My great uncle Louis sent out this Christmas card I'm guessing around 1952. He must have been getting a lot of photo cards from couples and families so I'm proud of how he responded: he took a double exposure photo (could a digital camera even do this? I guess we have Photoshop now) and made himself into a family of two.
Louis worked at Wonder Bread in Minneapolis for 30 years. He married a nice girl named Dottie and instead of kids they raised standard poodles and dobermans. I only met him once or twice. I remember him being tall and rather taciturn, but my dad could break him up.
Uncle Louis was born 16 years after his sister, Rose. Rose, my grandmother, had my dad when she was 19, so my dad and Louis were only about three years apart, and consequently they grew up more like brothers than an uncle and nephew.
The men in my family always look like celebrities to me. Louis reminds me of Sid Caesar. In certain photographs my grandfather looks just like Humphrey Bogart. My uncle Harry was a perfect cross between Jack Lemmon and Johnny Carson. My brother Tim is a cheerful mix of Tom Selleck, John Travolta, and Will Ferrell.
Apart from my mother somewhat resembling Ingrid Bergman, however, the women in my family exhibit nothing more than a tendency to snort when surprised by something funny.