Crosse & Blackwell

Crosse & Blackwell is a food production brand which has been in existence since 1706.

Originally trading under the Jackson brand and then West and Wyatt, the company was purchased in 1830 by Edmund Crosse and Thomas Blackwell. Over the years, the brand has been applied to various varieties of canned, dried and bottled grocery products. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to the company's products in his novel Ultramarine; "Now I was telling you about this hungry ship. We were carrying a cargo of Crosse and bloody Blackwell's plum puddings and tinned chickens and all sorts out East for the Christmas season. Ruddy murder it was to think of all that food under the hatches and us poor twats forward eating Harriet Lane all the time."( Pg. 177) and " 'Well, one night this fellow got a catch on the end of his heaving line and we helped him haul it up to the fo'c'sle. And it was a damned great box of - what do you think? Crosse and Blackwell's tin openers.' " (Pg. 178).

Lowry also refers to the phrase "Purveyors to His Majesty the King" during one of Dana's inner dialogues when he is thinking of his family. The phrase means that a company supplies goods to the royal family by royal warrant. The warrant enables the supplier to advertise the fact that they supply to the royal family, so lending prestige to the supplier. Lowry's use of the phrase may be related to Cross and Blackwell's advertising.

Satsuma Ware Grand Revival

Lowry refers to 7 times to signs for Satsuma Ware. Grand Revival in Chapter 3 of Ultramarine as Dana walks around Tsjang Tsjang (Dairen). (Pgs.85/99/104/109,116 and 118).

Satsuma ware sometimes referred to as "Satsuma porcelain," is a type of Japanese earthenware pottery. It originated in the late 16th century, during the Azuchi-Momoyama period, and is still produced today. Although the term can be used to describe a variety of types of pottery, the best known type of Satsuma ware has a soft, ivory-colored, crackled glaze with elaborate polychrome and gold decorations

Satsuma ware originated when the Shimazu prince of the Satsuma domain in southern Kyūshū abducted skilled Korean potters after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Japanese Invasions of Korea to establish a local pottery industry. After display at the international exhibition in Paris in 1867, it proved popular as an export to Europe.

"The Grand Revival" refers to the interest in the art of the village potter was revived in a folk movement of the 1920s by such master potters as Shoji Hamada and Kawai Kajiro. These artists studied traditional glazing techniques to preserve native wares that were in danger of disappearing. Later the Satsuma style was also duplicated by the potters in Kyoto, Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, and Kanazawa. Stoneware and pure white porcelain were the favored mediums for Satsuma .

Lowry may have seen signs for the sale of Satsuma Wares in Kobe on his 1927 voyage to the Far East. He may have also seen signs for them in Dairen e.g K. Suzuki & Co.

Sudoh and Co.

Lowry refers to an advert by the K. Suzuki & Co. in his novel Ultramarine during Dana's drift around Dairen in Chapter 3 when Dana enters a cinema sees businesses being promoted on the screen. It is not impossible that adverts for the Japanese mainland may have been advertised in Japanese occupied Manchuria. Or it might be Lowry simply transposing Kobe into Dairen:

Sudoh and Co. - manufacturer and exporter of curios and vases, porcelain and satsuma ware, teas sets, screens, bronze wares, pearls.....Cloisonne lacquered wares, tortoiseshell wares. 10, 11, & 12 Chickaramachi 4 chome, Nagoya, P.O. Box No. 2 Akatsuka. Tel. 586 Higashi. Factories: Chikusa-cho, Nagoya, and Mino, Seto, Owari.... We deal Production of our Own and all Round value Call and see them Everything so Lovely we'll give you A1 satisfaction Inspection invited call and see them Now is best chance.

The spelling, punctuation etc are Lowry's. It is possible that he either memorised and noted later hence mistakes, noted at the time hence mistakes or perhaps noted after reading a pamphlet or book. Lowry may have picked up a pamphlet similar to Some Suggestions for Souvenir Seekers produced by the Japanese Government Railway. The pamphlet gives descriptions and photo examples of numerous types of pottery and porcelain, including where they were made, it features a list of Souvenir Dealers. The names are given in English without the Japanese equivalency since the pamphlet was aimed at English-speaking tourists.

K. Suzuki & Co. (Kichigoro Suzuki) was a Japanese manufacturer and dealer in Bishu Porcelain.The head office was No. 10, 11, & 12 Chikaramachi 4 chome, Nagoya.Tel. No. 586 Higashi L. D. They had a branch office at No. 8 Kitanagasa-dori 3 chome, Kobe. Tel. No. 815 Sannomiya L. D. Telegraphic Address: Yamasuboshi, Kobe Codes Used: A, B, C, 5th Edition & Private.

