Sunday, July 31, 2016

JINGLES No.525 (1947)

It has to be said that, even for 1947, Jingles was looking quite old fashioned in its design and tone, compared to its lively rivals Dandy and Beano. The format of Jingles was the same that the publishers (Amalgamated Press) had been using since the end of the 19th Century; 8 tabloid pages with an equal balance of strips and text stories. However, at least Jingles had full colour on its front cover; something lacking in most of its sister papers from A.P.

 Jingles had been launched in January 1934. According to the late Denis Gifford, "Jingles was the first AP experiment in upgrading their penny comics to appeal to middle-class readers and their parents. It was their first two-colour penny comic, and its immediate success led to the publication of a companion comic, Tiptop. Golden followed, and shortly the traditional penny comics, Chips and Comic Cuts, also went into two colours, as did Jolly Comic." 

 Although its cover was printed in two colours for the first six years, Jingles upgraded to full colour covers in 1940. However, wartime paper shortages also caused it to change from weekly to fortnightly that year too. A frequency that lasted until 1952. Jingles ended in 1954, merging into T.V. Fun.

 Here are a few examples from issue No.525, dated September 20th 1947. The Dreamy Dennis strip on the cover above is drawn by Albert Pease, using the old daydream theme with funny results.

 On page 5, Strongheart, The Wonder Dog of the Woods, drawn by Hilda Boswell, one of the few women artists working in British comics back then. (More information at Steve Holland's Bear Alley blog here:
http://bearalley.blogspot.co.uk/2006/11/hilda-boswell.html)

 Beneath the Strongheart strip was Jolly Jingles, by George Parlett...

On page 6, Little Jim Jolly and his Magic Brolly, drawn by George's brother, Reg Parlett. After which, a text story Twilight Tales, as a cautionary anti-bullying tale...

On page 8, the back page, a complete adventure story, My Big Thrill. Unusually for AP, it credits an artist, Tony Brent, unless that's a pseudonym...


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5 comments:

  1. Peter GraySunday, 31 July 2016 at 19:57:00 BST

    Thanks Lew I enjoyed reading that..
    Reg Parlett is a favourite But nice to see Georges work has well...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lew StringerSunday, 31 July 2016 at 20:36:00 BST

    I've always liked George Parkett's work, ever since he drew The Tellybugs in Smash! 50 years ago. He had a very expressive style, and those 1940s strips were great, the way they combined art and lettering (which he also did).

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  3. Ray MooreMonday, 1 August 2016 at 16:42:00 BST

    Sure I've mentioned this before but George Parlett, when he was a young artist working at the AP, was nicknamed 'Froth' due the fact that his shock of near-white curly hair looked like the head on a pint of beer. He always had a very appealing and adaptable artistic style whether in his earlier comic strip days or in his later
    light adventure strip work.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lew StringerMonday, 1 August 2016 at 23:08:00 BST

    Interesting stuff, Ray! It's a shame that little anecdotes like that might die out now that so many of those great veteran artists have passed on. Thanks for that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. KenWednesday, 3 August 2016 at 16:55:00 BST

    Who came first, Strongheart or Black Bob?

    Always liked Reg's Sporting Sam in the Express.

    I really enjoy your features on the older comics and artists.

    Thanks Lew.

    ReplyDelete

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