The Postcard
A Milton Comic Series postcard that was published by the Woolstone Bros. of London EC.
The card was posted in Niton, Isle of Wight using a 1d. stamp on Wednesday the 9th. July 1924. The card was sent to:
A. J. Smale Esq.,
29a, Eynham Lane,
Wood Lane,
London W12.
The message on the divided back was as follows:
"Wednesday.
Dear A,
After all, we are here
and getting along OK.
Going to Shanklin today.
On the whole having a
busy time.
Went paddling yesterday
in Ventnor.
With love and cheerio
from D. M."
Donald McGill
Donald Fraser Gould McGill, who was born on the 28th. January 1875, was an English graphic artist whose name has become synonymous with the genre of saucy seaside postcards that were sold mostly in small shops in British coastal towns.
The cards mostly feature an array of attractive young women, fat old ladies, drunken middle aged men, honeymoon couples and vicars. He has been called 'The King of the Saucy Postcard', and his work is collected for his artistic skill, its power of social observation, and earthy sense of humour.
Even at the height of his fame he only earned three guineas a design, but today his original artwork can fetch thousands of pounds.
Donald McGill - The Early Years
McGill was born in London. He lost a foot in a school rugby accident, and spent most of his life in the Blackheath area, living at 5 Bennett Park, London SE3 – a blue plaque location.
He was a naval draughtsman until his career in postcards began accidentally in 1904 when an in-law encouraged him after seeing an illustrated get-well card he had made for a sick nephew. Within a year it was his full-time occupation.
McGill spent his working life creating the distinctive colour-washed drawings which were then reproduced as postcards.
He ranked his output according to their vulgarity as mild, medium and strong, with strong being much the best sellers. His family, however, was steadfastly respectable. He said of his two daughters:
"They ran like stags whenever
they passed a comic postcard
shop".
McGill himself was an outwardly conventional family man, and his neighbours knew little of his daily work. However the area undoubtedly had its share of parlour-maids, nannies, and charladies, city gents, policemen, curious postmen and innocent clergy, all of which were to feature in his postcards.
On a TV programme in 1957 McGill confessed that his postcards were ‘vulgar sometimes, but just a bit of fun.’ However whilst spending his working days designing comic postcards, McGill spent his leisure time in the local library studying anthropology.
McGill always said that he didn’t understand the double-entendre, but then he said he never went to the seaside. However a relative interviewed in 2006 said that she remembered his frequent visits to the sea-side, so no doubt he spoke with tongue in cheek.
Donald McGill and The Great War
During the First World War he produced anti-German propaganda in the form of humorous postcards. They reflected on the war from the attitude, as he saw it, of the men serving, and the realities facing their families at home.
Cards dealing with the so-called "Home Front" covered issues such as rationing, home service, war profiteers, spy scares and interned aliens. Recruitment and "slackers" were other topics covered.
Many cards were designed to appeal to the soldier who wished to send a card home to his sweetheart, and these cards showed couples.
McGill's cards also showed soldiers in training, and there were many light-hearted jokes about the Scottish soldier and his kilt. A few cards showed images of nursing sisters, and one showed three female munitions workers.
There were relatively few cards depicting soldiers in action, and some depicted men in the Navy. Only a few of the military-themed cards were serious, such as one showing a British Red Cross medic caring for a wounded German soldier.
Donald McGill and Censorship
Approaching 80, McGill fell foul of several local censorship committees which culminated in a major trial at Lincoln Assizes on the 15th. July 1954 for breaking the Obscene Publications Act of 1857. The action was brought resulting from the publication and sale of his postcards when he was unwillingly persuaded to plead guilty to four charges laid against him.
D. Constance and Company Ltd. the publishers were fined £50 with £25 costs, and McGill was fined £10. Half a million postcards had to be destroyed.
The wider result was a devastating blow to the saucy postcard industry; with many retailers cancelling orders. Several smaller publishers were made bankrupt as they survived on very small margins.
In the late 1950's, the level of censorship eased off and the market recovered. In 1957, McGill gave evidence before a House of Commons Select Committee set up to amend the 1857 Act.
Donald McGill and the Kipling Joke
One of Donald's postcards features a bookish man and an embarrassed pretty woman sitting under a tree, with the caption:
"Do you like Kipling?"
"I don't know, you naughty
boy, I've never kippled!".
This card holds the world record for selling the most copies, at over 6 million.
McGill's Kipling joke is used in a 1962 episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, in a scene with Elly May Clampett (Donna Douglas) and Sonny Drysdale (Louis Nye).
The Death of Donald McGill
McGill produced an estimated 12,000 designs, of which 200 million copies are estimated to have been printed. He died at the age of 87 on the 13th. October 1962 with all his designs for the 1963 season already prepared. He was laid to rest in Streatham Park Cemetery in an unmarked grave.
Despite their wide circulation, McGill earned no royalties from his designs; in his will, his estate was valued at just £735.
The Donald McGill Blue Plaque
On the 20th. September 1977 there took place the unveiling of a blue plaque in memory of Donald McGill at his Victorian House 5, Bennett Park, Blackheath, London, where he lived from 1931 to 1939:
'Donald McGill 1875-1962
Postcard Cartoonist
lived here'
At the ceremony young men in striped blazers and straw boaters paraded with scantily dressed bathing belles, saucy maids, crestfallen curates and the sort of red nosed characters which McGill made his own.
The Donald McGill Postcard Museum
On the 10th. July 2010, McGill's grandson Patrick Tumber opened the Donald McGill Postcard Museum, created by James Bissell-Thomas in Ryde, Isle of Wight. In 1953, Ryde had witnessed police raids on five shops in the town and the seizure of over 5,000 postcards, the majority by McGill.
John W. Davis
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, on the 9th. July 1924, little-known former congressman John W. Davis of West Virginia became the surprise winner at the Democratic National Convention.
He secured the presidential nomination on the 103rd. ballot as something of a compromise candidate.
Charles W. Bryan of Nebraska earned the nomination for vice president.
William Gibbs McAdoo withdrew reluctantly and ungraciously, leaving the Democrats bitterly divided as they headed into the general campaign.
Calvin Coolidge Jnr.
Also on that day, a funeral was held for Calvin Coolidge, Jnr. in Washington, D.C. Flags were flown at half-mast, and all non-essential government offices closed at 3:30 p.m.
A Leg of a Round the World Trip
Also on the 9th. July 1924, the aviators attempting to circumnavigate the globe flew from Baghdad to Aleppo.