Suzuki Kichigoro was a manufacturer and dealer in Bishu (Owari) (present day Aichi) porcelain ware. Bishu is another name for Owari and Bishu porcelain is Owari porcelain and regarding Bishu (Owari) porcelain, it is of a very white color.

The artist Suzuki Kichigoro was a highly noted sculpturer and carver.  He was a very diverse artist and worked in several mediums and mixed his mediums: ivory, tortoise shell, cloisonne, lacquer, copper, gold, silver, atimony, bronze, zinc, leather, wood, bamboo, and porcelain.  His created art works were: sculptures, vases, trays, tobacco containers, mantel ornaments, card plates, censers, tablets, boxes, match boxes, paper weights, pen plates, dust pans, flower pots, ladies bags, dresser ware, cloisonne ware, and makiye ware.

Sonnomiya 2580

Sannomiya  is a district of Kobe, Japan. Today, it is the biggest downtown area in the city.

Before the 1920s, Sannomiya was just an edge of the city. The major downtowns were Motomachi and Shinkaichi, which are west of Sannomiya. However, after Sogo Department Store moved to the place in front of Sannomiya Station from Motomachi in 1933, the area started to develop rapidly.

Lowry refers to a telephone number Sonnomiya (Lowry's spelling) 2580 in Ultramarine for the O Hiro Bar Yamagata-Dori which would have been impossible as Yamagata-Dori is in Dairen. Lowry possibly noted the number while watching a film in Dairen as he notes it after referring to adverts for Kobe on the screen while Dana is watching a film (Pg. 98)

Kyo-Bashi, Kobe

Kyo-Bashi is a bridge in Kobe, Japan.

Lowry also refers to the bridge during Dana'a drift around the red light district of Dairen in his novel Ultramarine - while Dana is waiting for a film to start adverts appear on the screen; "The American Hatoba, the Oriental Hotel, and the Kyo-Bashi...Oh these infernal advertisments on the screen!" ( Pg.98). It is not impossible that adverts for the Japanese mainland may have been advertised in Japanese occupied Manchuria. Or it might be Lowry simply transposing Kobe into Dairen. However, it isn't clear how the bridge might be advertised.

Sapporo Cafe and Bar, Dairen

Lowry mentions several bars and brothels his novel Ultramarine in the fictional port of Tsjang Tsjang, which actually existed in Dairen in 1927. One bar that was real was the Sapporo; "There we go, boys, there's the old Sapporo-" (Pg. 30); "Sapporo Bar's the place to go, down the Yamagata Dori." and "Yes, the Sapporo Bar, Hilliot. Follow the tramlines, it's just past the Customs House, Meet you there tonight." (Pg 67) "What was the name of the place?" "Sapporo Cafe and Bar. Here, I've got the card. Listen to this. Nice and clean accommodation. Quick service. Sapporo Cafe and Bar, No. 157, Yamagata-Dori, Tel. No. 6705. Soft and hard drinks. Mariners are all welcome. Here is a place you must not fail to visit, everything at very moderate charges." (Pg. 134). Lowry first used that last sentence in his short story 'Punctum Indifferens Skibet Gaar Videre' (Pg. 71).

The above card from Stan Hugill's book Sailortown confirms the address given by Lowry. Given the precise detail referred to on page 134 of Ultramarine we must assume that Lowry visited the bar and kept the card as the language is very similar to the cards depicted in Hugill's book. Hugill also refers to a Sapporo Cabaret in Tsingtao a port visited by Lowry on his voyage to the Far East.

Miki Bar

An unidentified bar/club in the fictional Tsjang Tsjang (Dairen) of Lowry's first novel Ultramarine; "There's the Miki Bar!" (Pg. 30); "And the Miki or the Baikine; you'll probably find plenty of bobbed head tigers in this dump." (Pg.81); "Miki Bar. Dancing." (Pg. 85); Dana is told by a waiter after asking about dancing; "Miki Bar is your place. All sam firm, sir". (Pg.85); "We'll go the Miki Bar some time tonight,' I said." (Pg. 85); "Miki Bar. Dancing" (Pgs 96, 104 and 118); "Well, talking of niggers, there was two whacking bull niggers in the Miki too, last night; firemen they were, and when I told Olga-" (Pg. 130); "Andy fumbling for his entrance ticket to the Miki dancing saloon.." (Pg. 133).

