( ''t1 r, .. /oy v~ JII-

( o,-..J• f 4t/,,

?ttJo-LDNG COMPLETE SEXTON BLAKE TIRILLEA VOL. 41 No. 490 OCTOBER I 987

Page 2

BOUND VOLUMES: LIONS - ! years, in navy-b lue cloth,

gilt let te ring, I 95C'~-60s. Also VICTORS 1950s, (>Os,

70s, maroon cloth, antique finish, as new: 1950s - f:25;

60s - £22; 70s - £16.

MODERN BOY, new bindings, ! years Vols J and '.2 -

£50 eac h.

ROVER, HOTSPUR , GOOFY AND PLUTO 1960s and

70s.

BOYS WORLD VOL. VI. bound 1883-84 Nos. I - 3£1.

Of great intere st to cr icket ers , contains large pull out

plate with fa mous English Cricketer s, W.G. Grace, G.f.

Grace and other s in colour - 1880. There is also another

coloured plate of famous crjcket ing guest s, and many

fi ne serials - £42.

Large stock of ot her very ea rly volumes, BOYS FRIENDS,

BOYS HERALDS, GARLAND, etc. going cheap to c lear .

Good stock of the usual bound vols. of MAGNETS, GEIV~

POPULARS, etc.

Can still offer some early green GEMS, tatty reading

copies, some without co vers - 50 for £25. (Usually se ll

if good at £4 to £5 each!) My selection .

All HOWARD BAKER facsimiles and Book Club Specials

available. On these the postage charge is only £1 -

for ~ quantity.

With the very high prices around I'v e kept my feet on

the ground. My price s are as keen as they always were!

Visitors most welcome to see some of the goodies, but

please ring fi rst . ·11ve st ill got the largest stock anywhere !

NORMAN SHAW

84 Be lveder e Road, Upper Norwood,

London, SEJ9 2HZ. Tel . 01-771-9857

Nea re st stat ion is B.R. Crysta l Palace

_____ STORY PAPER Page 3

COLLECTORS' DIGEST STORY PAPER COLLECTOR

foun ded in 1941 by W. H. GAN DER

STORY PAPER CO LL ECT ORS' ( 1959 - Januar y 1987) by Eric Fav ne

VOL. 41 No. 490

DIGEST:

COLLECTORS' DIGEST founded in 1946 by

HERBERT LECKENBY

Edit ed and Published

OCTOBER 1987 Price 52p

(COPYRIGHT. This magazin e is non-profi t making and 9riva te~ y c ircul ~t ed.

The r-eproduction of the contents ei th er wholly or in part , wi thout wr itt en

pa1mis s ion from The &ti to r, 1s str ict ! v for bidden . )

OLD FAVOURITES REVIVED:

It is the fate of many collectors to find one book in a favourite

series particularly elusive. A striking examp le, of course, is Ri chmal

Cro mpton' s William the Lawless, th e lack of whi ch mars a great

number of otherwise compl ete co llecti ons of William books. I was

fortunat e enough to be give n a mint copy o f thi s some year s ago,

but - as C.D . readers may noti ce fr om my occasio nal 'want s' ads

Page 4

- a book in another long-run ning series which has always e luded me is The Chalet School and Rosalie. Unlike all the others in Elinor Brent-Dyerr s Chalet School series, this originally appeared in paper back. Happily (and here I feel there should be at tremen-dous fanfare of trumpets!), it is now once again available. Armada , who are gradually working their way through the ser ies, reprinted it a few weeks ago, so, at Jong, long last, my Chalet School collection is complete.

The book is set in the midd le period of the saga when the Chalet Schoo l was te mporarily housed · in the Welsh border country. (The staff and students had b y then been forced to flee from the Nazis twice - first from their original location in the Austrian Tyrol, and next from the Channel Islands in which they had , rather unfor-tunately, tried to put down new roots.) Their adventures began in the mid nineteen-twenties and cont inued to unfold un1til Elinor Brent-Dyer died .in 1969. Her fictio nal school, in its lush lake and mountain setti ng, had its own specia l place in t he girls' story gen re; founded by a young Englishwoman , it was international, tri-lingual and non-denominational. (The author herself was a teacher, and the Founding Headmistress of the Margaret Roper Catho lic School, in Hereford.) An intriguing amalgam of foreign glar: , , -and Brit ish 'grit', the Cha let School soon caught the im 1agination of readers, and a long-lasting club was formed, whic h attracted a large membership from many parts of the world.

Life at the Chalet Schoo! was never dul l: the school buildings, for instance, in one of the books are threatened with destruction by fire, st orm and flood (not all at once of cou rse !). Gir ls fall into icebound rivers or are stranded on exposed mountain sides . In the first five books alone, Jo ey, the heroine of the saga , manage s to save the lives of six girls and one dog. The Chalet School and Rosalie, although rather less dramat ic than some of the Alpine adventures, is still a jolly good read in the best trad itions of the schoo l s tor y. It is sat isf ying to reflect that this book, and the 39 other Cha let School stories reprin te d so far by Armada, appeal to today's schoolgir ls as well as to those of us who were devouring them during the 19201s - '30s .

Other publishers are realizing that a good story has much to off er the children of our te levisi on age. D.C . Thom:son have recently rescu sitated that celebrated story-paper, Adventure, by bringiag out a live ly and well-produced summer special cif that name. A prop er story-paper (and not a comic) of 32 page s, it carries six tale s of derring -d o, with colo ur and black and white

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pict ures. One st ory is se t in Red Indian cou ntr y; there is some

sc i-fi fantasy , mythi cal adventures, an S.A.S. mission, a co-e d school

story and a footb a ll ep isode. Hope fully this Advent ure special

might do well enough to per suade D.C. Thoms on' s to revive it as

a regul ar weekl y story-pap er. The sa me enterprising publishers hav e furthe r demonstrated

their historica l pr ide in the ir juvenile publication s by issuing a

bumper book in ce lebrati on of the for thcoming Golden Anniver sarie s

of the Dandy and Beano. (Called Dandy, Beano: The first fifty

Years , th is is now in th e shops a t £4.95 . Norma n Wright will be

rev iewin g it, and writing about t he indes tru ct ible Dandy, in a forth-

co ming C.D .)

OUR OWN ANNUAL:

I would like to thank those who have al ready ordered copies

of the C.D . Annua l, and to remind othe r readers to send their orde rs

in the fa irl y near fut ure , if poss ible , plea se {£6. 75, which incl udes

post and pack ing for the U.K., or £7.35 for oversea s). Thi s 4 1st Annual will be brimming over with good thi ngs.

C:.ir regu lar - and some new - writer s are at the to p of their form:

so too are our illustr ato rs - Harr y Webb, Ter ry Wakefie ld, Bob Whiter

and Norman Kadish . To whet your appe tite for the article s and

sto ries, le t me mention the follow ing selectio n: Les Rowley enter -

ta ining ly wr ites on About the Hols - or Bunter's Dile mm a, focussi ng

on Grey friar s in the run-up to Chri stm as; 'J .E.M.' deals percept ively with The Support ing Cast in many of our favo urite papers; C.H.

Church ill ta ck les The Cads of St . Frank 's; Nick Godfr ey and John

Bridgwater eac h cove r some intr iguin g aspects of Blaki ana : Esmond

Kadis h bring s some favour ite Cl iff House char acte rs to vivid life

in The Ca ptain, the Tomboy and the 'Bull', while Ray Hopkins whisks

us off once again into peril ous, far-flung parts in the co mpany of

the Morco ve chums. And next month we'll dip again int o the

Annual ' s con tent s to 't ra il' furth er for thco ming de lights '

tvlARY CADOGAN

• * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * • • * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * • * WANl'ED: Howard Baker , Magnets , volumes 17 , 18, 29,. 39 . Also Bunter Books , w

ith

o .w. s . Evadne Price Jane books . William books with D.W. s . Elsie Oxenham,

E.M. Br ent-Dyer books . William Tbe Lawless , with/without D.W. F'CR SALE: Greyfriars Hol.iday Annuals , (originals) 1926, 1928, 1930 , 1931, 192

9 .

Good oondition . E.M. Turner ' s Boys Will Be Boys. James Gal l , 49 Anderson Avenue,

Aberdeen . Tel . Aberdeen 0224- 491716 .

