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Post by 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr on Dec 24, 2023 23:36:38 GMT
Merry Christmas everyone.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 25, 2023 14:23:00 GMT
The collapsible bed sure was popular. Has it any real-life inspirations? It's worth looking into! Can anyone think of an instance of a horror story built around the theme before Wilkie Collins' A Terribly Strange Bed? I love those photos from The Monster. The kind of thing that ultimately led to The Rocky Horror Show. Lovely! Too bad we don't get to see mad doctor Dr Ziska in any of the photos. We do now! Photographs: Stage Photo Co. — The Bystander, 11 April 1928 Daily Mirror, 14 April 1928; The Stage, 13 September 1928
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Post by dem bones on Dec 25, 2023 14:26:53 GMT
Merry Christmas to you, too, Princess. Erhard Amadeus-Dier Thanks to the contributors, readers and friends of Vault for their friendship and support throughout the year. I sincerely wish you and those dearest to you a very happy and peaceful holiday.
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Post by helrunar on Dec 25, 2023 18:55:20 GMT
Wonderful scans. I love sexy Mr William Alexander who played 'Caliban' in this bizarre entertainment and elegant, somewhat bored-looking Miss Ruby Miller--everything about the photo screams London Twenties.
Merry Xmas!
Steve
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Post by andydecker on Dec 25, 2023 19:28:03 GMT
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Daily Mirror, 14 April 1928; I have seen this in movies and read about it in novels, but actually thought it a myth. A picture in a paper about some actress in a play. No wonder Sherlock Holmes was such an avid reader of newspapers. You really got mundane society news.
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Post by helrunar on Dec 25, 2023 21:30:32 GMT
I've always been intrigued by the society columns of a century and more (or less) ago that apparently featured such items as "Mrs Charles Whiffenpoofter entertained Miss Clarissa Boorhard of New York, her companion Miss Smith of Passaic, New Jersey, and Miss Boorhard's fiancee, Mr Lester Thrall, to tea last Thursday at her exclusive Holland Park maisonette. Also attending were..." Apparently there's a lot of this kind of thing one can search out in ancient newspapers. It is a feature of various stories and novels I have read from the days of yore over the decades of my own life.
Hel.
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Post by ripper on Dec 26, 2023 11:45:49 GMT
I've always been intrigued by the society columns of a century and more (or less) ago that apparently featured such items as "Mrs Charles Whiffenpoofter entertained Miss Clarissa Boorhard of New York, her companion Miss Smith of Passaic, New Jersey, and Miss Boorhard's fiancee, Mr Lester Thrall, to tea last Thursday at her exclusive Holland Park maisonette. Also attending were..." Apparently there's a lot of this kind of thing one can search out in ancient newspapers. It is a feature of various stories and novels I have read from the days of yore over the decades of my own life. Hel. That kind of thing seems to have morphed into what celebrities are up to. Tabloids are especially obsessed with stories and pics of celebrity X attending this or that event, or who has been seen with whom. There's an amusing Rumpole short story where Hilda becomes obsessed with the 'society' columns', accompanies Horace to a relative's country estate, and finds out that there's a lot more darkness than what she expected.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 27, 2023 14:05:30 GMT
Gilbert Holiday E. F. Benson, Boxing Night, The Tatler, 30 November 1923
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toff
Crab On The Rampage
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Post by toff on Dec 28, 2023 4:22:23 GMT
