Newsletter - 2021-11-20

Welcome to our last newsletter that is entirely inside the month of November. Time, as they say, marches on. I hope you have enjoyed these newsletters, that they have not been too full of military and transport, and that you have learned a few facts with which to impress new friends at your Christmas parties.
Don`t forget to send us scans of your Christmas cards - we have had a few in already which we can`t wait to show you. The most important thing is that there is a good mixture of ages and subjects, tobacco and trade, so whatever you have, we would love to see it. And I will also be doing quite a bit of scanning to share with you the tales of Christmasses past from our magazine archives.
But lets enjoy our final week before we start the festivities.....

23 November 1887 was the birth date of William Henry Pratt, in Camberwell., Surrey. After going to University he decided to emigrate to Canada, where he joined a touring theatre company, and started using a stage name of “Boris Karloff”. It is often said that he arrived in Hollywood and picked up work in a silent film; this is not strictly true, as it seems to have been in a Pearl White partwork serial that is now chiefly remembered for the fact that the Oriental villain was played by Warner Oland, who would become Charlie Chan (though he was actually Swedish by birth). Strangely, Boris Karloff and Warner Oland both appeared in Charlie Chan at the Opera in 1936, Warner Oland playing the title role and Boris Karloff playing a character called Gravelle who got second billing. And they both played another Oriental villian, by the name of Fu Manchu, at different times.
Boris Karloff`s first feature film appearance was as an unbilled character, a spy, in a Douglas Fairbanks United Artists film called “His Majesty, the American” which was released in 1919. It was not until 1931, aged 44, that he played not Frankenstein, but Frankenstein`s Monster. The make up was a lengthy process and made his skin sore as in those days it was not realised that you had to leave areas of the skin free of make up so that the rest could breathe, and the costume was awkward to wear as it included bracing to keep him upright, but worst of all was learning to keep his balance with this bracing whilst wearing the high platform boots which had been created to give him height. This was not taken into account when filming, and he did actually carry Colin Clive up the windmill steps whilst wearing the brace and boots. Doing this permanently damaged his back, resulting in several surgeries right into the 1940s, and he spent his last few years in a wheelchair. He died on February 2, 1969, aged 81. And if you want to read more, may we direct you to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Karloff
There are quite a few cards of him, a good starting point is https://www.tcdb.com/Person.cfm/pid/123233/col/1/yea/0/Boris-Karloff?sTeam=&sCardNum=&sNote=&sSetName=&sBrand= The first item listed 1933 Carreras Personality Series-Film Stars #41 Boris Karloff is rather hard to find as if you follow your first thought and look for Carreras Personality series you end up at https://prewarcards.com/2016/10/11/1933-34-turf-cigarettes-personality-series-set-and-checklist/. However the key is to look at non-sports, then you get to http://www.moviecard.com/carreras/car-persfilmturf9.html – where, would you believe, the card shown to illustrate the entire set is our man! Now this says that this set is akin to two other sets issued in Australia, all three of which are in different colours, the “Standard” and the “Smile Away” sets being brown and the “Personality” in green. It also mentions the numbers differ; this is true, our man is number 41 in the “Personality”, 50 in the “Standard” and number 59 in the “Smile Away”

This week's Cards of the Day...

And now to our Cards of the Day. Well if you hadn`t guessed it yet, the theme of this week`s Card of the Day ties in with Road Safety Week, which started on the 15 November. However road safety should not be just something you think of for one week of the year when prompted, but always. The website for this event, with lots of hints and tips, is https://www.brake.org.uk/road-safety-week - and the parent site, https://www.brake.org.uk/ is open all year round. Your fellow road users beg you to visit, frequently.

Our first card, of Saturday 13th comes from a very attractive set, and has a certain cachet in showing the players in action poses rather than just as head and shoulders shots. You can see the whole set, back and front, at https://cartophilic-info-exch.blogspot.com/2016/01/gallaher-ltd-association-football-club.html He also appears on F & J Smith “Footballers” (1914) 35/50, but for his later club, Oldham Athletic, which he joined in September 1910 – you can see that at https://cardhawkuk.com/product/smiths-footballers-1914-lbb-card-35-g-woodger-oldham-ath/

However, this card was not included because of the subject, George Woodger, 1909-1910, who you can read more about at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Woodger but for his team, Crystal Palace. And the reason for that was that a day trip to the pleasure gardens at the Crystal Palace resulted in the first fatal accident to involve a pedestrian and a motor car, on the 17th of August 1896, the story of which is recounted at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Bridget_Driscoll

