McGill on the Telly

The early 20th century was a great time of invention, innovation, fashion and fad which were all grist to Donald McGill's postcard mill. One of the most significant inventions was the television.

John Logie Baird had demonstrated the principles in the mid-1920s and some experimental broadcasting was started from 1930 but it wasn't until 1936 that the BBC started broadcasting television on a limited basis only due to the low signal output and the high cost of television receivers. Broadcasting was stopped for the duration of the Second World War but the BBC resumed again in 1946 although Britain was suffering in the austerity of the post war years. It was the broadcasting of Queen Elizabeth's Coronation in 1953 that proved to be a pivotal point in the take-up of the television by the general public, very soon after the now ubiquitous screen was to be found in most living rooms.

The radio had inspired McGill to produce a number of postcard designs - around 20 or 30 - but I have, so far, only come across three cards by him which reference television and only one of them has an image of a TV set.

Considering that there were only sporadic broadcasts from 1930 to 1936, McGill seems to have been quite quick off the mark with his first television card in 1933.

XL 2036 A published around 1933

D Constance No. 2127 published around 1960

D Constance No. 1870 published around 1954

Whether McGill had a television I have no idea but he did appear on the BBC in November 1955 on 'What's My Line?'. This was a panel game chaired by Eamonn Andrews, who went on to host 'Crackerjack' and 'This Is Your Life'. The panel consisted of four 'celebrities of the day :

• Lady Isobel Barnett - trained as a doctor, she was the 'posh' member of the panel giving some 'class' to the proceedings although the 'Lady' title was a courtesy due to her husband being knighted. She was well known from many radio appearances.
• Gilbert Harding - formerly a policeman and actor before working for the BBC as a disc jockey and interviewer. He gave the impression of being rude and bad tempered but this was a façade according to people who knew him
• Barbara Kelly - an attractive Canadian actress who was well known in Britain for her radio and TV shows with husband Bernard Braden
• David Nixon - an urbane stage magician who appeared on numerous variety shows and hosted his own series of programmes on TV showcasing his magic skills 

The premise of the show was that a series of guests would challenge the panel to guess what they do for a living. The guest would write on a board their occupation, which the audience could see but not the panel, and then mime an action they undertook in their work. The panel could ask the guest questions, but the guest could only reply 'yes' or 'no'.

If the panel failed to guess correctly the guest was deemed to have 'beat the panel' which Donald McGill managed to do when he appeared. In reply the ever irascible Gilbert Harding commented “So you do those dirty postcards?”, to which a very dignified McGill replied “No, I am a seaside artist”.

It's interesting that McGill calls himself a 'seaside artist' and not a 'postcard artist'.

I am sure a clip from that show exists but I have been unable to find it anywhere. If you have a copy please let me know!

Blind Man's Buff

I don't usually bother with Christmas but here's a seasonal card for you.

The top card signed by McGill is by an unknown publisher. On the reverse it says 'Printed in Saxony No. 1004' and is probably from the time McGill was drawing cards for Joseph Asher.

As with many of the cards of this period it has been copied by another artist and published anonymously. This one is quite a good copy - the faces may even be better than the original. The only information on the reverse of this card is 'Printed in Saxony'

WB or not WB ?

Yes, that is indeed the question.

When I started collecting McGill postcards I picked up the accepted wisdom that Woolstone Brothers published the cards identified as 'W' or 'WB' on the reverse. This seemed a fair guess as there are no publisher details on those cards but Woolstone Brothers had issued many other McGills. WB = Woolstone Brothers seemed to be fair enough assumption.

However, as time went on I was not totally convinced that this was right. 

I would be interested to know what evidence there is to back up this claim about Woolstone Brothers because I haven't seen any. The only evidence I have come across is a mention in Elfrida Buckland's book, but that doesn't seem to be backed up with any specific research. 

There is a mention in Anthony Byatt's book, 'Picture Postcards & their Publishers', where he lists an 'Index of Publishers Initials' but that is just stating the obvious - i.e. Woolstone Bros has WB as its initials. The main article by Byatt on Woolstone mentions many of the series names they used but NO mention is made of a series called 'WB'. 

I was talking with McGill collector and biographer, Bernard Crossley, one day and he told me that 'WB' cards and 'XL' postcards were all published by a company called Wilson Bros.! 

That came as a bit of a surprise yet it made immediate sense. 

But, "who were they?", you may well ask as no one seems to have been aware of Wilson Bros. existing as a postcard publisher. However, Bernard had come across correspondence between this company and McGill during the research for his book.

