What The Donges??

I picked up this scrap of paper at a sale recently -- and have become obsessed with it. Dating from no later than the 1920's, it's a promotional piece for an old genteel establishment selling hats & gloves to gentlemen (but as you shall see, there's much more to it!)

Jac. F. Donges
Founder of DONGES BAY
Who has GLOVES to Burn
And some that don't Burn
HATS and CAPS

319 Third Street
MILWAUKEE, WIS.

Now, this is interesting for several reasons... The Jac F. Donges Hat & Glove shop was a Milwaukee institution, only just closed in 2001 (replaced by :gasp: a Subway restaurant). And Donges Bay is a place I have been (hello, Sybaris in Mequon!). But little information exists on the company or the man who founded it &, apparently, Donges Bay.

Heavy research provides us with the fact that Jac and his brother, Charles, founded the area.



Charles, also a partner in the hat business (then called Donges Brothers), died June 28, 1894, and while he managed to be listed in the 1902 Notable men of Wisconsin, he's all but ignored in history and Jac gets all the credit.



Perhaps this is fair, for Jac was quite the character.

In 1842, his parents, Mr. Jacob Donges and his wife, emigrated to Milwaukee from Germany. In 1860 they had a son, Jacob Jr. Jacob Jr. or Jac, as he preferred to be called. Jac inherited the position of janitor at Milwaukee's City Hall from his father and then worked in the garment business for some friends, which led to opening his own shop.

As an entrepreneurial businessman, his financial success led to investments in real estate along the north shore of lake Michigan, specifically purchasing the Basler and Kemp farms along what is now known as Donges Bay. These were lands he'd seen in 1884 calling the beautiful deep ravine with a creek at its bottom empties into the lake "Fairy chasm", and vowed to own. This land, along with land co-owned by friends (such as Fred Usinger, founder of Usinger Sausage Co.), became part of the holdings of the Fish Creek Park Company, established September 13, 1892. The company issued 146 shares of stock, one each for the 146 acres, at $285 per share and offered to mainly friends of Jac's, creating a private summer resort community.

During the first ten years of Fish Creek Park, the stockholders were permitted to use the land in any way they chose, from informal Sunday picnics to the construction of summer homes.

Enter the other side of the old promotional paper.

WITHIN THE LINES
IN THE GOOD OLD U.S.A.
AT
DONGES BAY

ALL'S WELL
AT SCHUCH'S RESORT

I found no information on Schuch's Resort; however, there was a friend of Jac's, John Schuch, who built Chalet on the Lake resort and restaurant in the area, which is now called Mequon. (According to the Fish Creek Park Company records, things got dicey after the first decade, and the community of Fairy Chasm evolved into two sections, North Fairy Chasm becoming Mequon in 1957 and South Fairy Chasm becoming Bayside in 1955. Absolutely fascinating stuff, but I digress.)

Here's a vintage postcard of the dining room, and a platter from the restaurant:




Little else could be discovered about the Chalet, other than Mark Harmon's Dillinger was filmed there (with the location used to represent Little Bohemia) and that it was owned by Jerome Perlson from 1966 until 1990 when he retired and the restaurant was sold, replaced by the development of private homes.

Could this chalet been the Schuch's Resort of the old little flyer? Maybe...

But what makes this all interesting enough to be here at Silent Porn Star is what happens when you fold the piece of paper...


The classic finish to "All's well"... "That ends well." Complete with nude bottoms up in the air as mom, dad, and junior do handstands under the water.

Cute and risque, especially for a gentleman's hat & gloves shop, but I discovered even more.

Holding and worrying over this bit of old paper, trying to find more information on Donges. I read the few lines so many times, hoping for another clue...

That line, "within the lines" stuck out for me. It didn't seem to make much sense. A colloquialism? Mmmmaybe. But being aware of riddles and puns, I then noticed the strange lines about the boy in the water... Was there something within, between them?

My husband says I'm just seeing things, but if you block the image at the one line, and turn it upside down, I see some even more risque antics beneath the water...


Is it just me? Tell me what you see...

And please do tell me if you know more about Jac Donges et al. (I'm itching to get back to the area soon to see what I can research... And stay at the Sybaris, of course. *wink*)

PS Yes, I'm putting this under "Beefcake" because Donges was so wealthy, no doubt he was heavily pursued and likely quite a playboy or other which such privilege allows. At least until I'm proven otherwise.