Newsletter - 2021-11-27

The 27th of November, every year, is Lancashire Day. So greetings to all collectors who live or work within its boundaries. Now you may not know this but there was once a Lancashire Branch of the Cameric Society, which became a Cartophilic Branch too. And here is its story, an odd one, because it was told piecemeal. In Cartophilic Notes and News (Vol. 3, No.29 - September/October 1969) it simply states that the Lancashire Branch of the Cameric Cigarette Card Club was formed by combining the Liverpool and Manchester Branches, and that their first meeting was at Aigburgh, Liverpool, on 15 June 1946.

The Manchester Branch started in June 1939 with a meeting of collectors arranged by Mr. A. J. Woolley in a Manchester Inn to see if any local collectors would like to form a northerly club allied to the Cameric. About six or seven collectors turned up including Cyril Marsden and Mr. Gilbert, both of Bolton, and Mr. Sutcliff of Bury. However the first mention of a Manchester Branch of the Cameric actually appears in Cigarette Card News( Vol. 6, No.67 - April 1939) in the “Around the Clubs” section, which states “In addition to the towns mentioned last month, Branch Secretaries have been appointed for Ayr and Manchester....” Now the Secretary of the Manchester Branch was given as A J Woolley, which means he had already applied to host a Manchester Branch, and been named as its Secretary, at least two months before convening the meeting in the inn. Anyway, the small group started to hold monthly meetings, but had only managed four or five before they were disrupted by the War; Mr. Woolley went first, called up, and sent to the Royal Navy, so it was decided that the Branch would close until after the war had ended.

On the 11th of December, 1943, a Mr. Frisby called a meeting at his home to try and form a Liverpool Branch of the Cameric Club. Unfortunately nobody turned up but he did not give up, and the following year he tried again, also advertising in a local newspaper. This resulted in quite a few letters, and the recruitment of several members. That Branch met monthly until early 1946.

When Mr. Woolley came home from the war, in early 1946, he found that there was a new Branch of the Cameric Club in existence in the same area. It was therefore agreed to combine forces under the more inclusive title of the Lancashire Branch. So on Saturday 15th June, 1946, at the home of Mr Frisby in Aigburgh, Liverpool, Lancashire Branch was born. Not long after this, at the third meeting, Mr. Frisby had bad news, his business was taking him to London, so he had to resign; Mr. Woolley then became the honorary secretary and treasurer.

By 1947 they had ten members and took a major step forward by hiring a room for meetings. George Gilbert was President from 1949 to 1950, but during the winter of 1950 his eyesight started to fail him, though he regularly attended their meetings right up to within a week of his sudden death. In 1949 Mr. Woolley had to resign, and Frank Easson was made Branch Chairman in 1952, moving up to Vice President the following year. In October 1951 Mr. Digby`s health made it impossible for him to carry on, and Cyril Marsden was elected in his place. In 1953 Mr Woolley announced he was moving to South Africa.

At the Cameric AGM in October it was reported that Lancashire Branch had suggested some kind of amalgamation between the Cameric Club and the Cartophilic Society, and that the two should collaborate on a monthly journal. This was not thought a good idea. Strangely, in just over ten years, in 1964 the Cameric Cigarette Card Club did amalgamate with the Cartophilic Society. They stayed as Lancashire branch for some years; their last meeting was on 13 September 1969 at the home of Frank Easson and his wife. However that was not the last of the Branch, for in November/December 1969s Cartophilic Notes and News, rather buried away in “Secretaria” is a small piece called Change of Name which reads “The Lancashire Branch has suggested that as its boundaries now extend much further afield a more appropriate title would be “The North West Branch”. The Council has agreed to this request.”

There is a LOT more to this story, but it will one day appear in its entirety in the Branch section.

Today we have to give a mention to a town with today`s date as its name!

28 de Noviembre, or Veintiocho de Noviembre is an Argentinian town, close to the border with Chile, it is not very large, with just over five thousand inhabitants, and its main occupation is coal mining. However, it is what we might call a “new town”, and was founded on November 28, 1959, after being made from several smaller settlements, or maybe even camps.

Argentina itself was a dependency of Spain from 1535, only gaining its independence in 1816 and calling itself the Argentine Republic. Its coat of arms was adopted in 1813, and it includes the rising sun emblem to show that it is a new nation awakening.

Argentine tobacco manufacturers did issue cards, some of the top makers are Leon Duran of Buenos Aires,  Ariza, and Jose Sueyro. Most of these cards seem to be scantily clad ladies, a particular favourite being cards where the lady slowly retires to bed.

Argentina is still the second largest producer of tobacco within South America, only Brazil grows more.

On this day, Roderick Ross La Rocque was born in Chicago; there seems to be some dispute as to whether it was 1898 or 1908. He was a stage actor as a teenager and aged 16 he appeared in his first motion picture, “The Snowman”. He then moved to Essanay Studios, which was primarily known for making Westerns, though Charles Chaplin was one of their stars in the early years and appears on their postcards, in fact the Red Letter postcards show the Essanay logo. When Essaney closed Rod La Rocque moved to New York, appearing on the stage and in the films.