This card shows road signs, and though these were on the top of a long pole you will straight away see similarities between those and ours as far as even in the shape, but we have amended them over the years so that the triangle is not just a hollow structure but the inside carries the image that could prove the hazard. Red, as always, means a risk of immediate danger, white is more advisory.
Rather a tale to tell here. Ogden`s first series, issued in January1911, was entitled “Series of 50”, and was available with the back in blue or green. where the back of cards 39 and 40 were mixed up, making it possible to collect two correct cards and two swapped over. There is an anonymous version, with a blue back, which was actually issued by Imperial Tobacco of Canada, which looks like it was discovered by Jefferson Burdick, who coded it C47 in his catalogue. This last version originally had an album clause up the sides, but this was later blocked out in blue. There is also a very curious fact, that being that some of these cards have been found with a non-official label stuck on which reads “Help the Boy Scout Fund .. Grand Entertainment 2nd May`14”. This originated in South Africa. No idea if this appears on a whole set or whether it was just isolated cards used to serve a purpose. But I am sure one of our readers can help.
The Ogden “2nd Series of 50” was issued in February 1912, again available with the back in blue or green. It was also issued overseas by Player, with grey backs, though Player does not seem to have issued the first nor any of the others, so I am wondering how they numbered it!
The Ogden “3rd Series of 50” was issued in October 1912, and available with the back in blue or green.
Now the first three sets were also issued by Churchman – I was getting way too confused to add them in above so I have extracted them. The Churchman “1st Series” was issued in January 1916, and newly numbered 1-50, because these cards had formed Ogden`s third series of 1912. The Churchman “2nd Series” was issued in August 1916, and were exactly the same cards as the Ogden`s 1912 second series, so no need to change the numbering. Churchman`s “3rd Series” appeared in October 1916, and these were the cards which had appeared as Ogden`s first series of 1911, re-numbered to 101-150. (now you know why I extracted this lot) The entire set was printed in two different back versions, brown and blue. And we can tell these are from exactly the same printing as the Ogden because they also have the error cards 39 and 40.
By the time of Ogden`s “4th Series of 50”, issued in November 1913, there was no competition, Ogden were the only issuer, and the back was only available in one colourway, that being green. That same one colour, green, remained for the “5th Series”, which was issued in September 1914, but another curiosity is that this fifth Series only contained 25 cards, not 50. My own thought is the date; perhaps the timing of the war rushed through what was already ready to go, and printed the artwork done so far, either to get the information out there, or for fear that it would have to wait and the set would never get completed. Maybe other sets were already being cancelled. We may never know.

Our third card, Monday 15th - P521-452 [tobacco: UK] Godfrey Phillips "In The Public Eye" /54 . The cards from this set are not always in great condition, because they were glazed, which suffers badly with rough handling, even a tiny bend can make a crack right across the card, and also they were adhesive backed. Each front includes a question, and it is answered on another card, a ploy to ensure you collected them all. This revised photo shows the front and back of this card, plus the answer to the question posed, on that other card.
There is one card in the set which suffered badly from errors, this shows the cricketer Nichols, who looked at his card only to see that the front had added an unwarranted second “L”. His card was also updated in 1935, with words added “..and in 1935, 1249 runs and 157 wickets”. I wonder if this was not when the error was discovered.
The subject of our card is Baron [Leslie] Hore Belisha who attempted to modernise the entire British transport network during his tenure as Minister for Transport.
And he has a lasting memorial in the “Belisha” Beacon which marks the spot where the pavement ends and the pedestrian crossing begins and ends.
He also has a cartophilic memorial, which is why on Tuesday we had ...

… because in the album for this set, there was a foreword, and that was written by the Minister of Transport, Leslie Hore-Belisha.

Parliaments may make Statutes and Ministers may make Regulations, but individuals make roads safer by carefulness and courtesy. The Highway Code is the traveller's code of honour. It reminds him that all persons have an equal right to use the highway and that good manners and consideration for others are as important on the road as in the drawing room. Sound knowledge of proper behaviour on the road, as set out in the Highway Code, is just as important to the pedestrian as to the motorist.
Anyone who spreads knowledge on this subject is helping in a national cause; and I am out to encourage all who keep the public interested in this matter whether they are public bodies or, as in this instance, a private firm. I wish every success to the "Safety First" series of cigarette cards which show pictorially and vividly how often accidents occur from disregard of the Highway Code; and I welcome the more as the cards will be disseminated among the children, who are unhappily all too frequently numbered among the victims of road accidents.
Signed: Leslie Hore-Belisha"

243B is the Irish issue, in which three texts differ on cards 13,14, and 16. I will add scans of those, if you can oblige. 243C is a version issued in New Zealand, without adhesive backs, where the text says “Issued by W.D. & H.O. Wills (N.Z.) Ltd., in support of New Zealand`s Road Safety Campaign”. 243D is an anonymous set which is only marked “C.T. Ltd” but which was issued in South Africa through British American Tobacco, with non-adhesive backs. Then there is another curio, its just forty cards and it is entitled “Safety First” but it is not this set.
Our set replaced the first series of “Radio Celebrities” which had been going since August, and it actually ran right to April 1935, when it was replaced by “The Reign of King George V” that set being issued to specifically in order to celebrate the Silver Jubilee. It has adhesive backs and was designed to be fixed in an album issued by Wills for the cost of one penny. and it is a fascinating set, not just cars, but advice for bicycles, pedestrians, and car owners – card 35 is “Never run an engine in a garage with the door closed”. If you have not seen the set before, motor along to: https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/safety-first.htm
Mine is in the album, hence there is no back shown, only the album front; if anyone out there has a number 8 they would like to scan, please send it along and it will be added into the block. However I like the album, because it has the foreword, and also the small chapbook style illustrations.