Now that we had another possible publisher for these cards - 'W', 'WB' and 'XL' - the case for Woolstone Bros. being the publisher seemed to me to be on even shakier ground. 

As far as I knew Woolstone Bros. used their 'Milton' trademark on their cards along with their name, so why didn't they do this on the 'W', 'WB' and 'XL' cards ? 

I think it's strange that Woolstone Bros. would produce a series with just 'W' and 'WB' (and no publisher details) which includes McGill and other artists, for a short period and then start the 'Milton Comic/Renowned Series' for McGill and a different set of other artists (which has full publisher details etc. on the reverse). They then revert to producing the 'XL' series which again does not include publisher details. It doesn't seem to me to make any sense for Woolstone Bros. to be changing their style around like this especially when they have such a strong logo i.e. the Milton trademark.

What is certain is that Woolstone Bros. did publish McGill postcards but only under their 'Milton' trademark. 'W', 'WB' and 'XL' cards were all published by Wilson Bros. 

So who were these previously unknown publishers?

I decided to do some research and looked for Wilson Bros. in the London Post Office Directories to see if they are mentioned. These are the entries I found:

1915 edition
Wilson Bros
26 Commercial Road, E
Fine Art, christmas, new year and birthday card, and pictorial postcard publishers 

1920 edition
Wilson Bros Ltd
26 Commercial Road E1
Fine art publishers / Post Cards 

1925 edition
Wilson Bros Ltd
24 & 26 Commercial Road
Post cards (pictorial) 

1930 edition
Wilson Bros Ltd.
80 Gt Eastern Road EC2
Post cards (Pictorial) / Greeting card / Xmas card publishers 

1940 edition
Wilson Bros Ltd.
80 Gt Eastern Road EC2
Post cards (Pictorial) / Greeting card / Xmas card publishers / Calendar publishers & printers

I have been unable to find any specific information about who the Wilson brothers were but this is positive proof that Wilson Bros. as a company existed for 25 years at least and were postcard printers and publishers based in the same area as many of the other well known postcard publishers. The company probably closed due to the bombing of London during World War Two. 

But why were Wilson Bros. not listed in Byatt's seemingly comprehensive book of postcard publishers?

Well, I can't answer that but I'm happy to speculate! I think it has to be accepted that Byatt's book is not comprehensive. 

I have done a bit more research using the London Post Office Directories. I looked at their listing for 'Postcards (Pictorial)' for 1920 and 1930 and then checked to see if they were included in Byatt's book (after removing several that were 'dealers' rather than 'publishers'). The majority of the companies I found listed had an entry in his book ... BUT there were a few that he has not included. I am guessing this is because he did not have any details about  those particular companies. 

There is one company, I think, which helps back up this speculation - the publisher called Moore & Dewdney are mentioned in Byatt's book but only in passing as they took over the premises of another publisher - there is no separate entry for Moore & Dewdney. So here is one company Byatt knew about but didn't include in the main listings presumably because he had no information apart from a name and address. This could easily be the reason Wilson Bros. are not listed. But that, as I mentioned earlier, is speculation on my part !

UPDATE :

In early 2024 I finally came across a piece of conclusive proof that WB cards were published by Wilson Bros. Ltd., and what's more the evidence is printed on the reverse of a Donald McGill postcard - WB 150.

This advertising card was presumably printed for an exhibition or trade show of some kind. Unfortunately there isn't a date, but presumably it will be some time in the 1920s as the company had moved location by 1930.

How long's your furlough?

Here's another example of a D. Constance Ltd. card which had been redrawn. As this is numbered 138 it would have been first published in 1937 or 1938. It's possible that the original drawing for this was one of those destroyed when the Constance warehouse was bombed in 1940 and presumably the card was thought funny enough or successful enough to be redrawn and republished.

An alternate version (of what I think was the original design) was published with the caption printed at the bottom beneath the image :

Having come across two other similar cards by a different artist has made me speculate about the source of the captions on McGill's cards. I think it was a question that was raised with him and his answer was that he picked them up from cartoons, jokes (he was a fan of the music hall), and observation of everyday life. 

It's obvious that there are many postcards from different artists that are the same joke that has been reworked within that artist's style. In this case, where did the original come from, and who 'borrowed' from whom are not questions that can be easily answered. In the case of this card it is possible to see two versions of Constance No. 138 by another artist - 'C.G.' - published much earlier than McGill's version. The versions I have seen bear postmarks of 1908 and possibly 1919, well before McGill published his card. 

