Finally, finally, I've heard from someone with direct knowledge of the Lewis & Skinner company.
A huge thanks to Bill Luke, former signwriter and now artist (http://www.williamhluke.com/), for calling me the other day. Here's Bill painting a sign:
Speaking on the phone today, Bill had some great and colourful stories about Lewis and Skinner's manager Wally Parker and his reputation as "the biggest bastard in the business". Other folks at L&S include the following, complete with awesome nicknames:
Len
Houghton - Foreman
Ted
Lyon - Manager
Charlie
(the hat) Beal
Bill (the pipe) Pieman
It turns out I actually have the letter authorising Wally's promotion to L&S manager in 1951:
An even bigger thanks goes to Bill for organising next week's meeting with his former boss Barry Richardson, who was a Lewis & Skinner signwriting apprentice under these tough blokes. I'll report back here on the chat :)
Wow small world Stefan, I started my apprenticeship with Barry Richardson when he owned the Sign Centre in Blackburn with Peter Carrol back in the 70's.
ReplyDeleteBill Luke was generous enough to let me rent out the back room at his Richmond sign shop for a while in Richmond.