"EVERYONE KNOWS HIS NAME..."

 

 

RUPERT THE BEAR was created by MARY TOURTEL and first

appeared in THE DAILY EXPRESS on November 8th, 1920. Fifteen

years later, ALFRED BESTALL took the daily newspaper mascot to
even greater heights of glory, working on the strip until he retired from
it in 1965. However, he continued to draw the covers to the Annuals
until 1973 (for '74), and apparently occasionally contributed to the
character in some way right up into his 90s.

 

Although I was aware of the famous British bear, it wasn't until

browsing through an old Rupert Annual in a dentist's waiting room in

the late '70s or very early '80s that I found myself transfixed by the art,

and the atmosphere it conjured up. Then, in the late '80s, when I was

regularly posting work to IPC Magazines in London, post office workers

(seeing that I was involved 'in publishing') would continually ask me if

I knew the Rupert the Bear artist, who also often posted work from

the same branch. I had to admit that I didn't.

 

 

 However, one day when I was in AKA Books & Comics in Glasgow,

JOHN McSHANE (famous man-about-town) introduced me to JOHN

HARROLD, the artist in question. John had been living in my home town

for some time, looking after his mother-in-law when she was sadly dying

from cancer. We both found ourselves on the same train back home, and
it transpired that John actually resided only five minutes (if) down the road

from my house. Despite John's repeated invitations to visit him sometime,
I never managed to get 'round to it (I was a busy boy back in those days),
and a couple or so years later, John moved, first down to London
(I think), and then shortly thereafter to France.

 

It's kind of strange to think that the then-current Rupert artist lived just

down the street from me. Small world, eh? Anyway, it's the work of Alfred

Bestall we're concerned with today, featuring art from the pages of the

1949 Annual. I decided to publish these wonderful, evocative examples

because they're so apropos of the season. They just exude the kind of

Christmas that I fancy I remember from my long-ago boyhood, although

perhaps it's more a case of how I want to remember things, rather than

how they actually were. Then again, perhaps not.

 

 

Regardless, I hope that you enjoy looking at them. If you have

any fond recollections of Rupert from your own childhood, feel

free to share them in the comments section.