Brilliant Lewis & Skinner cocoa sign uncovering in Caulfield

Big thanks to Rob Gray for alerting me to this uncovering on Glenhuntly Road in Caulfield. It's for Bensdorp's Cocoa, a brand that is still going. It looks like it's from the 1920s or 1930s, judging by the cobalt blue and type face - but it's hard to tell. There are a few containers around with a similar type, such as the one on this page, described as being "1900-1930": http://historydetectives.nyhistory.org/2014/02/the-history-of-chocolate-at-the-new-york-historical-society/

Still, the most exciting thing for me is that it was painted by the Lewis & Skinner, whose company records I found three years ago (see: www.lewisandskinner.com).

Here are some of the pics I took today, in the late winter light:

From the street

From the back

And here's an example of a tin with a vaguely similar typeface:

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bensdorps_leight_loslicher_Reiner_Cacao_Amsterdam,_oranje_rond_blikje,_foto4.JPG

A former corner grocery in Seddon reminds itself about its past, then forgets again

Back in September 2012, I started my inner-west signwriting exhibition project by cycling to 50 locations where the former Lewis & Skinner company had once painted a sign, as recorded in the  records I found and turned into an online archive: www.lewisandskinner.com. 

At each location I dropped off a photocopy of the Lewis & Skinner job sheet for that sign, plus a customised postcard inviting the residents to come to my forthcoming exhibition.

The first building I visited on my rounds was a former grocery in Seddon where a Fishers Wax sign had been painted in 1952. I still pass that building every morning on the way to work. On that morning I left the job sheet in the door. (I tell the story of that first day of dropoffs here: http://findingtheradiobook.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/today-my-first-lewis-skinner-document.html)

This is what the grocery looked like at the time:

...and here's the job sheet, taken from: http://www.lewisandskinner.com/items/show/874

I didn't get any follow-up from the owners, but earlier this year, I noticed this in the front window - a cool little nod to the building's history:

Then the other day I went past again, and the sign had vanished once more:

I enjoyed the quiet intervention while it was there, but also don't so much mind its removal, which is much like the ephemeral character of the actual ghost signs it emulates or reproduces. Must get back there sometime and interview the owners if they're up for it :)

A couple of local media items about projects by yours truly

Here's a little article in this week's Footscray Star  about the Lewis & Skinner document exhibition currently on at the Victoria University library:

http://footscray.starcommunity.com.au/star/2014-03-18/signs-of-the-times/

And here's a press release about a talk I'm giving on ghost signs for the Surrey Hills Ephemera Day on June 5:

http://www.surreyhillsnc.org.au/ephemera-day

Lewis & Skinner exhibition has started at the VU Library

Following our recent exhibition of the Lewis and Skinner signwriting documents in Yarraville, I've been speaking to folks at our university library about holding an exhibition there. It was a no-brainer really - the items were already framed and ready to go, the big map was in storage, and it was just a matter of finding cabinets and a space on the wall.

So it's on until April, thanks to the very helpful library folks. The big map is next to the service desk at the main library entrance, and the items are dotted throughout the library in display cases - see photos and this Victoria Uni news story. Just excuse the blue laminated signs...these 'on brand' items are not my doing :)

Looking forward to an entertaining meeting with former Lewis and Skinner painters

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:

http://www.lewisandskinner.com/items/show/1157

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 :)

Spectacular Lewis & Skinner uncovering in Armadale

 

How grateful am I to Tony Mead from the Industrial Art Co for telling me about this? (rhetorical question there...)

Today I went to High Street Armadale - upmarket epicentre of Melbourne's antique trade and equally old money - to take a look at a large Lewis and Skinner wall sign for Bourneville Cocoa that has just been revealed. The sign's sudden appearance is due to the demolition of a building that last housed an outlet for the expensive (natch) hi-fi brand Bang & Olufsen. The demolished building looks like it was from the 1930s, as seen in this Google Street View pic:

Below are the photos. I managed to sneak into the building site earlier today for a closer look. Luckily the site was fenced off with boards (there's a busy café across the road) so I could look around at my leisure without anyone in this very respectable area calling the police.

 One great thing was that under the Lewis & Skinner sign was an area where bills were posted, similar to the Surrey Hills uncovering from last year (see: http://findingtheradiobook.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/for-limited-time-onlymelbournes-best.html). Whereas the Surrey Hills one had a range of bills from the early 1950s, this one was older, with fragments of pasted bills mainly advertising films that were playing at nearby picture theatres.

The two films advertised I could make out were The Battle of the Somme (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_Somme_%28film%29) and Greed (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greed_%28film%29) - from 1916 and 1924 respectively.

 

There's another one too I haven't found anything on. The title is 'Billie Bu...' and it describes itself thus: 'When this dainty creature whirls into a little Highland village in a big red motor on the Sabbath, the...villagers are horrified...'

Anyway, all this points to a sign that is pretty damn old, much like the Indian Root Pills sign uncovered earlier this year (http://findingtheradiobook.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/spectacular-ghost-sign-uncovering-in.html). The building's owners probably had a space rental contract with Lewis & Skinner not unlike this one (for a premises also down the road in High Street Armadale) which was renewed for at least 20 years:

http://www.lewisandskinner.com/items/show/1954

Lastly, I also like the way that some people in the 1910s and 1920s didn't follow instructions either :)

The rest of the pics follow.

Photos of the setup for the exhibition - starting tomorrow!

Getting excited now...here are the pics of the space with the exhibition stuff in place: