Odhams Press

Odhams Press was a British publishing firm. Originally a newspaper group, founded in 1890, it took the name Odham's Press Ltd in 1920 when it merged with John Bull magazine. The firm was based in Long Acre, London. occupying he whole area on the north side from Neal Street to Arne Street from about 1890 to 1970.

Lowry refers to the firm in a letter dated April/May 1926 to Carol Brown when he is outlining how to get work published; "I am always capable of putting on a tout cap slipping to Fleet Street or Odham's Press, Longacre and finding out." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 19)

The Passing Show Magazine

A weekly magazine published by Odhams Press bewteen 20-Mar-1915 – 19-Mar-1926 before becoming between 26-Mar-1926 – 14-May-1926, as The New Passing Show then reverting between 21-May-1926 – 25-Feb-1939, as The Passing Show. Edited between 1920 – 1924 by Augustus Muir and between 1925 – 1939 by W.A. Williamson.


Lowry refers to the Passing Show Magazine in a letter to Carol Brown dated April/May 1926 when he discusses the merits of being published by various magazines; "But 'Gaiety' 'The Humorist' 'The Passing Show' 'John O'London's Weekly', 'John Bull', and 'The London Opinion' are only too glad to receive and print jokes illustrated artistically." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 19)

Gaiety Magazine

A monthly magazine subtitled 'A Magazine of Humour' published by the The Gaiety Magazine Publishing Company between Dec 1921 – Nov-1927 before merging with with The Sunny Mag. Edited between  1921 – 1926 by T.A. Price and between 1926 – 1927 by Arthur M. Turner.


Lowry refers to the Gaiety in a letter to Carol Brown dated April/May 1926 when he discusses the merits of being published by various magazines; "But 'Gaiety' 'The Humorist' 'The Passing Show' 'John O'London's Weekly', 'John Bull', and 'The London Opinion' are only too glad to receive and print jokes illustrated artistically." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 19)

The Humorist Magazine

A weekly magazine published George Newnes that run between 29-Jul-1922 – 20-Jul-1940 before merging with London Opinion.

Lowry refers to the Humorist in a letter to Carol Brown dated April/May 1926 when he discusses the merits of being published by various magazines; "But 'Gaiety' 'The Humorist' 'The Passing Show' 'John O'London's Weekly', 'John Bull', and 'The London Opinion' are only too glad to receive and print jokes illustrated artistically." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 19)

The 20 Story Magazine

A monthly all-fiction magazine (companion to Pan and Romance) with an emphasis on adventure and mystery stories, and later on romantic fiction. Authors included E. C. Vivian, Edgar Wallace, Guy Dent, H. Bedford-Jones, Achmed Abdullah, A. M. Burrage, Edmund Snell, Hylton Cleaver, Leo Walmsley. published between Jul-1922 – Oct-1940 by Odhams Press. The editor between 1923 – 1927 was W.A. Williamson.

Lowry refers to the 20 Story Magazine in a letter to Carol Brown dated April/May 1926 when he discusses the merits of being published by various magazines; "The 20 story is a second-rate magazine with first-second-third-fourth-fifth, and sometimes tenth rate stories. That the beauty of having twenty stories" (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 19)

The London Magazine

In 1900 Harmsworth's Monthly Pictorial Magazine was renamed the London Magazine by Cecil Harmsworth, proprietor of the Daily Mail at the time. The publication continued until 1930 when it was renamed The New London Magazine. The Australian scholar Sue Thomas[disambiguation needed] referred to it as "an important informer... of popular literary tastes in the late Victorian and Edwardian periods". Despite its acclaim, the magazine closed in 1933. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the Strand in a letter to Carol Brown dated April/May 1926 when he discusses the merits of being published by various magazines; "The Strand, I suppose, Pearsons, and The Grand, and perhaps the London, are all more less first class magazines with second-rate stories..." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 19)