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October 1937

The Rio Kid is gallopi ng into new adven tures i n his welcome return in Modern Boy . In this first series he is staying as a guest of the bunch on the Lazy S ranch . The own~ of the ranch is worried because rustlers are :running off with lots of his cattle , and it seems clear that sane spy in t he ranch i s giving information and aid to the rustlers. The only man on the ran ch who is anta-gonis tic to the Kid is Handsare Harris .

The month ' s first story is "The Lonel y Hut ". There was sanething sinister about the hut which stood out on the range . In the hut the Rio Kid sat in the silel'lee awaiting trolilile - and it came .

The second tale i s "Moonlight Stampede" . The rustlers have start ed the mad stampede , and , aioong the d0.\1boys, rides the Rio Kid, detennined to outwit the cattle thieves .

Next came "Trai to:ir ' s Trail ". Where the rustlers are hiding out in the foothills is a mystery, till the Kid , now the foreman of the Lazy S, takes a hand. In the next ta l e "Watchers of the Range" , the Kid sets a trap for the rustlers.

The final yarn of the series , "Rustler's Secret " brings a su r prise for the Lazy S bunch when one of thei r m.l!Tlber , Hand some Harr i s , i s expo sed as Scarface , the chief of the rustlers . A tip-top westerr , series .

The latest series of captain Jus tice in Modern Boy is set in Tibet , and has Midge in a l eading ro l e. Midge has cane by a str9flge jewel , and he finds that one flash fran this j ewel ...orks wonders . The tit l es of this month ' s yarns are : "The Black Arrow", "The Mystic Eye" , "Avalanch e", Mountain of Mystery" , and "Eye of Argos".

A pretty good m::>nth in the monthli es - the fourpenny ones. '''I'he Boy Who Knew Too Much" is the Greyfriars s.o.L. and continues the story of Lancaster . The one who actually knew too much is Harry Wharton - he knew that: Lancaster was "The Wi;zard" - and so Wharton was kidnapped to kee p him from b~lling what he knew.

Page 7

The st . Jim ' s s .o .L. is "The Schoolboy Airman " which ccmpletes thE: srory

of Angelo , who wanted to train as an a irman but was sent to St . Jim ' s. This ooe

ha s another tale about Skimpole tacked on at the end as "make weight ".

The St . Frank's ta l e in the s . o . L. is "The Kidnapped Schoolboy ". Dick Goodwin

is a newcaner to St . Frank ' s , and he has a secret whi,ch he is careful to keep

frcm his s choolfellows .

In the Boys • Friend Library there is a lovely collection of Rio Kid stories

under the ti tie of "The Six-Gun Outlaw". It 's great - like the Rio Kid al...ays

is. Another B. F . L. I had this rronth is entitled

"Crooks ' Academy". A rather

daft tale about a school v.here the Headmaster is a crook , and he always wears

Page 8

. 91e Bol' Wno t~r IN1w Too M1Jtn! =-

·. . ~ DICK LANCASTER , Idol of Creyfrlars~ a crook.I It la.a~ · ahoclt to .RAR.R.Y WHAJtTON wbeJl he makes the sensational duco~Dut he ., llttle ~ -mat dla secret be bat discovered •peU. dantu tor hi:m r • • ._ - • • I --....---..--------- -~ - - - -

oice scenes in it , though the story is s light. It stars Henry Foncla and Anna Neagle . " Elephant Boy" was another one without much sto ry , though the new .boy star Sabu is gcx:xi. In the film he is the son of an elephan t keeper . "Dreaming Lips" was another British film , th is time starrin g Elizabeth Bergner . I found it heavy-going, though Mun liked it . But the ve.ry best of the rronth was the Marx Brother s in ''A Day at the Races" . The brothers help a girl who nms a sanitorium and owns a raceho rse. The race at the finish is absolutely stunning. In the Magnet the wh0le rronth has been g:i ven over to the further adventures of Skip the pickJX:X:ket . Skip rend~ed a big se rvi ce to Coker of the Fifth , and in October ' s opening story , "Coker Takes Control" , Coker took Skip in hand to try to reform him . In che next story , "Coker ' s Big Idea" , Coker persuades his Aunty Judy to wangle Ski p into Greyf riars as a pupil. So next week we bad "Skip of the Remove". ' 'Giv e me a chance , and I ' 11. run straigh t ', vows Ski p . But. Harry Wharton and his friend s cannot forget th e new boy ' s past . So Skip does not have an easy t.uoe of it at Greyfriars. But next week in "The Outcast of the School " Skip suddenly finds himself the hero of the school . Toe Cliff House girls figure praninently in this story , and Skip rescu es Bessie Bunter fran a watery grave. The final tale of the month is "Bad I.ad Smithy". The Bounder finds the shadow of the sack loaning over him , and th e only one who can save hi10 i s Skip , the ex-p i okp;:,cket. Mis s Bullivant , the maths mi.stress of Cliff House . begins to take a praninent part in the series

Page 9

- and wily rea ders like me beg in to won:ier .

ERIC FAYNE Comme nts on this month's DANNY'S DlARY

S. O.L . No. 313 "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" was the thir d part of th e

Lanca st er Series to feature in the ironthly and canprised two and a half stori es

fran that series which had appeared in th e Magnet in 1931. s .o.L. No. 31 "The Sc hool.boy Ainran" was the f inal part of th .e Gem' s Angelo Lee series . 'lhis s .o.L. comprised the last two stories of the ser i es which had appeared in the Gero in

the autunu, of 1927 , plus a third story "Ski.mpol e ' s Telescope " fran nearby in

the same period of the Gem to make weight in the s .o.L. Boys ' Fri end Library No. 593 "1he Si x-Gun Outlaw" came origina lly , of

co urse , from the Popul ar . The collection had been r ep rinted be f ore in th e B.F .L.

sane years earlie r under the sarre ti tle. One wonders idly why they never

repr int ed su ch s tori es a s "After Li ghts Out" which Bamilten wrote speciall y

for the B. F . L. , and , of cour se , delightf ul Hamilton yarns like "The School Under

Canva s " . Were they half -as leep in the editorial office?

nie 1937 Gero story "Skimp:>le ' s scrape" had appeared under the oddly

i nappropr ia te titl e of "The Last Hope" in th e Gem of a few weeks befl!lre Christnas

in 1915 . The 1937 yarn "'Itle New House Ri ot" had been "Redfern ' s Barring-OUt "

jus t after Christmas in 1915 . The 1937 Tal l:x:>t seri es' "The Taf f ' s Dark Hour" , "The Boy They Betrayed"

and "Standing by the Taff " ha d been, respectively , "The cal l of the Pas t" (the

tale ...nich first in trod uced Marie Rivers) , "Cast Out Fran the School", and "Loyal

... v th?. Last " , i n earl y 1916 . It was a superb threescme - the best of all the

Talbot ser ies . There is no do ubt that in early days , in sp lendid tales of this

qua lity, Talbot was imnensely popular with read ers. As time went on his ligh t

dim:ned as he was overplayed , and the subs , eager to pour thick cloying s enti-

ment ali ty over the theme, seized on Talbot and his past and wore it thin .

In passing , this su perb s erie s , plus two earlier Talbot tales "Tall:x:>t's

Triumph" and "Talbot ' s Christnas" (th e latter never re printed) ...oul d be \El l

worth the attention of Mr. Ho.vard Baker for his lovely "Sj.)E!Cials " . And cal l

it "The Toff Story'' . The film "Wings of the Morning" which Danny saw in 1937 was th e first

Briti sh film to be made i n Technicolow : .

******** * ********* * ********"'* * "'** * *"'**

"Various pre~ duplicate O. B.B ' s for exchange e.g . Nelson Lee Library 0/S

and N/S . Sexton Blak e Library etc . Sare post war material . Few annuals .

K. fums end , 7 North Cl os e , Willin gt on, Derb y , DE6 6F.A.

Phone Burton--On-'I'rent, 703305.

* * * * "' * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

WANTED: Heward Baker fac simil e Bunter and the Courtfield cracksman , Must. be

in goc.rl condition . Ii. Webb, 74 Whi tland Close , Stoke Park, Ipswich , Suffolk ,

IP2 9Y'l' .