Published by C & H.
Postmark 1908

 

Unknown publisher.
Postmark 1919

  

So, did McGill see this card and keep it at the back of his mine for over 20 years before creating his own version or were there other versions by other artists between C.G.'s and McGill's which provided the inspiration?

If McGill did 'borrow 'C.G.'s idea he has almost copied the, I think, later card - he has kept the same elements, the maid peering over the fence and saying 'How long's your furlough?' and the soldier replying 'Mind your own business'. It is interesting that although McGill drew countless cards with Scotsmen and Scottish soldiers as the subject he, on this occasion, decides to change the original and have the soldier wearing trousers!

At the Front

Here's another example of a card McGill seems to have liked enough to issue with five (that I know of) different captions. I'm presuming it was McGill who changed the captions ... or was it Inter-Art who did this?

Inter-Art Co. Comique Series No. 2460

As can be seen three of the cards are puns on the word 'front' which in this case has three different meanings :

1. the sea front
2. the battle front (as this card was published during the First World War)
3. the young lady's rather attractive front!

I am unsure which of the captions came first. One of the cards was posted in 1919. The postmarks on two are unreadable and the other is unposted.

Another point of interest is that the "This front has more attractions..." version has been printed on very flimsy, albeit smooth, paper while the others are the usual thick card.

The fifth example is making a reference to the need for coupons due to sugar rationing during the First World War.

What, no 1200s?

When you have collected a few thousand McGill cards you begin to get a feel for which publisher's cards are the more difficult to find. Also, which numerical sequences of cards do not turn up very often.

With McGill's cards for D. Constance Ltd. it is the cards published in 1940 that are more difficult to locate. These are in the 1000 - 1199 number range. This is because the Constance premises at 3-4 Ivy Lane, London EC4 were bombed on the night of 29th December 1940 by the German Luftwaffe.

According to Elfreda Buckland in her book about McGill Joseph Asher made a claim for the damages to the Ivy Lane property which included the loss of 101 original McGill drawings (for which he was awarded £126.12s) and 6000 cards which were in stock.

It seems that McGill redrew some of these lost originals as many Constance cards from the early sequence were republished after the war. (See some of my previous posts which show the difference between the original and redrawn card). 

The cards which were drawn specifically about the war - military, blackouts, Hitler themes - were not republished as they were now irrelevant thus ensuring they are now quite rare.

However even rarer than the cards mentioned above are the Constance cards in the sequence 1200 - 1299. It finally clicked with me that not only had I not got any in that number sequence but I didn't recall seeing any. Since I started collecting I have always taken details of every McGill card I came across in an attempt to build up some sort of catalogue but I only had one solitary entry in the 1200 range.

And this is the card:

D. Constance Ltd. No. 1296

I then realised that I already had this card but with a different number and the image was slightly different. Here is the other card:

D. Constance Ltd. No. 296

So it was the same card but McGill had redrawn it. But why had it been republished with the number changed from 296 to 1296 ?  As I have shown in other posts on this blog there are many early Constance cards that have been redrawn but they have always been republished with the same number they had originally.

Why was this different and where were all the other cards in the 1200 sequence ?

I was speaking to McGill collector and biographer Bernard Crossley and asked him about the absence of any cards in the 1200s and his simple answer was that there weren't any. 

However there is the possibility of one other card existing - numbered 1207 - if it was ever printed and published. One collector has this black and white image (I do not know the story behind this card):

D. Constance Ltd. No. 1207 (?)

If this number is correct it begs the question about the cards preceding this one in the sequence.

The last card that I know of in the 1100 sequence is number 1194. 

D. Constance Ltd. No. 1194

For whatever reason Constance did not carry on numbering their cards where they had left off when they restarted operations in 1944. They had closed down operations due to the 1940 bombing plus the lack of card and ink needed to publish postcards. 

When Constance began publishing again they started their sequence at 1300 and these were a series of birthday greetings cards for children.

D. Constance Ltd. Nos. 1301, 1302, 1303

There is also the theory that the originals destroyed in the 1940 bombing were the complete 1200 to 1299 run which is a very neat explanation as to why they appear to be non-existent.

So, whatever the reason it is very unlikely that any other 1200 cards exist. Should you come across any I'd be very interested to hear about them !

Afterthought:

Strangely there are no 1200 cards in the Joseph Asher & Co. numerical sequence either ! Did Asher have a phobia about the 1200s ?! May be not as there are A1200s in the other Asher sequence...

