Categories
1900-1949 Music War

75 years ago today – George Formby and Grandad, 1940

Grandad's George Formby postcard

In amongst my Grandad’s wartime letters and ephemera is this photo-made-into-a-postcard of George Formby, sent to Grandma in a letter. The nice thing about this is that two of my Grandad’s army friends are pictured either side of George – they’re the ones who Grandad marked with crosses. I didn’t even know about this picture until a few weeks back, when my mum uncovered it. But I was immediately massively impressed, I’m such a George Formby fan that the thought that Grandad had (presumably) seen him in person is incredible.

Grandad's George Formby postcard
Grandad’s George Formby photograph

And here’s a picture of Grandad around that time:

Grandad in the Second World War
Grandad in the Second World War

I didn’t know know anything about the photo apart from the fact that it appears to be in France – most of Grandad’s wartime things seem to be from the early part of the war when he was based in France on the Maginot Line during the Phony War period. I thought he must have taken it himself, as his friend is looking right down the camera at the photographer. Grandad wasn’t anywhere in it himself, although as it’s his unit it seems very likely he’d also be there. But that was it.

In fact, in this previous post about Grandad, Richard Dimbleby and an unknown German Soldier, I’d posted up this video of George singing his song Imagine Me on the Maginot Line and wondered if there was any chance that Grandad had actually been there. It’s such a fantastically alive moment in time for me, this video.

 

I didn’t expect to be able to bring the photo to life, but that’s just what happened a couple of weeks ago. I was going to post it up on the blog anyway because I loved it so much, and was just having a look at George’s Wikipedia page, something I’ve looked at quite a few times before, but this time I immediately noticed something amazing. On the top picture, there was Grandad’s friend right next to him! It wasn’t the same photo as the one I have, but it was obviously taken almost at the same time.

George Formby on Wikipedia
George Formby on Wikipedia

This was exciting. It was my lunch break at work and I was suddenly gripped by the desire to find out more about whatever was happening here. The Wikipedia page links to the Imperial War Museum online archive – here, which shows the full, uncropped picture, and reveals the same “English Spoken” sign as on my picture.

From the Imperial War Museum archive
From the Imperial War Museum archive

So I learned it was taken on 13th March 1940, 75 years ago exactly today.

It was also taken by the War Office Official Photographer Lt. L. A. Puttnam, which means presumably my photo was too, and also produced as a postcard for the soldiers perhaps?

This was exciting enough, frankly, some information gathered. But now I had the date I could search more. And I found more, here in the incredible British Pathe archive – British Pathe

 

It’s a whole skit for the newsreels! And Grandad’s two friends got little speaking parts in it to boot! I wonder if this group were picked as they were fellow Lancastrians to George?

So they all sing When I’m Cleaning Windows, and I’m practically in tears watching a family photo unexpectedly turn into moving pictures.

But not only that….if you carry on watching, it turns into the moment I posted above, and also posted months ago before I even knew of the photo. The soldiers have him by bayonet-point to sing another song, and there it is, the Imagine Me on the Maginot Line that is one of my favourite clips of George. Perhaps the photo is actually a still from this film.

And there it was, a little bit of personal historical research done in a lunchtime, and something that profoundly moved me. Not for the first time, I wished that I could talk to Grandad again one last time, and hear what really happened on that day from him.

Categories
1950-1999

Russell Harty Plus Frankie Howerd, 1974

Russell Harty and Frankie Howerd, 1974

Another interview transcript from Russell Harty Plus, 1974. An absolute riot of an interview here with Frankie Howerd.

Russell Harty and Frankie Howerd, 1974
Russell Harty and Frankie Howerd, 1974

It’s so vivid you can practically hear it as you read…
(screams of laughter)

Oh, isn’t the internet marvellous? It’s only just occurred to me that someone’s probably put all these Russell Harty interviews on Youtube, and of course they have. Here’s an edited version of the interview – I see the transcript took out a whole bit about Howerd’s house in Malta and it’s all a bit less screamy that I imagined.