Page 10

"THE MYSTERY OF EILEEN DARE." by C. H. CHURCHILL

Jim Cook in his most interesting article in August C. D. gave

the view that it would have been nice to have read that Nelson

Lee had marr ied Eileen Dare. No doubt it would have pleased us

all to have read of such an event, disr egarding the fact that Le e

was quite a lot older . Howev er, I can explain how it coul d not

have happened . Eileen first appeared in N.L. No. 57 dated 8 July, 1H16 in pre

St. Frank' s days. tter father had been schemed against by a co llecti on

o f crooked business men (under the leadership of one - Roger

Haverfi el d) known as the "Combine". He had been wrongly accused

of treason through their machination s. He h3d been sentenced to

death but died in his ce ll the night before this could t ake place.

Eileen, devastated by thi s, had sworn vengeance and from this idea

E.S. Brook s developed a serie s of detective adventures comp ri sing sixteen stories, commencing as mentio ned above in No. 57. i\lelson

Lee became involved and togeth er with Eileen eventuall y brought

all the crooks to ju stice and Haverf ield to his death . Anyone read ing this screed might wonder what all thi s has

to do with Jim' s idea of she and Lee marrying . The answer is in

N.L. No. 115 dated 18/8/ 17 entitl ed "Eilen Dare's Triumph" . ln this

final story of t he ser ies she more or less saved the life of an airman,

Captain Bill y Masters. Hi s plane crashed very near to where Eile en

and her aunt Esther wer e motoring . She dashed to the rescue and managed to pul l him c lear befor e the mach ine caught fire. Their

friendship devel oped from there, and eventually they become engaged,

much to Lee's and Nipp er' s approval if it was needed! In view of

thi s th e question of her marrying Lee never arose and cou ld not

do so. They wer e very good fri ends through their adventure s fighting

the Combine .

Page 11

Eileen appeared again (still unmarri ed) in N.L. No. 130 "The Phantom of Tregel lis Castle" dated 1/12/17 . She also went on the sum mer holid ay adventure of 1918. Captain Masters appeared in No. 130 but not in the summer stories . He was said to have been in America on Air f orce business .

In late r yea rs Eileen was menti oned a few times and some short stories appeared in which she was featured but these were not written by Mr. Brooks . We never read that she married Captain Billy in t he end. She just disappeared into the mists of time . A myste r y tndee d. • * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

MULTI MEDIA BLAKE, PART FIVE by Norma n Wright

Mayflower Books published the first t~ issues of the new format Sexton Blake Library" in February 1965. The slim paperbacks were badly di s tribu .ted and difficult to find in the bookshops. Longstanding readers had been pranised t hat one in four issues ~uld be a r eprint of a Blake classic. The reprints were a long time, .materialising and when th .e "Ca.se of the Bismark Menoirsl' did appear in issue 28 , I personally found it a big disappointment , never having been keen on any of Pierre Quiroule's Bl ake stories. There were no further early reprints, an indication that others shared my opinion . After staggering on it came to an end after only 45 issue.s in 1968. !n spit e 0f the demise of the •isexton Blake Library" the late 1960's saw an upsurge in Blake 's µ:,pularity.

A new series of Blake radio plays began on 24th August , 1967 with a stor:y ent it led "Lilies for the Ladies". There were at least f ourteen p la ys in the series al l o! them written by Donald Stuart. '!he le ading roles of Blake, Tinker and Paul Dane were played by William Franklyn , David Gregery and Heather Chasen respectively .

The actors. were excellent in thei r roles, building up a good rapport ,,nth

Page 12

each othe r. The stories were di verse in their themes. "First ClaBs Ticket to Nowhere" was very much of the time while others including "The Vampire Moon" -

a tale of evil orientals and man eating fungus - was vintage Blake. "A Murder of Crows '' was a nove l idea , with everyone named Crow being bumped off by the mUX'derer_, just to make sure be got the correct viotim l William Franklyn was ideal as Bl ake , his versatile voice made the: 1T'Ost of the scripts without the slightest trace of ' sending it up' • David Gregory ' s Tinker could not fail to please , and he was not once called Edward Carter.

Chief Inspector Coutts, play ed by Wi lfred Babbage , appeared in some of the s t.cries. Mrs. Barde ll was mentioned, but never actually appeared . The series was produced by Alastair Scott Johnston .

Sexton Blake's T .V. debut was ip a series of pericx:1 plays set in the 1930 1s . Lawre nce Payne played the detective and Roger Foss took th e part of Tinker . The se rials , which ran for severa l seasons in the l ate 1960 1s had such titles as "The Grea t Train Robbery" , "Captain Nemesis" and "The Case of the Gaspin g Golatish ". Tney were intended for children and proved to be very popular . A p,icture strip vers i on ran in "Valiant" oanic which also gave away a series of pictur e cards enti tled ''The Adventures of Sexto n Bl ake" . cards were also given away with Sam Portex Gum, but at the time of writing it is no t c l ear whether or not the two ser i es of cards were the same or not .

In 1968 "valiant" Book of T.V. ' s Sexton Blake" was published . "Mystery and suspense with the most famous detective of all tiire", ran the "blw~b. The boo lt wa s rrodelled on the Blake ann uals of th e lat e 1930's and consisted of stories , adventure str i ps and factual articles on police methods. An abrid ged vers ion of "Sexton Blake Detective " fr an "Union Jack" no 2 was dredged up and reprin ted. 'nle s tory , which bad origiTldlly appeared i n May 1894 , had previous ly beien re printed in the second of the pre war Sext:0n Bla ke Annuals.

There were at least nine T.V. seria ls with Lawrence Payne and there would no doubt have been more if it had no t been for a tragic accide nt. While filming a due l for the series Payne suf fer ed an inj ur y , and insp i te of five operations l ost the sight in one eye.

After the s uccess o f the T.V . ser i es Dean and Co. publ i shed hardbac:ked ed iti ons of f our prewc;tr "Sexton Blake Library ' s". They were incredably gcxx:l value f or money at 2/6d each.

The last T .V . appearance of the duo to date was in Sim:m Raven's sEir i al "Sexton Bl ake an d the Derron God" screened in 1978. Jereny Clyde . a one time !))p singer , played Blake and Phil i p Davis played Tinker. The tal e of Egyptian murrmies and ancient curses had little style and l eft one yawning inspite of the ' c:l i ff hanger ' endings t o each episcx:le . A novelisation of th e serial was publish(!d by Mirror Books .. It was , as far as r am aware, the last original Blake story to be published . Such a poor tal e would hav e been a sad note on whi cb to end, but ·l uckily thing$ seem to be l ooking up a b it. The bllinper Bl ake omnib us "Sexto n Blake Wins", published by Dent and containing nin e r epr..i.nted ta les from the 1920 ' s. and 1930 's is , perhaps , an indication tha t sane publishers s ti ll think there ' s comnercial li fe in the old dog yet !

Page 13

THOSE LADIFS AGAIN by J.E.M.

·Re: Anne Clarke' s letter (August C.D.)

Ms. Clarke may be surprised that my list of Blakian ladies (C.D. 485) stopped short of the Pau la Dane - Marion Lang era but, as T carefully pointed out, the so-called "New Look" Blake belongs to a different world entirely. In fact, for me, the high-powered, sexed-up. organisation-man Blake has about as much to do with ithe "real" Blake as Philip Martowe (or Sam Spade or Mike Hammer) has to do with Sherlock Holmes. for me, as for many other readers, Sexton Blake (and, therefore, his ladies) "died" around 1940.