You know, Miss Haybag

Another in this short sequence of early Constance cards that have been redrawn and republished. This card with its rather crude double-entendre was originally published in 1939 or 1940.

D. Constance Ltd. No. 1005
Note: the card on the left is unsigned

It is not straightforward to identify which version of the card was the original. The copies I have of them each carry the same post-war rhyme on the reverse and both have the later 22 Christchurch Road address.

If you take a closer look at the borders to the image, the card on the left with its continuous border is the earlier version (I think) whereas the border of the card on the right has the three stripes at intervals and this design is on later cards. If this is correct it means the cruder, and to my mind inferior, image on the right is the redrawn version !

My theory that these early cards were redrawn because the original had been destroyed in the 1940 bombing of the Constance warehouse does not stand up here. If the original had been destroyed how come it was printed with the post-war rhyme ? If it wasn't destroyed why bother redrawing it ?

Yes, I'm still confused about this one !

As if they were alive

This card of a sculpture gallery guard patting a statue's bottom was originally published as a "New Donald McGill Comics" (i.e. no reference to D Constance at all) probably in 1940.

New Donald McGill Comics No. 935

A redrawn version was published with D. Constance Ltd. details and their address given as 22 Christchurch Street.

D. Constance Ltd. No 935

There is a slight variation to the caption, with the 'Yes' being removed otherwise there are just minor changes to the people and statues although the background colour has been changed from light to dark.

The copy I have is undated but it must be post-war due to the rhyme on the reverse:

The war is won, your £ s. d.
Has helped to bring us victory,
But saving still will pave the way
To that new world, for which we pray.

"KEEP SAVING FOR A RAINY DAY"

Presumably the original was a victim of the 1940 warehouse bombing which necessitated the redrawn image.

Many a battle

Many of the cards McGill drew for D. Constance Ltd. in the late 1930s were later reprinted using the same issue number and caption but with a slightly different image. I have already posted about some of these. The next three posts will focus on other examples.

This first card, which is unsigned, was probably originally published in 1939. I think that the card on the right will be the original version with the caption at the bottom and on the reverse has the rhyme:

Save all you can, please and invest,
To rid us from the Nazipest. 
Remember Friend, your £ s. d.
Will pave the way to victory.

D. Constance Ltd. No. 455

The card was later republished as the version on the left. The lady takes up less of the space and is standing on her right leg rather than the left while the gentleman peering round the curtain is slightly smaller too. Her rather strained facial expression remains the same though! My copy has a postmark date of 1953 and the rhyme on the reverse:

"KEEP SAVING FOR A RAINY DAY"
We saved to win the war,
Our efforts must not cease
By saving more and more,
We'll surely win the peace!

The reason for this card having to be redrawn is probably because the original was a victim of the bombing of the Constance warehouse in 1940.

It's very draughty

Unsigned, but definitely McGill cards, at first glance they appear to be the same ... but look closer and the differences begin to become apparent.

Overall the colours are different, the text uses different fonts, and there are little detail variations such as the spots in the hatband and the stones outlined on the ground. The more you look the more you see. One is a copy of the other, not an exact copy but not far off. 

Here are the reverse of the cards:

One is very obviously published by Joseph Asher & Co., printed in Belgium (which is slightly unusual) and is numbered A 86. However, the other card is also numbered A 86 but there are no publisher details and is printed in Holland. It is not unusual to find Asher cards which have been printed without publisher details and with only the printing origin and the card number, many of their cards were printed in Holland.

Were these both published by Joseph Asher? My gut reaction is that they were but I can't explain why the image is different on each card. Perhaps I'm wrong and one is a particularly good copy of the Joseph Asher original.

Another possible cause for the differences may be due to the printing processes used by different print companies.

Katoomba Copies

In some previous posts I've shown how McGill's cards produced for the publishers E.S. were copied by another publishing company - E.L.P. Co - in the early 1900s.

I have come across another instance of this happening much later and on a different continent. Green's Souvenirs of Katoomba, New South Wales in Australia have copied several of McGill's cards - having them redrawn with some slight variations by an unknown artist. 

Inter-Art and Constance originals have been used but in what seems a random selection. I have no idea how many they produced but these are the five examples I've found so far. I'm guessing they date from the 1950s as none of them are postmarked.

Greens G39

Constance 689

Greens G41

  

Inter-Art 7858

Greens G43

 

Inter-Art 7651

Greens G44

Constance 428

Greens G48

Constance 1038

My word - if you're not off

This card must have been alarmingly risque when it was first published!

