In the mid-20th century, the tradition of exchanging Valentine’s Day cards was a widespread practice. While many cards featured familiar themes of love and affection, a significant number of them showcased bizarre and sometimes creepy imagery that looks strange to a modern audience. These cards often combined unsettling illustrations with messages that ranged from oddly aggressive to just plain weird.
Cards with Threatening Undertones
A common category of these strange valentines involved messages that read like playful threats. These cards used puns that often referenced violence or weapons. For example, a card might feature a cartoon drawing of a boy holding a large hunting rifle with the caption, “I’m GUNNING for you to be my Valentine!” Another popular theme involved cannons, with illustrations of children firing a cannon alongside the phrase, “You’ve captured my heart, Valentine.”
Other cards used imagery of traps and capture. It was common to see illustrations of animal traps or cages with text like, “I’m in a TRAP without your love, Valentine,” or a boy pointing a lasso with the line, “I’m roping you in to be my Valentine.” These greetings used the language of hunting and capture to express romantic interest, pairing it with illustrations of children holding the associated objects.
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Unsettling Characters and Illustrations
Many mid-century valentines featured illustrations of children with unsettling appearances. Often, these children were drawn with unusually large, wide-set eyes that stared directly at the viewer. Their smiles were sometimes depicted as overly broad or sinister, creating an unnerving effect. These characters were frequently shown in strange situations, adding to the card’s odd feeling.
Food items and everyday objects were also frequently anthropomorphized, given faces and limbs, and placed in bizarre scenarios. A valentine might show a hot dog with eyes and a mouth leaping into a bun, accompanied by a romantic pun. Another might feature a pair of onions, drawn with tearful eyes, with a message about crying over a lost love. These illustrations often had a cartoonish but slightly off-kilter quality that made them memorable.
Bizarre and Unromantic Scenarios
Some valentines from this era depicted scenes that had no clear connection to romance at all. For instance, a card could show a child dressed as a plumber holding a wrench with the caption, “I’m PLUMB crazy for you!” Another might feature a child dressed as a butcher holding a meat cleaver, with a pun related to chopping or meat.
Cards also referenced then-current technology in odd ways. A valentine might show a boy with a microphone, broadcasting his love, or a girl looking at a television screen with a heart on it. These attempted to be modern but often resulted in strange combinations of technology and romantic sentiment. The humor relied on puns that linked a specific profession or object to a feeling of affection, even when the pairing was illogical or unsettling.