The name probably reflects the Japanese influence on Dairen. The name is a Japanese female name Miki which may be written with the characters for "beauty; beautiful" (mi) and "chronicle; narrative; account" (ki). Other possibilities include "truth; reality" (mi) and "hope; pray" (ki), as well as "beautiful" (mi) and "timber trees; wood" (ki). Not to be confused with the port of Miike.

Cafe Baikine

An unidentified bar/club in the fictional Tsjang Tsjang (Dairen) of Lowry's first novel Ultramarine; "And the Miki or the Baikine; you'll probably find plenty of bobbed head tigers in this dump." (Pg.81); Cafe Baikine (Pgs. 85, 104, 109, 115 and 118).

The name is Russian probably relating to the owner who was probably a White Russian refugee.

Aftensposten Lysavis

Lowry arrived at the Oslo Østbanestasjon - Oslo's main station in 1931. Located on Jernbanetorget. He had travelled overnight from Aandalsnes en route to try and meet Nordahl Grieg in the city. Lowry refers to the Aftensposten Lysavis in his first novel Ultramarine when he thinks of meeting Janet Travena; "Under the Aftenpostens Lysavis, standing in the Drammersveien with you." (Pg. 52). It must be noted that if we take Lowry literally he is saying that the Lysavis was located on the Drammersveien which would have been incorrect as the street is some distance from the station.

Aftensposten Lysavis was an electronic news-ticker which was originally operated by the Aftenposten newspaper during the October 1930 Norwegian Stortingsvalget to inform people of the results of the election. The Lysavis was located at the Oslo Østbanestasjon - Oslo's main station in 1930. No details are currently available as to whether Lysavis was used after that date for example in the 1931 Norwegian local elections which Lowry may have seen during his stay in Oslo or the Lysavis was being used for another purpose. Lowry makes an intriguing reference to the Lysavis being used for more than election results; "Standing there the news of the whole world flowed above us, an opium dream of electric light." (Pg. 52)

Lowry later recalled the news-ticker in the film script for Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night;

The feeling of unchangingness, or recurrence, in history of the illuminated news travelling way up round the Times Building on Times Square. This news goes on recurringly, in a manner that will be indicated , whenever the time of day or geography permits for the greater part of this short New York sequence. Whether the actual existence of the Times Building News itself at this precise time is historically accurate is thoroughly immaterial- that is, there was such an illuminated news in Oslo for the Aftenbladt and in other European capitals at this time, or within a year or so, perhaps the Times Building did not have one till a little later - more likely it was the other way around: what is of the utmost importance however - merely for the purpose of relating the film imaginatively to history - but as will later be explained, for psychological reasons too- is that it should, in one way or another, be there. (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 148)

Lowry refers to the Oslo Aftenbladt which ceased printing in 1881. Lowry may have been confused with the Stravanger newspaper with the same name. Lowry creates a range of headlines seen by Dick in the film script (Pgs.148-149) - most seem to be based on real incidents/events except for the death of the character Abe North. There is no clear evidence how Lowry gleaned the headlines. Lowry's explanation in his Tender is the Night film script is an insight into how he used signs in his work.

On November 6th 1928, the New York Times encircled its the Times Building around the fourth floor of the building with its famous "zipper" headliner. This was one of the earliest outdoor incandescent message reader boards that provided the passing public with electronic messages about the breaking news as it happened. The Motograph News Bulletin, or "zipper" as it was known informally, was a technological marvel of its day. It extended 380 feet around the Times Tower and, with a band 5-feet tall, the moving letters were visible from a distance of several city blocks. It was first used to announce the results of the US presidential election of 1928. The sign was originally made of 14,800 lamps.In an interesting note, Times Square is now flooded with various evolved reader boards (Reuters, ABC, Morgan Stanley, etc) all based on the original 1928 Times Tower electric message board. 

A Times column from 2005 described how inventor Frank C. Reilly's remarkable sign worked:

Inside the control room, three cables poured energy into transformers. The hookup to all the bulbs totaled 88,000 soldered connections. Messages from a ticker came to a desk beside a cabinet like the case that contained type used by old-time compositors. The cabinet contained thin slabs called letter elements. An operator composed the message letter-by-letter in a frame.

The frame, when filled with the letters and spaces that spelled out a news item, was inserted in a magazine at one end of a track. A chain conveyor moved the track, and each letter in the frame brushed a number of contacts. Each contact set a light flashing on Broadway.

Reilly, the Times said, calculated that there were 261,925,664 flashes an hour from the zipper's 14,800 bulbs.

