A woman in a black dress and an enormous wide-brimmed Merry Widow hat stands behind a bench at a railroad station, with tracks and station buildings behind her. The verse turns the hat's cost into the punch line: the fatal shock is "nothing but the bill / For my MERRY WIDOW HAT." The Merry Widow hat, a huge platter-like style popularized after the 1905 operetta, was a common target for comic postcards in the Edwardian era.
White border at bottom with printed caption; black-and-white halftone.
No postmark or cancellation present. Divided-back 'Post Card' imprint with stamp box reading 'PLACE STAMP HERE. / UNITED STATES AND CANADA ONE CENT. / FOREIGN, TWO CENTS.' Pencil dealer/price mark 'RMLJ #5—' at top right. No stamp affixed; message 'Mamie Olam' written, addressed to Florence Carrol. Front carries printed copyright 1908 by I. Grollman.
Cite this card
Woman in Merry Widow hat, comic postcard, 1908, postcard, c. 1908. PostalPast Collection. https://postalpast.com/postcard/woman-in-merry-widow-hat-comic-postcard-1908. Accessed November 2, 2026.
