Ron Smith rediscovered

[philcom55]

Great stuff Col! I really must dig out The War In Italy to see how it accords with my Dad's memories.

[Kashgar]

Hi Col,
I've had a look through the indexing work I've done on New Hotspur/Hotspur, at least the 1959-1967 part, and here is a list of Ron Smith's other work for the title within that period that you haven't mentioned in your article.

No1(24/10/59) All Sorts of Soldiers - back cover feature
No5(21/11/59) Fishing Notions of Different Nations - feature
No8(12/2/59) The Burmese Growler and other Curious Carts - feature
( Ron didn't start drawing the spot illustrations for 'The Man with the Hammer until
No77(8/4/61). The first two instalments were drawn by Jerry Butchart)
No87(17/6/61) The Book of War Pictures - free gift booklet with cover art and some internal art by Ron)
No146(4/8/62) The Leap at Death-Trap Ditch. (One of a series with the umbrella title
Famous Cavalry Charges)
No150(1/9/62) One instalment of the series concerning the Battle of Britain 'The Greatest
Air War)

[Kashgar]

There are also a total of twelve one-off cover strips that you failed to mention.

No141(30/6/62) The Massacre of the Mountain Men (the cover stories had begun in No140)
No150(1/9/62) The Shoshone Cavalry
No157(20/10/62) The Marblehead Marines
160(10/11/62) When the Scalphunters Came
No189(1/6/63) The Oldest Gun in the West
No211(2/11/63) The First Underwater Warship
No216(7/12/63) Big John Cotter - the Beaver in Buckskin
No218(21/12/63) The Desperate Ride if Portugee Phillips
No366(22/10/66) The Fist Fight at Fredericksburg
No368(5/11/66) The Battle at Tennessee Bluff
No369(12/11/66) Mosby's Midnight Raiders
No381(4/2/67) Three Fights for Freedom

and there was also the following

Hotspur Book 1966

Ron drew the contents page and the first strip in the newly revived title
'The Greatest Air War - The Gliders'

[colcool007]

Ron Smith D C Thomson stripography 1952-1959 cont

...Wizard

Limp-Along Leslie 1491(11/9/54)-1517(12/3/55) first episode in free Midget Comic.

More anon.

Ray, part 3 is out now. And part 4 will be the easy, for me, Victor and Warlord work. Just been looking at this Limp Along Leslie story for the next few articles and I don't happen to have a decent copy so that I can get a good picture. Any chance that you could send me a cheeky picture that I could use?

[Kashgar]

Ron Smith D C Thomson stripography 1952-1959 cont

...Wizard

Limp-Along Leslie 1491(11/9/54)-1517(12/3/55) first episode in free Midget Comic.

More anon.

Ray, part 3 is out now. And part 4 will be the easy, for me, Victor and Warlord work. Just been looking at this Limp Along Leslie story for the next few articles and I don't happen to have a decent copy so that I can get a good picture. Any chance that you could send me a cheeky picture that I could use?

Sorry Col but my copies are in a bound volume which makes copying difficult. Maybe Derek could help?

[Phoenix]

Sorry Col but my copies are in a bound volume which makes copying difficult. Maybe Derek could help?

Oh, alright, Col, just for you. If I were to have my story papers bound up it would bankrupt me, but that isn't the reason I haven't had any bound. I just believe that they should be in the same pristine condition as they were when displayed on the newsagent's counter. Needless to say, not all are. So anyway my good friend, what exactly do you want and how do I get it to you?

[colcool007]

Sorry Col but my copies are in a bound volume which makes copying difficult. Maybe Derek could help?

Oh, alright, Col, just for you. If I were to have my story papers bound up it would bankrupt me, but that isn't the reason I haven't had any bound. I just believe that they should be in the same pristine condition as they were when displayed on the newsagent's counter. Needless to say, not all are. So anyway, what exactly do you want and how do I get it to you?

Some of my friends on the scanning side have helped me to look at the Limp Along Leslie picture story that ran in the Wizard between issues 1491 and 1499, but alas their copies are quite blurry, so I am after any scans that you might be able to make of this story as it is a lovely mid-1950s example of Ron's work.

Anything that you can provide me would be more than helpful. Unfortunately the blurry scans that are on certain other sites have not helped...sigh.

There is no rush as I still have part 4 to do and I am still trying to figure out if part 5 will be to continue with the Boys Papers or to branch out into the humour papers. Decisions. Decisions...

[Phoenix]

Some of my friends on the scanning side have helped me to look at the Limp Along Leslie picture story that ran in the Wizard between issues 1491 and 1499, but alas their copies are quite blurry, so I am after any scans that you might be able to make of this story as it is a lovely mid-1950s example of Ron's work.

That tells me what you want, Col, but not how to get it to you. What I do when I append illustrations to my posts is to save the images with the longer side being 900 pixels. To view it people have to expand it by clicking on it, but I don't know how to get these images to you. I can't send them in a PM. For your needs would it not be better if I scan some complete pages and then post them to you, suitably protected? You could then do what you wanted with them.

[colcool007]

Some of my friends on the scanning side have helped me to look at the Limp Along Leslie picture story that ran in the Wizard between issues 1491 and 1499, but alas their copies are quite blurry, so I am after any scans that you might be able to make of this story as it is a lovely mid-1950s example of Ron's work.

That tells me what you want, Col, but not how to get it to you. What I do when I append illustrations to my posts is to save the images with the longer side being 900 pixels. To view it people have to expand it by clicking on it, but I don't know how to get these images to you. I can't send them in a PM. For your needs would it not be better if I scan some complete pages and then post them to you, suitably protected? You could then do what you wanted with them.

Email or post would be perfect. The original plan was going to be one article per month. By my reckoning, I should now be into March!

I am now looking at a nice leisurely wander through the Wizard as I try to pick up as many examples of Ron Smith's work as I can.

[Phoenix]

Email or post would be perfect.

I will send the scans by post, Col. Could you PM me your address, please, or ring me. You are more likely to have my phone number to hand than I am your address. I apologise because I know you gave it to me shortly after you moved, but you just try finding anything in this house that isn't required on a regular basis!

[Phoenix]

The package is on its way, Col. I posted it First Class this afternoon so you might even get it tomorrow. As I didn't really know what type of images you could use, I scanned most of the instalments of Limp Along Leslie (series 7) to give you plenty of options. The b/w ones are mainly from inside The Wizard, the colour ones are either on the front cover or on both front and rear covers.