It was the first use anywhere of the zipper, which was itself big news on a big news day. A headline in the Nov. 6 edition of the Times declared: Huge Times Sign Will Flash News. It also happened to be election day, and the zipper's first streaming headline announced a new president:

HERBERT HOOVER DEFEATS AL SMITH

Read more

This sign, as Lowry suggests, must have been the inspiration for the Aftensposten Lysavis.

Heres to Pa nds Pen Da Soci alho uR etc

Lowry used many signs in his work and there are many examples in his first novel Ultramarine. Most of the signs used appear to have been either noted down by Lowry in notebooks (most long lost) or memorised for later use:


Heres to Pa nds Pen Da Soci alho uR
InHa RmlE ssmiR THan
Dfunl Etfrie ENDshirEi
GnbeJ Ustand
Kin DanDevils Peakof None (Pg. 112)

The above translates as "Here stop & spend a social hour in harmless mirth & fun, let friendship reign, be just & kind & evil speak of none". 


These kinds of word puzzles can be traced back to the 17th Century. Removing the first letter of a word (beheadment) or the last (curtailment) was a device used by writers to add a new element of interest to their work. In the seventeenth century, the poet George Herbert included this form of word play in his poem, 'Paradise':

I bless thee, Lord, because I GROW
Among thy trees, which in a ROW
To thee both fruit and order OW.

What open force, or hidden CHARM
Can blast my fruit, or bring me HARM,
While the enclosure is thy ARM?

Enclose me still for fear I START.
Be to me rather sharp and TART,
Than let me want thy hand and ART.

When thou dost greater judgements SPARE,
And with thy knife but prune and PARE,
Ev'n fruitful trees more fruitful ARE.

The source of Lowry's puzzle may be traced to the following:


A former landlord of the inn at Croyde, near Ilfracombe, must have been a humourist in his way, and had probably read Pickwick before he composed the following, which, like the "Bill Stumps his Mark" -


   +
BILST
 UM
PSHI
S.M.
ARK


is easily rendered into English:


Here's to Pands Pen 
Das oci Al Hourin
Ha! R: Mm: Les Smir
Thand Funlet
Fri Ends Hipre:
Ign Be Ju!
Stand Kin
Dan Devils
Peak of No! no


The composition of this could have been no tax on the tapster's brain. Charles George Harper The old inns of old England: a picturesque account of the ancient and storied hostelries of our own country 1906. The reference to Dicken's Pickwick Papers relates to the following passage:


The exultation and joy of the Pickwickians knew no bounds, when their patient assiduity, their washing and scraping, were crowned with success. The stone was uneven and broken, and the letters were straggling and irregular, but the following fragment of an inscription was clearly to be deciphered:

+

BILST

UM

PSHI

S.M.

ARK


Mr Pickwick's eyes sparkled with delight, as he sat and gloated over the treasure he had discovered. He had attained one of the greatest objects of his ambition. In a country known to abound in remains of the early ages; in a village in which there still existed some memorials of the olden time, he - he, the Chairman of the Pickwick Club - had discovered a strange and curious inscription of unquestionable antiquity, which had wholly escaped the observation of the many learned men who had preceded him. Read more

Charles George Harper doesn't say the name of the inn at Croyde. But given the date of the text as 1906 then it can only be one of 2 inns - either Manor House Inn or Carpenter's Arms.

Lowry may have seen the puzzle at the inn at Croyde either on his family holiday to Looe in Cornwall (early 20's) or Budleigh Salterton, Devon 1924. He did travel around Devon in 1933 but Ultramarine was complete at that time.

Casino de Paris

The Casino de Paris, located at 16, rue de Clichy, in the 9th arrondissement, is one of the well known music halls of Paris, with a history dating back to the 18th century.

The first building at this location where shows could be mounted was erected by the Duc de Richelieu around 1730, while after the Revolution the site was renamed Jardin de Tivoli and was the venue for fireworks displays. In 1880 it became the Palace Theatre, which housed shows of different types, including wrestling.

