Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Cartoonist and inventor known for whimsical mechanical drawings, patented inventions as a child, and humorous work for Punch.
On the island
Eight records
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:09Where were you born, Mr Emmett?
I was born in London and curiously enough on the very day, month, and year that Cezanne died.
Presenter asks
0:27Which came first in your life, drawing or mechanical things?
Mechanical things, always.
Presenter asks
0:43What was your first job when you were at school?
My father thought that I should have some [benefit] towards the business world which he was engaged in … So I was doing two finger typing in his office for him until I made so many mistakes that I had to really think of doing something else. No, I went actually I went into an advertising studio … And in an advertising studio one has to do everything, drawing pictures of the product … it was soul destroying in lots of ways. But I wouldn't have had it otherwise.
Presenter asks
1:36How did that [your career as a humorous artist] start?
It started with Punch straight away and … it started through spite. We had a friend, a copywriter, at this studio, and one morning he came in very full of himself, and threw down a manuscript … a humorous story … He said send it to Punch, of course. So of course everybody roared … However, he sent it, and … it was accepted and printed … I was absolutely livid. I couldn't take this at all … I will do a funny drawing. I will send it to Punch, they will print it next week … and honor will be served … I did my funny drawing, and … I got a rejection slip. But on the bottom of this rejection slip was a little pencilled note. It said, Very ingenious, though, try again. K.B. … Kenneth Bird, the then art editor of Punch, and I was so overwhelmed … So I did seven finished drawings and sent them off. And they bought five, and it simply went on and on and on from there.
Presenter asks
3:19How long was it before you felt you could throw off the chains of commerce?
The war intervened. This was the beginning of the war. And I got impressed into something which was laughably called aircraft design … I enjoyed it very much, though.
Presenter asks
5:28Are you a systematic worker, Mr Emmett? Could you work regular hours every day?
Yes, I do. I have to. Otherwise you'd get absolutely out of step … the family keep me in order and my wife sees to all the nonsensical part, the business and the nice fees … and leaves me free … But one has to be orderly.
“Mechanical things, always.”
“I will do a funny drawing. I will send it to Punch, they will print it next week, I can throw down the paper in a nonchalant sort of way, and honor will be served, and I can get back to work.”
“I can't recall pictures with any clarity of what happened last week or the week before last or even yesterday, but I can get absolutely vivid, complete mental pictures of things that happened when I was about twelve. I don't know if there is it, what do they call it, arrested development or something like that. It's very pleasant, though.”
“We have a forge in a neighbouring village and I'm not going to tell you where it is because it's absolutely a secret forge. Another shadow factory.”