What the Ellis Going On?

Here’s something you don’t often see, a slice of Blackpool memorabilia dating from the mid 1930’s (courtesy, as always, of Phil Barker and his eclectic collection of Fylde Coast curios) in the form of two extraordinary booklets that just about sum up the Golden Mile.
Both were produced by the Ellis family, experts in crystal gazing, fortune telling, graphology, hypnotism, palmistry, phrenology, physiognomy, spiritualism and occultism, established 1891. (We’re not sure if the booklets were established in 1891, or the Ellis family were established in 1891, but either way that’s one heck of a list of qualifications.)
And both booklets were intended to be ‘filled up’ by the specific members of the Ellis family available for the occasion, all of whom, according to the inside cover, were ‘Fellows of the British Institute of Mental Science (Incorporated)’. (Yes…we’ve never heard of that particular institution either. But not to worry.)

As always, just click on the thumbnail above if you want to view the larger version. (Go on…you know you want to.)
The idea behind these highly scientific booklets was that, having crossed the Ellis family member’s palm with silver (or to be more precise 6 shillings…per book) you were then asked a series of delving and psychologically complex questions, a calculation was made by said Ellis family member and your character/ways to success/pitfalls to avoid etc. were analysed and written in pencil for your contemplation across the pages.
If that all sounds a little complex, imagine one of those questionnaire magazines you can buy nowadays from the local newsagents that tell you how great a lover you are or how likely you are to become famous and so forth. (Except, of course, that the Ellis family were qualified scientists and weren’t just making it all up.)
Here are a couple of example pages, as ‘filled up’ by Frank W. E. Ellis himself for one of his unnamed clients.

If you can’t be bothered clicking on the thumbnail (we realise it can be time consuming) beneath the title on the first page above: ‘Description of persons likely to be prove enemies according to the Laws of Polarity’ (or, to put it another way, ‘…somebody who looks the total opposite of yourself’) we find: “From a physiological standpoint, persons who are stout, fair and have a round chin.”
Well I’m convinced. It’s a good job the Ellis family had scientifically discovered that opposites don’t actually attract after all, otherwise their tall, dark haired, pointed chinned client might never have realised who his/her nemesis was going to be.
And under the ‘Description of persons likely to prove friends’ we find: “Plump rather dark women.”
Sounds good to me…all the client would have to do would be to find a ‘Plump, Dark Women’s Club’ (there must have been quite a few of those around) and he/she would have been away. On the other hand, you can’t help wondering whether this particular client had been seen hanging around outside the tent with a pint-sized, corpulent girl who was egging him on and a stout, round chinned, fair woman who fancied a donkey ride instead. We can only speculate...and if any descendants of the Ellis family happen to be reading this, we'd like to point out that speculating is all we are doing. (Especially with regard to the fact that you've got a good sense of humour and wouldn't want to take a couple of humble antiquarians to court for making light of your forebears.)
The booklets are so chock full of sound advice and in-depth character analysis that it’s a wonder the more highly paid Harley Street psychiatrists managed to survive into the twentieth century. The Ellis family themselves, according to the map in the back of the booklet, occupied an extremely grand building that nowadays (as far as we can tell) is either Louis Tussaud’s or the Doctor Who Exhibition…or possibly both. An amazingly handsome and extensive palace, considering that the usual gypsies, bump-readers, palmists and quack doctors hawking cure alls, were located on the beach, being forced to abandon their ‘Scientifically Advanced Stalls’ when the tide came in.

Not that we’re doubting the Ellis family’s word. After all, as the ever-diligent customer, whose life was being analysed by the highly trained individuals pictured above, is informed on the following page: “According to the rules laid down for reading the head, you like to have proof before you believe things and can easily mistake others. You are a poor judge of the character of other people.”
We can’t help thinking that Professor Frank W. E. Ellis was spot on with that observation. That’ll be six shillings. Please close the tent flap on the way out.

n.b. Getting back to descendants of the Ellis family, if you happen to be one yourself then we'd better point out that a.) we're extremely poor and therefore taking us to court for possible slander would be a complete waste of time, b.) we didn't actually mean anything derogatory by any of the remarks above...after all, fortune tellers and phrenologists are the characters that made Blackpool what it is, and c.) if you can forgive us for our slightly out of whack humour then we'd love to hear from you because, in all fairness, we don't have much history behind these booklets upon to which to draw.