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1920s

1920s #6

The first 24 Hours of Le Mans race took place on 26 and 27 May 1923, on public roads around Le Mans. Originally the race was planned as a three-year event, with first prize awarded to the car that travelled the furthest distance over three consecutive 24-hour races. This idea was abandoned in 1928.

French, British and Italian drivers and cars dominated the early events, with Bugatti, Bentley and Alfa Romeo featuring prominently.

On 3 September 1928 Alexander Fleming observed by chance that fungal contamination of a bacterial culture appeared to kill the bacteria. He confirmed his observation with a new experiment on 28 September at St Mary’s Hospital, London. When Fleming published his experiment in 1929, he called the antibacterial substance (the fungal extract) penicillin.

Fun Fact: I’m allergic to penicillin. When prescribed a course as a teenager, I swelled up and turned bright green.

📸 Wikipedia

Before the 1920s, shipping companies made their money transporting immigrants to various countries, especially the United States. However, when the USA brought in stricter regulations for immigration many shipping companies turned to cruises to sustain their income. Instead of a means of transport only, the ships became floating hotels.

The Aquitana

Joséphine Baker, June 3, 1906 – April 12, 1975), was an American-born French dancer, singer, and actress. Joséphine established her career in France where she appeared in movies and danced at the Folies Bergère in Paris. Her performances were a sensation and she became an icon of the Jazz Age.

During the Second World War, Joséphine Baker aided the French Resistance. After the war, she was awarded the Resistance Medal and the Croix de Guerre, and was named a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.

On Saturday, 3 January 1925 Cyril Brownlie of New Zealand (pictured) was sent off for foul play during a Test match against England, the first time anyone had been dismissed from the field of play in an international rugby union match. 

New Zealand won a bruising encounter, 17 – 11.

The first electric razor was patented in 1928 by the American manufacturer Col. Jacob Schick (pictured). A military officer, inventor, and entrepreneur, Schick founded Schick Dry Shaver Inc. 

Schick’s company did well and he moved most of his wealth to a series of holding companies in the Bahamas. This did not please the Joint Congressional Committee on Tax Evasion & Avoidance, so to avoid an investigation Schick became a Canadian citizen in 1935.

On March 28, 1920 “America’s Sweetheart” Mary Pickford and “Everybody’s Hero” Douglas Fairbanks married, thus becoming Hollywood’s first supercouple. 

They created a home, “Pickfair” (pictured), a mock-Tudor-designed six-bedroom house, which contained a screening room, glassed-in sun porch, bowling alley and billiard room. Unfortunately, as with many Hollywood unions, the marriage drifted towards divorce.

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Cherry Wainer

Cherry Wainer #3

I’m researching the career of musician Cherry Wainer and the 1950s-1960s music scene.

At Christmas 1955, the newspapers reported on Cherry’s return to Britain, her looks, and her footwear.

In 1955, not only was Cherry appearing on TV, but her show was proving very popular.

From January 1956, more on Cherry’s legs and shoes, and the upward trend in her career. Less than a year after making her television debut, she was becoming a fixture on television.

An article in the media in the spring of 1956 revealed that Cherry could have become a surgeon, but decided to make music her career.

In March 1956, the media reported that Cherry loved collecting shoes. She owned more than 25 pairs, and favoured high, spiky heels with a touch of originality. Her feet were tiny, size 2 1/2.

Cherry was living in London during this stage of her career, in a spacious flat above the Cuban Legation, Lancaster Gate.

In April 1956, Cherry gave an electrifying performance…

In May 1956, Cherry expressed how determined she was to succeed. Indeed, Picturegoer revealed that Cherry was known as “Miss Ruthless”.

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1920s

The 1920s #5

Cricket

In 1920-21, England toured Australia and became the first team to lose every match in a five-match Test series. On the return during the English cricket season of 1921, Australia continued their dominance, winning the first three Test matches. However, England did manage to draw the final two.

Jack Gregory, fast bowling tormentor of England, 1920-21.

In October 1927, Clarice Cliff (pictured) began test marketing her ‘Bizarre’ pottery range in Britain. Initially, her pottery sold for 7 shillings and 6 pence (35 pence). In 2004, Christie’s sold a Clarice Cliff 18-inch ‘charger’ (wall plaque) for £39,500.

Aviation

In 1929, Amy Johnson (pictured) obtained her pilot’s licence from the London Aeroplane Club. Later in the year she became the first British woman to obtain a ground engineer’s C Licence. In 1930, Amy was the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia.

Seaside Resorts

In the 1920s, a fortnight’s summer holiday by the seaside was a regular feature of working-class life. The practice started in the 1840s with the development of the railways. Entrepreneurs built accommodation in the form of hotels and bed and breakfast establishments. In places like Blackpool they also added fairground attractions, promenades and pleasure piers.

The cotton mills in the north of England would close during “wakes weeks” and people would flock to the seaside. Because beachwear was still considered immodest, proprietors provided bathing huts. During the 1920s, well over 100 British towns developed into seaside resorts.

Blackpool Promenade

On 17 January 1921, P.T. Selbit became the first magician to publicly “saw a woman in half”. He performed this illusion at the Finsbury Park Empire, London. 

In 1913, Selbit, with the aid of an attractive woman, performed the illusion of “walking through a brick wall”, a year before Harry Houdini performed the same trick. The two men entered a dispute over who invented the illusion. Spoiler: the magician or his assistant used a trapdoor that went underneath the wall.

In front of an audience more interested in the camera than the potential gore unfolding, P.T. Selbit “saws a woman in half”. 

The 1923 WAAA Championship, the first British track and field championships for women, was held on 18 August at the Oxo Sport Grounds, in Bromley, London. The events: 100 yards, 220 yards, 440 yards, 880 yards, 660 yards relay, 120 yards hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put, javelin, and track walk.

