I said this blog would be intermittent, I add things as they come across my pile of scanning, things which I don’t want to get lost and want to be seen by others. Of my three blogs this one gets some great responses! That makes me feel happy! Here is one such email from Morgan Wallace:
Hello.
While trying to research some original art, I found your site when looking up “They Make Us Smile” by Bradshaw, because one of my pieces is by Gilbert Wilkinson, and another by Mervyn Wilson. I have four other pieces that I’ve yet to trace.
Here’s the full story:
I own about two dozen assorted pieces, dating from 1941-1944, and they are all original commission pieces, done for a Lt. Davis, apparently, as a few of them are made out to him. Most are English artists, but, I found one to be an American whom might have been in England when created, one French, one Italian, both of whom submitted works to English outlets during the war.
Of the pieces I have identified, several contributed to publications such as PUNCH and other humor outlets. Others were newspaper illustrators, doing political and war art for the period.
One is a post card artist. A few others were comic strip artists. Yet another reportedly worked for Walt Disney Studios and returned to the UK before the war (Chas. Cole) but I can’t prove that he actually worked there. Newspapers from the period indicate that he did. [shrug] Any clues?
Now, to the four that I’ve yet to nail down….
The JIZ signature is clear and obvious but I don’t know who used the initials. JIZ authored and illustrated “Really, Miss Henderson” in 1946. Beyond that, I’ve not found anything else on JIZ.
By the artist ‘JIZ’
Regarding the clearly legible PALMER, one by that name is noted to have been in 1946 “Pick of Punch” covering July 1945 through June 1946, and contributed to “I Couldn’t Help Laughing! an Anthology of
War-Time Humour” edited by D. B. Wyndham Lewis, in 1941, reprinted 1944. A “Palmer” also was a Spanish comic strip artist, but, not sure if this is one-and-the-same, there, either. I have no access to the above publications, so can’t research them further to see if any details are given.
By the artist ‘Palmer’
The illegible signatures appear to be Keve and Guder, which all must be wrong, since I can’t find a single thing on these guesses. So, clearly I’m wrong on those.
By the artist ‘Keve’?
by the artist ‘Guder’?
I hope you can assist and also please share these images with anyone you know in the field that might know. I’ve just finished asking Chris Beetles and he eliminated one for me at a quick glance, being Gilbert Wilkinson. The signature looks nothing like the name, but, Chris is of course correct. So, I’m down to only four unidentified pieces.
I’d deeply love to know who they were, as I do enjoy all the pieces. A little history and knowledge on them goes a long way.
Cordially, Morgan Wallace
I asked Morgan for permission to publish this in the hope that someone may have a clue and at the same time could he foprward the names of the other artists – as that might give some further clues (serendipity is a legitimate form of research in my book!)
No problem.
Chas. Cole is one I mentioned before. He is more famously known after WW2 as “Windy Blow,” the clown that blew up balloons into all sort of shapes, etc. Before the war, apparently, I’m guessing in the 1930s, he was hired by Walt Disney Studios, but I don’t know who to contact to prove this. British newspapers have his name mentioned, that he and other artists traveled the UK doing shows and such. During the war, apparently he was injured, lost a lung, and that led to the balloons, to develop his one good lung. I can’t find any proof that he WAS enlisted during the war, however. Maybe he simply was injured DURING the war, and not actually a soldier, then? Who knows….real name was David Cecil born 1910.
Other relevant artists to this search included are below. How they signed the artwork I have is listed first before their full name. You’ll note five below contributed to PUNCH, so, possibly that some of the un-identified pieces might too have come from PUNCH or some other humour publications.
I hope all this information is helpful.
A. Harvec (Andrea Harvec)–French artist, syndicated in the UK’s THE DAILY MIRROR.
Acanthus (Harold Frank Hoar)–appeared in PUNCH and numerous newspapers, MEN ONLY, etc.
Alf. Jackson (Alfred Jackson)–contributed to PUNCH, etc?
L. B. M. (Leonard Bradshaw Martin)–contributed to PUNCH, etc?
Maurice Hall–contributed to PUNCH, UNION JACK, and reportedly to PUCK, etc?
