Copyright 2010 by Dan Hughes
Valentine’s Day, 1952, Miss Swanson’s first grade classroom. A very special day.
We had meticulously addressed and signed Valentine’s Day cards for everybody in the class. Miss Swanson announced that it was time to hand out our cards. There was a period of quiet pandemonium as we all played Mailman, delivering Valentine’s Day cards to each of our classmates, carefully dropping them into the lunchbag mailboxes that had been taped to the back of each student’s seat.
tBy second or third grade we were writing short greetings on the cards to some of our special friends, and by fourth or fifth grade we were adding silly jokes or – maybe -tentative notes of affection.
Just how did this tradition of Valentine’s Day cards begin? Tradition has it that a duke wrote the first Valentine in 1415. Charles, Duke of York, wrote romantic poetry to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
Over the next 200 years, the sending of romantic notes on St. Valentine’s Day became a tradition, especially in England. Valentines came to America in the early 1700’s, when books of romantic messages and verses were imported from England. These books contained suggested notes and poems for males to send their sweethearts, and they also contained suggested responses the females could use.
Factory-made cards began appearing in the early 1800’s. During the Civil War, Valentines between soldiers and their left-behind sweethearts were very popular. These cards were becoming quite elaborate, with tabs to be pulled to animate moving parts, or windows cut into them revealing Cupids, hearts, mirrors, or a lock of hair. Some of the most expensive, fancy cards were made to be used as marriage proposals!
Comic Valentines, called “vinegar Valentines” and “penny dreadfuls,” made their appearance in the 1870’s. Ninety years later they reappeared, when the Topps company (makers of baseball cards) hired Mad magazine artist Jack Davis to produce “Funny Valentines” in 1959 and 1960. The front of the card said something nice, but the back of the card turned the statement into an insult. “Your Teeth Are Like Stars….They Come Out At Night.” These were hilarious to schoolkids. (I remember them from eighth grade in Indiana, and my wife remembers them from fifth grade in Virginia, so you may remember them, too.)
Some traditions seem to change over the years, so I asked my daughter how they did it when she was in grade school.
“Well,” she said, “there were bags taped to the backs of all the seats…”
Dan is a retired Parkland College instructor/radio station manager who stays busy by writing, producing internet radio, and selling the books he has written. Visit his website at http://danhughes.net or drop him a line at danhughes@juno.com