The Postcard
A Valentine's Series postcard bearing an image that is a glossy real photograph. Note the sign on the left which states:
'Any Boat
6d. Per Person
for 20 Minutes'
The card was posted in Sandown, Isle of Wight using a 2½d. stamp on Wednesday the 23rd. September 1964 to:
Miss H. H. Douglas,
High Street,
Eydon,
Rugby,
Warwicks.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Dear Nurse,
We have had a lovely day
today at Ventnor.
The children have been
in the sea, only just their
feet though.
Then we found the paddling
pool on this postcard, they
had a marvellous time in
there, neither of them wanted
to come out.
The station is ever so high up,
we are just on the train after
struggling up here.
Ann, Stan & children."
Ventnor
Ventnor is a seaside resort established in the Victorian era on the southeast coast of the Isle of Wight, eleven miles (18 km) from Newport. It is situated south of St. Boniface Down, and built on steep slopes leading down to the sea.
The higher part of the town is referred to as Upper Ventnor (officially Lowtherville); the lower part, where most of the amenities are located, is known as Ventnor. The population of the parish in 2016 was about 5,800.
Ventnor became extremely fashionable as both a health and holiday resort in the late 19th. century, and was described as the 'English Mediterranean' and 'Mayfair by the Sea'.
However medical advances during the early twentieth century reduced its role as a health resort and, like other British seaside resorts, its summer holiday trade suffered from the changing nature of travel during the latter part of the century.
Ventnor's relatively sheltered location beneath the hilly chalk downland and south-facing orientation towards the English Channel produces a microclimate with more sunny days and fewer frosts than the rest of the island.
This allows many species of subtropical plant to flourish; Ventnor Botanic Garden is particularly notable.
Ventnor in the Two World Wars
-- The Great War and After
The physical fabric of the town was not affected by the Great War, although local businesses suffered from the suspension of the summer and winter resort trade.
Ventnor became a receiving centre for wounded soldiers, and the town's war memorial commemorates local men who died during the hostilities.
The summer holiday visitors returned in the 1920's, although the winter health trade never resumed. The town reached its zenith in the 1930's when steam packets operated between Southsea and the town's pier.
The Art Deco Winter Gardens opened in 1936/7. The relatively small sandy beach was ideal for bathing, and Victorian era hotels in the town's suburbs and near the sea, such as the Ventnor Towers Hotel, remained popular with tourists.
World War II and After
During World War II, the Isle of Wight became a heavily defended restricted area. The radar station at RAF Ventnor was attacked several times during 1940. The town itself was also bombed, and again in 1942.
By the end of the war, 120 buildings in the town had been destroyed, and nearly 1,500 damaged, with sixteen fatalities.
The holiday trade disappeared and was slow to return during post-war austerity. Nevertheless, by the early 1950's the number of tourists warranted 46 trains running between Ventnor and Ryde every summer Saturday.
Ventnor's Decline in Popularity
However by the 1960's, the British seaside holiday was facing competition from cheap foreign package tours and the rising popularity of motoring. The railway line to Ventnor station closed in 1966.
The pier, damaged by fire and the elements, had fallen into disuse and was finally dismantled in the 1990's. By the 1980's, according to author Michael Freeman:
"The town entered the twilight era that
characterised so many English seaside
places, with crumbling public facilities,
boarded-up shops, faded lodging houses
and hotels, not to mention unemployment".
Ventnor's Renaissance
However during more recent years, there have been signs of a renaissance, as Ventnor's strongly Victorian character has come back into fashion, along with development of the Haven, the re-opening of the Winter Gardens, the opening of new shops and restaurants, a lively cultural scene, and the growth in short- break travel.
The University of South Alabama
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, on the 23rd. September 1964, in the United States, the new University of South Alabama held its first classes, becoming the first state-supported college institution in the 20th. century in Alabama.
Initial enrollment for the university, located in Mobile, was 750 students. Fifty years later, it had almost 17,000 students.
The College of Petroleum and Minerals
Also on that day, in Saudi Arabia, the new College of Petroleum and Minerals held its first classes, with 67 young men enrolling at its campus in Dhahran.
By 1975, it had become a public university and, in 1986, was renamed for the reigning monarch as King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals.
It now has an enrollment of 10,000 students.
The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
Also on the 23rd. September 1964, at the autumnal equinox, the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD) was founded in the UK.
Fred M. Wilcox
The day also marked the death in Beverly Hills at the young age of 56 of the American motion picture director Fred M. Wilcox.
Fred is best known for Forbidden Planet and for Lassie Come Home.
Fred McLeod Wilcox was born in Tazewell, Virginia, on the 22nd. December 1907. Fred was one of six children born to James Wilcox, a Kentucky optometrist and drugstore owner, who was married six times (twice to the same woman). His six children were from his first wife.
Wilcox's six siblings (his father adopted his niece after the death of his sister in 1912) included actress Ruth Selwyn (born Ruth Wilcox), who was married to producer/director/writer Edgar Selwyn, one of the founders of Goldwyn Pictures.
Another sister was former showgirl Pansy Wilcox Schenck (Pansy Schenck), who was married to Loew's Inc. President Nicholas M. Schenck, one of the pioneers of the film industry.
Pansy Schenck was the mother-in-law of actor Helmut Dantine, with whom Wilcox worked on a film in India in 1962.
A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Wilcox began his film-industry career at MGM in its New York publicity department. He became an assistant to King Vidor in 1929, and worked on the great director's masterpiece, Hallelujah (1929).
Subsequently he worked as a director shooting screen tests of new talent, then served an apprenticeship as an assistant director on three of his brother-in-law Edgar Selwyn's pictures. He was also an assistant- and second-unit director on two more films before moving to the short subjects unit in 1938.
After working his way up through the MGM shorts department, he got his shot as a feature director with the classic family film Lassie Come Home (1943). He also helmed the two sequels, Courage of Lassie (1946) and Master of Lassie (1948).
Fred had a sure hand with child actors, directing Margaret O'Brien in one of her most well-received pictures, The Secret Garden (1949).
After directing some pictures for the studio's "B" unit, he made one more memorable film--the classic sci-fi epic Forbidden Planet (1956)--before leaving MGM in 1957 to become an independent producer/director.
However, he only made one more film, a miscegenation tale called I Passed for White (1960), which he directed, produced and co-wrote. It starred James Franciscus, and is most notable as the first American film for which five-time Oscar winner John Williams wrote the score.
Fred's films Lassie Come Home (1943) and Forbidden Planet (1956) were entered into the National Film Preservation Board's National Film Registry in 1993 and 2013 respectively.
Fred Wilcox died in Beverly Hills on the 23rd, September 1964.
Filmography of Fred M. Wilcox
Fred's films are listed below:
-- Joaquin Murrieta (1938)
-- Lassie Come Home (1943)
-- Courage of Lassie (1946)
-- Master of Lassie (1948)
-- Three Daring Daughters (1948)
-- Hills of Home (1948)
-- The Secret Garden (1949)
-- Shadow in the Sky (1952)
-- Code Two (1953)
-- Tennessee Champ (1954)
-- Forbidden Planet (1956)
-- I Passed for White (1960).
Herman's Hermits
Also on the 23rd. September 1964, the Number One chart hit record in the UK was 'I'm Into Something Good' by Herman's Hermits.
