Film Fun Facts

[Lew Stringer]

There's a new collection of Film Fun strips up for sale on eBay today:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Frank-Randle-Film ... 3ca9185b19

[Phoenix]

It looks extremely interesting, Lew, and it must be very new indeed because Amazon haven't got it.

[Lew Stringer]

It looks extremely interesting, Lew, and it must be very new indeed because Amazon haven't got it.

Unlikely they will as it looks like a small press fan made publication. I've just "won" it so I'll probably run a blog about it when I receive the book. I hope it's better designed than the cover!

Lew

[Phoenix]

I hope it's better designed than the cover!

I'll be the first to admit that I don't have your artistic eye, Lew, but personally I find the cover very attractive and in keeping with the presentation of the comic itself, with the added vibrancy of the colour. I suspect that what is inside the book will in the main be pages like the ones below. The first is from June 7 1952, the other from November 1 of the same year.

[Lew Stringer]

I hope it's better designed than the cover!

I'll be the first to admit that I don't have your artistic eye, Lew, but personally I find the cover very attractive and in keeping with the presentation of the comic itself, with the added vibrancy of the colour.

My main problem with it is the logo. They've taken a header from an annual strip, and replaced the title of the story with their own Film Fun logo. All well and good, but the logo is supposed to be painted onto a tent, - except the lettering extends below the tent, destroying the illusion. Also, there's no reason for the logo to be in quotation marks. The addition of Photoshopped grass looks out of place too.

I'm being too harsh really, and probably unfair, as it looks like a fan project and a labour of love. I'm not really a fan of Frank Randle but I do like classic comic strips so I've bought it for that reason really. I do like the central image they've used on the cover, as it has an old traditional British charm about it, - naturally, due to the strips being 60 years old.

Copies of the book are also available here, albeit more expensive than the one on eBay:
http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/history_d ... lmFun.html

Lew

[STARBOY]

Peter: Richard (Red) Skelton was a famous US performer that appeared in numerous Radio and TV shows as well as movies from 30s - early 70s (his most famous movie was probably the "Ziegfield Follies" - he wasn't the star in that) He did have red hair but wasn't Scottish (we're not all red heads, only 16% of us are gingers lol) - He used to have a lot of catch phrases from TV and Radio that he used that found there way into cartoon for some reasson (as you say he's mentioned in Warner Bros cartoons, Popeye etc) one of his most famous was ""I dood it" he was also the original voice of Bullwinkle (Bullwinkle & Rocky cartoon ) he occassionaly used to dress up as a clown and there are a few famous TV sketches (and paintings of him) as a clown character.

[Kashgar]

Re the Frank Randle book, I've had a copy for a while and the strip reproductions aren't of the best quality sadly. Still worth having though. I seem to recall another group of like-minded fans did a similar book of Petula Clark strips from Radio Fun.

[Kashgar]

The early stars of Film Fun continued

Slim (George) Summerville (1892-1946)
Lanky US character actor who began his career in the Mack Sennett Keystone comedies. In later years cornered the market in playing saturnine, 'hick' characters although his most famous role was probably that of the disillusioned and ultimately doomed volunteer Tjaden in All Quiet on the Western Front, a seminal movie depicting life in the trenches during the Great War from the German perspective.

Earle Montgomery and Joseph Rock (1891-1984)
The top-hatted toffs down on their luck in a series of Vitagraph comedies. In fact their career as a duo was over before they ever appeared in the pages of Film Fun and while Earle Montgomery faded into obscurity Joe Rock turned film producer and in 1930 came to Britain where he set up an independent production company at Elstree.

James Aubrey (1887-1983)
Jimmy Aubrey is of significance as he was the only British born star to appear in the pages of the first issue of Film Fun, all the rest being American. Like Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel he arrived in Hollywood via membership of Fred Karno's touring troupe and indeed his screen persona was that of a more robust, less sentimental version of Chaplin's 'Little Tramp' character.

Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle (1887-1933)
The ageless fat boy of US silent comedy who was the star of a text series in Film Fun's first year in which he purportedly personally told the story of his own schooldays. The series being quickly rejigged in 1921 to feature Larry Semon when Arbuckle's career crashed and burned when it took three trials to see him acquitted
of the manslaughter of failed movie starlet Virginia Rappe in a hotel room.

Baby Marie Osborne
Born Helen Alice Myres Baby Marie made 29 films between 1915 and 1920 (the most successful being Little Mary Sunshine in 1916) and was one of the most successful of the 'little cutie' brigade, as they were dubbed, who made a bid for stardom during the silent era. Also, remarkably, given that it is 90 years since it appeared, Baby Marie is the only star of the first issue of Film Fun who is still alive. She having celebrated her 98th birthday in November.