Mervyn Wilson–contributed to PUNCH, etc?
Arthur D. J. Potts (Arthur Potts)–joined THE DAILY MAIL in 1945, revived TEDDY TAIL strip At least, I think “D. J.” are the initials featured, but I can’t find that information elsewhere
D. P. Millar (David Philip Millar)–appeared in THE DAILY MIRROR, in Razzle, and Blighty mags. Became famous as a postcard artist
Ian Peterson (I have no clue where this artist came from, though I’ve found the name here and there) might have worked for THE SUNDAY CHRONICLE or THE DAILY HERALD. Supposedly racy cartoons to the Razzle mag during the 1930s, though I’ve yet to see them, but he does appear alongside “P. Millar” (David P. Millar above!) in the Razzle 1935 Annual. Oddly, he turns up in tons of French publications and books, too, making me wonder if this name is an alias.
***UPDATE****
I’ve been sent the following by Colin West which shows a Guder drawing was auctioned in 2009 and credited – so it looks as if Morgan’s guess was right – thanks Chris
“But Captain there’ll be just as nice a tide tomorrow.” by GUDER
But Chris goes on and says “There was a Lilian Palmer who did one or two books containing her own cartoons in 1950. Looking at the Beauty Queen cartoon, looks like it could be by a female hand”
Well off you go and do your stuff. Let us know via comments or by email and let’s see if we can track any of these down for Morgan
I’ve completely re-written this page [December 2024] as I had some assistance identifying covers and annual dates – see below for further information. In re-writing this page I took the opportunity to list contents pages separately from this page, and in more detail for each annual. It’s ongoing work but keep an eye out for further articles.
Firstly, let’s get out of the way the fact that there was a Children’s Hour in America (“The Children’s Hour With Uncle Arthur” #1-5, published between 1947-1955,) and in Australia – both saw Annuals published; the latter saw four annuals that I can find for the Australian Broadcasting Commission’s programme – 1956-1959 (#1-4).
This article is about the BBC production which started on radio and transitioned to TV. I have trawled the Internet and used details – only after checking and double checking facts about contents and dates – but please forgive me if I have erred and do get in contact so I can make corrections – as I’m sure there will be mistakes! I have included these details because, just like with Blackie and Son story books from this era it can be hard to date them and they have a wealth of lovely illustrations – many of whose artists are not remembered these days so I’m doing my bit to help keep their work and memory alive!
The Children’s Hour Annual 1928/1929, art by Stanislaus Soutten Longley, published by Partridge
The first annual I have found with the name of the BBC radio programme was published in 1928 – The Children’s Hour Annual: A Book of Stories and Poems for Boys and Girls (above) contained work by E. F. Benson, Desmond MacCarthy, C. Fox Smith, L. Du Garde Peach, Madeleine Nightingale J. C. Stobart, Christine Chaundler, Hugh Chesterman, Eric Parker, C. E. Hodges, C. A. Dawson Scott, Ralph De Rohan, Antonia White, Philip Carmichael and others, published by Partridge, London. This earliest Children’s Hour Annual had 127 pages and the artists include C. T. Nightingale, A. H. Watson, Ernest Aris, H. J. Ford, Marian Allen, Hugh Chesterman, Joyce Dennys, John Dixon, Eleanor Lambert, A. E. Horn and simply “Johns”. Glenn Reuben confirms the cover is by Stanislaus Soutten Longley (1894-1966) and the British Library copy has an accession date of “February 1929” so I have gone for 1928/1929 as the date.
Glenn also mentioned to me a reference to a 1933 “The Children’s Story Book (Children’s Hour Series)” on the Enid Blyton website, published by Thomas Nelson and I managed to find the above..
The Children’s Hour (1944) Lilian Rowles’ “The Children’s Hour”, 1944
Then we have the 1944 Lilian Rowles (1893-1953) book (Rowles is famous for her softly lit portraits of sleeping babies) and the book is indeed about the radio programme.
The Children’s Hour Picture and Story Book [1951?] Published by Juvenile Productions Ltd.