The Grand Magazine

The Grand Magazine was the first British pulp magazine. It was published monthly between February 1905 and April 1940.  Published by George Newnes, it initially emulated Newnes's highly successful Strand Magazine, featuring a mix of fiction and non-fiction. In 1908, it was renamed The Grand Magazine of Fiction. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the Strand in a letter to Carol Brown dated April/May 1926 when he discusses the merits of being published by various magazines; "The Strand, I suppose, Pearsons, and The Grand, and perhaps the London, are all more less first class magazines with second-rate stories..." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 19)

Pearson's Magazine

Pearson's Magazine was an influential publication which first appeared in Britain in 1896. It specialised in speculative literature, political discussion, often of a socialist bent, and the arts. Its contributors included Upton Sinclair, George Bernard Shaw, Maxim Gorky, George Griffith, and H. G. Wells, many of whose short stories and novelettes first saw publication in Pearson's. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the Strand in a letter to Carol Brown dated April/May 1926 when he discusses the merits of being published by various magazines; "The Strand, I suppose, Pearsons, and The Grand, and perhaps the London, are all more less first class magazines with second-rate stories..." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 19)

The Strand Magazine

The Strand Magazine was a monthly magazine composed of fictional stories and factual articles founded by George Newnes. It was first published in the United Kingdom from January 1891 to March 1950 running to 711 issues,[1] though the first issue was on sale well before Christmas 1890. Its immediate popularity is evidenced by an initial sale of nearly 300,000. Sales increased in the early months, before settling down to a circulation of almost 500,000 copies a month which lasted well into the 1930s. It was edited by Herbert Greenhough Smith from 1891 to 1930. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the Strand in a letter to Carol Brown dated April/May 1926 when he discusses the merits of being published by various magazines; "The Strand, I suppose, Pearsons, and The Grand, and perhaps the London, are all more less first class magazines with second-rate stories..." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 19)

I Never Knew (I Could Love Anybody Like I'm Loving You)

Lowry refers to the above song in a letter to Carol Brown dated April/May 1926; " Honestly, Carol, I never knew I had it in me to love somebody like I love you. I'm afraid those are more or less the words of a comic song, but in that case I take off my hat to the comic song - It expresses exactly my state of mind. I can't believe that anybody loved like me." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 18).

The song Lowry is referring to is I Never Knew (I Could Love Anybody Like I'm Loving You) written by Tom Pitts, Raymond B. Egan and Roy K. Marsh published in 1920:


I never knew I could love anybody, 
Honey, like I'm loving you; 
I couldn't realize what a pair of eyes 
And a baby smile could do; 
(Oh tell me why) I can't sleep, 
(O tell me why) I can't eat, 
(and why) I never knew 
a single soul could be so sweet, 
I never knew I could love anybody, 
Honey, like I'm loving you.

William Henry Schofield English Literature: From the Norman Conquest to Chaucer (1906)

Lowry refers to a "comic song", which is mentioned in the William Henry Schofield's book, in a letter to Carol Brown dated April/May 1926 as he describes to her his love saying that the song; "....expresses exactly my state of mind. I can't believe that anybody loved like me. 'For her love I cark and droop' Another comic song. (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 18)

The quote's context is detailed below:

"Refrains from, folk -songs seem to have been adopted by trained writers to accompany their art-lyrics, which were probably composed with popular airs in mind To a charming poem of  the troubadour style, for example, is attached the following refrain :

Blow, northern wind, 
Send thou me my sweeting, 
Blow, northern wind, blow, blow, blow 


The author of this poem offers a very graceful, somewhat allegorical, description of his lady. He appeals to Love for counsel in trouble; and is advised to plead with his sweetheart and implore her to relieve his pain. Thus he concludes :

For her love I cark and care, 
For her love I droop and dare (decline). 
For her love my bliss is bare, 
And all I wax wan. 

For her love in sleep I slake, 
For her love all night I wake, 
For her love mourning I make, 
More than any man."

Schofield's book is most likely Lowry's source for the song though there was an earliersources e.g. New Monthly Magazine, Volume 11 edited by Thomas Campbell, Samuel Carter Hall, Edward Bulwer Lytton Baron Lytton, Thomas Hood, Theodore Edward Hook, William Harrison Ainsworth (1819) Pg. 338 and Thomas Campbell Essay on English Poetry (1819) as well as various other 19th Century texts. It is possible that Schofield's book was a text book at The Leys School.

