Film Fun Facts

[Digifiend]

Neither did the comic itself, it closed within two years.

[Kashgar]

The artists are indeed who you say they are Phil. I'm sorry I didn't identify Roy Wilson from your original cover posting but the image simply wouldn't show itself on my computer till this morning.
This relatively less detailed Roy Wilson style was in evidence for most of Film Fun's last three years of existence as he not only drew Terry Thomas but also took over Harry Secombe from George Parlett and, for the comics last nine months, had his Bruce Forsyth strip on the papers front cover.

[philcom55]

Beautifully drawn as those pages are, I don't think the experiment is completely successful. Taking the fun and bounce out of the penline tends to deaden the tone somewhat, I think. Presumably the majority of readers weren't too impressed either, as that style didn't continue for too long did it?

Larer on he did seem to be allowed to 'loosen up' his style again to some extent, as can be seen in these pages from early 1961 in which his trademark animals reappear - particularly the marvelous 'double-takes' exhibited by the cat and mouse in the Harry Secombe strip:




Actually Film Fun's humour strips went through more changes in those last few years than at any other point in the title's history, with european art (Lucky Luke and Juan Rafart on Hancock) and american material (various Disney strips) being added to the home-grown material in rapid succession. To be fair though I think it was primarily the old 'Wakefield' look that Fleetway were trying to leave behind rather than that of Roy himself - in fact he was commissioned to draw a brand new 'Morecambe & Wise' strip for Buster in 1964, and I've no doubt he'd have gone on to play as big a part in that title's future as Reg Parlett if he hadn't passed away shortly after it began.

(Incidentally, does anyone agree with me that the Secombe strip seems to be inked rather more heavily than the Terry-Thomas one - even though they are both almost certainly drawn by Wilson? Of course it could just be my imagination, but it does make me wonder whether he might have collaborated with another artist on one of them )

- Phil Rushton

[charleybrown]

Hi,

I need some help - have just found this old Film Fun comic and for some reason it does not have a date on it. I would like someone to verify that it is the genuine article and provide me with any other information they may have about it.

It has No. 1 - on the front!!!!


The information I can give you is that it was published by The Amalgamated Press of London and distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Gordon and Gotch Ltd.

Pre decimal currency price of 3 D.
Combination of comic strips and stories featuring well known film characters of the time.


The contents are:
Front cover - Laurel and Hardy - comic strip
Pages 2 - 3 and 14 Jack Keen story starts - The Singular Case of Convict 43!! story
Page 4 - comic strip - Old mother riley featuring Lucan & McShane
Page 5 - comic strip - The Famous Fellow of the Flims - Joe E. Brown
Pages 6, 7 and continued on page 11 - The Adventures of Sylvia Starr
Pages 8, 9 - comic strip The great George Formby - the famous laughter maker of the screen
Page 10 and part of 11 - story - Ride with Bill Boyd on the Danger Trail (western)
Page 12 - comic strip - Sydney Howard - the Whimsical Wag
Page 13 - Meet the Merry Max Miller - The cheeky chappie
Page 14 - Jack Keen story continued
Page 15 - and 16 - comic strip - Bud Abbott and Lou Costello - Stars of Universal Pictures

Can anyone help with a date? for this issue and explain why it does not have a date on it. Was it a mis printed item???
cheers from happyhunter007

[Digifiend]

3d, Laurel and Hardy, hmm, this cover looks like the right era, so somewhere around 1950. It would be very helpful to know when the price increased though, as they were on the cover as early as 1937, when it was 2d. The lack of the date was probably due to it being a reprinting for Australian consumption. The issue number is rather odd though. Got a scan?

Scan from 26Pigs.com

[charleybrown]

Thanks for your reply. Thought it was around 1950. Your suggestion about lack of date for the reprinting of the Film Fun for the Australian market sounds good, and perhaps along that theme it may have No.1 on being the first one that was printed for the Australian market - just a thought.

Tried to load a scan of the cover, but it was rejected as the file was too large. Will try again.

[Digifiend]

It's possible that they blanked the last three digits but left "No. 1" there by mistake. I see the logo on that issue is different. Identifying when that version was used would narrow down the date a bit.

[colcool007]

Another thing that may help is that the title story is A "Note"-Worthy Performance by Stan! so any Film Fun buffs out there may be able to narrow the search down a bit.

[Phoenix]

This is not a definitive answer because, although the different mastheads are shown on this page from The Wonderful World Of Film Fun, the dates given are not necessarily for the first issue of each changeover. However, so long as my eyes are not deceiving me, that masthead posted by charleybrown is the 1948 one. Presumably, then, it could be from anywhere from around that time to the point when the 1960 coloured masthead replaced it.

[Digifiend]

I'm afraid your eyes do deceive you. The cover I posted is that one (with BLOCK CAPITALS), but the one charleybrown posted is actually the 1941 one with the price updated (take a look at the writing, it's in Mixed Case). The 1942 one is actually just a holiday variation of it, so I think it would actually be sometime between 1942 and 1948.

[Phoenix]

Please ignore the above post, and not just because it is impossible to make out the individual characters on the masthead. I'm still wrong. Charleybrown's masthead isn't displayed on that page because not all the characters in the picture are identical to either the 1941 or the 1948 pictures. The 1941 one is obviously closest in terms of the words Film Fun but the 1948 one is nearest in terms of the portrayal and positioning of the characters. My main mistake, though, was to assume that because the title of the full-page presentation was Film Fun's Changing Masthead 1920-1962, it meant that those were the only changes. As the earlier upload was useless, I am posting just the relevant mastheads here.

While previewing this post I have seen and read Digi's. I more or less agree with him about the date range. Now we just have to find the comic itself!!

[colcool007]

I did have a look at the Film Funs I saw today, Sadly none of them matched up to the story that features on Charleybrown's scan.

[charleybrown]

Hmm, interesting. Looks like the words Film Fun would fall somewhere between 1941 and 1942, but the strip is different to the ones pictured. Thought I would try and identify the characters, maybe you others can help.
Put three more close up scans on for you to look at.

Left to right
George Formby, Sydney Howard, ???? Hardy, woman?; 2 boys; Sylvia Star; Laurel; Joe E Brown; ???? Old Mother Riley; Max Miller; Lou Costello.

Can you correct me on these and identify the missing ones this may help my search.

Cheers.

[charleybrown]

number 2

number 3

Photo two

[colcool007]

Could the first ??? be Abbot as you have identified Lou Costello at the other end?