stevezodiac wrote:I already have the Reg Parlett book.
Then you already knew that not every strip Reg drew was in the style of Mowser.
stevezodiac wrote:To be honest I never knew the Happy Family strip in Buster was a 50s reprint. But my original scan of Cloris and Clair looks exactly like the Happy Family artwork so is that a 50s reprint as well?
It's a little like the Harty Family but that's because Roy Wilson and the Parletts drew in the AP house style. I don't know what book you've scanned Cloris & Claire from but if it's after Roy Wilson's death in 1965 then I guess it's a reprint. As Kashgar said, the example you've shown us was drawn by Roy Wilson, not George Parlett. Hope that clears it up.
In the face of the evidence it looks like we may have to agree to disagree Steve. The problem is none of examples you have shown us is actually by George Parlett. Denis Gifford may well have said somewhere that George drew Cloris and Claire as he did, but this was after the departure of Roy Wilson and the example you have shown is certainly the work of Roy Wilson.
As to The Harty Family in TV Fun and their earlier incarnation as The Happy Family in Tip-Top these are most definitely the work of Reg Parlett and Buster did reprint examples from both series from the late 1960's onwards ( In fact Fleetway had gotten even further mileage from these series in 1965 when examples were reprinted in the pages of June & School Friend as The Twinkles).
I would be the first to admit that the Reg Parlett of The Harty Family isn't the same as the Reg Parlett of Mowser but only in the sense that he had modernised/simplified his style in the interim.
In fact I think you can pin-point the change in Reg's style to the period 1958-1960. In 1958 we still have the Reg of Benny Hill and all his TV Fun stuff but then in 1959 we have that strange watershed in his artistic career when he began drawing in what he later called his 'straight style', in evidence on such strips as Frankie Howerd, Bernard Bresslaw and Tony Hancock. This change doesn't outlast the year however and in 1960 what emerges is what we can call, for the sake of argument, Mowser Reg.
The first strip to be drawn in this more modern/simplified way being Tich in Knockout in June 1960, then to be followed by Knockout Kid for the same comic in 1962 a few months before the arrival of The Crows in Valiant before eventually Mowser, Dinah Mite and the rest followed suit.
Where am I? Who am I? The last thing I remember was sometime last week, I was putting stuff away in my new flat and, as i tried to heft my hardback slipcase set of Tales from the Crypt onto the top of the wardrobe it slipped and gave me a nasty thwack across the napper. Ever since then I have been spouting gibberish - look at this thread for example. Only a man in the throes of concussion could make such wild and woolly assertions. George Parlett my arse....
(I think that might have worked).
Anyway if someone could put a scan of George's work here I be intrigued to see his style.
Incidentally I googled George Parlett last night and came across a website devoted to the work of Gerry Anderson in comics. What surprised me was the images of Thunderbirds, Stingray and Lady Penelope Summer Extras, I'd never seen them before. Although I collected TV21 all through its run I have no memory of the Stingray and Lady P specials and have never seen one at a comic fair. George drew a sea lion strip in the Stingary specials.
Last edited by stevezodiac on 10 May 2010, 20:02, edited 1 time in total.