Rudyard Kipling Stalky & Co

This was the cover of Kiplings Stalky and Co. It depicts Stalky, Beetle and M'Turk. One of them is smoking a pipe which was not allowed at school

Stalky & Co. is a book published in 1899 (following serialisation in the Windsor Magazine) by Rudyard Kipling, about adolescent boys at a British boarding school. It is a collection of linked short stories in format, with some information about the charismatic Stalky character in later life. The character Beetle, one of the main trio, is partly based on Kipling himself. Stalky is based on Lionel Dunsterville, M'Turk is based on George Charles Beresford, Mr King is based on William Carr Crofts. The school, which is referred to as the College or the Coll. is based on the United Services College in Devon which Kipling attended. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to Kipling's stories in a letter to Carol Brown dated April/May 1926 when he tells Carol that he has formed a group with Ley's school friends Tom Macmorran and Nichol; 'We formed between us, a sort of stalky & Co..." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 17).

PG Wodehouse Rodney Fails to Qualify 1924

PG Wodehouse with his wife and daughter at Le Touquet in 1924

Lowry refers to a P.G. Wodehouse in a letter to Carol Brown dated 27th April 1926; "..well it was predestined. I did  -- I mean, rather, that it was, really. (Quotation. P.G. Wodehouse) I knew you, in other words before I met you." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 14). Lowry is possibly quoting from Wodehouse's short story 'Rodney Fails to Qualify' which may have appealed to him given the golfing connotation; "And he suddenly took me in his arms, gazed deeply into my eyes, and cried, "I love you. I worship you! I adore you! You are the tree on which the fruit of my life hangs; my mate; my woman; predestined to me since the first star shone up in yonder sky!' (P.G. Wodehouse Fore! The Best of Wodehouse on Golf).

James Elroy Flecker

James Elroy Flecker (5 November 1884 – 3 January 1915) was an English poet, novelist and playwright. As a poet he was most influenced by the Parnassian poets. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to James Elroy Flecker  in a letter to Carol Brown dated 27/4/1926; "..... young lovers of the present generation are helped greatly in awkward situations by the use of words which have been used by their fictional heroes in similarly awkward positions, or position, helpful matter which would have been denied to those who lived before the days of shall we say, Charles Dickens, James Elroy Flecker, and Michael Arlen". (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 14).

D.W. Griffith's Isn't Life Wonderful? 1924

A silent film directed by D. W. Griffith for his company D. W. Griffith Productions, and distributed by United Artists. It was based on the novel by Geoffrey Moss and it went under the alternative title Dawn.

A family from Poland has been left homeless in the wake of World War I. They move to Germany and struggle to survive the conditions there, during the Great Inflation. Inga (Carol Dempster) is a Polish war orphan who has only accumulated a small amount of money from the rubble and hopes to marry Paul (Neil Hamilton). Weakened by poison gas, Paul begins to invest in Inga's future and he serves as their symbol of optimism. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the film in a letter to Carol Brown dated April 1926; "I say: isn't Life wonderful? (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 12).

Sherrill Grace in her annotations to the Collected Letters Vol 1 states that the film is:

"....about two young lovers who respond to being robbed with the cheerful remark: 'Isn't Life Wonderful?'. They end up living happily married in a pretty cottage. The film stayed in Lowry's mind, and he used it as a thematic motif in October Ferry to Gabriola. See my discussion of the allusion in The Voyage That Never Ends (88-89)."

Stamboul Borstal Institute

Stambul or Stamboul is the ancient quarter of the Turkish city of Istanbul formerly Constantinople.

Lowry refers to the quarter in a letter to Carol Brown dated 2nd June 1926 when he is describing a classmate named Garnett from the Leys School; - a sweaty shiek in horn rimmed spectacles expelled from the Stamboul Borstal Institute." Lowry's racist description which would not have been uncommon in middle class English schools in the 1920's. The use of Stamboul is an early example of Lowry using exotic locations in his early works which are drawn from his reading.