It was at the beginning of the First World War, however, that the modern Casino de Paris began to take shape, when the venue was converted into a cinema and music hall. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to a revue called Paris en Fleures at the Casino de Paris which featured Maurice Chevalier to emphasis a point he is making in the film script for Tender Is The Night about the creation of atmosphere in the film with the use of signs, words and advertisements of Paris in 1926; "Here the signs are not only historically accurate - your research department being at the moment the memory of one of your writers - and Paris en Fleures at the Casino de Paris" (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 75). We can assume that Lowry must have recalled a poster of the revue or even seen the revue on his 1926 visit to the city with The Leys School. He alludes to the poster again; "Nearby the Metro is held a moment: Maurice Chevalier's grin" and later; "Cut to our party getting out of the taxi in front of the Casino de Paris. We see the billboards with posters of Chevalier - the show Paris En Fleures. (Pg. 78). Later in the film script the posters are reprised in another scene set in Paris (Pg.129); "Don't you think that the Casino de Paris and Monmartre will be a bit much for you?" (Pg. 77).

Maurice Chevalier

Maurice Auguste Chevalier (September 12, 1888 – January 1, 1972) was a French actor, singer, entertainer and a noted Sprechgesang performer. Read more on Wikipedia

Lowry refers to a revue called  Paris en Fleures which featured Maurice Chevalier at the Casino de Paris to emphasis a point he is making in the film script for Tender Is The Night about the creation of atmosphere in the film with the use of signs, words and advertisements of Paris in 1926; "Here the signs are not only historically accurate - your research department being at the moment the memory of one of your writers - and Paris en Fleures at the Casino de Paris" (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 75). We can assume that Lowry must have recalled a poster of the revue or even seen the revue on his 1926 visit to the city with The Leys School. He alludes to the poster again; "Nearby the Metro is held a moment: Maurice Chevalier's grin" and later; "Cut to our party getting out of the taxi in front of the Casino de Paris. We see the billboards with posters of Chevalier - the show Paris En Fleures. (Pg. 78). Later in the film script the posters are reprised in another scene set in Paris (Pg.129).


We can only speculate why Lowry refers to the poster of Maurice Chevalier. He may be using the poster in the same way as he did with one of Maria Landrock in Under The Volcano - using later knowledge of a person's politics or role to post-date on an earlier period in the person's life - though the reader or viewer would know about the person's politics. When Lowry was writing the film script, Chevalier had been accused on collaborating with the Nazis during the occupation of France.

California Straight Ahead 1925

A film directed by Harry A. Pollard starring Reginald Day, Tom Hayden, Gertrude Olmstead and Tom Wilson.

Lowry refers to the film to emphasis a point he is making in the film script for Tender Is The Night about the creation of atmosphere in the film with the use of signs, words and advertisements of Paris in 1926; "Here the signs are not only historically accurate - your research department being at the moment the memory of one of your writers - Ca Qua Ca Gaze, for instance, was the French name given to Reginald Denny's California Straight Ahead, which was playing in Paris in 1926..." (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 75). We can assume that Lowry must have recalled a poster of the film on his 1926 visit to the city with The Leys School.

Long after the death of Wallace Reid, writer Byron Morgan was still coming up with the type of road and racing stories he created for the late star. Reginald Denny has the lead in this especially hilarious comedy-thriller. Because he stays too long at his bachelor party, Tom Hayden (Denny) shows up late to his wedding to Betty Browne (Gertrude Olmstead). As a result, the ceremony is called off and Hayden's family disowns him. So he and his valet Sambo (Tom Wilson) decide to take the double-decker wedding car on a cross-country trip, paying their way by supplying tourists with chicken dinners and radio music. In the desert, Hayden runs into Betty and her angry parents (Fred Esmelton and Lucille Ward). When animals break loose from a nearby circus, Hayden saves the Brownes and when he arrives in Los Angeles, he drives Mr. Browne's car in a big race. He wins -- and wins Betty. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi

Citroën Advert, Eiffel Tower 1925-1934

From 1925 to 1934, André Citroën rented the Eiffel Tower and had the Citroën brand name emblazoned with  250,000 incandescent lights. 600 kilometres of electric flex were required for the letters, which were 30 metres high.


Lowry probably saw the sign on his visit to Paris in 1926 with his school The Leys for a hockey tournament though he would have also seen it on his 1933-34 stay in the city; "the vertical sign which marks the seemingly ubiquitous Eiffel Tower: Citroën". ( The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 78).

Moulin Rouge, Paris

Moulin Rouge is a cabaret in Paris, France. It was built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill on its roof.

There is no documentation that Lowry visited the cabaret. Lowry references the cabaret in the filmscript to Fitzgerald's Tender Is The Night; "we see signs for Moulin Rouge." and ""the red mecacano windmill of the Moulin Rouge revolves." (The Cinema of Malcolm Lowry: a scholarly edition of Lowry's "Tender is the Night" Edited by Miguel Mota and Paul Tiessen Pg. 75 and 79).