One of my Christmas presents was a copy of the Beano for April 23rd 1955 - price 2D. It's in good condition apart from some browning of the paper. As for the content it's much as I remember from almost sixty years ago. Biffo the Bear, Minnie the Minx, the Bash St Kids, Lord Snooty are all there plus a few I don't remember.
Private Eye are currently lampooning Cameron and his upper crust cronies via a take-off of Lord Snooty. It works rather well.
Two characters I don't remember are Red Rory of the eagles and Longlegs the desert wild boy.
Both are more like the adventure stories I moved on to after the Beano. They seem out of place somehow, not quite the read it and toss it aside content I expected.
Although I always retained a soft spot for the Beano, as I recall it there was nothing hugely amusing about the exploits of Minnie the Minx or Roger the Dodger. I never laughed out loud, or if I did it wasn't often enough to stick in my mind.
They were just easily digested micro-stories with a tinge of improbable humour fitted into that narrow period between learning to read and wanting something more substantial than a comic.
No doubt that was what Red Rory and Longlegs aimed to cater for but I think they may have disappeared not too long after this issue because I certainly don't remember them.
Happy days? Yes they were.
I wonder what happened to Longlegs?
9 comments:
I did like the Beano as a kid, but I never found it particularly funny.
The only two exchanges which I still remember are...
1. Walter the Softy asks his mum "Mummy, why are your hands so soft?" to which his mum replies "Because I get Daddy to do the washing up."
2. Teacher at Bash St Kids school is teaching the kids to play football and shouts "Use the space!". A kid asks him "What does that mean?" and he replies "No idea, but that's what the experts keep saying."
Memories there all right.
Mark - while watching TV with Grandson I've noticed that material aimed at kids often has a touch of adult humour as if writers want parents to find it mildly entertaining too.
James - yes, just handling the comic brings back memories.
I can just remember (pre 1956) the 'Longlegs' strip: I think the character had a 'desert cat', a bobcat, as his companion.Somehow,it all seemed out of character with the rest of the 'Beano' content, maybe even 'iffy' to modern eyes. By '56 I was into more advanced comics that were mostly text-only,so the 'Beano' was dropped.
John - yes it seems out of character to me too. It was just before my time and possibly a relic of earlier, more story-based comics such as Magnet.
Long Legs the Desert Wild Boy was my childhood hero. Does anyone have any of the old comics?
Amanda - I only have one copy as mentioned in the post. I imagine they are best bought off the internet but there may be other sources.
I grew up with the Beano and Topper until I suppose 1956, I was 6 then. Moved onto the Wizard and Adventure,but funnily cannot
Remember anything bout them,other than some of the serials.Iremember the secret of the sleepers and also king Solomon’s mines,but none stand out like long legs red Rory etc and was there a character called desparate Dan who ate cow pie?
Anon - I moved on to Wizard too and can't remember much about it. I vaguely recall a footballing toff but can't remember where he appeared. I do remember Dan and his cow pie though.
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