As you will also see in the 1941 article at the end of the page, the men who started Hallmark fully expected that greeting cards like this would “deal a death blow to the practice of letter-writing.”
Vintage Birthday cards from the ’40s: I’ll sit up… and speak for you (1946)
American Greetings no. 421Q — One of hundreds on sale at better drug and variety stores everywhere.
Some birthday advice for you
If you’re wicked, folks get huffy
If you’re good, folks think you’re stuffy
If you’re rich, you’re money-crazy
If you’re poor, folks call you lazy
If you’re smart, folks think you’re screwy
f you’re dumb, folks say, “Aw, phooey”!
You can’t suit them on the level!
So don’t try… Just raise the devil!
And have a happy birthday.
American Greetings are fun to send and fun to receive for every occasion on your list:
- Congratulations
- Get Well
- Gifts
- Friendship
- Birthdays
- Holidays and Special Celebrations
American Greeting Publishers, Inc. Cleveland 2, Ohio
Eight-year-old: A vintage 1940s birthday card
To Mother, on Mother’s Day (1944)
1940s Happy Birthday card: 2 years old
“Can’t Be-Witch ya at Halloween” greeting card from the forties
ALSO SEE: 15 vintage Halloween cards for kids from the ’70s & ’80s were super-cute ways to say boo
1940s cartoon car birthday card
Vintage Father’s Day greetings card (1943)
SEE MORE: A dozen adorable vintage Father’s Day cards
Birthday greetings to the man I married! – 40s birthday card
Hundreds of birthday wishes, all rolled into one – Vintage greeting card
Happy Birthday, Little girl! (1940s)
Congratulations as you graduate from high school! – 1940s illustration
To an angel of a wife — 1940s Mother’s Day card
SEE MORE: A cheerful collection of 20 vintage Mother’s Day cards
Vintage 1940s Hallmark Doll cards: Little Red Riding Hood
This is one in a series of Hallmark Doll Cards we are now showing in our greeting card section.
Other designs include such favorites from the land of Make Believe as Little Bo Peep, Cinderella, Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary, Mary Had a Little Lamb, Little Red Riding Hood, Little Miss Muffet, and Tommy Tucker.
These Hallmark Dolls are ideal to greet your little friends and loved ones on their birthdays, to cheer them when they’re ill, or just to say Hello, Little Folks will love to collect them.
Vintage 1940s Hallmark Doll cards: Little Boy Blue
Greeting cards from birth to death (1941)
The greeting cards on these pages are samples of the 5,000 varieties by which Hall Brothers [which became the Hallmark company in 1953], US card manufacturers, confidently expect to deal a death blow to the practice of letter-writing.
The art of Cicero and Lord Chesterfield, they believe, is obsolete. The Halls feel that “sentiments,” as they are known in the trade, usually express the sender’s feelings better than he could himself.
ALSO SEE: Look back at 100+ mid-century retro Christmas cards from the ’50s & 60s
Beginning with No. 1 at right, these cards show how it is now possible to follow a person through all the high spots of life with pat greetings. They cover every holiday and anniversary, from Bar Mitzvah or election to an Elk’s Lodge down to the latest item, canned pep-talk to draftees.
Hall cards are priced from to 5c to $5, are prepared by a large staff of artists for an impatient, if inarticuate, public that demands new ones every six months.
NOW SEE THIS: These vintage ‘insert dime’ greeting cards with coins were a big deal for kids
One Response
I would like to get with a group of people to chat about old greetings cards, old newspapers, and so forth.