On the ladies [ did fist, t referred the reader to articles in C.D. numbers 331, 371, 385, and 398. Meanwhile, herewith a few more odd scraps of information on some lesser known females, dredged up from my files: fifette Bierce: confederate of Kestrel the Master Mummer, created by Lewis Jackson. first appearance U J 620. Camille ~ Despard. ~fri end of the Blac k Rat, alias Inspector Hazard of the Paris Surete. First appeared UJ 701. Claire de Lisle: U J s 904, 909, 918 and 923. Julia fortune: Brit. Secret Service Agent . UJs 1013, 1038, 1182 etc . GJoria Dene (Dean?): Decoy of a criminal called the Gargoyle. UJ 1307. Judith Major: Wife of the Scorpion. UJ (numbers not known). Glory Sale ~ Girl Reporter. SBL No. 71 and others. Kathleen Maitland (Broadway Kate): Husband of Ezra Q. Maitland. Denise Drew: the "Carrier Pigeon" or crook's messenger. first appearance UJ 1252. Mlle Miguet (the Butterfly): friend of Dirk Dolland, the Bat. Was dropped when Dolland reformed. Nhin Kee: SBL (first series) 360. fa rim a: SBL (second series) 129. Jessica $lessor : UJ s 1288 and 1295. Biwi: SBL (second series) 189.

* * *

Page 14

DO YOU REMEMBER ? By

" .. ... l·~~··-·=.t . ...;:-.~ ...

ROGER M. JENKINS

No. 225 - Magnets 1-434-9 - Portercliffe Hall Series.

., .. -·· .: .. , ... ,.,, . . • :::! ?:-•"

There were still sane good things in the Magnet in the year 1935 , and t:.he

opening nmi:>er of the series witih the pranising title of "Fish ' s Holiday Stunt"

began with a seeningly trivia l incident which nevertheless made a great deal

of differenG:e to the ult ima te course of events . Kipps , the conjw~er , took a

letter of Bob Cherry ' s and apparently threw it out of the window in.to a strong

wind . Bunter tried the sane trick with a letter of Fish ' s , and of course the

letter got lost . Fisby kept kicking Bunter until be found the lette.r am, when Bunt er did in fact chance to cane across i t , it happened to cane ,open in hfa

hands and he discovered that Mr . Hiram K. Fish was renting Portercliffe Hall

with an option to purchase , and that a number of juniors could be invited as

they would cane in useful . Fishy was boasting that his father ha.d µirchased

the Hall , and B\mter bla ckmai led his way i nto the party by threatening to eX}'.OSe

Fishy ' s boasting . The c:anposition of the holiday _party was unusual . In addition to the Faroous

Five , who ....ere glad to cane as Wharton Lodge would be empty that surrrner , there

was Vernon- Smith , Wibley , Kipps , and Alonzo Todd . It was Alonzo ' s gl o r ious

swan song in the Magtiet , and he had intended going hiking with his cousin Peter ,

walking aoout half a mile a day and lecturin g about Nature en route. Bunter achieved an invitation for Alonzo becaus e he was sud! a soft touch f() r borro..ing

money . Al th ough th e group seemed h eterc.,geneous , i n fact all had vital parts

to play in the plot , apart fran Wible y who seemed to be there merely to add to

the htJ:OOUr. The young l.0rtl Portercliffe , after paying death duties , was so impoverished

that he was obliged t o live i1'l Switzerland~ the Swiss franc was very .low in those

days . His father bad hidden a hoar d of sover ei gns and Bosanney , his former

secretary , had appr ised Mr . Pish about this . Mr . Fish hoped to find the cache

and then purchase Portercliffe Hall with Lord Portercliffe ' s own mney , a sharp

so rt of transaction that appealed to the transatlantic minds of the Fishes.

'rhe juniors were to help in rooting about the place , but no one re ckoned on the

ghost in period costume that survived even bullets fran Mr. Fis h ' s own revolver.

Of course , it was Bunter who found part of the heard and he went round Margate

passing sovereigns , to everyone ' s extreme s urprise.

This was the last Magnet Sumner holi da y set in a sta tely hc:rne, arii it

Page 15

possessed a11 the fascir..ation of that period of luxurious living , with a but 1er , footmen, a stable of horses, and a garage of cars . It was als o a piece of supreme self - indulgence on the part of the author , as I realised when I visited Char les Hamilton and he voluntar il y indentified the l ocal mansion on which Porterclif f e Hall was based . Not only were there a rn.imber 0£ scenes in Margat e but the juniors even walked alo ng the beach to Kingsgate , where the author lived , and were cut off by the tide in an excit in g episode that had nothing to do with the plot, rut it must still have afforded Charles Hamilton sc:xne amusement to bring his fi ctiooal ch aracters al.roost to his= front door .

The series developed i n sty le, , witb no repeti t ion. The early part was devoted t o tricks by the hosts to try to get rid of Bunter , then carre the ghost , the di scovery of the secret passages, and finall y the battle of wits between Mr . fish and the man pl aying ghost, all embellished with sane buax:nn: and sane dramatic i nc i dents involving the juniors. Needl ess to say, Mr. Fish did not succeed in cheati ng young Lord Portercliffe who came into his fortune in the end . Magnets 1434-9 constituted a fascinating series that shed a delightful glow of pleasure fo r all th e paper's r ead ers in that far-off year 1935. As I was one of tbose readers I can personally vouch for the truth of this assertion !

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * •· * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * .. * SCHOOLMASTERS REMEMBERED (No. 2): A..J.M. by Norman Kadish

I think frank Ric ha rds never used a P.T . master as a model for one of hi s important characters. Am I right? [ have slight reco llec tions of a Sergeant in the Rookwood sto ries , but don't re member any character of physical training becoming a major fic ti ona l per sonal ity . Irr St. Frank ' s a Sergeant is also ment ione d~ l think, but again only vag uel y. A.J .M. or Mr. Marle y was the exact opposite. He was a real-life ex P.T. Regimental Sergeant-Major (Meritorious Serv ice Medal ) and a champi on gymnast . A shortish, burly figure, ye t still intensely agile in his 50s and 60s. }-le 'took us ' for gymna st ics with apparatus. We had the full equipment, hori-zonta l parallel bars, rings, horse and ropes, and he still gave display s of the 'grand c irc le' (c ircling flat out) at the age of 50 plus.

We had a school battalion; no uniform s, but in each form-room was a rack filled with wooden shaped rifles with brass trigger handles. On the bugle sounding, we all dashed, grasped a rifl e, ' fell-in' in the playground and mar ched over 't he downs' (a park -li ke group of local fields) behind the school band. Often I saw this burly figure vault the railing s, keeping his frock togethe r , with his short swagger 6tick unde r his arm.

I well remember an occasion in the gym. We all had to have full gym equipment, white trou sers, wide, two-coloured sc hoo l belt and vest and shoes. Marley was checking ove r our shoes , which we stored in our individual locke r s. Looking over his glasses at us

Page 16

'fags' and remarking on the odd pairs of gym shoes, he fina lity added , a la Mrs. Malaprop: 'I don't want you boys to have any more of these cosmopolitan shoes!' As stated in the old boys' s,ection of the school magazine, 'No slackness or slovenliness ever escaped his eagle eye ••• but beneath a stern exterior there was an innate love of his school, his colleagues and his boys'.

I was one of his 'blue-eyed' boys, taking part in the inter-hou se gymnastic competitions, and leader of one of the rope-climbing teams 'hands-only' section. I took an evil delight in descending slowly so that other boys, with longer legs to be carried, did not regard this little exercise with too much favour. Learning to swim I was taken by Marley on a sort of fishing rod (probably his own invention, 'the school gym belt being fastened round my middle) , down to the middle bath and deep end, myself splashing away with imitation strokes . Unfortunately, the head part of me overbalanced and dipped under water . I came up like a frantic half-drowning kitten. Still, it did not do me much harm, and I am still a fairly competent swimmer.

Again from the school magazine: 'Such brave (gymnastic) displays and indeed every part of his work, required long preparation and

Page 17

gruelling exertion; and Marley, who did not spare himself, did not spare his pupils. They may have groaned under his iron discipline or grumbled against the demands he made upon their strength and their leisure, but they learned to know the joy of a job well done, and they will not forget the man who taught them that lesson.'

* * * *

Page 18

""\

SUNNY SIDE UP by Arthur Marshall (Hamish Hamilton £10.95).

