This card shows Vic Oliver, and he was the first person to appear on Desert Island Discs. His original name was Victor Oliver von Samek, and he was born in Austria in 1898, the son of a Baron. He planned to be a doctor but fell in love with music, at one stage being taught by Gustav Mahler. He fought in a cavalry regiment during the First World War, and rumour has it a fellow soldier in his squad was Adolf Hitler. I cant find any truth to this, and Adolf Hitler served in the 16th Reserve Division of the Bavarian Army from 1914 -1920 and not the Austro Hungarian Army.
After the war Vic Oliver did several jobs before music came back into his life.By the late 1920s he was a conductor, violinist and comedian, appearing in variety and revues. Though he was an excellent violinist he played it badly for comedic effect. He also appeared in several films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, which is how he came to appear on our card. Eventually he would form the Vic Oliver Concert Orchestra and “Variety Playhouse”, a very popular radio show in magazine style with lots of different segments, possibly the forerunner of many of today`s television shows.
In 1936 he married Winston Churchill`s daughter, and she is mentioned on this card though it is not immediately clear that it is so, she is simply called Sara Churchill, with no reference to her parentage. Perhaps this is because the marriage met with parental disapproval, for many reasons - not just because she was the third Mrs Oliver. This may have been for good reason, because the couple divorced in 1945, and there was a fourth Mrs. Oliver the following year.
One thing you may not realise is that this edition of Desert Island Discs was before it was on mainstream radio - it was broadcast on 29 January 1942 over The BBC Forces Programme, a national radio station, intended to entertain soldiers waiting to go to war, and broadcast over regional stations near to barracks and encampments, however civilians started tuning in it, and it soon became more popular than the Home Service. However it only operated from January 1940 until February 1944 and though it was replaced by the General Forces Programme which was slightly altered in order to appeal to overseas troops as well, that too closed in 1946.
This set first appears in our reference book to the issues of R. & J. Hill, (RB.2, published in 1942), as :
40. SCENES FROM THE FILMS (titled series). Size 2 1/2" x 1 7/16". Numbered 1-40. Fronts, printed in black only from half-tone blocks - black and white - with white margins but no subject titles.Backs, printed in black, with descriptions and inscribed "Issued by R. & J. Hill, Ltd., Proprietors of Hy. Archer & Co." (See Henry Archer & Co.). Printed by W. Oliver, London.
This booklet did not have card codes, they were only thought of later on.
By the time of our original World Tobacco Index, the set is described as :
SCENES FROM THE FILMS. Sm. 64 x 36. Black and White. Nd. (40) ... H46-94.
The same text appears in our updated World Tobacco Issues Index but the code is different.