Belle of the Ballet-Lyndy of Latymer Grange

[vautour2b]

Thanks Goof

(...) In the English version, Belle and Mamie have joined a "School of Theatre and Dance for Children".

Belle and Mamie become dancers again ?... Are they giving up television ?

[Goof]

Yes, the last three stories in Princess after Peacocks and Sparrows ("Stage Struck", "The White Rose Award" and "The Heiress") follow their fortunes as members of the children's Theatre & Dance School. These stories were all drawn by Leslie Otway.

[vautour2b]

Thanks Goof, The tinkering with the French versions of "Belle and Mamie" in 'Capucine' (worse than those in 'Line'), added to an out-of-order publication, meant that I sometimes had a little difficulty following the sense of history, completely reversed by 'Capucine' who first published "Peacocks and Sparrows/Paons et moineaux" then later "Highland Assignment/Belle et Mamie sur les hautes cimes" with a text explaining the two heroines had left school (that of "Peacocks and Sparrows") to work for television.
I would add that 'Capucine's attempts to Frenchify the stories went even further into the absurd: the text of the French version of "Highland Assignment" tries to pass off Scotland as... the French Pyrenees!

Have British publishers ever done such shameful fiddling with stories of foreign origin ?
(while leafing through an 'Annual' at a bookseller specializing in old comics, I saw an English version of "La fée des solitudes" by Marijac and Noël Gloesner, which proves that they imported some)

[Goof]

I’m not a comics expert, so I don’t really know how far British publishers reprinted foreign stories, or how many of them may have been adapted. Certainly, British publishers used many foreign reprints, especially in the early days of comics, but I think most of these were from the USA or Commonwealth countries. For instance, I believe that the British Picture Library format was first developed using stories reprinted from Australian titles.

British comic editors certainly liked to use foreign settings, and generally speaking, I would guess that a story originally set anywhere which might be a tourist destination for British readers would probably be left unaltered. This is only an overall impression, but by way of example I’ve come across a couple more Marijac reprints:

1. “Marika” from Frimousse (also drawn by Gloesner), which came out in Girls’ Crystal Annual 1972 as “Maria of the Mountains”, and retained its original setting in the Austrian Tyrol.

2. “Cendrillon” from Mireille, which was reprinted as “Cinderella of Paris” in School Friend Annual 1968 and, as the title suggests, kept its French setting.

Incidentally, while digging around for material for this post, I came across a couple more Belle and Mamie stories which may be of interest. These were published in Princess annuals following the merger with Girl:

Princess Gift Book 1966 “Moon Girl”, artist probably Laurence Houghton
Princess Gift Book 1967 “First Night”, artist Leslie Otway
Princess Gift Book 1969 “The Frightened Dancer”, artist Phil Gascoine

The first two were set in the Theatre/Dance School first seen in Peacocks and Sparrows. The third was set in a ballet company I’ve not seen mentioned before, and seems to have been something of an afterthought, published after the series had ended in Princess. It is also quite probably the last Belle story to be published.

[vautour2b]

Many thanks Goof for doing all this research

Glad to see that Marijac and Noël Gloesner seem to have been among the most requested French people.

Regarding non-respect of the British framework of the stories, I must say this unfortunate practice of French magazines has gradually become less frequent from the 70s onwards - the international success of English music and fashion certainly has a lot to do with it.

[Robbie Moubert]

Not girls' comics but Belloy and Asterix were both changed into Britons in Valiant (as Paladin and Little Fred respectively). Ranger/Look and Learn also made Asterix a Briton (as Beric the Bold).

[vautour2b]

Very funny ! I wonder how they did it for “Astérix chez les Bretons” ? It must have been quite a headache! (unless they have given up on this adventure ?). Thank you Robbie Moubert.

[Robbie Moubert]

Only three stories were published in UK comics prior to English translations of the albums becoming available (from 1969 onwards). In 1963, Valiant did "Astérix le Gaulois" as "Little Fred and Big Ed" (later in the story, when Obelix is absent, it became "Little Fred, the Ancient Brit with Bags of Grit"). In 1965, Ranger had "Le Combat des Chefs" (Asterix and the Big Fight) as "Britons Never, Never, NEVER Shall be Slaves". After the merger with Look and Learn, "Astérix et Cléopâtre" became "In the Days of Good Queen Cleo."

[vautour2b]

Thank you for these new details Robbie Moubert

[vautour2b]

Good morning.

Another French reprint of 'Belle and Mamie'. This time it’s “Moon Girl” (a story taken from an “annuals”, which is unique in the case of the French versions of this series), published in issue 207 of “Frimouse” (renamed “Frimousse Capucine” from this issue)

[vautour2b]

In the 'Frimousse-Capucine' n°229, The second part of another French republication, where, for the first time Belle changes her first name (the second time for Mamie)




Admire, below, the re-cutting of the large page into three small ones... and also the helmet of the English policeman, changed into the 'kepi' of a French 'gendarme'

[Goof]

Thanks for posting this, Vautour - a fascinating bit of editing. I see the poor gendarme has also been demoted - he's lost his sergeant's stripes!

The story is from "Belle and Mamie - Stage Struck". Two separate stories were published under this title. This particular story started on 12 June 1965, and finished around September/October. The artist of course is Leslie Otway.

I assume the English version is from the original artwork! A beautiful piece of work, especially the landscape and lighting effects, but it's rather sad to see how much of Otway's shading has been lost in the Frimousse-Capuchine reprint. I think the original publication in Princess was rather better, but still quite a lot was lost. It's not the only example that I've seen where Princess commissioned work which was painted with very high quality grey wash, but which the printers completely failed to reproduce in the published comic.

[vautour2b]

Hello Goof.

Thanks for the title, there was no indication on the original illustration. The second part of the story has many similarities with "Belle and Mamie - The Jolly Wagoners", it's almost a remake.
For the loss of quality of the French reprints, it was also obvious with "Trois filles sur un bateau" compared to "The Girl from France" & co. In terms of the printing quality of the original English comics, the French magazine that did best was "Line" in its first version (from 03/10/1955 to 10/25/1956): "Robbie of Red Hall" and "The Pilgrim sisters" (1) had kept their magnificent black and white.

(1) Curiously renamed "Les trois soeur Kates", while the setting remained English

[vautour2b]

In issue 228 of 'Frimousse-Capucine', the first part of the French reissue of "Belle and Mamie - Stage Struck".

[Goof]

Thanks, Vautour. Yes, this is the first of the two stories published in Princess under the name "Stage Struck". This story ran from around February 1965 to 5 June 1965.