The Postcard
A postally unused postcard that was printed and published by J. Salmon of Sevenoaks. The card, which was printed in Great Britain, has a divided back.
The card is referring to a song entitled 'Who Were You with Last Night?' which was written in 1912 by Fred Godfrey and Mark Sheridan.
Lyrics to the Song
The words to the song are as follows:
'In an office up the west,
Obadiah, smartly dressed,
Wandered in one Friday morn,
In a brand new fancy vest.
His pals all rose and said,
"My word, you're a naughty, naughty boy.
Last night we saw you making eyes
At a nice little lump of joy.
You kissed her twice,
On the same place twice,
And gave her waist a squeeze,
So we'd like you to inform us,
Mister Obadiah, please".
Chorus:
"Who were you with last night?
Who were you with last night?
It wasn't your sister,
It wasn't your ma,
Ah ah, ah ah,
Ah ah ah ah!
Who were you with last night,
Out in the pale moonlight?
Are you going to tell your missus,
When you get home,
Who you were with last night?".
Like a rosy apple red,
Obadiah blushed and said,
"You're mistaken, boys, because
I was out with uncle Fred".
His pals looked round and winked, then said,
As they gave a knowing grin,
"Do you always squeeze your uncle's waist,
And tickle his bristly chin?
Does your uncle, too,
Wear a high heeled shoe,
And a dainty powdered face?
Does he sport a hobble skirt
And bits of furbelows and lace?".
(Chorus)
Obadiah said, "I'm sure
My brother, p'raps, you fellows saw!".
They said, "Wow wow Obadiah,
You can tell that tale to Noah!
We knew you by your sprightly walk,
And the tale you told was grand.
Last night we saw you in the park,
There listening to the band.
Your darling wife,
She would have your life,
and put your hair in curl,
If she knew you'd been out walking
With some other little girl!".
(Chorus)
The song has been recorded by many performers, including:
-- Mark Sheridan - 1912
-- Jack Charman - 1912
-- Arthur Lovell - 1912
-- Harry Fay - 1912
-- Stanley Kirkby - 1912
-- Albert Whelan - 1912
-- Arthur Leslie - 1912
-- Debroy Somers' Band - 1930
-- Four Happy Tommies & Nat Star's Orchestra - 1930
-- Don Porto's Novelty Accordion Band - 1933
-- Bertha Wilmott with Fred & Leslie Douglas - 1933
-- Larry Brennan & His Winter Gardens Band - 1934
-- The Coronets - 1956
-- Mickey Ashman & His Band - 1959
-- Celia Hunt - 1964
-- The Gaiety Playboys - 1967
-- Tommy Trinder - 1974
-- Beryl Reid - 1974
J. Salmon Ltd.
Alas, J. Salmon no longer produce postcards. Having churned out small coloured rectangles of card from its factory in Kent for more than 100 years, the company stopped publishing postcards in 2017.
The fifth-generation brothers who still ran the company sent a letter to their clients in the autumn of 2017, advising them that the presses would cease printing at the end of 2017, with their remaining stock being sold off throughout the following year.
The firm’s story began in 1880, when the original J. Salmon acquired a printing business on Sevenoaks high street, and produced a collection of twelve black and white scenes of the town.
In 1912, the business broke through into the big time by commissioning the artist Alfred Robert Quinton (1853 - 1934), who produced 2,300 scenes of British life for them up until his death.
From Redruth to King’s Lynn, his softly coloured, highly detailed watercolours of rosy milkmaids, bucolic pumphouses and picturesque harbour towns earned him a place in the hearts of the public, despite references to his 'chocolate-box art' by some art critics.
J. Salmon also produced photographs and cheery oils of seaside imagery captioned with a garrulous enthusiasm: “Eat More Chips!”, “Sun, Sand & Sea”, “We’re Going Camping!”
It commissioned the comic artist Reg Maurice (who often worked under the pseudonym Vera Paterson), to produce pictures of comically bulbous children with cutesy captions, alongside the usual stock images of British towns.
