HARVEY SCHMIDT

Almost every year of his adult life, Harvey sent out Christmas cards that he designed himself and sent to his wide circle of friends and business acquaintances. At first they were quite simple - small heavy cards, one-sided, and imprinted with a single image (like a rubbing from a church floor), with a short greeting. From the mid-70's to the mid-90's the regular cards were interspersed with 5 LPs on which he played his own piano arrangements of tunes by favorite composers from Broadway and the MGM movie musicals that had entertained and influenced him. Later, the cards expanded into a large folded 8 1/2 by 11 inch format, with drawn images or photographs, accompanied by long explanatory notes in his distinctive handwriting. The last card was the full-size reproduction of the sheet music for a song from 1961, with lyrics by Tom Jones, called "Thank You For Your Love." Here are some of those cards through the years.