We would likely agree that the range of topics and the span of time is fairly wide and very deep between the Gnome for the Holidays Coloring Book to the manuscript of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Nevertheless, these two books represent the scope asserted in the mission statement of Dover Publications.
This Garden City, Long Island, New York, publishing company announces on their website that they are “passionate about bringing the joy of reading to book lovers of all ages.” They continue, “We believe that reading is not just a hobby, but a gateway to new worlds, ideas, and perspectives. That’s why we strive to offer a unique reading experience through our beautifully illustrated editions and collection of historical curiosities.”
“Curiosities” is the operative word for you readers of Postcard History. Curiosities is a very broad category, but one genre within that type of product is postcards. And especially postcards of topics never before seen on a postcard. The following set is an excellent example.
The Cirker “Six Movie Poster Postcards.” © 1993.
Since the corporate founding in 1941, they have built a reputation on people’s love for literature and their insatiable need of learning. Dover seems to understand the importance of finding the perfect reading experience, whether it’s for a cozy night in or a gift for a loved one.
Hayward Cirker, the founder and president of Dover Publications, was the third child of Sal and Sadie Cirker. Sal was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States along with his parents as a boy. Sal was a moving and warehousing manager who fostered learning in his household simply out of curiosity. As early as the 1930s, when his son Hayward was just eighteen, Sal secured a job for his son with a friend who was a book publisher.
From 1941 when Hayward and his wife Blanche founded their own company – Dover, that was named after their apartment building in Forest Hills, Queens – he quickly became an eclectic paperback publisher of everything from ancient tragedies to How To books on dozens of subjects. One of his early bestsellers was ”Build Your Own Inexpensive Dollhouse.”
Mr. Cirker died on Wednesday (March 8, 2000) at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, N.Y. He was 82 and had homes in Manhattan and Hewlett Bay Park, N.Y.
A consummate bookworm with an inexhaustible curiosity, Mr. Cirker built Dover into a paperback powerhouse by delving deep into the public domain and reprinting thousands of out-of-print novels, illustrations, manuals and scientific texts.
It was a simple concept, artfully done. Dover books almost always had attractive covers and low prices. The rare-and-forgotten route also had the added advantage of long-dead authors, which meant minimal royalties and little editorial squabbling.
”I’m no renaissance man,” said Mr. Cirker in a 1978 profile in Time magazine. ”I’m just curious.”
After Hayward’s death, his wife Blanche, Dover Publication’s co-founder continued the business and lived until May 21, 2022. She died at age 104.
In the more than 80 years since its founding, Dover has published more than 10,000 titles. Today, Dover is wholly owned and operated by Courier Corporation and is part of the book manufacturer Lakeside Book Company
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The six postcards in this featured set are reproductions of movie posters from the late-1920s through the 1930s.
The Wedding March from 1928 is the oldest. It was a silent film, directed by Erich von Stroheim but one of the first to use a synchronized musical score with sound effects. The opening scene is done in sync with the incidental music to Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream by Felix Mendelssohn. (Mendelssohn’s music should not be confused with Wagner’s Here Comes the Bride.) The film stars von Stroheim, himself, Fay Wray, and ZaSu Pitts. It is a romantic drama that takes place in Vienna in 1914.
The Love Trader was another romantic drama. “Trader” was directed by Joseph Henabery and is considered an early talkie that has been chosen by the Library of Congress for their film preservation project/collection. The film starred a few silent-movie actors who only partially adapted to the “talkie film craze.” The production work was done at an independent studio called Pacific Pictures and released through Tiffany Pictures in 1930. The film tells the story of a young woman who marries a stern, God-fearing, sea captain to escape the rigidity of New England’s social environment. The sea captain takes his bride to the South Seas where she is thrown into the colorful but evil atmosphere of an island outpost.
The Big Brain was released in 1933. It was a dramatic film directed by George Archainbaud and written by Sy Bartlett and Warren Duff. The stars were George E. Stone, the incredibly handsome Phillips Holmes, who experienced an untimely death at age 35 in a mid-air plane crash, and America’s heart-throb Fay Wray – at least she was, after King Kong carried her to the top of the Empire State Building. The film was released by RKO Pictures. The Big Brain is the story of a ruthless crook’s rise from backroom bookie to that of high stakes international con artist. Max Werner (played by Stone) gets rich as he moves from gambling to crooked stocks and bonds. Fleeing the authorities, he absconds to England where he continues his deceptions. Following a newspaper exposé, he returns to America with his girlfriend, where a trap awaited him.
In 1936, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studiosreleased Small Town Girl starring Janet Gaynor and Robert Taylor. Kay Brannan is bored with her life then one day a traffic detour brings hundreds of football players and fans through town. Robert Dakin, a socially prominent surgeon, was one of them. He asks Kay for directions to a popular roadhouse then asks her to come along to join in the fun. Later Bob becomes so drunk that he insists that they have a justice of the peace marry them. Kay is not quite so drunk, but she agrees. That’s when the fun, intrigue, and social maneuvering begins. Gradually, they fall in love, but the antics continue until Kay tells Bob how she really feels. At home, after a trying day when a newspaper prints a rumor that Bob is headed to Reno for a divorce, Kay goes out for a walk, but Bob follows in his car and tells Kay that the rumor is false. The screen goes black as they drive off together, but not toward Reno.
Dangerously Yours starring Cesar Romero and Phyllis Brooks was a 1937 crime story release by the 20th Century Fox studio. Malcolm St. Clair was the director. It was not a box-office sensation, but it provided Romero a chance to exhibit his wide range of screen skills that included roles for Latin lovers and historical figures in high dramas. Romero captured the audience as detective Victor Morell, who assumes the guise of a jewel thief to infiltrate a criminal ring who he suspects of having stolen a fabulous gem. The comedy caper takes place on a transatlantic crossing from New York to Europe. The passengers include various crooks, insurance investigators, and the jewel thief himself. In solving the case and bringing the criminals to justice, Morell finds that he has fallen in love with a member of the gang, Valerie Barton played by Phyllis Brooks.
She Asked for It was released in 1937 by Paramount Pictures. It was not a popular film, and even then, the title was off-putting for it was frequently used as a criminal alibi. The comedy begged for a comedic line or two but never found one. It was directed by Erle Kenton who made his way in Hollywood at first as a writer for Mack Sennett. He had only one successful movie, Island of Lost Souls starring Charles Laughton. In She Asked For It the part of Dwight Stanford was played by William Gargan, it was one of eight movies he made in 1937. Other roles were taken by the likes of actors all together forgotten. Dwight Stanford and his wife, Penny, are a pair of spendthrifts who are dependent on Dwight’s rich uncle. Dwight’s cousin, Conrad resents his father’s generosity. When the uncle is the victim of a hit-and-run accident, and there was no will, Conrad inherits. When the uncle’s lawyer, tells Dwight he is shutout with no hope of appeal, Dwight starts writing mystery novels featuring a fictional detective named Steven Knight. The novels are instant hits and the money pours in. It’s a shame that the movie made very little.