Glad to see some items from the 1920s, 30s, 40s in the thread. I have a sneaking suspicion that Victorian Christmas ghost story anthologies might fuel a belief, among the less thoughtful, that Christmas ghost stories died out during WWI. While I think it possible that they might have lessened a bit, that's really a matter for a scientific, systemic study. Such anthologies exist in part - again I'm theorizing - because the Victorian era has been seen as the golden age for ghost stories and because of what is and isn't in the public domain according to copyright law guides.library.cornell.edu/copyright/publicdomain (in 2023, generally things published prior to 1928). Maybe in some future anthology I might include at least a preliminary survey of some of what existed between WWI and the BBC's first Ghost Story for Christmas in 1971 with "The Stalls of Barchester" and/or the first modern anthology of Christmas ghost stories of which I'm aware, Manly and Gogo Lewis' Christmas Ghosts: An Anthology (1978). Anyhow, here's some things I've collected regarding Christmas ghost stories being alive and well on British radio in the late 1920s/early 1930s: CHRISTMASTIDE WIRELESS. — A WELSH VILLAGE CELEBRATION FROM CARDIFF STATION. — […] LONDON & DAVENTRY (5XXX). — MONDAY. […] 9.15.—“The Confessions of Charles Linkworth,” a ghost story by E. F. Benson, specially adapted for broadcasting and read by the author. Western Mail. December 24, 1928: 9 col 2. GHOST STORIES. Ghost stories will be told from 2LO on Christmas Eve by some past masters in that form of literary recreation. They include W. W. Jacobs, E. F. Benson and Desmond MacCarthy. “Broadcasting Notes.” Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer. December 13, 1929: 5 col 4. Christmas Wireless Programmes. WITH Carols, Ghost Stories and Magic, Christmastide Broadcasting Programmes this year are as seasonable as Yule logs and mistletoe! To-night famous tellers of “Creepy” stories will take part in “The Haunted Hour; […] On Christmas Day there will be a Service from York Minster; Bransby Williams will present Scrooge from Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” […] CARDIFF (5WA): 968 Kx/s. (309.9 Metres). […] 6.0—Welsh Ghost Stories. London Daily Chronicle. December 24, 1929: 2 cols 3-5. Christmastide Wireless Programmes I heard the Bells on Christmas Day, Their old, familiar carols play. And wild and sweet the words repeat Of peace on earth, good will to men! LISTENERS who are spending happy hours by the fireside this Christmastide will find a wealth of seasonable fare in the wireless programmes during the week. […] CHRISTMAS EVE. […] BIRMINGHAM (5IT): 491.8 Metres. […] 8.15.—Echoes, a Ghost Story of Christmas Eve, by John Overton. […] CARDIFF (5WA): 353 Metres. […] 4.45.—Mr. Lyndon Harries: Gabriel Grub. London Daily Chronicle. December 24, 1926: 2 cols 2-4. MAKE IT A RADIO CHRISTMAS Ghost Stories, Carols, Pantomimes—all the seasonable fare is to be broadcast this Christmastide. Instal a Radio Receive or Radio-Gram, in your home, and assure not only a happy Christmas but a never-failing source of entertainment for the future. Belfast News-Letter. December 18, 1931: 1 col 5. Might any of those recordings survive? Hearing some of the stories read by their authors would be really nice. I suspect they're long gone, though. Some 40s and 50s programs survive, e.g. "Old-Time Radio CHRISTMAS Horror! Two episodes." SUSPENSE: "Double Entry", first broadcast on December 20, 1945. THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER: "Christmas Story", first broadcast on December 25, 1951. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgg6TKD608U
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Post by dem bones on Dec 28, 2023 10:34:54 GMT
Glad to see some items from the 1920s, 30s, 40s in the thread. I have a sneaking suspicion that Victorian Christmas ghost story anthologies might fuel a belief, among the less thoughtful, that Christmas ghost stories died out during WWI. While I think it possible that they might have lessened a bit, that's really a matter for a scientific, systemic study. Such anthologies exist in part - again I'm theorizing - because the Victorian era has been seen as the golden age for ghost stories and because of what is and isn't in the public domain according to copyright law guides.library.cornell.edu/copyright/publicdomain (in 2023, generally things published prior to 1928). Maybe in some future anthology I might include at least a preliminary survey of some of what existed between WWI and the BBC's first Ghost Story for Christmas in 1971 with "The Stalls of Barchester" and/or the first modern anthology of Christmas ghost stories of which I'm aware, Manly and Gogo Lewis' Christmas Ghosts: An Anthology (1978). Relf ( The 13th Carol Singer, 1 Dec 1935) Hi Christopher. If you're not already aware of them, then these stories from The Bystander could be of interest. The BystanderElsewhere on same thread, you'll find: Basil MacDonald Hastings - The Ghosts Go West: 25 Dec. 1926 H. M. Raleigh - The Thirteenth Carol-Singer: 1 December 1935 Charles Birkin - Happy Christmas: 24 November 1939 William Templeton - Nobody Loves a Fairy: 29 November 1939 Bert Thomas ( The Ghosts Go West, 23 Dec 1926) Can't think of any off-hand, but law of averages suggests there must be a Christmas ghost story or two to be found on our Sketch pre WW2 threads, too. Edited to add illo's, brighten things up a bit
