POSTCARDS FROM THE PAST

1940’s Photochrome Era Postcard

TOPIC

Grauman’s Chinese Theatre

Hollywood, California

Built in 1926

Scene of many gala premier, the theatre is located on Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California. One of the most interesting features is the sidewalk where hand and foot prints of famous movie stars are preserved in cement. The “Chinese” name of the theatre refers to the architecture.

Print Year

1940’s

Era

Photochrome Era (1939-ongoing)

“Chrome” postcards began to dominate the scene soon after the Union Oil Company placed them in its western service stations in 1939.  Mike Roberts pioneered his “WESCO” cards soon after World War II.  Three-dimensional postcards also appeared in this era.  By 1960s, the standard size of cards had grown to 4 x 6 inches.

Photochromes are not real photos but rather, printed cards done by a photochrome process.  To distinguish a printed postcard from a real photo postcard, examine it under a magnifying glass and you will see the dot pattern that is characteristic of printed cards.

Printer

Natural Color Card

From Kodachrome

Mike Roberts Studio 1939-1996
Berkley, California

Mike Roberts (b.1905 – d.1989) first appeared in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1934 as a commercial photographer. When Eastman Kodak introduced its revolutionary new color film Kodachrome in 1936, Mike adopted it. He became the first printer of photochrome postcards based on the new Kodachrome color film, moving from commercial photography to commercial postcard production in the early 1950s. He became known as America's Postcard King.

His company created many thousands of postcards in a very wide range of subjects. These postcards were issued by Color Card, of which he became a partner. Unlike most photochromes these early cards were printed through line block without a black plate. Many of the early cards also have the additional trade names of Wesco or Spectratone added to them. The style of the logo on the backs of these cards changed regularly with many individually designed for specific distributors.

Roberts captured scenes throughout the West and Hawaii for these cards plus many military related subjects and scenes from Viet-Nam. The studio went on to become Mike Roberts Color Products Inc. producing cards well into the 1990’s. Roberts moved his operations to San Diego in 1996 under the name Scenic Art Inc.

Publisher

Published by

Mike Roberts Studio 1939-1996
Berkley, California

Photographer

A Mike Roberts Color Production

Size

Standard Size: 5 ½ X 3 ½ / 14cm X 8.9cm

Printing Technique

Photochrome 1939-

4-Color Process printing

Full-color images are created on the printing press by applying separate layers of the Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black inks (CYMK). Photochrome cards were both more realistic looking and less expensive. Thousands of colors can be reproduced by overlapping these CMYK colors in various concentrations. Applied as tiny dots on the paper the four CMYK colors combine to create the visual effect we know as full color printing.

CONDITION

Unused /Unposted

Corners and edges in good condition.

NO pinholes, creases, tears, smears, smudges, stains, or mold.