“The Children’s Hour; Picture and Story Book” book published in London by Juvenile Productions has 61 pages and significantly its first story is “The little whiner” by Enid Blyton, as later we have evidence that Blyton was not welcome on “Children’s Hour”. The other stories include:
Little Whiner
High House
The farmer’s Little Pigs
The Little Spotty Pup
The Best Easter Egg
Dumpty had a big fall!
The Absent-minded Aunt
There are also verses, Puzzles, “How-to-makes”, Fun and games, and Picture Strips (Peter the Panda, The Bunny and the Bung, Tommy and the Apples, Bertie Bear’s Balloon) – all of which are 4 panels on one page. I can’t find any identifying signatures for any of the art, but the bulk is by one artist.
There are many older books with “Children’s Hour” in the title, (ironic as apparently the programme never reached a full 60 minutes!) after all it comes from Longfellow. Here the poem as published in from The Children’s Golden Treasure Book 1939 by Odhams
I can’t find any evidence of another ‘annual’ before ‘Uncle Mac’s’ time. He joined the BBC in 1926 and Children’s Hour in 1930. So let’s get started, trying to map out when these titles were published and check their titles- and I should say this is not a list of all Uncle Mac’s / Derek McCulloch’s output, only the ones related to the Children’s Hour and BBC Annuals.
The 13 October 1940 broadcast by Derek McCulloch (which is no longer archived) stated “the 14-year-old Princess Elizabeth sends her best wishes to the children who have been evacuated from Britain to America, Canada and elsewhere. Princess Margaret joins her to wish all children goodnight. This is the earliest recording of the future Queen in the BBC archives.” Duration 4 minutes 18 seconds. This was one of ‘Uncle Mac’s’ proudest moments apparently.
“Children’s Hour ran on BBC Radio from 1922 to 1964, […] Derek McCulloch took charge of Children’s Hour in 1933, and as ‘Uncle Mac’ presided over the show on air, giving it its famous sign off ‘Goodnight children, everywhere’ – from a defunct BBC page
Derek McCulloch / “Uncle Mac”
McCulloch’s full name was Derek Ivor Breashur [performing name “Uncle Mac”] (1897–1967). McCulloch lost his left eye at the Battle of the Somme and a leg as the result of an unfortunate coach accident near his home. He joined the BBC in 1926 (and wrote Nonsericks for Methuen, as “Uncle Mac” in 1928) and was second-in-command (1931) and took over Children’s Hour 1933. It was in 1950 that he gave up the Children’s Hour role to dedicate more time to writing and to become Children’s Editor for News Chronicle – a fact widely advertised at the time – and later he broadcast again on Children’sFavourites until 1964. Martin Parsons (on a now defunct website) spoke at the Winchester Archaeological Rescue Group after researching Children’s Hour. His special interest is the way in which war has affected the lives of children, with special reference to the evacuation process in World War II. He found, from his research, that the “curmudgeonly old geezer” was very autocratic in his role, but felt this might be due to the constant pain he was in from his wounds. The significance to children scattered far and wide during the war, of his sign-off (“Goodnight children…everywhere”) with that most important pause cannot be exaggerated. You’ll find a fascinating piece called “A Day in the life of the chief Radio “Uncle”- Radio Pictorial April 26, 1935″ here (Archived page). It would be remiss of me to not mention that ‘Uncle Mac’s’ name has now been besmirched. The least sensationalist article I’ve found on the matter is by Andrew O’Hagan in the London Review of Books and makes very depressing reading. You’ve been warned!
Back to the Annuals.
Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Story Book [1948, 1947] with pirate cover, Art by Bruno Kay (1910-?), Published by Samspon Low at 7s 6d
Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950, 1949] with orange cover, Published by Sampson Low [printed by Purnell]
Uncle Mac’s Children’s Hour Book [1950, 1949] with yellow cover, Published by [No publisher within] at 7s 6d [printed by Purnell] – simplified shaded colours from the ‘orange’ cover above
BBC Children’s Hour Annual [1954] Edited by Elizabeth (May E. Jenkin) with 5 character cameos on a red grid background with art by various artists.
