Robert MacGillivray

[philcom55]

As mentioned above and on the 'Uncle Lionel' thread, in addition to all his other work for Fleetway during 1965/6 Macgillivray also produced a series of long adventures starring this character for Princess Picture Library. Here are the title pages of three of these which featured in no's 87, 91 and 95 while the strip was appearing in every fourth issue on a regular bi-monthly schedule.







- Phil Rushton

[DavidKW]

I notice MacGilivray did like drawing aniamls (very accurately too) along with water/swimming.

Out of curiosity what were the last strips published by MacGilivray in both comics & annuals?

I think they were posthumous after his 1986 death.

[DavidKW]

I was just thinking - did Robert MacG draw anything for the under 5s/pre-school comics. I'm sure I once saw something that looked like his work.

Also - when & where was he born?

[philcom55]

I'm not sure if MacGillivray was associated with any of the nursery comics but 'Moko the Baby Chimp', which he drew for Sun, would have been right at home in any one of them.

Offhand I don't know when or where he was born, but I recently obtained a copy of Judy Picture Library from 1986 that seems to have featured one of the last strips he ever worked on. Intriguingly, 'Uncle Herbert's Sherbert' features another eccentric uncle who has more than a little in common with Fleetway's Uncle Lionel - though in this case his inventiveness is limited to the fine art of sweet-making.





In this tale, Shirley Spencer arrives on holiday at her uncle's sweet factory only to discover that his latest invention - a new sherbert powder - has been sold to a number of customers before it was found to have bizarre mind-altering properties. In a desperate attempt to set matters right Shirley tries to buy back the sherbert from each of these customers before they have chance to sample it. In every case, however, she arrives just too late - but is astonished to find that almost everyone is changed for the better. The only exception is an athletic bully who is instantly transformed into a timid laughing stock:







In the end even the bully appears to have been morally improved by her humiliating experience, though it's somewhat worrying that we never learn if the loss of her athletic prowess is permanent or not. Nor, for that matter, do we find out whether any of the sherbert's effects are ultimately reversible - which makes the fact that the story ends with Uncle Herbert selling his formula to a big chemical company who promise to "use it in medicine" all the more disquieting...!



- Phil Rushton

[Peter Gray]

Wowser! the sherbet looks like will be used for the armed forces!! Disable your enemy..

[DavidKW]

Thanks for that - nice one!

Great to see that Rob MacG was still producing great quality surreal stuff right to the end.

I did notice that in the 1987 Bunty annual there were a couple of strips of his - Lizzie's Truck was one. Perhaps posthumous publications or reprints?

[DavidKW]

My thinking on the nursery comics was that I flicked through one or two (one was the last Bimbo annual) & saw some things similar to his artistic style - perhaps he influenced others with it.

[DavidKW]

Was just thinking - when abouts exactly did he move from IPC to DCT in late 70s.

I'm guessing 1978 as in a 79 Bunty Annual I saw his "Tri-It Out Terry" strip.

It seems he had another very productive spell when back at DCT - ie many strips contributed to all its titles, alongside "Trixie's Treasure Chest" a regular in Debbie.

[Tammyfan]

More MacGilivrays:

[DavidKW]

Interesting how Rob MacG still investigated variations to the theme of living dolls/little people at pint-size, long after Lucky's Living Doll's 1974 cancellation. (I reckon he enjoyed drawing LLD a lot).

He had a great skill at drawing smaller people/animals/live toys in a bigger environment.

[Tammyfan]

Interesting how Rob MacG still investigated variations to the theme of living dolls/little people at pint-size, long after Lucky's Living Doll's 1974 cancellation. (I reckon he enjoyed drawing LLD a lot).

He had a great skill at drawing smaller people/animals/live toys in a bigger environment.

And talking of pint-size people, he must have had a great time drawing Wee Sue, as this variation of Miss Bigger shows. Miss Bigger with Spock ears!

[DavidKW]

Tammyfan wrote on the "Tammy Effect" thread:

On other threads we've been discussing the decline of June, Lucky's Living Doll, the cancellation of Spellbound and Robert MacGilivray switching from IPC to DCT. Could it be the slough of despond?

A worthy discussion point?

I was going to say I notice R|ob MacG was very much working exclusively for IPC at start of 70s, but according to Comics Wiki then drew "Fearless Fay" for DCT's Mandy in 1974. Was this his first work for them in many years.

Noticeable that it was in 74 the same time as Lucky's Living Doll & June comic's cancellation and then shortly after Jeanie & Her Uncle Meanie ended.

Seems he drifted from then on more back to DCT as his work seemed less favoured by Tammy & Jinty's more depressing material (sorry!).

By the time his final IPC work of taking over Wee Sue ended in 1981, he was at very busy produtivity again at DCT; seems close to how much he was baging out for IPC c. early 70s.

[Tammyfan]

No Jeannie and her Uncle Meanie on this thread, so here is a sample:

[dandy mad]

From The Dandy Monster Comic 1943

[KingViswa]

Robert MacGillivray's works were also appreciated in South India. In Tamil Nadu, His works were published in Many comic Books, Sometimes in English itself & Often Translated into our Regional Language "Tamil".

The season (Jan 14 - 16) Called Pongal Festival in South India where i Live - Tamil Nadu. It is a festival to celebrate the Harvest season of the farmers. It is as big a Season as Christmas. So, every time the publishers do come out with special issues. When i was kid, this particular book drawn by Robert MacGillivray of the Uncle Lionel Series was published in India in Rani Comics in 1985. Recently i got hold of the Fleetway English edition of the same. it is called the princess picture library.

Here is an old post on that: http://tamilcomicsulagam.blogspot.in/20 ... omics.html




The Post has scans of Both, Princess picture library and it's Tamil translated version.