Leonard Bentley
Piccadilly Circus: 1949
This is a Photochrom Co Ltd postcard showing the view in Piccadilly Circus looking northeast with Shaftesbury Avenue on the left and Coventry Street on the right. This is summer 1949 and the American film noire movie, “Impact” is playing at the London Pavilion. It starred Brian Donlevy and Ella Raines and ran from 4th July until 14th July 1949, Ella Raines was married to Robin Olds who was a WW2 and Vietnam war fighter ace who flew a P-51 Mustang in WW2 and a F4 Phantom in Vietnam. Two more American offerings are advertised on billboards at the corner of Coventry Street and the Haymarket, two of the Marx brothers, Harpo and Chico were top of a variety bill at the London Palladium from 20th June until 16th July. They were replaced at the Palladium with Benny Goodman and his band. At the Empress Hall in Earls Court an American ice skating show was playing from 22nd June for twelve weeks. The show was called “Ice Cycles of 1949”, the show regularly toured America and Canada by rail but in 1949 for their excursion to Europe they transported thirty tons of scenery and props across the Atlantic on the SS Marine Shark, not too bad for post WW2 austerity London. One of the advertisements on the corner with Shaftesbury Avenue is for Brylcreem which was developed by County Chemicals in Birmingham, it was first available in 1928 and has since become known worldwide and is especially popular in America. It is a combination of Mineral oil and water in an emulsion stabilized by beeswax, as a kid my barber always used it on my hair whether I wanted it or not. It was kept in a large shiny black container which he pumped several times, I can remember it becoming less popular during the 1960s, but it has since seen a resurgence and holds its own among Men’s hairdressing products. A coincidence has caught two furniture vans travelling around the Circus, a Waring & Gillow Ltd van and a Druce Co Ltd van, both companies were founded in the 19th Century and both are no longer trading.
Piccadilly Circus: 1949
This is a Photochrom Co Ltd postcard showing the view in Piccadilly Circus looking northeast with Shaftesbury Avenue on the left and Coventry Street on the right. This is summer 1949 and the American film noire movie, “Impact” is playing at the London Pavilion. It starred Brian Donlevy and Ella Raines and ran from 4th July until 14th July 1949, Ella Raines was married to Robin Olds who was a WW2 and Vietnam war fighter ace who flew a P-51 Mustang in WW2 and a F4 Phantom in Vietnam. Two more American offerings are advertised on billboards at the corner of Coventry Street and the Haymarket, two of the Marx brothers, Harpo and Chico were top of a variety bill at the London Palladium from 20th June until 16th July. They were replaced at the Palladium with Benny Goodman and his band. At the Empress Hall in Earls Court an American ice skating show was playing from 22nd June for twelve weeks. The show was called “Ice Cycles of 1949”, the show regularly toured America and Canada by rail but in 1949 for their excursion to Europe they transported thirty tons of scenery and props across the Atlantic on the SS Marine Shark, not too bad for post WW2 austerity London. One of the advertisements on the corner with Shaftesbury Avenue is for Brylcreem which was developed by County Chemicals in Birmingham, it was first available in 1928 and has since become known worldwide and is especially popular in America. It is a combination of Mineral oil and water in an emulsion stabilized by beeswax, as a kid my barber always used it on my hair whether I wanted it or not. It was kept in a large shiny black container which he pumped several times, I can remember it becoming less popular during the 1960s, but it has since seen a resurgence and holds its own among Men’s hairdressing products. A coincidence has caught two furniture vans travelling around the Circus, a Waring & Gillow Ltd van and a Druce Co Ltd van, both companies were founded in the 19th Century and both are no longer trading.