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through the telephone directory with mel calman
How to read this book (not applicable to non-subscribers)
No previous acquaintance with the Postal, Telephone and Telegraph Services is necessary.
Mel Calman reveals all.
If your number has been wrongly used, PLEASE DO NOT CALL THE EMERGENCY SERVICE.
To obtain essential book, firmly hand the bookseller 9s 6d (net)
No previous acquaintance with the Postal, Telephone and Telegraph Services is necessary.
Mel Calman reveals all.
If your number has been wrongly used, PLEASE DO NOT CALL THE EMERGENCY SERVICE.
To obtain essential book, firmly hand the bookseller 9s 6d (net)
40 pages, Hardcover
First published July 7, 1962
1 person want to read
About the author
Mel Calman
49 books2 followersMel Calman was born in Hackney, the son of Russian-Jewish parents, but he was evacuated to avoid the Blitz. He was relocated on the outskirts of Cambridge and attended the Perse School, were he stated that he found it really hard work even to come bottom at that school.
Wanting to read English at Cambridge he failed to get into the University, mainly for financial reasons. He tried to secure a course for journalism but it was full so he decided to fall back on a latent desire to draw. And on that subject he later said that he became a cartoonist because at art school they laughed when he sat down to draw.
His first nationally published work was for the 'Daily Express' and as an instant topical cartoonist at the end of BBC TV's celebrated news magazine programme 'Tonight'. He went on to work arond Fleet Street unti in 1979 he joined 'The Times'. And there he found the front page that suited his talents best and he became known as the founding father of the tiny art genre. And as for why his work was so minimalist he replied gruffly, 'To save pencils.'
He wrote his autobiographical sketches from a cartoonist's life 'What Else Do You Do?' as a tart example of the question cartoonist's are most irritated by. He also wrote the text in the many books that he had published and he also wrote a number of surreal plays for Radio Three. Also he often exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, illustrated books, designed dust wrappers and advertising campaigns, ran his gallery, and worked for charitable causes for graphic designers.
He loved the cinema, theatre, opera and the arts and, ironically, he suffered a fatal heart attack while watching a film at the Odeon, Leicester Square.
He married twice, had two daughters from his first marriage and lived his final 10 years happily with Deborah Moggach, the novelist. He also wrestled with the black dog of depression but had a warm heart and a generous spirit.
After his death, Lord Rees-Mogg, editor of 'The Times' from 1967 to 1981 commented, 'I always thought he was both an excellent cartoonist and, as a colleague, an extraordinarily pleasant and gentle person to deal with.' Peter Stothard his last editor at the newspaper said, "Every true artist draws himself; Mel Calman drew himself into the heart of 'The Times'".
Gerry Wolstenholme
September 2023
Wanting to read English at Cambridge he failed to get into the University, mainly for financial reasons. He tried to secure a course for journalism but it was full so he decided to fall back on a latent desire to draw. And on that subject he later said that he became a cartoonist because at art school they laughed when he sat down to draw.
His first nationally published work was for the 'Daily Express' and as an instant topical cartoonist at the end of BBC TV's celebrated news magazine programme 'Tonight'. He went on to work arond Fleet Street unti in 1979 he joined 'The Times'. And there he found the front page that suited his talents best and he became known as the founding father of the tiny art genre. And as for why his work was so minimalist he replied gruffly, 'To save pencils.'
He wrote his autobiographical sketches from a cartoonist's life 'What Else Do You Do?' as a tart example of the question cartoonist's are most irritated by. He also wrote the text in the many books that he had published and he also wrote a number of surreal plays for Radio Three. Also he often exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, illustrated books, designed dust wrappers and advertising campaigns, ran his gallery, and worked for charitable causes for graphic designers.
He loved the cinema, theatre, opera and the arts and, ironically, he suffered a fatal heart attack while watching a film at the Odeon, Leicester Square.
He married twice, had two daughters from his first marriage and lived his final 10 years happily with Deborah Moggach, the novelist. He also wrestled with the black dog of depression but had a warm heart and a generous spirit.
