Happy group
A really cheerful example of the walking pictures art, these cameramen were so skilful to get these shots on the move. Taken by the firm of Sunbeam based in Margate, but this one was probably snapped in Ramsgate and shows the people very happy to have their photo taken. It dates from the second half of the 1930s, with the fashions of the times in evidence as well as the hats. That nice bag is also very art deco. Who these five woman are is unknown, but there seems to be a family resemblance amongst some of them.
Cliff walk
Another nice example from Sunbeam of Margate, a postcard walking picture taken up on the cliffs. While the result is probably accidental, the slight tilt of the camera adds interest to the composition for me, and an increased sense of movement to the portrait. It looks like Mum, Dad and daughter, fairly well off by the clothes. I thought it was above Cliftonville but the F negative prefix number suggests it may be Folkestone, which also has cliff top walks. Let me know if you recognise it! Sunbeam are documented on the site.
Mad cow!
Another of the crazy animal props employed by Sunbeam in and around Margate! You can read more about this and some of the other strange menagerie they owned on the site.
eeyore
It’s my favourite seaside donkey yet again! This one came to me via Richard Webb, who donated it to the archive. Apparently someone sent it to him to stiffen another card he’d bought inside an envelope…
The donkey was one of the Sunbeam Photo Ltd company props and these were dotted around their beat for kiddies to pose with (and sometimes grown ups too!) for some thirty years. The child here certainly seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself. I think it was taken at Ramsgate.
Do let me know if you have any more examples.
St. Leonards
Obviously not a walking picture, but a cycling photo. Or more correctly tricycling photo. It would be a great commercial portrait just as it is, but there is more to it. The photo was taken by Sunbeam and the print is marked up with their Margate address on the back. However Irene, who loaned me the postcard so I could scan it, says the photo was taken in St. Leonards (part of Hastings) where Sunbeam had a kiosk on the ‘Sun Lounge’ there.
This was a new location for me but a little research showed this to be outside the Marine Court building. This is a remarkable art deco concrete wonder, a huge white block built to look like an ocean liner, although the poor sods who lived in the elegant Georgian terraces behind and lost all their sea view when it went up were probably devastated. The building opened just before WW2 and Sunbeam opened their shop on the promenade level below the street, from where tourists could go and purchase walkies taken near by. Irene was snapped here just after the war, I’m not sure if the tricycle was hers or a Sunbeam prop! Sunbeam’s walkies from this location are not always easy to identify, but you can see the corner of their shop in the background here.
Irene was friends with the children of the Sunbeam founder’s son, and the Sunbeam cameramen also took some holiday snaps of them all together of the beach and of Irene in Margate. I have been able to put her back in touch with them again to catch up as it were, 60 years on.
The second photo is another classic Sunbeam image, with Irene beaming away seated on one of their famous stuffed felt donkeys. Again I would have struggled to recognise the location but Irene says this was also outside the Marine Court building. What looks a bit like an old gasometer in the background was an elegant restaurant and sun room. We think this photo is from a year or two earlier.
Richard Worssell, grandson of the Sunbeam founder, tells me these donkeys were actually made for them by the famous toy firm of Deans, who made numerous teddy bears and similar stuffed animals and characters, and the Sunbeam donkeys certainly do look like some of their toys simply scaled up. The firm (based in London) indeed advertised their services as “Specialists in Dolls and Novelties for Advertising Purposes”.
Talking to Richard I suggested sunbeam must have had half a dozen of the donkeys at various locations. In fact he says they had more like 40 of them, and they were stored in the firm’s Margate works when not in use, and made quite a surreal sight.
The image below shows Marine Court advertised after it opened, while Sunbeam’s history is on the site. You can also see more of the donkey and other animal props on the site.
Smartly dressed
Just not perhaps what you would expect to wear for a walk on the promenade! Even for the 1920s it’s a little more formal than we usually see in a seaside walking picture, especially the bowler hat, brolly and fur stole. It’s possible they were on their way to attend a function or high-class entertainment (not the Punch and Judy that’s for sure), but we’ll never know for certain. Still, they seem quite amused by the camera experience.
Nor can I tell where it was taken as there are no clues in the background, indeed there is nothing there at all except for some three rather Lowry like figures in the distance. In style and quality, it might be an early Margate walkie by Sunbeam, it remains to be seen if it can be matched to any examples by them.
Go Home On A Postcard • Vintage seaside photography 