Christmas 1953: TV FUN

Considering this was the first Christmas issue of TV Fun it's a very low-key cover for the festive period. There's a a seasonal message in the topline and a few holly leaves in the corners of the page and that's yer lot. Artist Arthur Martin does a fine job of the Arthur Askey strip but the house is bereft of Christmas decorations. No wonder the kid looks so glum. 

This was issue No.15, dated December 26th 1953. TV Fun was the new, contemporary comic from Amalgamated Press which had been created to immediately replace Comic Cuts and Illustrated Chips. Its 20 pages featured a mixture of humour strips, adventure strips, and prose stories and, for the period, it must have looked quite modern compared to the comics it superseded. 

TV Fun was trying for a slightly more mature tone than its predecessors, which may explain the absence of snow on the logos and its limited use of Christmas decor for the strips. Only four of the strips tied in with the season. One of those was the Jimmy Edwards page. Reg Parlett drew this strip in later issues but this again looks more likely the work of Arthur Martin to me...

It's possible that Who's Who in Our Zoo may be a reprint, but I'm not certain. Apparently although Hoofer the Tee Vee Gee Gee is similar to Radio Fun's George the Jolly Gee Gee it was new material. Artwork by Roy Wilson...

On the back page, Diana Decker (The Cutie-Queen of the T.V. Screen) with art by Bertie Brown. Some cringe-worthy gags in this strip but Diana flashes her knees a couple of times for the benefit of the older reader TV Fun was trying to impress. (As always, click on the images to see them larger size.)