His big break came in 1923, this was the biblical epic “The Ten Commandments”, directed by Cecil B De Mille. Mr. DeMille really liked him, and was best man at his wedding, to Vilma Banky, a Hungarian film star who he had met at a party in the director`s home. Some say the meeting was even engineered by Mr. DeMille; there was certainly a lot of money thrown at the wedding and most of the top stars of Hollywood attended.

This is the time when the two best known cigarette cards were issued - the New Zealand set of Lambert & Butler "Popular Film Stars" (1925) 15/50  and Wills "Cinema Stars" second series (1928) 13/25. which gives the 1898 birthdate.

The married couple moved easily into talking pictures and they frequently acted together, though she was also showcased with many of the hottest leading actors of the time, making films with Rudolph Valentino and Ronald Colman. None of them turned her head, and she remained faithful to her husband, though they had no children.

Some sources say that she died in 1933 whilst they were living, and filming in Germany, but she actually outlived her husband. They returned to America as warclouds moved across Europe, and kept acting, but nothing spectacular, his last film was Meet John Doe (1941). He died in 1969, aged 70. She died in 1991. 

Today is St. Andrews Day. Greetings to all our readers, and friends, who live in Scotland or who have Scottish ancestry. Now there are several St. Andrews we could have picked, especially including the golf connotation, but we have decided to fly The Saltire, which is the proper name for the Scottish flag.

The cross and St Andrew are actually connected, rather gruesomely, as he was crucified on a cross of this shape. Before that, it had been him who converted Scotland to Christianity. You will also be able to pick it out in the Union Jack, which is derived from the Union Flag of 1606, which was designed to mark the occasion when King James VI of Scotland also became King James of England, on the death of Queen Elizabeth I.

When you think of motor manufacturing, you probably imagine a line of robots, each doing one job continuously, and completing a vehicle as it moves along, part after part. However this is not a new idea; it all began on this day in 1913, when the first moving “Assembly Line” first rumbled into action. The factory was based at Highland Park in Michigan, and it belonged to Henry Ford. The car produced on it was the Model T, and this car was already in production; however the production line was a way to make it cheaper so that more Americans could afford them, especially farmers and rural workers. In fact the height of the ground clearance was specifically designed to make it more usable in mud and rutted roads. 

On the second of December 1933 a cinema musical film called “Dancing Lady” was released. It starred Clark Gable and Joan Crawford, and was based on a book. However, it had another claim to fame for it featured Fred Astaire, playing himself, in his first motion picture. Actually it had several claims, as it was the first film where Franchot Tone used that stage name, the first film where Nelson Eddy was on the credits (he also plays himself, as does bandleader Art Jarrett), and one of the earliest feature films for the original Three Stooges.

Fred Astaire, and his sister, Adele, were already famous, that`s why he was appearing as himself. They had danced together in vaudeville from children, appearing on Broadway from 1917. In 1924 they had been the stars of George and Ira Gershwin`s "Lady Be, Good!", the first ever full length musical. Their second hit was "Funny Face", which led to the break up of the act, because during the London tour Adele met Lord Cavendish, one of the sons of the 9th Duke of Devonshire, and they decided to get married and move to his estate in Ireland.

With this in mind the 1931 musical "The Band Wagon” featured more solos from Fred, hoping to launch his solo career.  However his first musical alone, Cole Porter`s "Night and Day" was not a great success and he decided to move to Hollywood, thinking that he was not so connected with his sister in the minds of moviegoers as he had been on the stage. He had a successful movie career, and made many musical films with his new partner Virginia McMath, otherwise known as "Ginger" Rogers, though in later years he proved he could be a serious actor as well.  He died in 1987. 

Friday 3 December and Saturday 4 December is Tree Dressing Weekend, which was actually started in 1990 by Common Ground.

Now the actual idea of this is to make you look at your local environment, and the trees that surround you. If there is one that you like the look of more than the rest, why not start looking after it, watering it in dry weather (its best if this is the tree outside your house), making sure that there is no damage to its branches, and most of all learning about it – what species is it, when should it flower, or lose its leaves. Then this weekend you celebrate that tree by decorating it with ribbons, or whatever you fancy.

Whilst the tree you decorate is supposed to be a living outdoor tree, some people think this is the perfect weekend to put up your artifical tree, or to put the first Christmas decoration on the Christmas tree that grows is part of their garden. The one thing it is not very good for is to buy your real tree, because this needs to be done much closer to Christmas or you will be knee deep in needles. However you can go and walk round a Christmas tree farm or yard and see what sort of tree you would like. I saw my first Christmas tree seller yesterday, always a sign of impending festivities.

There are plenty of cards showing trees, I am certain you have several in your collection, even as backdrops to the main subject. Why not have a "leaf" through your album and see what you can find.