Bessie Bunter

[philcom55]

I don't have the first combined issue of June & School Friend but it looks as though Orr had already been replaced as Bessie's artist by the second issue (though the half-page 'June & Jiffy' is by him). What's more, yet another artist appears to have briefly worked on the Bessie strip before Arthur Martin took over (...at least I don't think it's by Martin or Orr, but I could be wrong!). Here are a couple of examples from this third 'mystery artist'.





While the style is naggingly familiar I can't quite place it. Does anybody else recognize the artist responsible?

- Phil Rushton

[Kashgar]

For what it's worth I'm inclined to think that these early J&S Bessie Bunter strips are all still the work of Cecil Orr. On having a look through my J&S collection I find that Arthur Martin didn't draw Bessie until the 16th Oct 1965 issue while Orr died in the previous August which would give you the necessary turnaround time between his death and the need for strips drawn by another artist. Always assuming of course that he was drawing right up until the time of his death. I think it's Orr but not Orr at his best.

[DavidKW]

A lot of interesting info seen here, thanks for that.

I never realised the artist changed for Bessie during its re-invention in Schoolfriend/June.

Never knew that Bessie was brown haired, but went blonde.

Can't help thinking that the appearance of the 60s/70s version of BB (SF/June/Tammy) may have been influenced by actress & commeidienne Hattie Jacques. (does remind me of tv/films where Hattie is in a blonde wig, such as Norman Wisdom's "Follow A Star").

I know for a fact that Bessie re-prints were appearing in June itself, a few years after the original. For example one I remmeber seeing in a 1965 June, where Bessie ends up beingfoced into a fitness club, but ends up so dangerously thin she has to be fed up again, was re-printed in a 1972 June. It's quite possible re-prints were mixed with newer stories during June's final years?

Yes, Tammyfan, what I meant was than BB could have been a lot better had there been stories spread out over a few weeks not contained in one week. Could have has a few comedy adventures & plots with twists in them.

[Tammyfan]

There was one Bessie story where everyone (except Bessie) at Cliff House goes all superstitious, including Miss Stackpole. But what concerns me is the giant charm bracelet that Bessie has in the opening humour panel. "How do you like my giant charm bracelet, readers?"

I'm sure we would all like it, except for one thing - one of the charms is a swastika!

Ok, so I know the swastika was a good luck symbol before a certain Mr Hitler came along. But I don't think that is enough to explain its presence.

The story appears in some 1973 Junes I recently passed over to someone else. It appeared again in Tammy (1979, I think).

[philcom55]

Funnily enough I just picked up a copy of the 1979 Tammy annual this morning and found this interesting Bessie/Billy crossover inside:





I don't know how long Billy Bunter continued to star in boys' comics but it'd be ironic if his last-ever appearance turned out to be in his sister's strip - albeit an obvious reprint from years earlier.

- Phil Rushton

[Tammyfan]

Funnily enough I just picked up a copy of the 1979 Tammy annual this morning and found this interesting Bessie/Billy crossover inside:





I don't know how long Billy Bunter continued to star in boys' comics but it'd be ironic if his last-ever appearance turned out to be in his sister's strip - albeit an obvious reprint from years earlier.

- Phil Rushton

I do believe that's the one I posted to the Billy Bunter discussion that we had!

[philcom55]

Ooops! Sorry Tammyfan I must have missed that one.

- Phil R.

[Tammyfan]

Ooops! Sorry Tammyfan I must have missed that one.

- Phil R.

Never mind, it's convenient to have it here too!

[Kashgar]

Reprints of the Billy Bunter strip certainly continued to appear right up until the final issue of Whizzer & Chips in 1990.

