 |
| Copyright CLASSIC MEDIA/EXPRESS NEWSPAPERS |
RUPERT BEAR was created by MARY TOURTEL and appeared for the first time in The DAILY EXPRESS on November 8th, 1920. 15 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 magical 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 Bear artist who also often posted work from the same branch. I had to admit I didn't.
However, one day when I was in Glasgow's AKA Books & Comics, co-owner JOHN McSHANE introduced me to JOHN HARROLD, the artist in question. He'd been living in my home town for quite 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 a few minutes 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 of years later, John moved, first to London (I think) and then shortly thereafter to France.
It's strange to think that the then-current Rupert artist lived just a short walk down the street from me. Small world, eh? Anyway, it's the work of Alfred Bestall we're looking at today, featuring art from the pages of the 1949 Annual. I decided to publish these wonderfully 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.
2 comments:
I got a Rupert annual for Xmas possibly 1970 or 71. The annual had a Chinoiserie theme with Willow Pattern imagery. Really beautiful and delicate.
That twig-like wood creature seems to tap into ancient British folklore, doesn't he? Quite Arthur Machen.
The Wind In The Willows has chapters that fit the mood of Machen; the great god Pan, for example. Grahame was born first, by a few years, but Machen may have preceded him into print. I don't know, not being familiar with Machen's work.
One thing that always bothered me about the Rupert books is how he was transformed into a 'polar' bear in the interior art. That's one tradition I wish they'd do away with, and colour him brown throughout.
Post a Comment