BBC Children’s Annual [1955] Edited by Freda Lingstrom, (Head of BBC Children’s Television) with children in the snow running home at 5pm. Art by Joanna Curzon
BBC Children’s Annual [1956] Edited by Freda Lingstrom with children in the snow pushing a log on a sled. Art by Joanna Curzon
BBC Children’s Annual [1957] Edited by Freda Lingstrom with a snow outside broadcast near Nelson’s Column(?)children in the snow playing with a sled. Art by Joanna Curzon
BBC Children’s Annual [1958] Edited by Freda Lingstrom with a circle of characters around a Christmas tree (with black background). Art by Trefor Jones
BBC Children’s Annual [1959] Edited by Ursula Eason (Assistant Head of Children’s Television) with a red background and various characters seating on a Chinese dragon. Art by Dick Hart (1920-1990)
I must say an especial thanks to Glenn Reuben who was also researching “the dust jackets of all the publications that come under the “Children’s Hour” umbrella, either including the BBC or their host “Uncle Mac” (Derek McCulloch) in the title” and he had help from Alison Bailey, Lead Curator, Printed Heritage Collections 1901-2000 at the British Library who made notes about accession date stamps which covers most of the above
Jeff Walden, ‘McCulloch, Derek Ivor Breashur [Uncle Mac] (1897–1967)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/53647, accessed 23 Feb 2014].
You can’t do better than read Steve Holland’s excellent blog article on Stuart Tresilian (1891-1974). I trip over his work all the time as I delve into 1950s magazines and children’s books. But it was these that caught my eye as they have such a strong line, colour and pose.
All the pictures below were published as large posters for Infant Schools in a series called Macmillan’s Easy Study Series or “The Children’s Nature Books” as it says on the title page of the accompanying books. The series was edited by E. J. S. Lay (or to give him his full name Edward John Stanley Lay) and these pictures came from the title My book of animals and trees by Kate Harvey & E. J. S. Lay, 1943
I had a lovely conversation with John Iddon, a fine art dealer, at a show in January 2013. It was held unusually in the Science Museum and I had a great time. I had previously bought a Roy Wright original from him. This time he had, on display, the very Rowland Hilder I wrote about in a previous blog article! It shows the Co-op store in Cornwell, a tiny hamlet in Oxfordshire. here it is again….
Cornwell Co-Op by Rowland Hilder
At the show I asked John for permission to take a couple of snapshots on my phone for my reference and here there are – crude in quality, which you’ll have to forgive
Cornwell Co-op by Hilder in colour
The caption accompanying the watercolour
The latter states:
Cornwell Store Featured in the national Press in 1950 this watercolour was presented to Lord and Lady Robert Crichton Stuart by the C.W.S. Directors The painting was originally commissioned by the C.W.S. Publicity Department for the series, “Windows to a new world”
CWS of course stands for Co-operative Wholesale Society, which still exists and the Internet tells me that “Lord Robert Crichton-Stuart (12 December 1909 – 1976), married Lady Janet Egida Montgomerie (1911–1999), daughter of Archibald Montgomerie, 16th Earl of Eglinton “and they had issue” – as it formally states.
My wife and I, on the way home from Tewkesbury recently, decided to head to Cornwell to check out what the place looks like and if the store still stood there. I’m pleased to say, the building remains and we were very fortunate to get there in sunlight! It is so quiet a spot in Oxfordshire and we saw one person the whole time we were there. I see that the manor House is actually detailed (we couldn’t approach it as it stated it was very private property!) and can ‘be hired’ Here are our photos of the village:
Approaching the store
First view – easily recognizable
Close-up of the store as it is now
The view after walking past – looking back
My ever patient wife asked me why I wanted to visit Cornwell and I admitted it was a childish detective work that gave me a thrill. I discovered the picture accidentally in Lilliput magazine and then the original at a show I attended and wanted to see the site itself. At least she’s not married to someone whose obsession is the pill boxes of France from World War Two!
