It's time for another look at the postcards of the past, a simpler time when the suits were gray, the lobbies were ugly, and "resort hotel" was a term used very loosely. Today's selections are from The Nevele, a Catskills resort and country club in Ellenville, New York. At the end of this article, we'll see what the Nevele is like nowadays, but for now let's take a look at the resort back in the Swinging Sixties.
The back of this card says it's a picture of "Mardi Gras at the Safari Lounge." If so, it's the dullest Mardi Gras I've ever seen. Where are the 72-oz margaritas? Where are the topless college students? Where are the people throwing up in the street?
African safari and New Orleans are admittedly a pretty weird combination of themes, but nevertheless I like it. Stone-drunk people and vicious wild animals... how can you go wrong with that?
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!
I know it's clichéd to compare odd-looking people to Michael Jackson, but this honestly does look a lot like him. She might as well be an impersonator; she's got him down, right to the stubble, paleness, and bulbous lips. This one's definitely a female, though; but whether she was born that way is another matter.
No postcard party scene would be complete with a group of drunk conventioneers. It just adds that certain depressing feeling you can't get from anything else. Here's the local chapter of the American Black Suit League. Obviously, they don't get out much. The guy on the right is holding his noisemaker like it's a bomb about to go off.
I wonder why the waitress is reaching in front of the other guy's face. Is she trying to stop him from pointing at the camera? Unlikely, because plenty of people in these postcard pictures stare at the photographer like stunned deer. It looks a little like he's holding a handgun, which would be kind of neat. Maybe they got his drink order wrong.
Most of the rest of the audience look like extras from network dramas. You know, the seedy people lurking in the background during group scenes. The woman would be Prostitute #4 on Law and Order; the old guy would probably be a minor Mafioso or a heart attack victim on ER.
More Nevele fun on the next page.