Here you go, witness Russell’s strangely carpeted studio:

 

Categories
1900-1949

Making Freaks, 1931

Tod Browning

I’ve looked at Tod Browning’s 1932 cult horror film Freaks before, a few weeks ago when I found out some previously unknown information about one of the cast, the “Half Man-Half Woman” Josephine Joseph here

Tod Browning
Tod Browning

I also found this little gossipy snippet from The Burnley News dating back to when the film was in production in 1931. It talks about how the subject of the film was kept under wraps during the making of it, and the egos of the cast members, all of whom would have been used to being star of their own particular show, I expect.

The Burnley News, December 19th, 1931,
The Burnley News, December 19th, 1931

A NEW METRO-GOLDWYN-MEYER PRODUCTION

Temperament is not exclusive to the Garbos and Deitrich’s [sic]. Even the bearded ladies, Siamese twins, half men-half women, sword swallowers and other familiar figures of the circus show have it – and to a greater extent than any dozen prima donnas. Tod Browning says so. The man who is used to handling weird characters in his films – the late Lon Chaney adopted some of his most amazing guises under Browning’s direction – has all the varieties that Barnum ever brought together and a few more besides, under his command for his new Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer production which bears the apt title “Freaks”.

He is finding the petty jealousies and differences make them anything but a happy family and that a great deal of diplomacy is required to prevent friction running riot. Browning is also called upon to ensure strict secrecy on the “Freaks” set in order that the inside working of the film does not leak out. Every member of the unit has meals on the stage, and at the end of the day’s work the freaks are conveyed straight to the apartment house where they are quartered.

Categories
1900-1949 Ephemera Games

Friday Fun – Jack and his Apples, 1922

The Children's Newspaper, 13th May 1922

From The Children’s Newspaper in 1922 comes a riddle:

Jack and His Apples
Jack was a very good natured boy and, meeting his younger brother just after he had purchased some apples, he gave his brother one third of the total number and one third of an apple. Jack then had one apple left. How many did he have in the first place?

The Children's Newspaper, 13th May 1922
The Children’s Newspaper, 13th May 1922

Any ideas? I have to say, I was foxed by this, and cursed the fact that the solution was only available in the next issue, which I don’t have.

So, hooray for finding another online archive! The Children’s Newspaper was amalgamated into Look and Learn magazine in 1965 and the Look and Learn site has put up archived issues of the paper here

So I found the answer in the next issue. It’s right at the bottom of the below image, so as not to spoiler the answer if you’re doing it….

20th May, 1922
20th May, 1922
Categories
1900-1949 Adverts Food & Drink

Aero advert, 1937

The Yorkshire Post, 1937

It’s more of this kind of thing today. Oh, why don’t I just go and live in 1937 if I like it so much?

Anyway. I do like the 1930s approach to chocolate advertising. They need a good, solid, sensible reason to eat it, not just because it tastes nice. I suppose Mars Bars with their slogan “A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play” is the last remnant of this kind of campaign.

The KitKat started life as Rowntree’s Chocolate Crisp and was marketed in the 1930s as a nourishing meal substitute – here

The Aero bar is another piece of confectionary that has stood the test of time. Here it is in 1937, where it’s promoted not so much as a sweetie but a pioneer at the forefront of science. Yes, yes, it gives you energy, good for acrobats, blah, blah, but eating it is basically taking part in an experiment. With patent pending, they can reveal that “Science has given Aero a special texture that is different.” With a “unique quick digestive action”, “Aero stimulates the enzyme flow,” and dissolves fast so that “these particles get right into the bloodstream to give you the quick new energy you need.”

The Yorkshire Post, 1937
The Yorkshire Post, 1937

As with Rowntree’s Chocolate Crisp, I find these advertising pitches work shamefully well on me. Who wouldn’t want to stuff yourself with a chocolate bar in the name of science? Now, where’s that Aero….

Categories
1900-1949 Adverts Ephemera

Chief Scout Coins a New Word, 1922

The Children's Newspaper, 13th May 1922

Arthur Mee founded The Children’s Newspaper in 1919 and it continued after his death, until its final issue in 1965. At this point the sixties started to swing, it looked a bit too old fashioned and was integrated into “Look and Learn” magazine. He also presided over The Children’s Encyclopaedia, despite claiming to have no particular affinity to children. His aim wasn’t so much to entertain children as to produce upright citizens of the future, and The Children’s Newspaper was a proper newspaper aiming to keep pre-teens up to date with world news and science. I’ve got a couple of issues from 1922, and they’re still interesting to read today. Especially this article, which I love, from the issue dated 13th May 1922.

