FILM FUN - Easter 1953

Film Fun was a highly successful comic from the Amalgamated Press that enjoyed a long run from 17th January 1920 until 8th September 1962 when it merged into Buster. A total of 2,225 issues (according to research by the late Denis Gifford). It ran strips featuring popular movie stars of the day, imitating the slapstick comedy of the films but with a distinctly British flavour.

Here are a few pages from Film Fun No.1733, the "Grand Easter Number" dated April 4th 1953 but published on 30th March of that year. The strip on the front and back covers is Laurel and Hardy, drawn by Terry Wakefield, who had taken over the strip from his father George after he passed away in 1942. You'll notice that the boys are based in London. In the Film Fun strips, most Hollywood stars were relocated to England so that readers could relate to the surroundings easier. 

Film Fun's 16 pages featured a mixture of strips and prose stories, as did most British comics back then. Here's a Frank Randle strip, drawn by Bertie Brown I believe. I could be mistaken. Artists were instructed to draw in a house style back then and it's not always easy to tell the difference between them.

Red Skelton, which I think was usually by Terry Wakefield but this looks like Bertie Brown's work to me...

Finally, a George Formby strip, and this is a curious one. Film Fun often reprinted old strips and substituted the lead actor with a more contemporary one. A penciled note at the top of the page, written by the comic's previous owner, reads: 

"RP 1944  20.4.1957 Red Skelton".

My thanks to comics historian and author Ray Moore for solving the mystery. He informs me that the note means that this 1953 George Formby strip was doctored and reprinted as a Red Skelton strip in Film Fun No.1944, dated 20th April 1957. 

I hope you enjoyed this day trip back to 1953 to see what kids were reading over their Easter holidays that year, and may I wish you all a Happy Easter for 2018!

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P.S: I understand some of you may be having problems posting comments, so I've changed this blog's settings again to allow comments from people who don't have a Google etc account. I'd prohibited this a while ago to stop spamming and trolling, so I hope everyone plays nice now the restraints are off!

This week in 1941: COMIC CUTS

The 1940s aren't faring very well so far in the poll but I hope you'll enjoy this posting. Here's a wartime edition of Comic Cuts (No.2,663) which was on sale 71 years ago this week in 1941.

Wartime cutbacks were taking hold and had already caused the end of Larks comic, which had merged into Comic Cuts in 1940. The price of the comic had also risen. No longer the penny comics of the 1930s, Comic Cuts now cost 2d for just 8 tabloid pages. 

The cover stars are The Crusoe Kids and this example is a smashing piece of work by Cyril Price. A slick inking style and lots of background detail pull the reader into the story, - and is 'The Pig and Faceache' one of the funniest names for a pub or what? This is top quality work printed on very cheap paper but it has been preserved by some careful owners over the years so is still immaculate. As for the bits of wood chip and greyness of the paper, - that's how it is. The paper is actually as grey as cardboard, but the orange spot colour livens it up considerably. 


Inside, one of the various strips across the centre pages was Waddles the Waiter. This strip's first series ran from 1912 to 1925, drawn by Alexander Akerbladh. Later, the editor obviously thought it still had legs so it was revived from 1938 to 1947 by Terry Wakefield. 

Here's a typical wartime strip which sees Plum and Duff resourcefully deal with the enemy, in this case, Italian soldiers. Sadly, a sign of the times mean it's any excuse to use offensive nicknames for foreigners. Artwork by Albert Pease. 

 
The League of Ovaltineys was the wartime equivalent of social networking, with kids eager to be a part of it. No video games to partake in back then though of course but instructions on how to make a paper plane would still provide entertainment...

On the back page, Pinhead and Pete drawn by Bertie Brown. Again, there's some racist language used casually here, but Pinhead (the big white guy) and Pete (the little black chap) are clearly good friends and equals, which hopefully was the message that filtered through to readers. 

The somewhat surreal strip at the foot of the page, Dizzy, was another fine Cyril Price job. All in all, a great issue with some of Britain's top humour comic artists of the era.
  

Christmas comics: FILM FUN (1953)

The comics from the Amalgamated Press always tried to pack their publications with festive imagery and this No.1,771 of Film Fun dated December 26th 1953 was no exception. You'll notice that by this time Chips had merged into the comic, but in name only. The characters from Illustrated Chips died with the title and never transferred to Film Fun. Imagine the fanrage if the Internet had been around then!

Regular favourites Laurel & Hardy appeared on the front and back covers, drawn by Terry Wakefield.


Inside, Frank Randle in a typical British comic plot about misunderstandings...


The Red Skelton strip contains some marvelous imagery that sets it in its early Fifties era. Look at that TV set, the stove, and the old-style kitchen sink...


Like most pre-1960s comics, Film Fun also contained numerous text pages (which no doubt some modern critics would describe as "filler" these days). Here's a Mirth-Makers Club story. Note the little ad for that year's Film Fun Annual in the corner. Only 6 shillings (30p).


George Formby also showed some artifacts of the time, when you could buy a sofa for £95 and (only in comic land I would think) an old car for a fiver!


Another dip into the Comics Time Vortex soon. What year will be the next stop?