Laurel & Hardy seem to be in the news at the moment...a movie? Anyway, as all the slime dealers do on Ebay if a character is in a movie and in a comic -or annual- time to hike up the prices like crazy! Scum like that spoil fun for real comic fans and if a sucker wants to buy and annual because L&H are on it...I see £65-£85 being asked for not great condition annual that a month ago cost £4-£7!
The sucker will, once all the hue and cry dies down...have an annual worth £4-£7 no matter how much they scream about what THEY paid for it!
Laurel and Hardy were, obviously, BIG stars and featured on a good few Film Fun Annual covers. This 1957 edition I bought as it was my birth year...cost me £3.50.
Love it.
How Can you not love the 1951 annual cover? Like many radio and film -later TV- personalities, most starred in comic sets (strips) but never knew about it or gave permission. When George William Wakefield died suddenly (1887-1942) his son, Terry (1911-1989), took over his set work and that included L&H and here is a connection with the film out at the moment.
Terry Wakefield asked Amalgamated Press whether he could get tickets to go and meet the duo when they came to the UK but was forbidden by AP to go and the reason was simple: the company feared that if the duo learnt that they were the stars in a popular comic (eventually for just under 30 years) they might sue and/or ask for money!
Above: 28th July, 1952, Alhambra Theatre, Bradford. Photo from (?) The Telegraph and Argus
Look at this annual cover, even beaten up it screams "fun" and is the kind of bright and colourful and just the wort of thing to cheer a kid in rationed Britain up!
Back in 1943 they were a couple school dopes!
When I shared this cover on some comic groups the response was 100% negative! Seriously, this is a bright and cheerful cover -I believe by George Wakefield - and I love the style but it seems there is a feeling these need to be straight photo or painted conventional covers. Squares!
Below George Wakefield L&H art
And that has to be followed with Terry Wakefield art, naturally!
The sucker will, once all the hue and cry dies down...have an annual worth £4-£7 no matter how much they scream about what THEY paid for it!
Laurel and Hardy were, obviously, BIG stars and featured on a good few Film Fun Annual covers. This 1957 edition I bought as it was my birth year...cost me £3.50.
Love it.
How Can you not love the 1951 annual cover? Like many radio and film -later TV- personalities, most starred in comic sets (strips) but never knew about it or gave permission. When George William Wakefield died suddenly (1887-1942) his son, Terry (1911-1989), took over his set work and that included L&H and here is a connection with the film out at the moment.
Terry Wakefield asked Amalgamated Press whether he could get tickets to go and meet the duo when they came to the UK but was forbidden by AP to go and the reason was simple: the company feared that if the duo learnt that they were the stars in a popular comic (eventually for just under 30 years) they might sue and/or ask for money!
Above: 28th July, 1952, Alhambra Theatre, Bradford. Photo from (?) The Telegraph and Argus
Look at this annual cover, even beaten up it screams "fun" and is the kind of bright and colourful and just the wort of thing to cheer a kid in rationed Britain up!
When I shared this cover on some comic groups the response was 100% negative! Seriously, this is a bright and cheerful cover -I believe by George Wakefield - and I love the style but it seems there is a feeling these need to be straight photo or painted conventional covers. Squares!
Ah, the legends that are the Wakefields. George and Terry. Though I have to admit being more of a fan of Roy Wilson myself. Merely a preference, hopefully not a controversial one! There are some illustrators whose work are a joy to behold. I can't think of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy without thinking of them dancing to 'At The Ball, That's All' by The Avalon Boys; - I think that was the title?. So glad that clip is on the internet. That one clip shows the boy's genius.
ReplyDeleteOops. I think that should be "the boys' genius".
ReplyDelete