After his death, Lord Rees-Mogg, editor of 'The Times' from 1967 to 1981 commented, 'I always thought he was both an excellent cartoonist and, as a colleague, an extraordinarily pleasant and gentle person to deal with.' Peter Stothard his last editor at the newspaper said, "Every true artist draws himself; Mel Calman drew himself into the heart of 'The Times'".
Gerry Wolstenholme
September 2023
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 13, 2023
London-born Mel Calman was using a telephone box as a studio, 'Only place I could find in London where the light was good and a 'phone was immediately available', he said, when he conceived the idea for this book. It was his first and produced impressive reviews.
After changing direction and becoming an artist, he quickly realised that he had an aptitude for cartoons and when he joined 'The Times' he became known as the founding father of the tiny art genre and he admirably displays his skill in the cartoons in this volume. There is a minimum number of words if any, accompanying each cartoon but the picture tells the reader everything he needs to know. And what is more they are all tremendously amusing.
A lady and gentleman at a restaurant are viewing the menu that is headed 'Post Office Telephone Directory LONDON L-R' and the waiter is saying, 'May I suggest TRAfalgar 1860, sir?' And there is the lady who walks past a gentleman and obviously takes a fancy to him so she is dropping a note out of her handbag, 'STAmfd Hl 9219' - I must confess it never happened to me!
There are some cartoons that do not have telephone numbers associated with them such as the lady picking up her 'phone and looking puzzled' with the caption reading, 'If, on lifting the receiver, you hear conversation, the subscriber who shares with you is using the line. I do remember shared lines because some of my friends had them so when you called you didn't know if it was them or their sharing partner that was on the 'phone.
Then there is the technician who is allocating numbers and he has his finger to his mouth and is thinking, 'Let's see ... J Price .. I think 0989 will go rateher well with that ...'. And then there are, under the heading 'EXChanges', a selection of numbers one of which is making a remark such as ARChway 1854 asking oif the four numbers around him, 'I've been out of order for three days ... and noone will tell me what's wrong' of HYDe Pk 4524 asking those around him 'Have you spoken to that new one at Hunter? Very nice ...'.
It is all very inventive and very amusing and in his all-too-short career his work 'appeared in all the papers worth telephoning about'.
After changing direction and becoming an artist, he quickly realised that he had an aptitude for cartoons and when he joined 'The Times' he became known as the founding father of the tiny art genre and he admirably displays his skill in the cartoons in this volume. There is a minimum number of words if any, accompanying each cartoon but the picture tells the reader everything he needs to know. And what is more they are all tremendously amusing.
A lady and gentleman at a restaurant are viewing the menu that is headed 'Post Office Telephone Directory LONDON L-R' and the waiter is saying, 'May I suggest TRAfalgar 1860, sir?' And there is the lady who walks past a gentleman and obviously takes a fancy to him so she is dropping a note out of her handbag, 'STAmfd Hl 9219' - I must confess it never happened to me!
There are some cartoons that do not have telephone numbers associated with them such as the lady picking up her 'phone and looking puzzled' with the caption reading, 'If, on lifting the receiver, you hear conversation, the subscriber who shares with you is using the line. I do remember shared lines because some of my friends had them so when you called you didn't know if it was them or their sharing partner that was on the 'phone.
Then there is the technician who is allocating numbers and he has his finger to his mouth and is thinking, 'Let's see ... J Price .. I think 0989 will go rateher well with that ...'. And then there are, under the heading 'EXChanges', a selection of numbers one of which is making a remark such as ARChway 1854 asking oif the four numbers around him, 'I've been out of order for three days ... and noone will tell me what's wrong' of HYDe Pk 4524 asking those around him 'Have you spoken to that new one at Hunter? Very nice ...'.
It is all very inventive and very amusing and in his all-too-short career his work 'appeared in all the papers worth telephoning about'.
Displaying 1 of 1 review