From my collection, here's a few pages from the "Grand Firework Number" of Film Fun from exactly 70 years ago, this week in 1946. Despite being all in black and white, the 16 page weekly delivered good value for 3d (1p) by packing in lots of detail in its intricately drawn strips. Unlike its large tabloid-sized sister papers published by the Amalgamated Press, Film Fun was the same height as a modern-day Beano.
The Laurel and Hardy strip on the cover was the work of George Wakefield. Here's the continuation on the back page...
I've used the late Denis Gifford's information to identify the artists. I'm not sure if it's all correct as some weeks had fill-in artists ghosting the style but hopefully most, in not all, are accurate. Here's Frank Randle by Harry Parlett (father of artists Reg and George Parlett)...
The popular George Formby takes up the centrespread, also by George Wakefield...
Wakefield is also credited by Gifford as the artist on Joe E. Brown, although I'm not sure this particular one is by him...
...and, again, Gifford credits George Wakefield as the artist of Max Miller, but could one artist really draw six pages a week, every week, of such intricate quality? I guess so, as Dudley Watkins managed even more. I suppose life was more straightforward back then.
Finally, Abbott and Costello, drawn by Walter Bell...
This editorial announcement is interesting. World War 2 had caused paper rationing which presumably affected the print runs of comics, but with the war over, things were starting to improve...
I hope you've enjoyed this look at a comic from 70 years ago. As noted in previous posts, comics had a more carefree depiction of fireworks back then, with numerous instances of characters holding fireworks or being in the midst of the display. (Although in truth there were some fireworks that were designed to be held. They had a wooden, later plastic, handle, and I remember them very clearly from the 1960s.) Whatever you're doing this weekend, I hope you have a happy and safe November 5th (and all the other nights the fireworks are going off).
This week marks the 90th anniversary of the launch of Film Fun, one of the most successful comics from Amalgamated Press. It ran from 1920 to 1962, compiling over 2,000 issues before it merged into new kid on the block Buster.
I don't have many issues of this long running title so rather than waffle on about a comic I know little about I thought I'd share a selection of covers here to demonstrate how the style of the comic changed over the years. The earliest issue I have is from 1932 (seen above). With its 24 page format, and approx A4 page size, it must have seemed quite radical compared to the standard 8 page tabloid comics of the day. Even the black and white style would not have seemed limited considering the comic featured the stars of black and white cinema. The original artist for the Harold Lloyd strip was Tom Radford, but this 1932 example looks to me to be the work of George Wakefield. (I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.)
By 1950 (below) the masthead had changed considerably. The characters surrounding the logo were changed periodically as new stars eclipsed the older ones. Here we see the likes of George Formby, Old Mother Riley, and Abbott and Costello have joined Film Fun's ranks. The cover strip is now Laurel and Hardy, who had previously occupied the centrespread. Art by George Wakefield.
A nice festive masthead for the "Grand Christmas Number" in 1953. You'll notice that by this time Chips had merged into Film Fun. A marriage in name only though, - no strips from Chips actually moved over to the new comic!
A summer holiday issue from 1956 shows a few changes to the masthead again, with Frankie Howerd, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as part of the line up.
By 1957 a dash of colour has been added to the cover, - yet without its array of stars surrounding the logo it actually looks quite bland. Inside, despite the arrival of newcomers such as Tommy Cooper the comic must have looked incredibly old fashioned compared to the thriving Dandy and Beano of the 1950s.
Speaking of Tommy Cooper, here's a piece of original artwork by Albert Pease for Film Fun dated December 21st 1957. In those days most British artists drew their pages in "sets", - each row of panels as separate pieces of art, hence this tier has survived but I've no idea where the rest of the page is. You'll notice that Albert has tidied up the finished art with process white in some areas and in panel two Tommy's head has been redrawn on a "patch" stuck over the first version. The blue pencil areas would be to indicate to the art editor where to place grey tone.
In 1959 A.P. had become Fleetway Publications Ltd and by the cover shown below, from 1961, were trying to shake up Film Fun somewhat. Fleetway dropped the cover-numbering on their comics, perhaps to fool readers into thinking the comics were new and modern. However, Film Fun seemed doomed, and increasing the adventure content and adding photo-covers such as this Three Musketeers cover did nothing to halt its decline.
Later in 1961 and another revamp, with the comic now called Film Fun and Thrills in order to show it wasn't just a humour comic. (No, a comic called Thrills hadn't merged into it, - this was just a cosmetic change.) The content was now an odd mixture of adventure strips and Disney comedy reprint. If the idea was to make the comic seem like a Saturday cinema matinee it didn't quite work.
By May 1962 (below) Film Fun had taken on a more traditional approach with TV star Bruce Forsyth on the cover, drawn by Roy Wilson. Perhaps this was all part of a "match and dispatch" plan though, as the comic now looked very similar to Buster, which it would merge into in November of that year.
From what I can gather, Film Fun was a very strong title throughout the 1920s - 1940s and only started to look dated due to the arrival of television and changing trends in comics themselves in the 1950s. It certainly had a very long and respectable run. I'll be taking a look at some of the comic's interior strips at a later date.
Blog item on the very first Film Fun Annual:
http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2007/12/70-year-flashback-film-fun-annual-1938.html
Comics UK discussion on Film Fun with information on the comic by comics expert Ray Moore (Kashgar):
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3321
