Phono Postcards - Records you can Mail

Not long ago I posted about Flexi Discs, the thin and flexible vinyl records that could be included in a magazine or mass mailing.  Those weren't the only stab at cheap and impermanent records.  Above are pictured several Phono Postcards.  You're meant to pop these in the mail without an envelope - the back looks like a regular albeit oversized postcard.  The adressee puts it on the turntable to try and make out what music is left on this piece of cardboard that's been sitting in a filthy mailbag.

Okay, that is a pretty harsh assesment of something so fun.  I love old postcards with their intensely chromatic photos (the Phonoscope record above), their beautifully rendered artists drawings (the weird antenna thing on the card I'm holding), and their sort-of-funny placard approach vis the caveman picture.

Once you get these  guys not to slip on your turntable (I used to lightly tape them to a real record, now I just use a record clamp), they sound a bit better than you might expect.  There is only a minute or two of audio on one of these cards, just enough room for a national anthem, a mini travelogue, or a Spike Jones novelty number.

Serious look at some old phono postcards
Not quite so serious look