The Postcard
A postcard bearing no publisher's name that was posted in Shoeburyness Essex using a penny-halfpenny stamp on Monday the 21st. May 1923. It was sent to:
Mrs. Smith,
c/o Mrs. Bayliss,
The Manor,
Lambourn,
Berks.
The message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"May 21st. /23.
I hope you are having
a good time.
I am staying until
Thursday.
Love,
C."
Westcliff-on-Sea
Westcliff-on-Sea is a suburb of Southend-on-Sea and a seaside resort in Essex in south-east England.
It is situated on the north bank of the Thames Estuary, about 34 miles (55 km) east of London.
The cliffs formed by erosion give views over the Thames Estuary towards the Kent coastline to the south. The coastline has been transformed into sandy beaches through the use of groynes and imported sand.
The estuary at this point has extensive mud flats. At low tide, the water typically retreats some 600 m from the beach, leaving the mud flats exposed.
Arrival of the Railway
The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway line arrived in the 1880's, connecting the town with London and shortening travel time.
Hamlet Court Road
The main shopping area in Westcliff-on-Sea is Hamlet Court Road, where the department store Havens, established in 1901, remained the anchor store until its closure in 2017.
Hamlet Court Road took its name from a manor house called the Hamlet Court, which stood on land now occupied by Pavarotti's Restaurant and the NatWest Bank, facing towards the sea with sweeping gardens down to the rail line.
The road later developed into a strong independent retail area, and quickly became famous outside the area as the Bond Street of Essex. There were many haberdashers and specialist shops, and it was not unusual to see chauffeurs waiting for their employers to emerge from the shops.
The economic recessions of the 1980's and 90's saw the area decline. However the road underwent a £1 million regeneration in the early 2000's and a further regeneration in 2010. The street is now known for its large number of restaurants.
Delmonico's
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, on the 21st. May 1923, Delmonico's, New York City's most famous luxury restaurant, was closed by the Delmonico family after 96 years of operation.
Opened by brothers Giovanni and Pietro Delmonico on the 13th. December 1827 at 23 William Street as a small cafe, the main restaurant had only one outlet remaining and was a casualty of the Prohibition Era.
At 9:00 in the evening, the orchestra played Auld Lang Syne and the restaurant closed its doors.
However despite the departure of the Delmonico family, the rights to operate a new location under the Delmonico name was purchased three years later by Oscar Tucci.
The Sinking of the Marvale
Also on that day, all 436 persons on the Canadian Pacific ocean liner Marvale were rescued after the ship struck Cape Freels Rock in Newfoundland's Trepassey Bay and began to sink.
The 214 passengers and 222 crew members were quickly evacuated and reached the shore safely to be housed at the village of St. Shotts, Newfoundland. The Marvale sank later in the day.
'Aren't We All?'
Also on the 21st. May 1923, the Frederick Lonsdale comedic play Aren't We All? premiered on Broadway.
Frederick Lonsdale was born in St. Helier, Jersey on the 5th. February 1881.
He was a British playwright known for his librettos to several successful musicals early in the 20th. century, including King of Cadonia (1908), The Balkan Princess (1910), Betty (1915), The Maid of the Mountains (1917), Monsieur Beaucaire (1919), and Madame Pompadour (1923).
Frederick also wrote comedy plays, including The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1925) and On Approval (1927), as well as the murder melodrama But for the Grace of God (1946).
Some of his plays and musicals were made into films, and he also wrote a few screenplays.
Frederick Lonsdale's Career
Frank Curzon produced the young Lonsdale's first work, the musical King of Cadonia (1908). Lonsdale's more substantial than usual dialogue for the show's Ruritanian comic opera plot won King of Cadonia fine notices, and helped the musical to a long career.
Frederick's next success was also for Curzon, The Balkan Princess (1910); this was little more than King of Cadonia with the sexes reversed, but it enjoyed a good London run, a long and wide provincial tour, and foreign productions.
Lonsdale's next success was five years later, for George Edwardes, with Betty (1915). Following Edwardes's death, he submitted to Edwardes' executor, Robert Evett, a text that Curzon had rejected, The Maid of the Mountains (1917; revived in 1920), which became one of the phenomenally successful wartime shows in London, establishing itself as a classic of the British musical stage.
Lonsdale continued to write musicals after the war. He adapted Booth Tarkington's Monsieur Beaucaire (1919, with music by André Messager) as a highly successful light opera, and Jean Gilbert's Die Frau im Hermelin (1922, The Lady of the Rose) and Katja, die Tänzerin (1925), as well as Leo Fall's Madame Pompadour (1923).
He also wrote the successful original book to the Parisian tale of The Street Singer (based on a 1912 film of the same name for Phyllis Dare (1924) and Lady Mary (1928).
He also began to write straight comedies, and his plays included Aren't We All? (1923), Spring Cleaning (1925), The Last of Mrs. Cheyney (1925, which ran for 514 performances), On Approval (1927), Canaries Sometimes Sing (1929) and Let Them Eat Cake (a.k.a. Half a Loaf) among others.
In 1946 he had a further West End hit with the murder melodrama But for the Grace of God.
Frederick's last play, The Way Things Go, was written in 1949, more than 40 years after his first stage work, and five years before his death in London from a heart attack. It was staged in 1950 with a cast including Kenneth More and Glynis Johns, and ran for 155 performances in the West End.
Frederick Lonsdale's Personal Life
Lonsdale was born Lionel Frederick Leonard, the son of Susan (née Belford) and John Henry Leonard, a tobacconist. He began as a private soldier and worked for the London and South Western Railway.
His daughters included his biographer Frances Donaldson and Angela Worthington (who was born illegitimately, through his relationship with Muriel Rose Morice), while his grandsons included the actors Edward and James Fox, and the film producer Robert Fox.
Frederick died at the age of 73 in London on the 4th. April 1954.
