Sunday, March 1, 2015

Postcards Reveal Jeffrey Lebowski's Previously Unknown Missouri Synod Origins



My wife found old postcards from the 1950s and 60s at a used bookstore, and bought a small stack of them for me. Here's some of my finds....

I don't know. I'm guessing Jeff would have felt like a fifth wheel in this happening Sunday School gang. Or maybe that girl in the green dress--the one with the giant head who's doing the Exorcist thing at the waist--might have freaked him out?



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I'm thinking that Jeff was really into plaid. Particularly plaid skirts. That's the real reason he held onto this set of postcards (the others were misdirection). You'll also see that Pastor Pete's comment about gravity shows that science and religion don't have to be at odds.





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Clearly, this Nashville, TN outfit, Broadman Supplies, knew nothing about Midwestern Lutheran churches in the early 1950s. First off, the addition in the back, I'm guessing a Tennessean approximation of a fellowship hall, would be just one-story. The only stairs Lutherans abide are the two or three steps up to the small choir loft in the back of the nave. And those columns? A bit too Romish, if you know what I mean. Besides, the front door would not open right into the nave--where's space for the crucial narthex? And where would the choir loft go? And what about a parking lot? And where's the knot of middle-aged men in black suits and horn-rimmed glasses--and maybe the organist, Mrs. Schonobski--outside, sneaking a smoke before Sunday School?



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Poor Pastor Pete. We know something's wrong when a Lutheran gets a bit strident.



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The only thing more disturbing than this might be a postcard depicting Jezebel's horrific death (2 Kings 9:33-37).



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From the Hartville Herald:
Herald Staff Report, January 2, 1956 (Hartville)  In the early hours of this morning, Hartville police arrested Reverend Peter Paul Penderson for drunk and disorderly conduct, public nuisance, and resisting arrest. According to officers at the scene, the Reverend Penderson was dressed as a clown and pounding on the door of the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Lebowski at 1:30am. Officer Ned Starky added "He had a bowling ball in one hand, and Luther's Catechism in the other. When my partner and I approached, he rolled the bowling ball at us and shouted, 'What letters are missing in your alphabet, Jeff?' Then he ran away, laughing. We gave chase, and shortly had him in custody. His clown shoes were his downfall." 
Reverend Penderson, more commonly known as "Pastor Pete," has served at the Forever and Ever Redeemer Lutheran Church in Hartville for 23 years and is a long-time member of the local Shriners Chapter, and founder of the Hartville Martin Luther Lodge, sponsor of the annual Lutheran Liturgical parade and the Hartville Inter-Faith Bowling League. He is currently held at the Hartville city jail, and will be arraigned tomorrow.

3 comments:

Lydia said...

Oh my...that is pretty fun.

Spider Valdez said...

It's not nice to read other people's mail; it's stinkingly rude to publish it; and for the biting comments that accompanied each card posted--have fun playing croquet in purgatory because I figure you earned about three days worth for this little shenanigan.

Andrew Schlewitz said...

I checked the rules on Purgatory. Apparently I get more than three days:
For reading other's people without permission: 2.5 days
For making snarky comments about the postcards: 1.75 days
For posting those postcards on a blog: 3.33 days
For making the whole thing up: 21 days
TOTAL: 28.58 days.

YOU'RE the one who gets 3 days--for not ceasing to read the blog once you realized what you were reading, and then having the temerity to comment on it.