Shaftesbury House, Cambridge

Shaftesbury House, 4 Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge was a hotel in the 1920s. The former hotel is now called Lutheran Church House and occupied by the German Lutheran Church.

Lowry refers to a visit to the hotel during his time at the The Leys in a letter to Carol Brown dated 2nd June 1926 to see whether he could find somewhere for Carol Brown to stay on a proposed visit to Cambridge:

"So I rallyed round some - and eventually ran to earth a sort of Look-at-our-tennis-court-nice-bathroom place, with a thin manageress with positively no teeth at all: bearing the intriguing title of 'Shaftsbury House' in (what is not altogether unexpected) Shaftesbury Road - There are trees in Shaftesbury Road. Willow trees? I am not sure. Anyhow trees. And a man in white painting gates green.

Well at any rate, I popped into this place and saw the manageress and the tennis court and a bedroom and a full set of magazines.

And some washing spread over the tennis court to dry - which gave quite an expressionist effect." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 38)

Lowry's use of the term expressionist is worthy of note demonstrating his knowledge of modernist movement  as early as 1926 when he was 15 years old.

Traffic

A lost play written by Lowry circa 1926 while he was at The Leys School. Lowry's only reference to the play is in a letter to Carol Brown dated 2nd June 1926; 9.30 pm, I've just completed a one act play entitled 'Traffic'. It is nothing about material traffic at all - it refers to human traffic. The careless roar of material traffic can be heard (off) all through. It is not bad - but by no means good, as yet." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 39).

This is probably the play that Lowry had referred to earlier in another letter to Carol Brown dated May 1926; "..and the first act of a rather unsatisfactory play, which by the way I have decided to be the only act (this play is undergoing a French translation at the hands of Monsieur Georges Yardley, who being a knowing bird, actually entertains hopes of smuggling it into the 'Theatre du grand guignol' for me: home of 1 act plays." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 24).

Thomas Meighan

© Arthur Khales / Fondation John Kobal 

Thomas Meighan (April 9, 1879 – July 8, 1936) was an American actor of silent films and early talkies. He played several leading man roles opposite popular actresses of the day including Mary Pickford and Gloria Swanson. Read more on Wikipedia


Lowry refers to Thomas Meighan in a letter to Carol Brown dated 2nd June 1926; "Thanks awfully for the snap, GloriabetogoodnessBebedaniels-Swanson. I wish I could be a Thomas Meighan to you. But unfortunately my hair is untidy. My shoes always dirty. My face is a Z 15 model and above all - I am not Six Foot Two." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 39).

Malc's joke about gloria-be-to goodness, includes the names of the film stars Gloria Swanson and Bebe Daniels who along with Thomas Meighan starred in Cecil B. De Mille's film Male and Female 1919. Its main themes are gender relations and social class. It is based on the J. M. Barrie play "The Admirable Crichton". Read more on Malcolm Lowry @ 19th Hole

Bebe Daniels

Bebe Daniels (January 14, 1901 - March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent movie era as a child actress, became a star in musicals such as 42nd Street, and later gained further fame on radio and television in Britain. In a long career, Bebe Daniels made over 230 films. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to Bebe Daniels in letter to Carol Brown dated 2nd June 1926; "Thanks awfully for the snap, GloriabetogoodnessBebedaniels-Swanson. I wish I could be a Thomas Meighan to you. But unfortunately my hair is untidy. My shoes always dirty. My face is a Z 15 model and above all - I am not Six Foot Two." (Collected Letters Vol 1 Pg. 39).

Malc's joke about gloria-be-to goodness, includes the names of the film stars Gloria Swanson and Bebe Daniels who along with Thomas Meighan starred in Cecil B. De Mille's film Male and Female 1919. Its main themes are gender relations and social class. It is based on the J. M. Barrie play "The Admirable Crichton". Read more on Malcolm Lowry @ 19th Hole