The Children's Newspaper, 13th May 1922
The Children’s Newspaper, 13th May 1922

Sir Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout movement and its first Chief Scout, invented a word – “goom”. It’s a great word.

The Children's Newspaper, 13th May 1922
The Children’s Newspaper, 13th May 1922

B-P (as he was known) says,
“Who knows how to goom? It’s a funny word isn’t it? And you won’t find it in the dictionary; but I know its meaning, and when I’ve told you how to go gooming you will agree with me that that is the word for it.”

Essentially, the “goom” is the time just before daybreak, when the songbirds start chattering and before the rest of the world is awake. Once the cocks crow and signs of human life start to appear,
“Man is awake; the sun is up; and gooming is at an end…..Good morning. The goom is over.”

Here’s the article:

The Children's Newspaper, 13th May 1922
The Children’s Newspaper, 13th May 1922

I think he’s right, “goom” is a brilliantly descriptive, yet silly, word and one I will always use in future (and you do see quite a lot of the goom with tiny kids in the house).

It’s a shame it didn’t stick around, well, apart from in Gracie Fields’ vernacular anyway….

Derby Evening Telegraph, 1937
Derby Evening Telegraph, 1937
Categories
1900-1949 Adverts Ephemera Women

Persil “photoshopping”, 1937-style

The Mirror, 1937

Oh, naughty Persil! Now I suppose showing just how brightly Persil washes your whites in a black and white advert is a bit of a tricky problem. But look what they’ve done – cut out the nurses apron and hat and replaced them with a bright white background and unrealistic drawn-on creases.

And that’s before we get onto the issue of whether a woman, having just given birth, should be worrying about the whiteness of her wash anyway…

The Mirror, 1937
The Mirror, 1937
Categories
1900-1949 Ephemera Women

Katharine Hepburn’s Beauty Tips, 1933

Katherine Hepburn in Christopher Strong, 1933

From the Gloucester Citizen, June 26th 1933, comes this little piece – “Beauty Tips by Katherine Hepburn (The Film Star)”. (Spelt wrong)

Gloucester Citizen, 1933
Gloucester Citizen, 1933

“Make a point of going to bed at least once at week at 9.30 or before…” – oh, I so need to start doing that.

In fact, it all sounds good to me. Sensible stuff. And anyway, who am I to argue with the mega-cool original Hep-Kat? (Is that already a nickname for her? It should be.)

This is one look she had in 1933. Dressed as a moth for the film Christopher Strong. I’ve never seen the film, but now I feel I need to see this costume in some kind of context.

Katharine Hepburn in Christopher Strong, 1933
Katharine Hepburn in Christopher Strong, 1933
Categories
1900-1949 Adverts Ephemera Women

Woman’s Most Difficult Problem, 1937

The Mirror, 1937

“Even the most fastidious woman may cause embarrassment to others at certain times,” according to this 1937 advert for sanitary towels. Hooray for Dr Van de Velde and his “Vanderised Towels”, then. Wouldn’t want anyone to be embarrassed by us, would we?

Having said that, I am in favour of no chafing if that was previously a danger, pre-Vanderisation.

I’m presuming they’re using the word “prophylactic” as meaning “disease-preventing” here. Otherwise, it’s quite an impressive claim.

The Mirror, 1937
The Mirror, 1937
Categories
Victorian Victorian Slang

Victorian Slang of the Week – Sit-Upons and Sing Small

Ah! I saw “Sit-upons” and thought it meant bottom (bottoms?), but that would be a bit too rude apparently. It’s another word for “trousers” which, in slang terms, were described so shyly that I’m imagining people were only able to silently mouth the word in polite conversation. Much like a certain type of person of the older generation who does the same for the word “lesbian” now.

Some more, almost sarcastically coy, trouser-based slang here – https://skittishlibrary.co.uk/victorian-slang-word-of-the-week-unutterables/

I also love “Sing Small, to lessen one’s boasting, and turn arrogance into humility.” Essentially the 19th century humblebrag.

The-slang-dictionary-sit-upon