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Post by ripper on Dec 28, 2023 13:27:22 GMT
Glad to see some items from the 1920s, 30s, 40s in the thread. I have a sneaking suspicion that Victorian Christmas ghost story anthologies might fuel a belief, among the less thoughtful, that Christmas ghost stories died out during WWI. While I think it possible that they might have lessened a bit, that's really a matter for a scientific, systemic study. Such anthologies exist in part - again I'm theorizing - because the Victorian era has been seen as the golden age for ghost stories and because of what is and isn't in the public domain according to copyright law guides.library.cornell.edu/copyright/publicdomain (in 2023, generally things published prior to 1928). Maybe in some future anthology I might include at least a preliminary survey of some of what existed between WWI and the BBC's first Ghost Story for Christmas in 1971 with "The Stalls of Barchester" and/or the first modern anthology of Christmas ghost stories of which I'm aware, Manly and Gogo Lewis' Christmas Ghosts: An Anthology (1978). Anyhow, here's some things I've collected regarding Christmas ghost stories being alive and well on British radio in the late 1920s/early 1930s: CHRISTMASTIDE WIRELESS. — A WELSH VILLAGE CELEBRATION FROM CARDIFF STATION. — […] LONDON & DAVENTRY (5XXX). — MONDAY. […] 9.15.—“The Confessions of Charles Linkworth,” a ghost story by E. F. Benson, specially adapted for broadcasting and read by the author. Western Mail. December 24, 1928: 9 col 2. GHOST STORIES. Ghost stories will be told from 2LO on Christmas Eve by some past masters in that form of literary recreation. They include W. W. Jacobs, E. F. Benson and Desmond MacCarthy. “Broadcasting Notes.” Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer. December 13, 1929: 5 col 4. Christmas Wireless Programmes. WITH Carols, Ghost Stories and Magic, Christmastide Broadcasting Programmes this year are as seasonable as Yule logs and mistletoe! To-night famous tellers of “Creepy” stories will take part in “The Haunted Hour; […] On Christmas Day there will be a Service from York Minster; Bransby Williams will present Scrooge from Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol” […] CARDIFF (5WA): 968 Kx/s. (309.9 Metres). […] 6.0—Welsh Ghost Stories. London Daily Chronicle. December 24, 1929: 2 cols 3-5. Christmastide Wireless Programmes I heard the Bells on Christmas Day, Their old, familiar carols play. And wild and sweet the words repeat Of peace on earth, good will to men! LISTENERS who are spending happy hours by the fireside this Christmastide will find a wealth of seasonable fare in the wireless programmes during the week. […] CHRISTMAS EVE. […] BIRMINGHAM (5IT): 491.8 Metres. […] 8.15.—Echoes, a Ghost Story of Christmas Eve, by John Overton. […] CARDIFF (5WA): 353 Metres. […] 4.45.—Mr. Lyndon Harries: Gabriel Grub. London Daily Chronicle. December 24, 1926: 2 cols 2-4. MAKE IT A RADIO CHRISTMAS Ghost Stories, Carols, Pantomimes—all the seasonable fare is to be broadcast this Christmastide. Instal a Radio Receive or Radio-Gram, in your home, and assure not only a happy Christmas but a never-failing source of entertainment for the future. Belfast News-Letter. December 18, 1931: 1 col 5. Might any of those recordings survive? Hearing some of the stories read by their authors would be really nice. I suspect they're long gone, though. Some 40s and 50s programs survive, e.g. "Old-Time Radio CHRISTMAS Horror! Two episodes." SUSPENSE: "Double Entry", first broadcast on December 20, 1945. THE MYSTERIOUS TRAVELER: "Christmas Story", first broadcast on December 25, 1951. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgg6TKD608UThat's an interesting point you make about the number of Christmas ghost stories in the Victorian era compared to later years. I suspect the seeming reduction could at least partly be due to the numerous periodicals that flourished when Victoria was on the throne and the far fewer ones later on. I suppose that various factors led to that, such as difficulty obtaining paper during WWI and WWII, and people getting news/entertainment from radio and later television.
