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Post by dem bones on Sept 25, 2013 11:21:20 GMT
Further to the earlier mention on the Constable-Robinson Jan-June 2013 thread. Marcus Hearn - Saucy Postcards: The Bamforth Collection (Constable, 2013) Introduction
Newlyweds Rude Health All In A Day's Work The Family way The Demon Drink Grin and Bare It Wedded Bliss Good Sports Getting The Picture The Goggle Box The Permissive Society The Modern world AcknowledgementsBlurb The Yorkshire-based publisher Bamforth & Co is renowned for the risqué postcards it has produced for 100 years. The classic cards were populated with familiar stereotypes — henpecked husbands, naughty nurses, randy milkmen — and became synonymous with the seaside resorts where they were sold.
As well as presenting more than 300 examples from the golden age of these comic gems, this book tells the story of Bamforth's battles with postcard censorship committees and the Director of Public Prosecutions. This is a fascinating glimpse of post war liberalisation, and a colourful celebration of timeless British humour.Four very different books and I am particularly interested in Marcus Hearn's collection of Bamforth postcards. I have happy memories of chuckling at the cards displayed outside seaside shops on our annual holidays to North Wales in the 1970s. I wish that I had kept all the ones that we received from relatives and friends...I'm sure they brightened up many a postman's morning round during the summer months. The book from Hearn sounds interesting. Frankly I never spend a thought about this kind of stuff. I mean, this is a whole but rather obscure industry, but this sounds fascinating. Thanks for the tip. Looking for all the world like some end-of-the-pier equivalent of a Paperback Fanatic special expanded to 224 pages and bound between hard covers, Marcus Hearn's concise history of a tiny Yorkshire company and their phenomenally popular 'Saucy' postcards is a winning celebration of what is often, and perhaps, wrongly perceived as a peculiarly British tradition. Mr. Hearn's introductory essay tells the fascinating story of a small, family-run cottage industry operating from Station Road, Holmfirth, in the Last Of The Summer Wine heartland. James Banforth began with a traditional photography business in 1870 before branching out into magic lantern slides and short films. The first batch of 'saucy' postcards, published shortly before the outbreak of the Great War, were the work of house artist Douglas Tempest, and proved a commercial success, so much so that that Banforth was obliged to expand the business. Incredibly, right through to the end of the century, Bamforth employed just four staff illustrators. Arnold Taylor, the most prolific among them, was recruited as a sixteen year old apprentice and stayed for all of sixty years, bar a brief stint fighting in Egypt during World War II. He and Tempest would later be joined by Philip W. Taylor and Brian Fitzpatrick. Between them they were responsible for a phenomenal amount of work, averaging close to a hundred new designs every year. Sporty Spice. Arnold Taylor's best-selling 'Hey Sonia' (1965) was reputedly inspired by Norwegian figure skater, Sonja Henie, a former Olympic champion turned Hollywood film starlet, whose trademark costume - a proto mini-skirt - attained cults status. Each gallery is prefaced by a short commentary, and it is here we learn much about the artists, their most popular and controversial creations, and the excellent working relationship with first James Banforth, and, from 1938, his son Derek, who steered the company through the several post-War court battles. At Lincoln Crown Court in June 1954, Banforth rather fortuitously emerged unscathed from the same obscenity trial that landed Donald McGill's employees a huge fine, but the wholesale confiscation of stock and prosecutions remained a huge problem. According to Canon Neil Prichard, who served on the Blackpool Postcard Censorship Board, he and his colleagues were fans. "We even laughed at the designs we disapproved, and the two ladies on the committee laughed louder than the men .... Even the ladies would not have objected to a design because it was sexist. We banned designs only if we thought they verged on pornography." That said, a clean bill of health from the BPCB counted for very little. Between 1952 and 1961, several thousand cards were confiscated and burned, many of which had been deemed harmless by the Committee. It only took a single complaint from the public for the Police to react, and many a newsagent and seaside vendor found themselves hauled before magistrates on an obscenity charge. From the early 'fifties through to the close of 1961, there were 159 prosecutions involving cards illustrated by the Banworth four. "Strangely, the random nature of it made it a much more powerful censorship campaign" says Dr. Nick Hiley. "It made retailers more reluctant to stock anything suggestive because they just couldn't tell what would be found offensive." As we know from Martin Barker's A Haunt Of Fears, contemporaneous with this, a similar crusade was in full swing versus the baleful influence of 'American Horror comics' on fledgling juvenile delinquents. It took until 1960's landmark, unsuccessful prosecution of Penguin Books over their stubborn refusal to withdraw their unexpurgated edition of Lady Chatterley's Lover from sale for the war against the cards to fan itself out. A typical day's ribald carry on at a good, old fashioned British library. And people persist in applauding antiseptic, soulless, lottery-funded 'idea stores' as a major step forward? !!Very well done to The Hammer Story co-author for doing his bit to keep the British end up, and grateful thanks to the lovely boys & girls at Constable-Robinson for slipping me a crafty big hard one! That's bolloxed Uri Gellar and Dead Cold for the time being, I can tell you. Attachments:
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Post by David A. Riley on Sept 25, 2013 13:19:26 GMT
These bring back happy memories of spending time as a youngster going through the racks of these kinds of cards while on holiday at the seaside. The trouble is I can't remember whether I got the double entendres then or not. Surely I must have done...