ROY-280 [trade : UK] R.O.S.P.A. /The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents “Veteran Cars” second series (1955-1957)16/24
These have self adhesive backs and were designed to go in a “Pictorial Card Album of Veteran Cars – with Road Sense Quiz Questions and Answers”. Unlike the Phillips “In The Public Eye” the solution was on the bottom of the same card, upside down. Now I included this card because lots of you were interested in it when I featured it in our tribute to the London to Brighton Run.
R.O.S.P.A. is actually the acronym for The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, see https://www.rospa.com and they also have another link to cartophily as their London “Safety First” Council arose from a public meeting in Caxton Hall which took place in 1916 , mainly to address the fact that dimming the street lighting to prevent enemy raiders during WW1 was having an alarming effect on road traffic accidents. The strange thing about this is that it seems to have been forgotten for the Second World War, and in the first few months of the blackout system the number of road deaths almost doubled overnight, over half of those being pedestrian versus motor car.
Oddly in our original British Trade Index part II, issued in 1969, these cards were listed not as R.O.S.P.A. but as the full name so they follow “Roxy” which was a magazine issued by Fleetway Publications. This says it “includes cards inscribed “ROSPA 52 Grosvenor Gardens, S.W.1”. Cards issued 1953-60. Special albums issued. See Brooke Bond Set BRM- and Horniman Set HOF-12” . I have no idea why it cites BRM-8, which is British Wildlife or HOF-12 which is Horniman`s Pets – do you? It also tells of the other sets, Modern Cars (24) Modern British Motor Cycles (22), New Traffic Signs (25) and these two sets of Veteran Cars first and second series, each of 24 cards, which were given the codes of RQO-4.1 and 4.2. The amount of diligence which go into our books can be seen by the fact that it was recorded that the first series measures 67 x 36 and the second 66 x 35

By 1997 another set had appeared and was duly listed in the British Trade Index IV, this was “Famous Crossings”, it measured 167 x 54, four cards were known, and it was inscribed “C.31”. This was given the code of RQO-6 but it is very hard to find in the book, because it is on page 283, between The Royal Primrose Soap and The Royal Tunbridge Wells, and only the words ROYAL SOCIETY appear in bold text. Another strange thing about this is that in between Rossi`s Ices and Rotary Photo Co. on page 277 appears R.O.S.P.A. in bold text, but it only directs the reader to “see RQO in II” without mentioning the newly discovered set on page 283.
Anyway, by the time of our most recent British Trade Index, issued in 2006, R.O.S.P.A. has gone and the only reference appears on page 379, listed under Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. The top text has also changed a bit, to include the address in Grosvenor Gardens, and to say that they were “Issued 1953-60. Includes cards inscibed “ROSPA”. Special Albums issued. The Society also gave out bookmarks, size 130-190 in length. The following are known `A` for Adult, `C` for Children, including those named as “Famous Crossings”, `H` for Health, and `HC` for the remainder. All are numbered”.
The only change to the main body of work is that it had been noticed that “Famous Crossings” carried numbers C.27 – C.31 inclusive.

L073-380 [tobacco : UK] Lambert & Butler “Hints & Tips for Motorists” (March 1929). 2/25 This is another great motoring set that is seldom known of today. Some of the cards are diagrams and others are actual drawings, and it includes tools and repairs, including what to do in am emergency, very useful advice even today, though modern cars are ever less mechanical and ever more digital. I am rather fond of card 5 “Reversing through a gateway” and rather envious of the driver who is managing it in a car with wings, because my Citroen 2CV had many incidents failing to get through ours. You can see the entire set of cards in large format at https://flashbak.com/25-lambert-butler-hints-and-tips-for-motorists-cigarette-cards-from-1932-34062/

Though the early motor cars were often referred to horseless carriages, and many did indeed resemble horse-drawn carriages with the shafts simply removed, it did not take very long for the motorist to forget what it was like to ride or drive a horse on the road. And though the passing of time has made it far less likely to encounter a horse whilst you are driving, some of us do drive near enough to stables to pass them from time to time.
May I ask that if you do, you please drive slowly, and quietly, for they are easily frightened.
Recent changes to the Highway code did put them in the vulnerable road user category, along with bicycles, but did not take into account that the rider of a horse is in far more danger than a cyclist, for the bicycle has no fear, or mind of its own, it cannot bolt, or buck, or rear.
This is, I believe, the only set that deals with teaching the general public how to ride a horse. Sadly it was issued so close to the War, and after the War, life really changed, leaving horses behind, swept up and cast aside by mechanization. However, our success in sport again led to a rise in riding, and though it may never again be as popular as it was in the days when it was ride or walk to get wherever you desired, there are still a considerable number of people of all ages enjoying their weekly ride.

Well time is drawing nigh and I must be done by midnight. Enjoy your weekend, and if you go to a card fair don`t forget to send us a report!

Happy collecting, until next time and always, from us all at your Card-World

Almost forgot, if you forgot to read last week`s newsletter, it is still at
https://csgb.co.uk/publications/newsletter/2021-11-13