The Maharajah in 'gay Paris'

The newly discovered 'gay Paree' decal

Unusual baggage decal of the 1950s.

I recently acquired a rather unusual baggage decal of the 1950s. This is by Air-India International with Paris as the destination. These pre-gummed decals were distributed by the airline to passengers to affix on their luggage and had the names of different destinations serviced by the airline along with a cartoon of the Maharajah greeting another person in the local style, and dressed in the traditional costume. The art for each of these was always cheerful and humorous, often a little cheeky. He was the Maharajah, and could get away with a lot. Here is a link to my website page with a comprehensive listing of all the decals in my collection.

The 5 and 1/2 inch diameter decal I chanced upon recently was a new find, a design never seen by me before. Here we have a brightly dressed  man, relpete with red scarf and green beret planting a kiss on the cheek of our rather coy Maharajah. I do admire the chutzpah, and the courage of his creators to publish a cartoon like this, and that to in the 1950s. With all the debate going around these days, one wonders whether our so called modern era has a thing or two to learn from the liberal '50s.

The more commonly seen design
of the Paris decal and coaster.

In any case, the decal is hard to find, and perhaps had only a limited print run. The more popular Paris decal has the Maharajah planting a rather gentlemanly kiss on the hand of a pretty Parisian maiden. This is the same design  reproduced on the coaster, and was in use well into the 1960s. Enjoy both designs here, and draw your own conclusions.