Today we tackle purple. As we mentioned in our look at pink, purple is made by adding blue to red. That makes it a curious mixture of the outwards excitement of red and the quiet internal reflection of blue - is it any wonder that purple shades are so attractive to those of mystical beliefs and powers?
The thing I found most curious about purple is that though many people confuse it with the very similar colour known as violet, in French there is no such word as purple, only violet. It therefore is most fitting that we have this lady, Violet Graham. However, I have to admit that tracking her down has not been easy, and I kept running into contradictions. Eventually I realised that there were two actresses listed as Violet Graham -
The first was born on the 9th of November, 1883, in Piccadilly, London, who appeared in three films (On the Banks of Allan Water, 1916 - Derelicts, 1917 - and Auld Lang Syne, also 1917, the last two of which were directed by Sydney Morgan. She was married to Talbot Stephenson Homewood, who was a Lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery during the First World War, and he survived. It is presumed that she left acting either when he returned from the war, or she married him after the war and became a wife instead of an actress. She died on February 23, 1968 in Kensington, London.
The second was born in 1890, and, curiously, also on the 9th of November. She is recorded as having appeared in ten films, starting with a stage play, "The Arcadians", in 1909,. Her first film was "Jobson`s Luck" in 1913 and her last "Lily of Laguna" in 1938. However, looking down the list, we find another coincidence, for it includes the same three films as our other actress was in. And, even more confusingly, though there is more information about this second actress, there is no firm date of death, only a rather sketchy "1967-68".
I feel, therefore, that these two must be one, recorded by different people on different sites without ever realising.
The colour, in art, is made by mixing red and blue. However originally it was made from a mix of haematite and manganese - this being in prehistoric times, and it is the materials with which many of the early cave paintings were made, approximately twenty thousand years before the birth of Christ. Later on, around the Mediterranean, and some other countries with access to the sea, it was made from sea snails, specifically one which was recognisable enough to be called the spiny-dye murex, This was caught by the millions, and each snail was de-shelled and soaked, then a really tiny gland was removed, squeezed, and the contents left in the baking sun, but continuously watched, as it changed colour, until the right shade of purple was arrived at for the clothes that were waiting to be dyed. No wonder then that it was the colour associated with Royalty and the Church.
Surprisingly this set, and what is considered to be the first series to it, were not recorded in our Wills reference books right until RB.16, which was published in 1950. The reason for this may well be that it was printed locally, in India, and we know that because it does not appear in the listing of dates which was extracted from the Wills` Works Magazine. Therefore, we can safely say that it was probably both a fairly short issue, and one which crossed the seas to home in very small quantities.
Until I use what is thought to be the first series, I will insert both of them, as extracted from RB.16, in here. The listing for the earlier set reads :
120. 30. ACTRESSES - Unicoloured I (adopted title). Size 63 x 37 m/m. Fronts per Fig. 70, printed by letterpress, unicoloured. Export issues, between 1908 -13. Similar series issued by Ogden.
"SCISSORS" ISSUES - Fronts in purple brown. Backs with illustration of "Scissors" packet :-
A. Backs in red. Numbered. Inscribed at head, "This series consists of 30 subjects"
B. Backs in purple brown. Unnumbered. Inscribed at both sides "These cigarettes are made in England".
"GENERAL OVERSEAS ISSUES - Plain backs, unnumbered, anonymous issues :-
C. Fronts in purple brown
D. Fronts in light brown
Then there is a listing of the cards, which presumably relates to series C and D, being that they were unnumbered.
Our set is listed as :
121. 30 ACTRESSES - Unicoloured II (adopted title). Size 67 x 37 m/m. Fronts per Fig. 71, printed by letterpress, unicoloured in purple brown. Backs in red, with illustration of open "Scissors" packet, inscribed at head "This series consists of 30 subjects" numbered at base. This series is sometimes referred to as a second series to item 120 above. "Scissors" issue between 1908-13
Now in our World Tobacco Issues Index we are additionally told that "Scissors" was "issued in India, and in areas where British Garrisons were stationed". In these books the sets are split up, with the "Scissors" branded ones listed together as :
ACTRESSES - W/120 (A). Sm. 63 x 37. Purple-brown. (30) See W/120.
A. Back in red. Numbered
B. Back in purple brown. Unnumbered.ACTRESSES - W/121 (A). Sm. 67 x 37. Purple-brown. (30) See W/121. ... :
and the others having been shunted off to the back of the book, where they appear as either ZJ3-9 in the original World Tobacco Issues Index, or ZJ03-050 in the updated volume. The text, in both, reads :
ACTRESSES - W/120 (A). Sm. Unnd. (30). Issued through B.A.T. in Malta and India. ...
a. Fronts in purple brown. Size 62 x 37. See W/120.C
D. Fronts in light brown. Size 63 x 37. See X21/200-120.D
That "X" code is in the Handbook to the World Tobacco Issues Index, but it depend on which version you have - for at first it was a separate volume, then it was reprinted at the back of the book. Either way that is quite interesting, for it reads :
X21/200-120. ACTRESSES - W/120. Note revised series title. Printing D - Anonymous plain backed issue with light brown fronts consists of the same 30 subjects as the other printings but the style of front is not exactly as illustrated at Fig.70 on page 125 of Wills IV. In printing D the subjects have a white line with occasional design in the centre of the border.