The Humorist, published by Newnes appears to have run from 1922 to 1940 at which time it merged with the little pocket sized London Opinion. You can read a bit more here, bt the two magazines were totally different. The Humorist is bigger than A4 and London Opinion is almost A5.
Lawson Wood (23 August 1878 – 26 October 1957) drew the cover (please excuse the join – that’s my crude scanning) of this 1928 magazine which is full of gags. A quick search of Google Images shows that he was most famous for his chimpanzee drawings which I can remeber was the first time I encountered his work. Chris Beetles gallery has some original art for sale and the following is taken from that site:
Lawson Wood was an accomplished cartoonist and poster designer. He gained great popularity with his humorous illustrations of animals, including dinosaurs and monkeys. The ginger ape, Gran’pop, proved a particular favourite on both sides of the Atlantic.
Lawson Wood was born on 23 August 1878 into a notably artistic Highgate family: he was the eldest son of the landscapist, Lewis Pinhorn Wood, and the grandson of the architectural painter and printmaker, Lewis John Wood. Having spent his early life at Shere, near Guildford, Surrey, he studied in London at the Slade School of Art and Heatherley’s, and attended evening classes at Frank Calderon’s School of Animal Painting, Kensington. In 1896, at the age of eighteen, he joined the periodical publishers C Arthur Pearson Ltd, working there for six years and eventually becoming the chief staff artist. During the First World War, he served as an officer in the Kite Balloon Wing of the Royal Flying Corps. An accomplished poster designer, he drew cartoons for a number of periodicals, including the Graphic (1907-11), Punch, the Bystander, The Strand Magazine, Nash’s magazine and Fry’s magazine. Under the name of ‘Hustle Buck’, he collaborated with his son-in-law, Keith Sholto Douglas. He gained great popularity with his humorous illustrations of animals, including dinosaurs and apes; the monkey, Gran’pop, drawn for the Sketch was a particular favourite. Holding strict control over his copyright, he sold reproductions of his images throughout the world and even set up a factory that made toys to his own design. A member of the London Sketch Club, he was a close friend of Tom Browne, and also worked as a tutor for Percy Bradshaw’s Press Art School. Towards the end of his life he lived as something of a recluse in a mediaeval manor house that he had earlier discovered in Sussex and had rebuilt on a new site at Groombridge, Kent. He died in Sidmouth, Devon, on 26 October 1957.
Here are a few illustrations from the “Willow Catkin Story Book” published by Blackie and Son in approximately 1926 and which was only 32 pages in a hardback
The Willow Catkin Story Book – Cover – art by Cicely Mary Barker
Willow Catkin Story Book – Frontispiece by Anne Anderson “Lost Ball”
The Willow Catkin Story Book – Title Page – art by Cicely Mary Barker
Willow Catkin Story Book – Ex-Libris page – by Helen Jacobs
Willow Catkin Story Book` – Rosalie’s Dinner – illustrated by ‘A.W.’
These are a real hotch-potch but maybe someone can use them and enjoy them They are all scanned from The Land magazine (No. 12 Summer 2012), which “is written by and for people who believe that the roots of justice, freedom, social security and democracy lie not so much in access to money, or to the ballot box, as in access to land and its resources.”
This is one of those multitudinous publications that causes me great grief. I’m looking for artwork by a few artists and trip over these on eBay and wonder, “could it have art by X, Y or Z?” Sometimes a question to a seller works; sometimes not. As this was so cheap I bought it and as usual found some sweet artwork. The book is going to a charity shop but before it does, here’s my favourites preserved for all to see.
The frontispiece is by ‘Heade’ who I presume is the Reginald Heade of paperback cover fame and there’s a nicely illustrated piece by Florence Harrison, and the fan site lists this book as being published in 1951. Mabel Osborne is someone I know nothing about and I suspect she was a poet but did she illustrate the piece called ‘The Seasons”?
The Bumper Book for Girls – Collins – Cover
The Bumper Book for Girls – Collins – Frontispiece
Bumper Book for Girls – Title Page
Bumper Book for Girls – “Cat’s Life” by Claire Moore
Bumper Book for Girls – “Flowers or Fortune” by Florence Harrison
Visual Rants 