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Post by dem bones on Sept 25, 2013 16:06:02 GMT
These bring back happy memories of spending time as a youngster going through the racks of these kinds of cards while on holiday at the seaside. The trouble is I can't remember whether I got the double entendres then or not. Surely I must have done... As a kid, whenever the neighbours said they were "going on holiday" I took it as secret code for "we're visiting a nudist colony" because they'd invariably send us a rude postcard (or so it seems to me now; might have only happened once or twice). I'm really curious as to whether the cards were a mostly British cultural phenomenon - have seen French equivalents, but it's possible they were devised with British holidaymakers in mind? Certain paperback covers of the early 'seventies - Arrow's Art Of Coarse Acting (1975) being a decent example - strike me as an attempt at giving flesh to Banforth's (and McGill's) creations.
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Post by andydecker on Sept 26, 2013 17:11:46 GMT
This looks good!
I happend to see a few eps of The Benny Hill Show - made avaiable on one of these music vids websites which nowadays also show tv-eps - and had to chuckle now and then. But I guess todays's audience would see this as sexist crap only. So this book will be a must buy for me.
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Post by dem bones on Sept 28, 2013 6:51:35 GMT
This looks good! I happend to see a few eps of The Benny Hill Show - made avaiable on one of these music vids websites which nowadays also show tv-eps - and had to chuckle now and then. But I guess todays's audience would see this as sexist crap only. So this book will be a must buy for me. Yeah, Ronnie Barker was another huge fan, and published at least three scrapbooks of risqué Victorian-Edwardian postcards, Sauce, A Pennyworth Of Art and Gentlemen's Relish. Will maybe scan the covers, etc at a later date. You wouldn't know it from the selection above, but the 'sexism' is fairly even handed. Several cards in the 'Newly-weds' chapter focus on the grooms pitiful performance between the sheets (assuming he could get his microscopic member to rise to the occasion in the first place). The only men capable of bringing a smile to the lips of our blushing brides are boozy, middle-aged lechers in loud check jackets - the real heroes of the saucy postcard. Nudist camps were something of a Banforth obsession, but visiting one was not a step to be taken lightly if you happened to be a bloke - "Watch it Bert!! I told you not to chop that ruddy cucumber too fast!!", "Watch out which bloody sausages you're pricking, Missus!," "Watch it Fred, the sparrows are out searching for little worms!"
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Post by jepersonoatcake on Oct 7, 2013 11:45:06 GMT
There was at least one exception. I recall a Bamforth card of a curvaceous young mediaeval princess type reclining with a big post-coital grin under a gauzy coverlet. By her bedside stands a young guy in chainmail, looking both pleased and a little shocked, exclaiming delightedly "So, am I really the longest knight of the year?" He bears a distinct resemblance to a whiskery young Robin Askwith...
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Post by dem bones on Oct 7, 2013 16:41:46 GMT
There was at least one exception. I recall a Bamforth card of a curvaceous young mediaeval princess type reclining with a big post-coital grin under a gauzy coverlet. By her bedside stands a young guy in chainmail, looking both pleased and a little shocked, exclaiming delightedly "So, am I really the longest knight of the year?" He bears a distinct resemblance to a whiskery young Robin Askwith... That particular card doesn't make the book, but you are right, there are exceptions. Usually though, the women find fulfilment with the dodgy bloke in the seedy suit, the randy milkman, anyone other than their feckless husband. A guys best chance of a thrill is when he's lying half dead in a hospital bed and that nice busty young nurse reaches under the blanket to take his pulse ...
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Post by dem bones on Apr 29, 2014 9:39:37 GMT
Tom Phillips - The Postcard Century: 2000 Cards and Their Messages (Thames & Hudson, 2000). Inside cover blurb: THE POSTCARD CENTURY 2000 Cards and Their Messages
The Postcard Century shows and tells the story of the last hundred years in its own words and images. Two thousand picture postcards and their messages give a living account of the daily existence of people and a vivid glimpse of what mattered to them, pleased them, shocked or amused them via the cards they chose to send.
