{"id":14306,"date":"2015-11-28T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2015-11-28T08:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=14306"},"modified":"2015-11-27T16:58:11","modified_gmt":"2015-11-27T16:58:11","slug":"the-rupert-treasury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2015\/11\/28\/the-rupert-treasury\/","title":{"rendered":"The Rupert Treasury"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"
\nBy Mary Tourtel<\/strong> (Purnell Books)
\nISBN: 9 78-0-36106-343-2<\/p>\n

Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Truly British Brilliance with Universal Appeal\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 9\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n

There’s not a lot around these days in our field which caters specifically for little kids, their nostalgic parents and guardians whilst simultaneously introducing them to the ineluctably<\/em> tactile wonders and sensorium of a high quality comics anthological experience. Once upon a time there was a whole subdivision of the publishing business dedicated to enthralling and enchanting our youngest and, hopefully, brightest but now all I can think of are The Beano<\/strong> and The Phoenix<\/strong>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

At least we still have books – old and new – to fill the gap.<\/p>\n

Moreover, comics fans and the British in general equally adore a well-seasoned tradition and in terms of pictorial narrative and sheer beguilement there’s nothing more perfect than the hairy national treasure called Rupert<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Long before television took him, the Little Bear was part of our society’s very fabric and never more so than at Christmas when gloriously painted, comfortingly sturdy rainbow-hued Annuals found their way into innumerable stockings and the sticky hands of astounded, mesmerised children.<\/p>\n

The ursine \u00c3\u00bcber-star was created by English artist and illustrator Mary Tourtel (January 28th<\/sup> 1874-March 15th<\/sup> 1948) and debuted in the Daily Express<\/strong> on November 8th<\/sup> 1920; the beguiling vanguard and secret weapon of a pitched circulation battle with rival papers the Daily Mirror<\/strong> and Daily Mail<\/strong>. Both papers had cartoon characters for kiddies – Teddy Tail<\/em> in the Mail<\/strong> and the soon-to-be legendary Pip, Squeak and Wilfred<\/em> in the Mirror<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Tourtel’s daily serial of the Little Lost Bear<\/strong> ran for 36 instalments and triggered a phenomenon which remains in full force to this day, albeit largely due to the diligent efforts of her successor Alfred Edmeades Bestall, MBE, who wrote and illustrated Rupert Bear<\/strong> from 1935 to 1965 and was responsible for the Annuals which began with the 1936 edition.<\/p>\n

The artist originally chosen to spearhead the Express’ cartoon counterattack was already an established major player on the illustration scene – and fortuitously married to the paper’s News Editor Herbert Tourtel, who had been ordered by the owners to come up with a rival feature.<\/p>\n

The unnamed little bear was illustrated by Mary and initially captioned by Herbert, appearing as two cartoon panels per day with a passage of text underneath. He was originally cast as a brown bear until the Express<\/strong> decided to cut costs and inking expenses resulting in the iconic white pallor we all know and love today.<\/p>\n

Soon though early developmental \u00e2\u20ac\u0153bedding-in\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was accomplished and the engaging scenario was fully entrenched in the hearts and minds of readers. Young Rupert lives with his extremely understanding parents in idyllically rural Nutwood<\/em> village: an enticing microcosm and exemplar of everything wonderful about British life. The place is populated by anthropomorphic animals and humans living together and overlaps a lot of very strange and unworldly places full of mythical creatures and legendary folk\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

A huge hit, Mary’s Rupert quickly expanded into a range of short illustrated novels (46 by my count from the early 1920s to 1936, with a further run of 18 licensed and perpetually published by Woolworth’s after that. It’s from the former that the five tales in this splendid hardback commemoration are taken\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Tourtel’s bear was very much a product of his times and social class: inquisitive, adventurous, smart, helpful yet intrinsically privileged and therefore always labouring under a veiled threat of having his cosy world and possessions taken away by the wicked and undeserving.<\/p>\n

