "I'd Appreciate Your Company" would make sense as an invitation to join the fighting (A1), or as an invitation to join the League (A3), but makes little sense an invitation to divide the spoils (A2).

I am not entirely satisfied, and am eager to hear from y'all ... especially as to

Q/ Why the Tea Party metaphor, and

Q/ Why "I'd Appreciate Your Company" instead of "We'd Appreciate Your Company", and

Q/ Who is publisher J.M.P.?

The back of the card is unwritten, unaddressed, and unhelpful.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Based on "No Man's Land," I'd hazard a guess that it might have something to do with women's suffrage or some other issue particular to women.

Hi ikeyPikey,

It's a long shot, but you might want to contact this seller as he had one up for sale last year:

http://collectibles.bidstart.com/No...21691/a.html

rustyc: The countries are all & only members of The Entente, so I was drawn to the politics of war & peace, but something along the lines of "now that you men have had your war, we'll have our say" or "while you're handing-out political rights, how about ours" might work.

dsmith426: I took your suggestion, registered, and asked.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I think it`s simply a playful invitation to tea. I think they were once called hen parties. [In England, I think this term might be used exclusively for Bachlorette (sp) parties.]

I did some more searches. I had searched "No Man's Land" which I discovered is a term coined during World War One. It is the area between the front lines of the two apposing enemies met and had an unofficial truce during Christmas and spent several days together celebrating Christmas before they went back to battle.

With that in mind and with the "I'd" previously mentioned. It's likely the card was meant to send to someone you had a falling out with or someone you find difficult to be around.

dsmith426, Greetings:

You correctly understand the meaning of the term "No Man's Land" in its geographic sense, but you should also know that there was more than one meaning to the term; it was not owned, true, but it was also ruled by snipers, and a place to die, quickly.

Worse, the REMFs frequently ordered troops to leave their trenches and patrol it, so as to fix the enemy's positions (for later artillery bombardment), snatch prisoners, etc.

"No Man's Land" was hated & feared.

Civilians were probably innocent of much of that baggage, however, and might have been receptive to the play on words.

All of this does not, however, explain the absence of the Central Powers from the cartoon; after all, that is who the tea and Xmas truces were with, and would seem to be necessary for your really good insight that the "... the card was meant to send to someone you had a falling out with ..."

BTW: the command authorities on both sides had fits over those Xmas parties - which included alternating Xmas serenades, tossing of gift packages, etc - as a precursor to mutiny when the fighting was to resume.

All in all, I'm thinking that the use of "No Man's Land" had more to do with the Ladies Tea, but that leaves me at a loss to explain why they were having tea, who they were inviting, when, why, etc.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

ikey, your failure to understand a women`s tea is not surprising. What man would understand?

I have very limited knowledge of military history and don't have any knowledge of WWI. (never covered it in school nor college history courses) So I have no base of knowledge to draw from, just what I found in an internet search the other day searching for "No Man's Land!" and peace.

But if my hypothesis of the card is correct (an illustration playing off the idiom of No Man's Land and the unofficial truce(s) and attempted unofficial truces) it fits in well with you pointing out the use of "I'd." (a single person) And as for the metaphorical other side (the Central Powers) not being in the illustration they wouldn't be there as they are the intended recipient of the card and that's why the use of the phrase "I'd Appreciate Your Company."

As to drinking tea, I think that just represents a social activity. If it were men in the cartoon they would likely be in a bar/pub.

It would be nice to find a used card to see what is written on it.

From the same company:

I think that "No Mans Land" (notice the quotes) is a play on words meaning no men allowed, or women only. These nations were indeed all members of the Entente, but Montenegro left (due to Austrian occupation) before others such as Portugal, Romania, Greece or the US joined. However, King Nicholas who was still leading a Government in Exile remained on the side of Entente.

My best guess: WW1 was over, and the women were (tongue and cheek) calling their own peace talks, believing they could solve the worlds problems over tea much better than the men.

KGB thanks for a new clue! I was able to determine that was JMP card 549.

Here is another JMP card - #531

Some more from J.M.P.

I'm not sure that being occupied 'counts' as withdrawal from the Entente, to wit:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/artic...ety-years-on ... The Powers reserved a seat in Paris for Montenegro, another wartime ally ...

The politics of disassembling the Austro-Hungarian Empire are complicated, but Montenegro would have been counted as a victor (and, thus at the tea party), regardless of who sat under whose flag.




It is hard for me to picture the much-bloodied Allies inviting other countries to the peace talks (option A2, above), but I could see them issuing an open invitation to The League of Nations (option A3, above).

The "Enlisted" card shows another play on words ... is that President Wilson, frowning on the wall?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Montenegro was an ally until it capitulated, just as the new Russian government left the alliance by concluding a separate peace. And while a seat was reserved for Montenegro at the proceedings, I don`t think anyone ever sat in it.