Newsletter - 2022-07-15

Today in 1911 Virginia Katherine McMath was born in Independence, Missouri. Independence was her mother`s watchword, and she lived it - she was on the run from her husband when she gave birth, would become one of the first female scriptwriters in Hollywood, and also became a Marine.

Virginia was a talented dancer, and she won a contest for which she got four weeks on tour. But by then her surname was Rogers, her mother having remarried. Nobody is really sure why she chose Ginger as a forename, maybe for her hair, as shown here, maybe for her spirit, though some say it was what a relative called her when they were too young to say Virginia.

She married for the first time in 1929 but it was not a great success, as is often the case when one or both are an independent being. It lasted just over two years. She married five times in all, and all ended in divorce - these included fellow star Lew Ayres, between 1934 and 1941, who is mentioned on the back of this card.  

After the tour she had moved into films, as an extra, slowly getting more time on screen. In 1933 she appeared in Gold Diggers of 1933, 42nd Street, and Flying Down to Rio, where she had to dance with a partner. His name was Frederick Austerlitz, but luckily for stardom he had softened the first name and taken the surname of Astaire. She still made straight films, and won an Academy Award in 1940 for one, Kitty Foyle, but her cinematic partnership with Fred Astaire was what most people still remember her for . After leaving the movies, her last film was in 1965, she returned to Broadway and toured frequently. She died on April 25, 1995.

Greetings to everyone out there with one or more tattoos, because today is National Tattoo Day, or National Ink Day to some. Tattoos have been found on bodies that date from the time that man began, and primitive devices for inking feature in ancient carvings and works. Both sexes partook in Egypt, but in the Far East they were thought of as something only the lower classes and the criminal underworld had, or even understood, which is strange because many of the most popular designs these days are based on Chinese characters. In other tribes they were a sign of your victories, much as we painted symbols on our Spitfires during the Second World War.

I wasn't sure tattoos existed on cards but they do if you expand the horizons. Forget your idea of tattoos in ink, as before ink people still marked their bodies with symbols, like on Taddy "Natives of the World". Another form are stickers, like Topps and O-Pee-Chee "Wacky Packages All New Series two Tattoos Stickers", a set of ten reversed images from 2005. And even Players Transfers might have seen service on someone's arm, etc., by which I mean either "Your Initials" (1932) or "Butterflies". Though the text only mentions surfaces, the skin is surely the most fascinating of all surfaces on Earth. 

The best thing about a tattoo is also the worst, and that is its permanence. Symbols are easier to live with than a name unless you know you really love someone, and will do so until the end of time. But there is a certain something about the slow reveal of a tattoo. Or maybe that`s just me, who likes them very much. 

Shhh... It's World Listening Day today, so let's all sit comfortably and start to listen to our world.

There are quite a few thoughts behind the day.

The first is in taking time to hear what others are trying to tell you, so today don't just ignore them, or speak in their thinking spaces just let them unfold to you in their own time.

Another thought is to listen to nature, how peaceful it can be at some times and how noisy at others. You may live in a city with frequent traffic noise but if you really concentrate on the nature you will tune out the cars after a while.

Then there is listening to the radio, something that we have abandoned for the glamour of moving images, however why not go down the listing schedules online or on your TV and see if anything on the radio sounds interesting, then tune in and give it a go? Or music that you might not listen to normally, this is even easier, you just spin the dial on the radio and pick the next station that hums into earshot, you may hate it immediately, but you might find a new favourite station or style of music.

You'll never know if you don't try. 

Today in 1919 was Peace Day, with commemorations and a lot of regret throughout our land. Of course there was regret and sadness in all lands, that's the way of War. But in our land, and specifically in London, we paid our tribute by way of an empty tomb set up along Whitehall, and this was known as The Cenotaph.

It was a temporary structure, right in the middle of a busy road, and made only of plasterboards, but it had some pedigree for all that, as it had been designed by the great Edwin Lutyens. It was primarily designed as a resting place for floral tributes, which would be delivered as part of a march by surviving service personnel. Yet people took it to their hearts, and a great cry was heard when it came time to dismantle it.

Of course it could not remain, for the plaster would disintegrate In rain and crumble in heat. The solution was to keep it, or more correctly make a replica, but construct this of solid stone. That would mean it would technically no longer be a Cenotaph, for that word means "empty hollow tomb", but it would be a Peace Memorial. However the people had the last word, again, and a hundred years on we still call it The Cenotaph. 

Another one I may struggle with cards for, today is National Lollipop Day. So who out there can name a set that was issued with lollipops? I will look too...

Another kind of lollipop is brandished by the kindly folk who help schoolchildren across the road. They are a dying breed these days, nobody seems to have the time, and those that do might not fill all the stringent requirements of the DBS through no fault of their own, but at one time every school had them. I thought I might find one on a trade card but no luck yet. I then had a brainwave and thought of Wills "Safety First" but that was issued in 1934 so there was no use looking - because the first British lollipop lady, or "school crossing patrol officer" was a Mrs Hunt, who worked in Bath, and she only started her work in September 1937. If this sounds late, then think of this - in London it was not until the 1950s that the lollipop lady was seen at almost every school. 

Today in 1997 great celebration was held to mark the heavy frigate U.S.S. Constitution, who had been afloat for two hundred years. And guess what, she is still afloat now! That makes her the oldest wooden ship to still be afloat. 

She was indeed launched into the water in 1797. And she fought in many wars, including the 1812 war against us. This is where she earned the name "Old Ironsides", and crucially, her respect, for it is that which saved her many times when she was threatened to be pensioned off and destroyed. However she did not see action in the American Civil War, she was only used for training purposes. This also possibly saved her.   

She was eventually retired from duty in 1881, but was given a new life as a museum in 1907. She still sailed the oceans, with a grand tour, of three years duration, in 1934.  And was last seen sailing under her own efforts in 2012, the two hundredth anniversary of her most famous battle. 

I would have thought there were loads of cards, but have so far only tracked down one, and that was not really a card, it is a package issue, where you cut the back panel section off the box and you got the "card". This was issued by Peco Candy Cigarettes in 1956 and is card one of their "Planes and Ships" series. 

Someone else has emailed in and said that she also appears on a card issued by Sailor Boy Smokes in 1933, the set is called "Beautiful Ships" and she is card 10. 

I have also been sent a link to the most amazing card which includes a piece of her body. This was issued by Topps, and you can read about it at the trading card database, which also does articles, something I never knew until I found this one.

None of this gets us a card I can show but there is one out there somewhere! If we keep hunting....

And so as our week comes to a close so does the first week of Archeologists Fortnight.

Traditionally the middle Friday of that fortnight is 'Ask an Archaeologist Day", which is not now done with people heading up to their local archaeological diggings for a quick Q and A session, but online, the ancient grasping the modern.

So let's see if we can answer some questions with cards. And if you have any questions about archaeological subjects please contact us at webmaster@card-world.co.uk - and we will try to find the answer on a card!