Leaping Lady by George Douglas.

London, early 1950s but year unknown because although George kept a cut of the front page he trimmed it to fit a scrapbookand there is no date on it….

Picture Post Easter Edition cover

This gorgeous image shows 18 year old Pat Knowles, who only months earlier had packed in her work as a dancing instructor in Blackpool, boarded a night train to London with less than £1 in her purse and auditionedthe next morning for a role as a chorus girl in a West End show.

She got the part. George saw the show – and her flaming red hair and amazing smile – and asked her to help him illustrate “Spring Is In The Air” for Picture Post. Of course she made the front cover.

Who Was George Douglas 

Born in 1922 in Rottingdean, a seaside village just outside Brighton but his father was American and the family moved to the States in the 1930s, first to Texas and then to Santa Monica, California.

Santa Monica, guaranteed sunshine apart, was not that different to Brighton. George bought a battered old Leica camera from a pawnshop for a few dollars, and patrolled the seafront, capturing the locals doing their thing.

His work began appearing in magazines like Life and other publications all over America but he wasn’t content. What he admired was the daring style of the ground-breaking British magazine Picture Post, which was setting new standards in photojournalism.

In 1951 he travelled to London by ship, busked his way into the Picture Post office the day after he arrived and managed to sell them a feature. Two days later he sold them another. George and Picture Post were made for each other. He sold them 99 stories in three years – serious features, silly celebrity stunts, beautiful reportage on the lives of everyday working people in England and always, whenever possible, beautiful girls.

The commissions rolled in as he met and photographed a myriad of celebrities and chased stories all over the world.

Then, when he was still only 48, he decided to give it all up, shrugging off the decision with: ‘Press photography is a young man’s job.’