We bump into the high and the mighty, the low and the worthy and all degrees in between, and overhear them talking of the events, characters and places of the 20th century. From saucy seaside jokes, the tragedies of war and the hazards of travel to the caprices of life and work, all life is here.
Each year includes views of Piccadilly Circus and the New York city skyline. Though centred on the UK and the USA, cards come from every corner of the world, from Los Angeles to Beijing, from Antarctica to Alaska. Several themes emerge strongly, most notably those which evolved with the century, for example transport, the cinema, the role of women, fashion and holidays. Changes in the English language as used informally by Britons and Americans are powerfully registered.
The artist and writer Tom Phillips provides a commentary on the visual material, giving a perceptive and thoughtful context for the messages. Here is a unique glimpse into the hearts and minds of the people who lived through the most turbulent century in our history.
See two thousand pictures and listen to the words of two thousand people from 1900 to 1999.Among latest batch of brill Brick Lane market finds, the mysterious G. C. Clewett's weird vampire NEL, Blood Dynasty, Agatha Christie's Passenger To Frankfurt, Aus pulp veteran Carl Ruhen's final paperback ( Neighbour's #9: Scott & Charlene's wedding, no less), and a replacement for an ex-library copy of Laymon's One Rainy Night which barely qualified as a "reading copy." Perhaps the pick of a top haul, Mr. Phillips' sprawling oversized paperback. The beauty of this one is not restricted to the reproduction of the 2000 "found" postcards, gorgeous as they are. The author also scores by transcribing the accompanying personal messages. The 'Saucy's, while represented are not, and nor should they be, the be all and end all of the collection, though fans of the Bamforth book will certainly appreciate those sampled. Vault being far more a visual experience than a soppy literary one, expect to see a number of choice items recycled all over this dump in coming weeks, months, years, etc. A few to be getting on with. April 17 1911. To Miss Hammond in East Molsey from E.C. Phillips in Auburn, NY.
"This is the Electric Chair that they use in the Prison here instead of hanging people. I hope you had a grand time at Brighton. I have been gardening all this week. What was the relationship between Mr (?) P & Miss H?" Juiy 30 1923. "Miss M. Miles evidently cannot be on her honeymoon yet (for which Watford would he an unlikely destination) but is near enough to it to receive a teasing card from Ramsgate.'
"Dear Mable, This card is a little reminder how many will be spying on your first night be an old maid. we've had a good time already plenty of Boys don't forget P.C. Love from Beat.'
" Even such a mildly suggestive card would be anonymously drawn: seaside Watch Committees were vigilant." September 16 1965. Fred 8 Jean {now plus Ann} in Clacton to the Crooks in Staines. "Dear Mum, Dad & Marie. Weather not too bad. Ann has been very poorly but brighter how. This camp should be shut down. I have never been anywhere so dirty before."
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Post by dem bones on Apr 22, 2017 8:16:09 GMT
Ronnie Barker's Visual guides to vintage mild titillation. Ronnie Barker - Sauce (Coronet, 1979) Blurb: Cheeky Pictures, Jocular Jests and Racy Rhymes of days gone by.Gentlemen's Relish (Hodder & Stoughton, 1979) A companion to Ronnie Barker's best-selling Sauce. Here is another feast of frivolity - a picture book, crammed with the frolicsome fancies of the female formRonnie forgoes a commentary preferring to allow his Victorian-Edwardian postcards, nudie pin-ups, advertisements, songs & Co., to speak for themselves. To be fair, they're more than capable. Scrapbook layout is a big plus. Marvel as the " What the Butler Saw" stills come "flickering into life before your very eyes!"
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Truegho
Devils Coach Horse
Posts: 135
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Post by Truegho on May 21, 2017 16:09:52 GMT
The 70s sexy cartoon mag, Funny Half Hour, was very similar to the saucy seaside postcards in terms of ladies depicted as half undressed, guys' hands roaming where they shouldn't etc. Do any of you remember the Funny Half Hour mag? It ran for quite a few years, I seem to remember. Alan Toner Horror Author www.alantoner.com
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Post by ripper on Jul 1, 2017 10:25:47 GMT
I have happy memories of standing outside seaside newsagents reading the cheeky postcards. It was a tradition that you would send postcards to friends and family and I bet that delivering the cheeky ones brightened up many a postman's morning in the summer months. We sent postcards to friends and family but my mum would always put them in envelopes as she said the Royal Mail wouldn't bother delivering them promptly if they knew they were postcards.
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