Heretical as it might sound, like the unexpurgated fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson or the Brothers Grimm, the pre-Bestall Rupert yarns all have a darker edge and worrisome undercurrent with mysterious forces casually, even capriciously targeting our innocent star. Naturally, pluck, good friends and a benevolent adult or two are always on hand to help our hero win through\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This glorious tome – still readily available through many internet vendors and originated in 1984 – gathers a quintet of typical Tourtel tales from the book editions, packing a wealth of full colour painted, duo-hued and monochrome ink-line illustrations into his enchanting pages and opens with the all-colour adventure of ‘Rupert and the Robber Wolf’<\/em> from 1932, with the text as always delivered in a succession of rhyming couplets.<\/p>\n

The story sees Rupert deprived of his new pocket watch by a burly vulpine bandit and, despite seeking the assistance of best pal Bill Badger<\/em>, friendly mystic The Wise Old Goat<\/em>, pixies, fauns and rural troubleshooter The Pedlar<\/em>, ending up a prisoner of the wolf.<\/p>\n

Happily the Old Goat and a posse of police are on hand to collar the crook and his wayward son before something really nasty occurs\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Rendered in bucolic shades of green, ‘Rupert and the Old Miser’ <\/em>(first released circa 1925) finds our bear playing with a new ball which flies over a forbidding wall into a large garden. When Rupert sneaks in to retrieve his toy he encounters a range of odd and terrified creatures all suborned to the eccentric whims of the rapacious Master Raven<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

When the bear is caught the ebon enchanter declares the trespasser to be his property too and sets the poor mite to work as his latest chattel.<\/p>\n

Rupert is despondent, but help is at hand. The Little Bear’s friends have concocted a cunning plan to rescue him and when the scheme succeeds the miser meets a grisly fate chasing his fleeing new slave\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Equally verdant in its art aspects is the saga of ‘Rupert and the Enchanted Princess’<\/em> (1928) which opens with the bear snatched up by a great bird and delivered to a distant kingdom where a feudal monarch pleads with him to find his missing daughter.<\/p>\n

Despite the scorn of the assembled knights, Rupert sets out and, with the aid of woodland creatures and a talking horse, overcomes ogres, dragons and other terrors before reversing the magic curse of three witches and returning the Princess to her doting dad\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Rendered in beautiful, clear, clean black-&-white line art ‘Rupert and the Mysterious Flight’<\/em> (1930) begins when The Prince and Princess of the Wood of Mystery<\/em> send the Little Bear a fully functional aeroplane. Soon Rupert is enjoying his maiden voyage but gets lost and alights in the Land of Kinkajous<\/em>, where King Toucan<\/em> – after an initial fright – sets the boy a series of never-ending mystic challenges. After a number of Herculean labours are accomplished Rupert at last regains his flying machine and makes a break for freedom and home\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

The fantastic voyages then conclude with the full-colour ‘Rupert and the Magic Toyman’ <\/em>(1933) wherein a thrilling day enjoying a Fair and Sports Day leads to the unlucky bear being spirited away by a genial craftsman whose enticing wares mask his true nature.<\/p>\n

The toy maker is, in fact, a wicked sorcerer and his constructions are transformed animals and even a Princess\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Undaunted, Rupert organises an escape back to Princess Belinda<\/em>‘s kingdom, but the Toyman has already ensorcelled the whole place into a land of marionettes. Happily, a glimmer of hope remains and the tables can be turned if only Rupert can find and recruit the valiantly heroic Moorland Will<\/em> whose hunting horn can undo the magic spell\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Beautifully realised, superbly engaging fantasies such as these are never out of style and this fabulous tome should be yours, if only ass means of introducing the next generation to a perfect world of wonder and imagination.
\n\u00c2\u00a9 1984 Beaverbrook Newspapers Limited. Artwork & text \u00c2\u00a9 1984 Purnell Publishers Limited from original Mary Tourtel material.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mary Tourtel (Purnell Books) ISBN: 9 78-0-36106-343-2 Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Truly British Brilliance with Universal Appeal\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 9\/10 There’s not a lot around these days in our field which caters specifically for little kids, their nostalgic parents and guardians whilst simultaneously introducing them to the ineluctably tactile wonders and sensorium of a high quality … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Rupert Treasury”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[42,102,97,127,156],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-british","category-fantasy","category-kids-all-ages","category-nostalgia","category-world-classics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-3IK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14306\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}