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toff
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 72
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Post by toff on Dec 28, 2023 18:37:15 GMT
Thanks!, dem bones I had noticed that even before the turn of the century there was a rise in spoofing of the tradition, and articles lamenting the author’s perceived decline of the tradition. Yet even alongside of those, the serious stories were still being published. CGS anthologies that don’t restrict themselves to the Victorian era have included some in that WWI-1971 BBC Ghost Story for Christmas/1978 Lewis' Christmas Ghosts: An Anthology stretch, and your DIY anthology somewhere here included a number as well. Just a few: Stephen Leacock "Christmas Ghost" 1926 Alfred Burrage "Smee" 1931 Marjorie Bowen "Crown Derby Plate" 1933 Andrew Caldecott "Christmas Re-union" 1946 A.N.L. Munby "Christmas Game" 1950 Robertson Davies "When Satan Goes Home for Christmas" 1968 Frederick Forsyth "The Shepherd" 1975 Some during that period are really, exceptionally popular, making short lists of examples of the genre, adapted for radio, or being anthologized and reprinted to death. Yet, in spite of that, some manage to overlook that fact - just as they overlook the existence of American Christmas ghost stories. “Christmas ghost stories never had a chance to make it in America. Maybe it’s the lingering influence of American puritans who frowned on anything supernatural, just as Christmas was taking hold here. But the[y] haven’t been popular in England for a century either—or not as popular.” Earl, Brian. “What's the Deal With Christmas Ghost Stories?” Christmas Past. [ca. 2022?] web.archive.org/web/20220523204100/https://christmaspastpodcast.com/christmas-ghost-stories/ Not as popular in England since 1922? An odd oversight.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 31, 2023 20:20:20 GMT
Not as popular in England since 1922? An odd oversight. I doubt they've ever lacked for an audience over here, and I'm sure it's the same in the US - provide ghost stories, Christmas setting or otherwise, and people will read them. Even during Britain's post-war years of food and cloth rationing, when a new book might be beyond most people's budget, several national and local newspapers ran ghost fiction at Christmas, or in the case of the London Evening News, on a weekly basis throughout the year (and it's unlikely they were unique in this). I had noticed that even before the turn of the century there was a rise in spoofing of the tradition, and articles lamenting the author’s perceived decline of the tradition. Yet even alongside of those, the serious stories were still being published. Grim as their featured stories often were during the year, it does seem as though The Sketch and Bystander favoured jollier material when Christmas came around, and these lighter, throwaway festive ghost stories maybe haven't worn so well as the rest. No such reticence from the Illustrated London News, whose Christmas numbers include the downbeat likes of Winifred Duke's God Rest You Merry Gentlemen (26 November 1927) and Barbara Bingley's alarmingly unseasonal The Watcher at Kalipur (24 November 1926) in which a wife learns the details of her husband's torture murder during the Sepoy uprising. BTW. Thanks to my beloved bride, finally I have a copy of The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories: Vol 4. Will be making a start once I've mopped up a few of multiple current books on the go ...
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toff
Crab On The Rampage
Posts: 72
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Post by toff on Jan 1, 2024 15:59:53 GMT
BTW. Thanks to my beloved bride, finally I have a copy of The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories: Vol 4. Will be making a start once I've mopped up a few of multiple current books on the go ... Great, thanks! I would guess you'll find stories to like, and appreciate the work that went into it. I just have to roll my eyes at some of the reviews online, fortunately only the minority of them. People who clearly didn't read the introduction at all, or who read the first few sentences of a paragraph but not the rest of it. One of the most puzzling complained it wasn't Christmassy like the first volume. That means something to them, but for the rest of us it doesn't: learn how to explain what you mean in a review, or else it's not a useful review! Percentage set around Christmastide as opposed to merely published at that time: Volume one 5/13 38% Volume two 8/15 53% Volume three 13/20 65% Volume four 25/27 93% Volume five 16/21 76% It's something I'd actually spreadsheeted (spreadshat?) while composing volumes four and five. Those set at and those published at are both "Christmas ghost stories," though my preference is largely for the setting. There might be a way for stories published at Christmas to be "Christmassy" without being explicitly set at the time, but that would seem to be subjective and to require explanation.
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Post by Swampirella on Jan 1, 2024 17:04:11 GMT
BTW. Thanks to my beloved bride, finally I have a copy of The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories: Vol 4. Will be making a start once I've mopped up a few of multiple current books on the go ... Great, thanks! I would guess you'll find stories to like, and appreciate the work that went into it. I just have to roll my eyes at some of the reviews online, fortunately only the minority of them. People who clearly didn't read the introduction at all, or who read the first few sentences of a paragraph but not the rest of it. One of the most puzzling complained it wasn't Christmassy like the first volume. That means something to them, but for the rest of us it doesn't: learn how to explain what you mean in a review, or else it's not a useful review! Percentage set around Christmastide as opposed to merely published at that time: Volume one 5/13 38% Volume two 8/15 53% Volume three 13/20 65% Volume four 25/27 93% Volume five 16/21 76% It's something I'd actually spreadsheeted (spreadshat?) while composing volumes four and five. Those set at and those published at are both "Christmas ghost stories," though my preference is largely for the setting. There might be a way for stories published at Christmas to be "Christmassy" without being explicitly set at the time, but that would seem to be subjective and to require explanation. "spreadshat"
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