Reviewed by_ Mary Cadogan . Few writers and broadcasters are blessed with the gift of being consistently

- and unma licio usly - funny. Happily , for decades now, that genius o ,f fdvolous geniality , Arthur Marshall , has remained unquenchable. SUNNY SIDE UP, his latest vol ume of ri b-tickling . reflections, is a delight to dip i nto . He ca:;;ts his net wide and deep , exploring everything fran British Railway catering to the vintage Girl ' s Own Paper's replies to readers ' letters (health and beauty hints such as the use of perfumed cod-liver oil or chest ~ders , and the rubbing of eyebrows with raw onion pieces are particular 1 y ri vetting) • Amongst this book ' s many gems , there is much for those of us who have a passion for school stories: the works of Angela Brazil, a l ways admired by Arthur Marsha ll , crop up on several . occasions; there is a lovely school cricketing -umpir e item , and sane intriguing speculation about the schooldays of Df:lllas ' s J.R. (arriving at Eton with too much pxket-rroney and plenty of con . man schemes) , and Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth { pictured by the irrepressible Arthur as 'a vigorous hockey captain - Cries of Sticks ' - and a regular dem:>n at the bully-off ' ) . SUNNY SIDE l}P is a 'mu.st ' to buy, beg or borrow .

-THE GRAMMAR SCHOOL RIVALS

Reviewed by Eric Fayne.

Frank Richards. ( Howard Baker Book Club Special: £18 . 00)

Tnere is no mystery st.0ry in this oollection of Red Magnets - but there is a p.izzle . The p.izzle is to find any connection between the overall title of the volume and the contents . There is no Gramnar School associated in any way with

Page 19

Greyfriars. Possibly the publisher had in mind Coru:tfield Council School or Highcliffe , both of which feature in separate stories. But what ' s in a title?

The volume oanprises 6 consecutive Red Magnets fran the autumn of 1914, Three '.)f the stories are by substitute writers . The volume is marvellousl y fascinating for the Greyfr i ars historian and the Magnet collector. It is a joy to evaluate just how the old paper - and the authors - adapted themselves to the Great War which had started t ....o months earlier.

Fran several weeks earlier the Greyfriars tales had lost a few chapters fran the very long yarns which had been the rule in early days . The Magnet itself had l ost 4 pages , the 32 pages being reduced to 28. It was still a superb pennorth . A war serial had been added, so now ther e were t....o serials pro tern instead of the normal single serial - and the war serial was often g iven pride of pl ace , as the opening attraction in th e paper. A war flavour, a patrioti c fervour, was evident in rrost of the yarns.

In the first 6 years of the Magnet there !:}ad only been a rrere handful of sub tales - just enough to give the Greyfriar s creat or a little rest, rrayhap . Now, in 6 aonsecutive weeks , we get no les s than 3 sub tales. It is known that Hamilton was in Europe when war broke out, and for a while he must have .found

difficulty i n writing and in getting wmi.t ....ork he was able to do through to his editor . We have an adequate explanation for the sub tales at this period . Yet, even after matters settled down aga i n , fran now on the subs were to play a large and larger part in presenting the stories as the years went by, and the reason for this is a matter for mere speculation. One thing is assured . It cannot have been t'iat the sub tales were particularl y popular with the average reader.

In the Magnets of the period ooverecl by th i s volume i t is intriguing to see how the sub writers adapted themselves to the ...ork.

The volume's opening ta l e , "Won By Piuck" t is a sub t ales. Tan Merry wri tes to Harry Wharton to suggest that st. Jim ' s and Greyf ri ars should canpete in raising Tl'OTley for a war charit y . Mark Linley f eatures in the essenti .a.L heroi c episcx:le, and in the end the two sc hoo l s tie, each raisin g CSO.

Ramil ton is back in "Foilin g th e Poe", a theatri call y ina dequate title. In a tale which may have gone over well in 1914. Whart on, and Trumper of tb e Courtfield Schex>l , are kidnapped on the bea€ h , late at night, by German seamen whose cruiser has slipped in t o Pegg Bay . The German comnander wants Trumper t o pil o t his ship i n the bay , or the two boy s will be shot, Trumper agree s to pi l o t the ship - and like a true patriot , piles the German cruiser up on the rocks . I wonder whether the absurdi t y of th e plot struc k the youthfu l readers of 1914 . Would the Camiander of a Gerrran cruiser really ask a schex>lboy to pilot his shi p? Maybe in 19 1 4 they were read y to bel i eve an y imbecil i ty of th e Huns .

"The Photo Prize" is another sub story. A news paper offers a pr ize for the best set of amateur snapshots, and Bunter sets out te win it. The next tale was another war yarn f ran Harnil tol'l, and it was a famous t ale in its day, though it is ma.inly forgotten nc,,., , It has the feeble title of "I.Doking For Alonzo", though th e Magnet's red cover carries the far rror e striking caption of "Harry Wharton & Co. i n France". Pe ter Todd gets the a larmin g news that Alonzo and his Uncle Benjamin are stranded in SWitz erland following a holida y . The Bounder and Pet er set out to fin d them . A sombre ta le, but ingenious and ex c iting .

Page 20

Undoubtedly the star turn of the bxJc, and well worth the admission rroney .

Next "The Reign of Terror" would seem to be the first sub Greyfriars sto ry

fran Samways . He must have been very young and in expe rienced at the time . Gadsby

of Highcliffe canes to Greyfriars as a denti st, Mr. Theodore Lugg , and proceeds

to extract Greyf riars teeth . Tales of schoolboys in disguise always strain the

credulity of the reader, but to imagine a schoolboy , disguised as a dentist,

bei ng ri ght up again st you without your reali sin g that he is a boy in disguise

with forceps, rather goes over the limit . This tale is so preposterous that

it cannot miss giving you fun . Fin ally , it canes to Hamilton to strain the credulity, in "The Black Foot -

ballers ". Mr . Quelch be cane s sanething of a tyran t , and bans a f,?Ot.ball matc h ,

against St . Jim ' s . t1arry Wharton & Co ., overcane the t roubl e by disguisbg them-

selves , as the tit.le suggests. So , a volume packed with intere st , especially for the his torian . And the

production , as alway s with these lovely books , is superb .

CRICK ET BOOKS (PAVILION LIBRARY SERIES: £5.95 each)

Reviewed by Eric Lawre nce.

'l'he author spent the surrrner of 1978 touring England to di scover how cricke t

was surv1.vl.Ilg the influence of Kerry Packer and the resultin g upsurge in

materialism, which was rep:,rted to be undenni.ning the general health of the garre .

The frui ts of his research aze contained in this book where he covers cricket

at all level s fran school and village club to Test matrn , passing through League

and Mino r county on the way. The 1978 sea son was plagued with bad we,:1ther , and

rMny of the 111Bt.ches he watched were affe cted by rain . Nevertheles ,s , he has

captured the fundalrentcil nature of the game in a way not alway s achieved by othe r

writers . It i s sug gest ed in the fir st introd uct ion that part of the :ceason fo r

this perception is the fact that Geoffrey Mcx,rhouse is not a pr ofes sio n.a l cricket

writer, and he has therefore brought a fresh and sympath etic mind to his subject ,

a mind which has not becane conditioned over the years to the gradual changes

in the game. This is a most absorb i ng book , one which is diffic ult to put down . It should

be en joyed by all who watch and savour English cricket at any or a.ll of its

stra tas .

P.G.H. PINJl1Jt - A BI~ - by Ridlard Sb:eetal

Percy George Herbert Fender was considered by many knowledgeable cricketers

to be the fines t county captain who was never chosen to lead his country in Test

natches. .Fran 1914 to the mid-1930s he was one of the 110st. con trove rs ial persona-

lities in the garre, irrrnensely popular with pl ayers and spectators but regarded

with sare disapproval by cri cke t ' s hierarchy , probably because of his outspoken

nature . This latter characteristic may have been resp:,nsible for him not being

selected for the England captaincy . For about a decade he was captain of Surrey

and he brought to that task a zest , sagacity and shrewd tactica1l ability

unequalled in other countries.

Page 21

The Australian-made television series "Bo::lyline" was quite p:,pu lar wi t h the general pililic, but was justly ridiculed by those who know cricket . It depict ed Fender as sareone who wore a rronocle and played the l)]celele, and I remember staring at the T.V . Sel:"een ir} amazement at this gross misrepresentation of the man. It might well have been a character from a novel by P . G. Wodehouse and it was described by his daughter as a "diabolical distortion" whi.ch had t0 be concealed from her ageing father .