Mary Lines (pictured) won four events: 100 yards, 440 yards, 120 yards hurdles, and the long jump.

On 21 December 1927 aka “Slippery Wednesday” 1,600 people were hospitalised in the London area when they hurt themselves on icy streets.

The cold weather continued over Christmas with blizzards in south Wales, the Midlands and London.

The Train in the Snow – Claude Monet

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Cherry Wainer

Cherry Wainer #2

I’m researching the career of musician Cherry Wainer and the 1950s-1960s music scene.

In 1954, after four years spent developing her career in South Africa, Cherry returned to Britain, along with her Hammond organ, sheet music and eight suitcases of clothes – she appeared to have a penchant for the latest fashions. A hard slog on the entertainment circuit beckoned as she strove to break into the “big time”.

Even though Cherry Wainer was born in South Africa, in May 1955 the press were describing her as “Britain’s Greatest Rhythm Organist”. She was sharing bills with the likes of Alma Cogan and playing tunes like Mr Sandman and Waters of Minnetonka. She was also billed above Reg Varney who went on to become a regular on British television. It was taking Cherry a while to become an “overnight sensation”, but her career kept moving in the right direction.

In August 1955, while performing in Manchester, Cherry told a reporter about her problem with nylons. Cherry refused to wear nylons with seams, and reinforced toes and heels. Consequently, she laddered a pair at every performance. “I’ve been going on-stage bare-legged all this week,” Cherry said. “I’ve run right out of stockings and I can’t buy the sort of nylons I like in this country. I’m waiting for my mother to get me some in America.”

In August 1955 the press reported that Cherry’s organ was insured for £1,250 (around £40,000 now). The organ always travelled in the guard’s van while Cherry sat in the nearest compartment.

At the time, Cherry had a residency at the Winter Garden’s, Morecambe, but the management did grant her time to be a judge in a National Bathing Beauty Contest, which was won by Patricia Nunns (pictured).

In August and September 1955, Cherry was sharing the bill with the likes of Des O’Conner, who became a regular on British television. She was also appearing in Paris. The Stage reported: “Most attractively gowned, and using trick lighting to make her lovely dress even lovelier, Cherry Wainer is an atomic ball of a personality at the keys of her electric organ. She plays with the confidence of one who knows she has mastered her numbers and so can put that little extra into them. Full marks for this South African blossom. Her Sabre Dance is a real sizzler.”

In October 1955, The Stage announced that “vivacious South African organist Cherry Wainer would be appearing on TV”.

Cherry featured on ABC Television – Associated British Cinemas (Television) Ltd. ABC was a commercial television company established in the 1950s by cinema chains in an attempt to compete with television, which was attracting cinema audiences.

Cherry played the Hammond organ “with a dexterity unmarred by four-inch heels”.

On 22 December 1955, at Chelsea Barracks, Cherry joined Vera Lynn, the Coldstream Guards and Scots Guards to entertain the troops. The event was broadcast on television as part of the Christmas Season programming.

Along with her variety show appearances, Cherry was now becoming a regular on television.

The ABC Studios in Didsbury, Manchester (Wikipedia)

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1920s

1920s #4

In September 1920, the first Bentley cars were delivered to customers. Pictured, a Bentley EXP2 (Experimental nr. 2), the oldest surviving Bentley (📸 Wikipedia).

The 1921-22 season was the 30th for the Football League. Liverpool were champions while Bradford City and Manchester United were relegated. Nottingham Forest and Stoke took their place.

For this season the Third Division was divided into North and South sections increasing the number of clubs in the league from 66 to 86.

Graphic: Wikipedia

Wings, a First World War drama that dominated the movie world in 1927, opened at the Criterion Theater in New York City on August 12, 1927. Tickets cost $2, an unheard-of admission price. The standard rate was $0.25 a ticket.

Wings was a homage to First World War fighter pilots. As its star Clara Bow rightly observed, it was a buddy movie and she was only added to the cast because she was red hot at the box office. Clara’s appearance guaranteed that the movie would be a success. Furthermore, the quality of the film, and the amazing stunt flying, ensured that Wings won the first ever Academy Award for Best Picture.

Between 1919 and 1926, Lieutenant-Colonel William Hawley (1851–1941) conducted pioneering excavations at Stonehenge. One of Hawley’s main achievements was to identify the Aubrey Holes (named after one of my ancestors, John Aubrey). Hawley also found cremated and uncremated human remains, which first indicated a funerary role for Stonehenge. His multiphase interpretation of the site was dismissed at the time, but in the 1950s the idea was revived. However, his idea that Stonehenge was a fortified settlement is still not accepted.

Excavations near the Heelstone (The Antiquaries Journal, 1925)

Motoring. Compulsory hand signals for all drivers were introduced on 10 October 1920.

Hand signals would remain a crucial part of motoring life until the 1970s, when the increased use of indicators on vehicles rendered them superfluous.

An advertisement for the Morgan Adler, “The Perfect Car”

In 1921, Swiss psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach published Psychodiagnostik in which he proposed the inkblot test. 

In the Rorschach test, a subject’s perception of inkblots is recorded and analysed using psychological interpretation and complex algorithms. The test can shed light on a subject’s personality and emotional functioning, and is particularly helpful when subjects are reluctant to articulate their thoughts.

The first Rorschach card (I reckon this is Scooby Doo with his back to a mirror 😉)

More flapper slang from the 1920s

Sharpshooter – a good dancer and big spender

Spoon – kissing

Strike breaker – a woman who dates her friend’s boyfriend 

Tomato – a woman lacking intelligence

Umbrella – a man that any woman can borrow for an evening

Whangdoodle – jazz music

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