British comics archivist Peter Hansen’s massive collection of comic-related items comprises an amazing range of comics related material, including girl’s and boy’s comics, teenage titles, and juvenile comics, annuals, flyers, original free gifts, advertising, toys and games related to the comics, original artwork, fanzines, memorabilia, artist’s archives, publishers archives as well as almost 900 bound volumes of British comics of which the majority belonged to the original publishers.
We’re delighted he has kindly given downthetubes permission to post some of his short items about just a few some of the smashing comic collectibles he owns…
Teddy Tail of the Daily Mail
For me, the whole history of British comics is interesting. For example, officially, British comics have been published since the 1860’s and are still being published.
However, comic publishers were not the only ones to exploit cartoon characters. There were others who were in the business of using comic characters to boost sales.
One of the most notable in my mind was the Daily Mail newspaper. It had obviously become apparent that comics were extremely popular by the turn of the 20th century, with a selection of titles out there. A few years later, the Daily Mail set out to bring the kids into reading their own comic characters.
The Mail introduced Teddy Tail on the 5th April 1915. First written and drawn by Charles Folkard (1878–1963), the stories of the eponymous mouse with a knot in his tail was the very first cartoon strip in a British newspaper, and the first to use speech balloons rather than captions.
The success of Teddy Tail paved the way for other newspaper strips such as Pip Squeak and Wilfred, which premiered in the Daily Mirror on 12th May 1919 in the childrens’ section of the paper.
A year later, Rupert the Bear appeared in the Daily Express, on 8th November 1920.
Like all characters, Teddy Tail and his pals developed slightly along the way as you can see from these early examples.
The strip continued to be succes for decades, until 1974, albeit with some interruptions, spinning off into books and many Christmas annuals.
Peter Hansen
Teddy Tail: Background
Charles Folkard wrote and illustrated Teddy Tail from 1915 until 1926, and several annuals or books printed in the years before his 1933 revival, which were reprinted from the Daily Mail cartoon strips.
The character was revived by the Daily Mail in 1933, drawn by by Herbert Sydney Foxwell (1890–1943), who’d previously drawn Tiger Tim since the mid-1920s for the Amalgamated Press, later known as Fleetway. Tiger Tim had been part of the Bruin Boys since the early 1900s and featured in the Playbox annual since 1910 as well as his own annual since 1922. This second incarnation of Teddy Tail, part of a family group that lived in the village of Whiskertown, was portrayed as a schoolboy aged character and aimed more at younger readers.
Teddy Tail annuals were issued from 1933 to 1940. Merchandising, following similar successes with Mickey Mouse in the UK, were popular, including small toys, cut-outs, jigsaws and Teddy Tail biscuits.
The Teddy Tail League launched in 1933, emulating other newspaper character-inspired clubs of the time, specifically “Pip, Squeak and Wilfred”, from the Daily Mirror, and the Daily Herald’s “Bobby Bear”. Membership was cited at 750,000 by the time of publication of the 1836 Teddy Tail annual and members received enamel badges, birthday cards and free advice on pets or hobbies. Special events and public activities were announced in the Daily Mail. You had to collect six ‘seals’ from the Daily Mail newspaper to enrol and get the badge and membership rules card, and learn of Teddy Tail’s ‘secret sign’. You could add 12 more ‘seals’ to get a Sports Badge, according to the 1934 annual.
Foxwell died whilst on service in 1943, bringing an end to the series until 1945, drawn by Arthur ‘Spot’ Potts, followed by Tony Hawes (1929–1997), and, finally, Bill Glenn (William St. John Glenn), who drew the strip until his death in 1974.
Bill Glenn designed all the colourful annual covers from 1948 until 1953 with the exception of 1952 when serious illness prevented this.
The cover for that was designed instead by Roland Davies, who is perhaps best known for the newspaper strip “C’Mon Steve”.
Former Marvel UK editor Tim Quinn sought to revive the character at one point, and Nick Miller created some sample art, as they also did for a proposed revival for Pip, Squeak and Wilfred.
“I think we did two proposals for Teddy with over 10 years in between,” Tim recalls. “Bel Mooney mentioned him on her page, so I suggested we bring him back on her page each week. This strip was published but that was it, as the editor didn’t agree with Bel on Teddy’s chances in our brave new world.”
WEB LINKS
• The Website of William St John Glenn (1904 – 1974)
• Yesterday’s Papers compiled by John Adcock
A great guide to British newspaper strips
• British Comics Newspaper Strips
A straightforward checklist on DanDare.Info
• Teddy Tail annuals are regularly offered on AbeBooks, AmazonUK and eBay | The Political Cartoon Gallery has a few examples of original Teddy’s Tail art for sale
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Books, British Comics - Newspaper Strips, Classic British Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
Thanks John hope people enjoy your post and finding out more about British comic history!