[Phoenix]

I just picked up a copy of the 1979 Tammy annual this morning and found this interesting Bessie/Billy crossover inside

I've just been looking through a pile of about 70 issues of June and Schoolfriend between 1970 and 1972 that I bought several years ago, and I came across this crossover strip. As some members might find it interesting, I'm posting it. It is from the 4 July 1970 issue. For the record, the other stories are Oh, Tinker!, Mara Of The Islands, Gymnast Jinty, Herbs Of Life (a complete in the Strangest Stories Ever Told series), Save The Marina (text), Glory Knight - Time Travel Courier (the first episode : a great idea in my opinion), Sindy And Her Friends, True Stories Of Girls In The Limelight (Shirley Temple this week), Lucky's Living Doll, Barracuda Bay, The Return Of Captain Silver (a complete in the Strangest Stories Ever Told series), Safari Hotel, and Calling Nurse Kelly!

[DavidKW]

I remember reading from a 1965 June & SF a BB where she & Billy are in it and it ends with them at a party with food. I'll have to try & dig it out sometime (though I can't scan it as I can't afford equipment).

That looks quite a good strip line up from 1970 for June. (frustratingly 1970-72 are least represented years in my June collection so far. Will keep lookin'). Thanks for posting.

[AndyB]

I should clarify that Bunter's run in reprints was only in those awful final issues of Whizzer and Chips in 1990 with the new logo, reduced page count, supposedly all colour (even if the majority of pages were spot colour yellow/green/magenta), and no separate Chips section. Artwork was by Reg Parlett, and I think someone posted on this forum that they were sourced from Valiant.

On the subject of Bessie, and working from Frank Richards' notes, JS Butcher notes the following personnel in Cliff House in his Greyfriars School: A prospectus, of which I found a copy in the Wigtown Book Shop on Saturday:
Headmistress: Miss Primrose
Fourth Form Mistress: Miss Bellew
Games Mistress: Miss Bullivant
Fourth formers: Barbara Redfern (captain), Bessie, Marjorie Hazeldene (sister of Peter), Phyllis Howell, Dolly Joblin, Mabel Lynn and Clara Trevlyn.

[Tammyfan]

I should clarify that Bunter's run in reprints was only in those awful final issues of Whizzer and Chips in 1990 with the new logo, reduced page count, supposedly all colour (even if the majority of pages were spot colour yellow/green/magenta), and no separate Chips section. Artwork was by Reg Parlett, and I think someone posted on this forum that they were sourced from Valiant.

On the subject of Bessie, and working from Frank Richards' notes, JS Butcher notes the following personnel in Cliff House in his Greyfriars School: A prospectus, of which I found a copy in the Wigtown Book Shop on Saturday:
Headmistress: Miss Primrose
Fourth Form Mistress: Miss Bellew
Games Mistress: Miss Bullivant
Fourth formers: Barbara Redfern (captain), Bessie, Marjorie Hazeldene (sister of Peter), Phyllis Howell, Dolly Joblin, Mabel Lynn and Clara Trevlyn.

The cast sounds different from what I grew up with Bessie. Miss Stackpole, Mary Molesworth, Miss Carter and a few others who were mentioned occasionally.

[Phoenix]

On the subject of Bessie, and working from Frank Richards' notes, JS Butcher notes the following personnel in Cliff House in his Greyfriars School: A prospectus, of which I found a copy in the Wigtown Book Shop on Saturday:

I hope you didn't pay more than a couple of quid for it. As an early skirmish with the topic (1965) it has some merit, but much better work has been done since. The biographies in particular could easily have been much more comprehensive, and the information the author gives about Highcliffe, and Cliff House in particular, gives the impression that he is just trying to fill a page up. Any reader would assume that there were only seven girls in Bessie Bunter's form. There is also a spelling mistake because Dolly's surname is Jobling, not Joblin. As for the Glossary of some Slang and Expressions in use at Greyfriars, he could have cut about a page from his list by omitting all the obvious terms like black sheep, blubbing, break bounds, chin-wag, chokey, crib (in the sense of copy), dorm, duck (in cricket), fiver, footer, hat trick (football and cricket), hols, napper, pre, six on the bags, smokes, spread, topper, tuck, wheeze, and whopper.

[AndyB]

I paid about a fiver, so not too bad. I would have liked an explanation of the Shell form, mind you, but that's too far off-topic for me to get away with in this thread!