Cartoonists however, lo ved Fender. Tall, thin , curly-hai red , bespectac l ed , moustached and often wearing a sweater so long that the bottom nine inches or so had to be turn ed up, he was a dream subject and as such, was imrortalised in the cartoons of Tan Webster and that fine Australian bowler Arthur Mailey.

One day in August 1927 when playin g for Surrey against Northaroptons hire, Fe nder .scored a century i n 35 minutes an d ended with 113 not out. This i s s ti 1J a firs t c;:l ass cri cket i ng recor d , althoug h equalled a few years ago in grotesquely contrived circumstances .

Richard Streeton has written a fine and tasteful b iogra.i;:hy of a great cricketer who was also a g-xeat cha,racter. Fender died in 1985 at 92 years of age , just four years after the orig i nal publication of this book.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * • * * • * * * * ANSWERS TO SONG TITLE QUIZ (From Augus t C.D.)

1. Two sleepy people. 2. Among my souvenirs 3. 1 1 11 see you in my dreams 4. It ' s a lovely day taoorrow 5. Lazy bones 6. A pr et ty girl is like a melody 7. Chorus gent l emen 8 • Blue m:x::m 9 . Deep purple

io . Once in love with Amy 11 . Singin ' in the rain 12. Stardust

13 . Sweet Lorraine L4 . These foolish thin9s 15 . When I grow too old to drea m 16 . My old shako 17. The anniversary waltz 18. Anything goes 19 . All the things you are 20 . The birth of the bl ue s 21. Embraceable you 22. Goody, goody 23 . A foggy day 24. I ' ll see you again

Our w inner is Mr . G. W. Brickell of Bath, wi t h 22 correct titles . (Nos. 7 and 16 stumped eve r ybody !). Th e book token prize awarded by Mr. Eric L awrence has heen sent to Mr . Bricke l l .

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Page 22

LETTERS TO THE EDITRESS !!

BILL UFl'S (Landon) I stand of course corrected on Alfred Fdgar's editorship

on Pluck. Scmehow th e date had got muddled up. He was certainl y editor of that

paper during its run under Addington Symonds , as he wrote about his ability on

the paper during its run . Edgar , af ter The Nelson Lee Library day s , probab ly

went on th e Startler/Bu.llseye/Surprise editorial grou p , where he wrote many o f

th e nos t farrous stories in Bullseye .

I greatly enjoyed Lesl ie Laskey ' s article on ec:iitor ia ls. But it is a fac t

that some were not devi5ed or written by the editor at all. "Cane in to the Office

Boys and Girls " was the bi.a.in child of E. L . Mc.'(eag who was editor of various girls'

papers , and had nothing to do with the Magnet staff. It was he wt10 answered

r eade rs' qu erie s fo r years , and a ll th e editor (or sub-editor) had to do was to

add the contents of next week ' s thr illing story . D. C. Thomson pape r ::: certainly

had editor i als - the ll'Cst farrous being liotsp.ir's ' Sez You ' - so different f ran

Amalgamated Press Ltd. It shc,...,ed_ a breezy youn g man who addressed boys as equals

- as chums - in a very -friend ly svirit , or treated readers as per sonal fr iends ,

and never in a condescend ing manner .

In answe r to D.J . Rardmcm (Australia) in the August c.o ., the school hardcover

story "Cousins at Carsdale" was wri tten by Hubert J . Robinson and p1..1blished in

January 1933 at l/6d . by Nesbit & Co. He only wrote about four books , pro bably

hi s np st successful l:leing "The Imposture Prefect" that had s evera.l reprints .

I kncM nothing abou t the writer, though this may have be en a nan-d ,e-plurne for

a be tt er kno,,.,n author. (&lit.or ' s note : Mr . Robert J . Kir kpatrick and Mr . Ray

Hopkins al s o ga ve us in fo rmation about. this book) .

c.e. ~ (Exe te r) Our Editor ' s remarks on her holiday in Italy , and seeing

Vesuvius or Vesuvio as they say out there, were n:ost in t lil'esting to me.. I believe

the l a st time an eruption of note was in 1944 . I was around there at the time

and well remember what a sight it was. By cay masses of srroke and asheis and wha t-

ever towering into the sky and at night the peak seemeo to be on fire: , We could

see th e g lowing lava pour in g down the mountainsides . Rat.her soaring, r eally ,

being as near as we were (courtesy of the Army! ) Luc;:kily we were :soon off to

Bari on the Adr iati c , ea s t of Napl es . Even there, about 100 miles or so away ,

when i t rained the rain was dirty from th e dirt and sm::>ke. We found on returni ng

fran journeys that we were absolutely covered with dirty grey dust which took

sane get ting r id of . Later we were in a tiny village right beh in d Vesuvius ealled

Africola. There the lava dust was inches thiek everywhere and was sc, light that

wa1king about di str.urllled it are we found we were walking abo ut in a thick gre y

clooo. knee high . We were thankful. to depart . I f anyone reading thi s was there

at tha t time I should like to hear fran them .

NmDff E.L. ~ (Hi gh Wycanbe ) Upon reailing George Perry ' s~rt, A Bear ' s

Life , 1 note with in~e~est that Alfred Bestall did the artwork for a publication

"Eve" producing a certificate headed:-(continued over/ • • )

EVE

The Gir l s ' Salon for the advancement of A:rt, Music , Literature and all good works arrong the younger readers of .-.Eve''

can any reader offer some cl ue about a publication of this nature?

Page 23

PF:l'E ~ (Northampton) I note that Danny is looking forward to "Another Wun Lung" China series . I have long held the opinion that this ser ie s was meant to be j ust that . But because of the Japanese invasion of China (July 1937) Frank Richards deemed i t prudent to cut it short. Perhaps ehat is why we had two foreign hi:>liday stories next year ~

G.W. M1IS:N (Torqua y) If "Danny" (August C.D . ) regards Grundy as a "bore'', why did he buy , artd read a (1937) watered down version of a (1915) Vintage Gem, the f onrer with the obvious title of "Fditr Grundy '' ? George Alfred Grundy, I consi der , was ,always well adapted to the role for wh.ici1 he was created by Charle s Hamilton , and his "image" was never intended to be sub sequently reduced an6 dictorted by the blue pencils of indifferent, editorial assi stan ts .

G:lUX:11 R.IB:W (Chester le Street) I hav e j ust been reading one of the 5th series Sexton Blakes - "This Spy Must Die" by Peter Saxon . It was not a detect i ve story , but simply a thriller . Blake had to try and get a man out of Russia. Ho..rever it went at a very fast pace with plenty of thrills and ex citanent all the way through . Whilst I was reading it I thought what a pity it had not bee n made in to a film. I am sure it would be every bit as , or perhaps more , exciting than any of the James Bond films I have seen . I think the film producers miss a trerrendous number of good stories which could be t urned in to J.x»c office hits if only they were aware of what i s available in our hobby .

* **** *** * * *** * *"** * **** * ****** ******* **

By

CLIFF HOUSE

CORNER, MARGERY WOODS

Most ardent collectors have wild, wonderful dreams in which th ey go to an auction , or car boot sale or scruffy l i tt.le junk. shop and discover gor geous piles of old storypapers sleeping under col:;:,.vebs in a forgotten corne r - at which poin t the dream er usually wakes up . But occasieamally dreams do come true , as one of mine did this week .

Page 24

The fhone rang , and a couple of days later - -on my birthday , which really

made my day -- the whole of Vol. I of THE SCHCOI.GIRL arrived at my doo,r , courtesy

of our caring Royal Mail . 1 haven ' t yet quite got over tl1e shock , espec ia l! y

as the first six issues carried the seduc tiv e bait for new rea den; , six r ea l

i;i'lotos of farrou s film st ar s , FREE~ and two of these delightful little freebees

had actually survived nearly sixty yeax:s between the pages . (Alas , Cl i ve Brook

was miss in g ! Since se eing him recent ly in an ol d movie on Channel 4 I have under-

stood what they meant by st.roog, sil ent, rrovie heroes.) But of wuch greater

interest was th e content of this new storypaper , th e su ccessor to the sadly

defunct SCHOOLFRIEND. The date of number one was August 3rd , 192

9 , the cover a mixture of orange

and purple , not to my mind a s attracti ve as the px:eclaninately dark blue against

orange of later years when the Cliff House girls of th e delight'ful Laidler

i llustrations adorned the covers . The Editor ' s Page was on the inner cover and

depicted the Editor with a fine arr ay of attr a cti ve schoolgirl tale,nt gathered

round his desk . The inev itable pipe was much in evidenc e , no doubt to pranote

the safe , father-figure image of this new influen ce 011 impressionable young minds.