I think the first version is the one published by E.S. London probably in 1907. It is signed by McGill and has the caption written in lower case on the bottom left side of the card.

E.S. 3110

The next version was probably published the following year, 1908, by Hutson Bros. It is exactly the same image (except the lady's shoe is missing), again signed (but in a slightly different position) but the caption is now all in block capitals and written across the bottom of the card (without the exclamation  marks but with apostrophes instead!!)

.

H.B.Series No. 638

The final version is of unknown date and publisher. It is a copy of the H.B. version with a few very minor variations in the image. However the main differences are that it is not signed and there is additional writing  - "All the fun of the Fair" has been added although the "My word..." text is the same but in a different font and printed in a slightly different position.

Unknown publisher

Not necessarily McGill

Sometimes you have to take a guess about a card as to whether it was drawn by McGill or not because many of his designs were unsigned.

Once you 'get your eye in' to McGill's style it can be relatively straightforward to spot one of his cards but his style did vary, especially in his early works, and these can be more difficult to recognise.

One short cut to identifying his work is to go by the publisher of the card but even that can be confusing. Although McGill worked for many different publishers in his career he is mostly identified with three - Joseph Asher & Co., Inter-Art Co. and D.Constance Ltd. (You could also add the Woolstone Bros. 'Milton' cards but these were reprints of Inter-Art Co. designs.) 

Some people who do not know McGill very well often presume that if the card is by one of these publishers and is unsigned then it must be a McGill. That is definitely not the case. It is very common to see cards misidentified in this way, take a look at some of the cards offered on eBay for a start.

Yes, the majority of the cards by these three companies were by McGill but they also issued cards by other designers and if they are unsigned too it can make identification difficult. Joseph Asher & Co., for example, published cards by E.Chandler (quite a lot by him), Syd, Will Adams, Reg Carter and Jacobus some of which were unsigned.

Three examples of non-McGill cards from Joseph Asher & Co.
E.Chandler  -  Syd  -  Unknown Artist

The Inter-Art Co., produced thousands of cards by many different artists. However most of McGill's were part of the 'Comique' series except for most of his 1914-18 War cards which were issued under assorted series headings and a few under the 'Artistique' heading. To make things really difficult a huge number of the 'Comique' series of cards were published without an artist's signature. Identifying these can be just a 'gut' reaction to the style!

One other artist who drew for Inter-Art Co. was Dudley Buxton whose cards are regularly misidentified as being by McGill. This is understandable in many cases because their styles were very similar although Buxton tended to draw his characters faces in a much more exaggerated and 'cartoon-y' way than McGill. I have bought some cards which at first I thought were McGill but as time has gone on I am not so sure or in some cases I am now certain they are actually by Buxton. 

Three examples of Dudley Buxton cards

Fred Spurgin (a very prolific artist) and Phil Martin also drew for Inter-Art Co. and their designs can sometimes be similar in style to McGill.

This card by Phil Martin is very similar to some designed by McGill

D.Constance Ltd. was pretty much set up to publish McGill's cards which they did from the mid-1930s through to the 1960s. But even this company had other artists working for them. There are definitely cards under the Constance 'New Donald McGill Comics' imprint by Stocker Shaw and another unidentified artist. I'd be interested to know if there are any others during this time frame.

Three examples of Stocker Shaw cards published by D.Constance Ltd.

So, there is no sure fire way of identifying McGill cards if they are not signed. In some cases you can only take an informed guess. I'm sure there are cards out there that haven't been spotted as being by McGill because they are in a slightly different style to his 'usual' output.

Look what two days have done

As well as XL producing alternate captions on cards there are also a number of cards published by D Constance Ltd., that do this too. Here's one of them (quite an early one) ...

D.Constance Ltd., No. 43
Postmarked 1936

D.Constance Ltd., No. R 43
Postmarked 1937

Seeing things

 Another XL Series example of different captions ...

XL 2070

XL 2070 A
Postmarked 1946

I like work - but not much

Some of McGill's cards were also published in the US under the 'Bamforth' name as part of the deal between the UK Bamforth company and McGill's publisher, Inter-Art Co. Sometimes with alternate captions as this example shows. This raises the question as to who made the decision to change the wording?

Inter-Art Comique No. 5641
Postmarked 1929

Bamforth Vacation Comics No. 1585

I like work but not this week

As I mentioned in a much earlier post the XL Series of cards published by Wilson Bros. have a high proportion of cards that have more than one caption. Here is another one ...

XL 2051
Postmarked 1933

XL A 2051
postmarked 1933