It was this century’s changing habits – and technology – that did for Salmon. Co-managing director Charles Salmon noted:
“People are going for shorter breaks,
not for a fortnight, so you’re back home
before your postcards have arrived."
He barely needed to say that Instagram and Facebook had made their product all but redundant, almost wiping out the entire industry in a decade.
Michelle Abadie, co-director of the John Hinde Collection, said:
“When I heard the news, I was
actually surprised they still existed."
John Hinde was once J Salmon’s biggest rival; it sold 50-60 million postcards a year at its peak in the 1960's, but it, too, shuttered four years previously. The licensing for its rich archive of images was sold off, and repurposed in art books.
However, in one sense, the death of the postcard is overstated. Like vinyl records, our fetish for the physical objects we left behind is already making its presence felt.
Michelle Abadie points out:
“If you go into Waterstones now, they
sell lots of postcards of book covers.
The idea itself isn’t dead – as a
decorative object, people still want
them.”
-- Beryl Reid
Beryl Elizabeth Reid OBE, who was born on the 17th. June 1919, was a British actress.
She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for The Killing of Sister George, the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for Born in the Gardens, and the 1982 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for Smiley's People.
Her film appearances included The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954), The Killing of Sister George (1968), The Assassination Bureau (1969), and No Sex Please, We're British (1973).
-- Beryl Reid - The Early Years
Born in Hereford, Herefordshire, Reid was the daughter of Scottish parents and grew up in Manchester, where she attended Withington and Levenshulme High Schools.
As a child, she established a lifelong friendship with Nancy Wrigley, the daughter of the prominent classical soprano, Dame Isobel Baillie. Years later, Reid fondly recalled:
"Baillie would tell us the most wonderful
things...you can imagine nine-year-old girls
goggle-eyed at six princes serenading her
in Hawaii!"
-- Beryl Reid's Career
Leaving school at 16, Beryl made her debut in 1936 as a music hall performer at the Floral Hall, Bridlington.
Before and during the Second World War, she took part in variety shows and pantomimes.
She had no formal training, but later worked at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Her first big success came in the BBC radio show Educating Archie as naughty schoolgirl Monica and later as the Brummie, "Marlene."
Beryl's many film and television roles as a character actor were usually well received. She reprised her Tony Award-winning performance of a lesbian soap opera star in The Killing of Sister George for the 1968 screen version, and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Drama.
The tour of the play was not a success; people in shops refused to serve her and other performers due to the gay characters in the play.
Beryl was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1976 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews in the car park of Thames Television's Teddington Studios.
In both Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979) and Smiley's People, (1982) Reid played Connie Sachs. For Smiley's People, she won a BAFTA for Best Actress on Television.
Between 1981 and 1983, Reid co-presented the Children's TV programme Get up and Go for Yorkshire Television, her co-presenter "Mooncat" being a green, talking, puppet cat. Stephen Boxer was her human co-star. After she left the show, it became titled simply Mooncat and Co.
In 1982 she was in Dr. Who, Earthshock Ep 2, 3 & 4, as Captain Briggs, when the Peter Davison incarnation of The Doctor first met the Cybermen.
Reid wrote an autobiography in 1984 titled So Much Love.
She played the part of an elderly feminist and political subversive in the 1987 television drama, The Beiderbecke Tapes.
Beryl appeared in many situation comedies and variety programmes on TV, including BBC TV's long running music hall show, The Good Old Days.
-- Personal Life and Death of Beryl Reid
Beryl married twice, but had no children. Her second husband, Derek Franklin, was a member of the Hedley Ward Trio.
An authorised biography, Roll Out the Beryl, was published by Fantom Films in August 2016. Written by Kaye Crawford, it was the first biography of the actress, and coincided with the twentieth anniversary of her death.
Beryl Reid died at the age of 77 from kidney failure (according to some obituaries, she had also developed pneumonia) at a hospital in Wexham, Buckinghamshire on the 13th. October 1996, after complications following knee replacement surgery for arthritis.