A. P . seerred dE,termined to hook their readership this time . N les s than

four serials ec:.mrenced i n the fi rst issue. CINDERELLA OF THE CIRCUS fran the

capable and relidble pen of Muri el Holden held th .e prime spot, and pl:ime resp::m-

sibility for ensuring that th e r ead er con tinued to read on and reach ser ial number

two , dil historical adventure , IN THE DAYS OF THE TERROR, by Joy Phillips . Then

to make a chang e -- s ure l y they ' d cau gh t their audience by then- -- they pr esented

a lon g canplete story , THE SEDU:r OF THE OLD KEEP, by Louise Car 1 ton, with old

ruined castle , caravan , and a beautiful gipsy gi rl and mystery . Next--never

let up !-- - the serial. forinat returned , this time by Eli se Probyn , yet another

of A. P. ' s popcu.ar a uth ors , entitled THE RIVIERA REVELLERS, perhaps to be a

vicarious holiday exper i ence for all th ose not-very-well-off children of tho se

dark depression days to whan the Riv i era was on ly a name on their school atlas

and l ik ely to remain just that.

La stl y , tu cked away alrrost diffidently within the back pages was th e only

schoo l sto ry in the paper , the fourth serial , by Hil da Richards , THEIR FEUD AT

SOKX)L, in vitin g the reader to meet Barbara Redfern and Co . of Cli£f House School.

Th is Cliff House r evival , whether by accid ent or design , began in a slight ly

different writ;ing st.yle to most of the C.H . stories in that the first two instal -

ments were told .Eran the vi ewpoint gf Cicely Frane, a new gi rl j,ust arrivin g

at the school . The us e of this writin g method , widely used in much popular

f iction, meant that r,ew rea der s , nost of whcm, if not all , would be meeting Babs

and co. for the fiJ!"s t tim e, were introd uced to them and the sc hoo l through th e

eyes of a neW€aner. And so , without the need to resort to tedious narrati ve

explaining who was woo, who was a goodie and_ who was a meanie , the characters

of the girls were instantly expressed and the leading lights registered in the

readers ' imagination. La t er , the writin g sty l e falls back into th e famili ar

"author anniscient", allo.,ing the author to observe fran a neutral angle or enter

the heart of any one particular character , very useful f or errotional impact and

heightened readei:-identiffoation . But then , the A.P. swry-spiMers were skill ed

at their craft, the "right " meth0d of treating a storyline c,3me to them

unfailingly.

•

Page 25

It was to be at least another two years before John Wheway took over Cliff House , but in those early days of THE SCHOOLGIRL he could be f ound getting into t op ge ar f.or the years t o come whe n Cl i ff House would reach what many devDtees cons id er the great years of the schcx,1. Here in issue 16 o f 1929 he gave us "a fascinating new seri a l" NAIDA OF THE MYSrIC NILE by Heather Granger , in whic h one can discern s tr an ge echoes of the future rather than the pa.st: when Babs and Co . would share many exciting adventures in Egypt and surely the irost exotic of all Chris tma sses wit h the Pr ince s s Naida of Luxor * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * • * * * * * * * - * * * * * * * * * DISPOSING of rror e of my collection , ANNUALS; Boys ' and Girls ' hard and paper ba cks ; Modem Boys , Lees , Gems , Magnets , etc . Bound and Loose . S . A. E. for full list . E . McPherson , ' Tynings ' , UpPer Milton , Wells , Sanerset , 131>.5 3AJ .

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ·T ' .,.•-4

Page 26

. , . -:,,., ·. ,~

NEWS OF THE OLD BOYS BOUK CLUBS] ~ //

·. ~..., .. . ·.

... ;.i :

\ .•. · .. · .... -, ···~ , . . 2 ,\l .~ ..

CAMBR IDGE CLUB

The first meet ing of our 1987 /88 se ason too k the form of

a vi~it to Neville and Ruth Wood's del ightf ul home at :Swef fli ng,

Su ffolk, on Sunda y, 6th Sep tember.

Cl ub business co mpl ete d, Nev ille t rea ted us i:u u ~rr;senta ti on

abo ut 'th e Art of Ja cques Ta ti - highligh t ing t he Fre nc hman's stylis hly

observ ed humour by showing a video of 'Mon Oncle' from the

n1netee n fi ftie s. After thanking our hosts for thei r lavi

s h ent ert ain ing of our

Cambrid ge par ty , we dep art ed in the usual torr e ntial dow npour -

un for tun a tel y only too co mmon this summer of 1987.

ADR IAN PEH.K INS

NORT HERN OLD BOYS' BOOK CLUB

Holi days and othe r engagemen ts inevitabl y led to a sligl~t ly

lower attendance of ten at the 449 mee t ing of the cl ub on

5th Se pte mber . Rev d. Geoffr ey Good agree d t o ta ke the Cha ir

and, a fte r cl ub business , de light ed a ll prese nt wit h a reading in his

own, inim itable s ty le , of Magne t 1277: 'Billy Bunt er 's Elad Luc k' ,

in whic h the Re move are tro ubled by a wasp. Later he read anoth er

humoro us piece of fr ank Richard' s writin g, thi s ti me from 'Gr ey fria rs

for Gr ownups' by L. Sut to n (fr om Magnet 617, when Gosling became

enta ngled with ma tr imonial sc hemes).

Bet ween these tw o exce llen t items Harry Blowers gav e us an

unusu a l quiz enti t led 'fieti onal Cha ra ct ers of Law and Order ' . As

usual our oldest me mbe r Bill Williamson was one o f the winner s,

Page 27

joint with Arthur Fortune. Refreshments were gratefully received, provided by Peter Plowman and Daivd Bradley. As Johnny Bull Minor was absent on his summer holidays, a temporary reports secretary was found. Next month will see the vis it of Bill Lofts, which we are all look ing forward to. The date will be 10th October.

PAUL GALVIN

LONDON O.B.B.C.

For the seventh time in the thirt y-nine year s of the Club' s existence, we met at the Charles Hamilton Museum in Maidstone, Kent. After our welcome from our worthy President and Curator of the Museum, John Wernham, and preliminary conversations and get-togethers, we adjourned to the meeting room for a showing of two films. The first was the historic one of Charles Hamilton, and the Club's Margate lunch eo n party. The second was of beautiful Kent ish locations, and scenes from Stratford on Avon and Oxford.

After the tea-break Graham Bruton conducted a Twenty Questions quiz, won by Mark Taha with Roger Jen kins in second place. Book prizes were awarded. Then came Mary Cadogan's excellent discourse entitled Charles Hamilton: A Lifelong Companion. To illustrate Hamilton's ski lled use of fanguage, Mary gave · two readings from the Gem and Magnet respectively. One described the confrontation between Skimpole and Gussy about Socialism ;1nd 'bloated aristocrats'; the other dealt with the time the venerable Dr. Locke received a cablegram from Hyram K. Fish containing the myste rious message 'Keep Tabs on fish', which Mr. Quelch had to translate into King 's English for the worthy Greyfriars Head to understand.

Votes of thanks were accorded to John Wernham for his fine hospitality. Next meeting at 58 Stanwell Road, Ashford, Middlesex, TW 15 3DV. 'Phone Mr. Litvak on 07842 53609. (A ful l tea will be provided, but kindly bring own cup or mug.) The date wi II be Sunday, 11th October.