More Film Fun facts to follow

[Peter Gray]

thanks for a bit more info on Red Skelton..
Tex Avery did a cartoon on Who Dood it.and had a skeleton coming out of the haunted house saying I'm Red Skelton.and was actually a red skeleton..
So very interesting that was also his catchphrase..."I dood it"
Its on youtube the cartoon..

Great cartoons and comics remind us of past stars before they are forgotten forever..so a useful time capsule..

[NP]

Between 1959 and 1960 the cover star was Tony Hancock - probably the biggest TV and radio comic actor of the period - but he had yet to make a film (he'd been in one poor movie as a bit player!) Very curious; he'd be more suited to Radio fun or TV Fun, in neither of which did he ever appear!
Red Skelton went on to be a major TV Variey Show host in the 1960s.

[Kashgar]

Towards the end of the 1950's there was certainly some idiosyncratic deployment of star names in the the AP/Fleetway personality comic titles.
For the record Tony Hancock first appeared in Film Fun in issue No 2008 in July 1958 when the artist was Terry Wakefield. The strip really got into its stride though in Jun 1959 when it was increased to two pages to celebrate the introduction of Hancock's sparring partner of TV and radio Sid James and was beautifully drawn, in what he termed his 'straight style', by Reg Parlett. In Jan 1960 Hancock, still 'assisted (more or less) by his old china' Sid James got promoted to the front and rear covers of the comic with the artwork now provided by Spaniard Juan Rafart. Rafart would then draw the strip till its demise in the final issue of the comic in Sept 1962 with Sid James having been dropped from the strip, as he was of course from Hancock's final TV series for the BBC, in Jun 1961 when, in Film Fun at least, the Hancock strip saw 'the lad himself' become heir to a run-down country estate named Hancock acres. Some of these later strips were later reprinted in Lion in 1965 under the title 'Lord Harry of Hardupp Hall'.

[NP]

Tony Hancock ...strip really got into its stride though in Jun 1959 when it was increased to two pages to celebrate the introduction of Hancock's sparring partner of TV and radio Sid James and was beautifully drawn, in what he termed his 'straight style', by Reg Parlett.

Those 12 months of Reg Parlett drawn strips are superb, and very close in feel to the Hancock's Half Hour TV show. Are there any records concerning authors?
As an side I think a (slim) book of those Parlett Hancock strips would be a tremendous artifact.

[Lew Stringer]

Re the Frank Randle book, I've had a copy for a while and the strip reproductions aren't of the best quality sadly. Still worth having though. I seem to recall another group of like-minded fans did a similar book of Petula Clark strips from Radio Fun.

I've just received my Frank Randle book and I'm very impressed by it. Repro looks great on my copy, - sharp and clear. Considering they're scans from the comics it looks almost as good as the original printing, and the scans have been cleaned up nicely to eliminate any imperfections. As it's digitally printed perhaps my copy is from a later run where they improved the printing?

I must retract my criticisms of the cover that I posted earlier. The original logo they based the masthead on went "over the lines" so it's the AP art department of the 1950s who made the odd decision, not the publishers of this book.

In case anyone's wondering, one doesn't have to be a fan of Randle's to enjoy the book. This is a splendid collection of Harry Parlett strips. Most are from the annuals and personally I'd have preferred more from the weeklies, but that's only because I already have a fair number of the annuals. All in all, I recommend any fan of vintage humour comics to buy a copy of this.

http://www.angelfire.com/ab7/history_do ... lmFun.html

Lew

[Kashgar]

Don't know of any records re authors of the Hancock strips Nigel but, as you say, they would make for a nice book compilation. As well as the strips in the weekly comic Reg also did two lovely 4pg Hancock strips for the final Film Fun Annual in 1961.
I really admire the look of all the Reg Parlett straight style strips from this period whether they be the Hancock ones or the Frankie Howerd or Bernard Bresslaw ones, the latter for Radio Fun.
As to the Frank Randle book Lew maybe my edition is from an earlier printing or maybe its just the harshness of the printing on the pure white pages after so many years of looking at these strips against that soft buff background of faded newsprint. If you look closely you'll find that although Harry Parlett did do most of the annual strips in the book the strips from the comic itself are mostly the work of Bertie Brown who drew most of the Frank Randle strips in Film Fun in the 1950's.

[Lew Stringer]

If you look closely you'll find that although Harry Parlett did do most of the annual strips in the book the strips from the comic itself are mostly the work of Bertie Brown who drew most of the Frank Randle strips in Film Fun in the 1950's.

Hmm, sounds like another book that would have benefited from checking their facts with you first Ray. I've only given it a quick browse so far and I did notice the different styles but assumed the book was accurate and perhaps Harry's style had changed over the period shown.

Incidentally, are some of those annual strips comprised of reprints from the weekly? It seems odd that a three page story for example seems like three separate stories edited together, (each page begins a totally different situation) - or is that just a technique AP used back then?

Lew