Do You Know The Difference Between Post Cards and Postal Cards?

He wasn’t really grumbling, but “every time there’s a notice in some newspaper about our meeting,” said Walter Waldau, 68, of Anaheim, “the phone just doesn’t stop ringing. People want to know how much their old post cards are worth.”

Well, they’re calling the right person. Waldau, a retired technical writer and father of eight children, says he has 30,000 post cards that took 60 years to gather and include the world’s first post card made in 1869 in Germany.

“You know, the United States didn’t produce postal cards until (May 1) 1873,” Waldau, an acknowledged expert on post card history and active in the Orange County Post Card Club, pointed out. “First of all, there’s a difference between post cards and postal cards,” he explained, in between phone calls. “Post cards are sold in stores, have a picture on them and space for a stamp. Postal cards are blank, already stamped and sold only in post offices.”

Speaking in his living room where a number of miniature Statue of Liberty models stand on the mantle, Waldau admitted that “I like to talk about the cards” and often gives speeches to groups throughout Orange County. He specializes in post cards with Statue of Liberty pictures. Most collectors usually specialize, he said, saving only Eiffel Tower cards or antique cards regardless of subject.

“There must be hundreds of card collectors in Orange County alone,” he ventured.

Waldau regards the cards as a form of communication and a history lesson as well. “Here, look at these,” he said, pointing to post cards that showed structural changes of the 1,100-room Rosslyn Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The cards were made and given away by the hotel.

“It used to have 1,400 rooms, but not all had bathrooms, so when they decided to put a bathroom in every room,” he continued, “they had to eliminate some of the rooms to fit the bathrooms in. It’s all documented on post cards.”

Waldau said some old cards are worth $1,000, “but those are in the hands of collectors.” He said he likes to tell people who call about their old cards that they may be worth 10 cents or more. “There isn’t a general price catalogue available,” he said.

While there is no record available on how many post cards are sent yearly, Santa Ana Post Office spokesman Joseph Breckinridge said 582 million postal cards were bought nationwide in 1985. But that, he said, represents an unexplained drop from 1.01 billion postal cards sold in 1967.

Nationally known astrologist Joyce Jillson, speaking at UC Irvine, predicted that Chancellor Jack Peltason, a Virgo, and Academic Senate Chair Marjorie Caserio, a Pisces, would have a good year. But for Student President Jim Caras, an Aries who introduced her, well, he was going to have a change of jobs or job focus in November.

Now that’s right on, almost. “She’s about 15 days off,” said Caras, who graduates in June. “I plan to travel and then take a job Oct. 15.”

Jillson told the academic audience that she’s not always 100% accurate.

Unless you love teddy bears, you might wonder why anyone would buy toys for them. Well it’s no mystery to Gale Darter, 36, of Lake Forest. “They need to have fun, too,” he said, after phoning about the March 8 End of Hibernation Teddy Bear Show in the Brookhurst Community Center in Anaheim, where the toys for teddies will be available. They include parasols, balloons and wagons, plus such furniture as rocking chairs and benches. He also contends that it is not all that unusual for someone to buy a miniature teddy bear for a teddy bear.

The show will also feature clothing for teddy to wear at work or play.

Honest.

Varsity cheerleaders from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana have tried for the past three years to win the National High School Cheerleading Championship in Orlando, Fla., but the best they’ve finished is third. Well, this year Mater Dei also sent along a junior varsity team and wouldn’t you know, the JV team won first place in its division. It was quite an upset over the other 23 schools, said coach Jodi Balsis, of Anaheim, since it was the team’s first national competition.

“We had hoped to finish in the top five,” she said, “but when we weren’t mentioned as any of the four runners-up, we were really disappointed until they named us the winner.”

The varsity squad finished third.

Acknowledgments--Judy Wang, 23, of Los Alamitos, named Miss Los Angles Chinatown, the second consecutive year the Orange County Chinese Cultural Club’s beauty pageant representative has won the title.