BEN WHITER

Page 28

THE UNFOLDING ENIGMA OF ISOBEL NORTON

What a delightful surprise to hear from Bill Lofts that Reg

Kirkham was responsible for the final, unfinished Valerie Drew ser ial

in THE SCHOOLGIRL, a story paper thi s prolific author is not usually

associated with. Apart from one of his usual hilarious Hila ry Marlow

se rials, ilThat Joyous Adventure of Trixie' s'' ( 1932), and three

adventur e serial s using his Pauline Stewa r t pen-name, "Schoolgirls

in Per il" (1932), "Orphan of the Jungl e", and ''Delia' s Quest for the

Golden Keys" (both 1935), his work did not appear in THE

SCHOOLGIRL. Better known for his "Grand Laughter Stories

" in THE

SCHOOLGIRLS' WEEKLY ( 1923 to t 933 as J oan Vincent and 1924

to I 934 as Hilary Marlow), his final appearance in th is paper was

a long, 24-week series as Hilary Marlow, "The Bright Spark s of the

Family" ( 1936-37 ). His last humorous stories were both "New and

Original" (not pr eviously printed as serials) and appeared in the SGOL,

"Wyn Had Such a Winning Way" by Hilary Marlow, and "Tilly Turns

tbe Tables" by Joan Vincent (both 1939). The severa I gaps in

production of the above sto ries could have been filled by work on

the ear lie r Valerie Drew sto ries , the authorship of which Bill says

he hopes to asce rtain lat er . The surpri sing thing about this new inform ation

is that Reg

Kirkham ha s never previous ly been known as a detective sto ry writer.

It is sad that the war came and closed down all th e girls' papers

but one, probably st opping him from a whole new writing career.

Only the GIRLS' CR YSTAL continued thro ughout the war and the

resident detective story was ca rried on by anot her writer of humorou s

fictio n, Ron ald Fleming, who as Peter Langley wrote all the Noel

Raymond detective stories from 1935 to 1951.

Reg Kirkham "retired from writing in 1940" (Brian Doyle, 1964).

By Ray Hopkins

Page 29

ANOTHER 600 FOR MR. LISTER by Father Francis

Willia m Lister a lways manages to grasp the attention. ln the July C.D. he asks HOW MANY WORDS WILL YOU READ IN 1987? The answer might surpr,is.e him! According to Toffler, Future Shock ( 1970), Americans are bombarded by 30,000 words a day. Ten million in 1987, Mr. Lister. A powerfu l instrument of mind con trol indeed - only by contact with the past can we have any chance of retaining a balanced and personal view . (The world of our old boys' papers is a splendid antidote .)

Which brings me to another point, on which I' d be grat e ful for j.nformation from lovers of St. Frank's . Jim Cook refers to ' th is most famou s college in West Sussex'. Can readers confirm tha t this description of its county is a modern interpretation? As the divisions of Sussex , although centurie s old, were only for some purposes of local government, they were rarel y used as a c0unty name; as now but more so the county was generally simply ca11ed "Sussex". (Editor's Note: I seem to remember that when we lived in Horsham some 25 years ago, we always referred to it as tei ng in West Sussex, but that perhaps is 'modern '.)

And , having bored everyone by being pedantic, may I give th e opportunity for readers to feel superior? I found Leslie Laskey' s YOUR EDITORS WERE CALLING YOU gripping. But naturally only the two major groups were considered, and those of th e Golden Age. To dare mention comics, latter-day 50s ones, and by tiddly publishers Hke L. Miller well that will brand me as a boundah!

Hulton Press did a good job with Eagle, and that always had an editorial, a real per sonal chat. But Miller's Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Junior, and ABC ' s Captain Valiant/Space Comics did even better, th ey gave two editorials, and both a full page . (Actually one was from the editor, the other supposedly written by the hero of the comic .) So did DCMT Atlas in the early days of the Lone Star Magazine, a letter from the real-life Lone Star Rider himself.

American comics (eve n more a shudder down spines no doubt) long gave two pages to editorial matter - the Post Offic e would only allow cheap posting for 'li te rary items' and comic strips didn't count; it had to be wedges of words . Originally they were a couple of pages of fiction (one Engli sh imitation , Ace High Western, even had stories by the real and gen-u-wine Frank Richards) but later it was found cheaper to allow readers to fill the pages with letters, and later still a bit of an editorial crept into most of them, and

Page 30

continues toda y. (Like the ' secre t co de messages ' English imitat ions

borrowed from the U.S.A. original s, and like much of the A.P.

edit orials, these are usually no mor e than tra iler s.)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * COLLEX:TOR REQUIRES PRE-1960 CHILDREN' S 8CXJKS - Bunters , Williams ,

Jennings,

Biggles , Savilles , Eli nor Brent -Dye r, Els ie Oxenham , D. F . Bruce -lsts and

rewints in dustwrai;:pars . ANY PRE-1950 ANNUALS, E::Specially Fudge , Felix, Radio

Fun , Film Fun , Dandy, Beano, Knockout , Japhet & Happy , Tiger Tiro , in fact any

canic-rel ated annuals, also card games , badge s, etc . Also interested in pre-1960

canics and story papers , especi al ly Beano and Dandy . Pre-1%5 Brcx:ms, O::>r Wullie ,

Dennis the Menace , Beryl the Peril. ENID BL~S pre - 1950 lsts in dustwrappers ,

sunny Stories magazine , pre-1960 strip books and Noddy items . Pre ·-war items

particularly wan t ed . MOVIE/CAT BCX>KS IU.USTRATED by Allison Uttley , Kath l een

Hale (Orlando) , Racey Helps (Barnaby Li t tlem::iuse books) , Molly Brett. RUPERT

ANNUALS Pre-1966 , any pre-war Rupert books/items illustrated by Ma.:cy Tourtel

or Alfred Besta ll. WALT DISNEY/ MICKEY MOUSE pr e - 1943 annuals/boo ks and r elated

i tems (toys , games , etc . ) SCHO'.)LGIRL.S ' o.vN annuals and libraries pre-1950 .

Any intact cut-out books (Puffins or simil ar ) , any Baby Puffins . Pre-1960 Wisdens

- any oondition provided canp let e . P. G. Wodehouse lsts and pre~a:r: edi tions

in dustwr a ppers. Collections/singl e items _purchased . Top prices paid for fine

copies (e . g . £100 plus , for pre-war Rupert Annua l s ) . sane exchanges available . Phone e venin gs 0273-477555 or wr ite John Beel

' ..

m11 OWN

-·,ous

From the EDITOR 4 "''"' s,,..., Sq,,ar,,

i.,,,wo,,. £.CA.

23 J•l :,, 1954

WERE you an g.,ou Club Mcm-bff bcf= lhc 18th of Jun

Page 32

GREEN MEADOW BOOKS

lGnoulton • .Motts •• a;].2 JEJI. Tel. (0949) 81723

3 Weekly Paper Lists available - MAGNET, GEM, and assorted, including GIRLS' CRYSTAL, GIRL, EAGLE,

SEXTON BLAKE, NELSON LEE, etc . etc.

Regu lar Catalog ues issued including all favourites

20p stamp appr eciated, to above address

Visitors welcomed to the Bookroom, by appointment

ACE is n0"1 in its tenth year of prov idin g infornation, ent:erta .i nment and nos talgia to al l collectors of canics and story-papers, cartoo n bcx:>ks, annua ls , and newspapers str i ps. As well as listing a ll c urren t and forth ccmi.ng canics and pub lication s of interest t o collectors, our recent iss ues have r anged fran Ally Sloper's 120th Birthdiay, to Leo Baxendale ' s historic se tt lement with D.C. Thanson over the J3ash Street Kids , by way of a deta iled checklist of all British contri -butio ns to MAD magazine . The 1987/88 subs cri ption i s E5 - e,xactly what it was it 1977' Edito r /pub li sher: Denis Gif ford, 80 Silve,rdale , Sydenham , SE26 4SJ .

BUY, SELL OR S~PS OLD BOYS' STORY PAPERS, C01ICS AND BCX)KS

B(X)KS: Bunters , William , Bigg l es , Jennin gs , Henty, Brent - Dyer Oxenham, Magnet vol umes. CXMICS: Beano , Dandy , Radio Fun, Knocko ut Film-F un, Ra:Lnbc,,.,, etc . S'IDRY PAPERS : Magnet, Gero, s.C.L., Champie,n, Hotspur , Rover , Ski pper , Adventure, Wiz.ard , etc. ANNUALS: Holiday Annual, Tig er Tim, Ro.i nl:x::tw, Champion , Film-Fun , Radio Fun, Schoolg irl s'