Sexy Seaside Postcard Censorship
Written by Angela Gooch on February 16th, 2008 in Cartoons, Publicity marketing, Social History, Town Council.
WHO SHOULD CHECK COMIC CARDS?
Distributors want Skegness to give them advice
DISTRIBUTORS who supply comic postcards to Lincolnshire coastal resorts are worried because no authority exists to advise them which are considered fit for sale to the public.
Resorts such as Skegness, Mablethorpe, Sutton-on-Sea and Cleethorpes, have no recognised “censorship authority such as those which exist in other seaside towns and the provision of a national body for this purpose which has been mooted by the Association of Health and Pleasure Resorts is still something for the future.
The representative of a firm which supplies many retailers on the coast said this week that his firm and others are now preparing to dispatch supplies but are wondering which of their stocks should be sent out to the shops.
Although, our informant stated, he has more than 100 samples, all of which have been passed by the Great Yarmouth censorship committee, he feels that what might pass there could cause offence in other parts of the country. There is no nationally approved standard.
NO HELP
He could get no guidance from Skegness Town Hall or from the Foreshore Office and even called at the police station to ask if they could help.
The police, who have power to prosecute if they consider that a particular card gives rise to “unnatural and lustful desires,” but, according Jo our informant, they were unable to advise him.
As a result it may be that local distributors will combine to ask for the setting-up of a local censors” board.
The ” Standard reported last September that postcards offered for sale in the resort were being watched carefully, by interested organisations.
The Rector, the Rev. G. R. Sansbury, in his parish magazine, urged shopkeepers to be careful of what they offered for sale. It is probably this reaction which has caused distributors concern, for the “Standard” was told “we have no desire to sell anything that could give offence. What we should like to see is a committee representing the police, council, retailers and public to guide us.”
1958 news story
The cheeky postcard illustrating this news article is used with kind permission of
Axe Nautique The Saucy Seaside Postcard
- Jolly Fisherman Winscale Postcard
- Seaside resorts fly the flag of quality
- New Home is Prison Cell
- Three day turn around of Local Authority searches give ‘peace of mind’
- Sleeping Out in Air Raid Shelters
- Polio Boy Collection Box
- Travellers ‘Gypsies’ Invade Skegness
- Jolly Fisherman Postmark
- Childrens Carnival Competitions
- Council Appeal which led to Jolly Fisherman Poster
