86 Today!

jambutty · 08-11-2006, 17:57

8th November 1920 was a red letter day for probably the best known bear after the Teddy Bear.

Who?

Why Rupert Bear, of course.

Today, 86 years ago Rupert first appeared in the Daily Express to match other newspapers of the day that had their own children’s cartoon like Teddy Tail of the Mail and Pip, Squeak and Wilfred in the Mirror or was it the other way around.

Mary Toutel, the wife of one of the Express sub-editors, invented Rupert, wrote the stories and drew the illustrations until failing eyesight forced her to give up in 1935.

Alfred Bestall, a magazine illustrator, took over and in 1942 the annual came out in colour. It was he who laid down the ground rules for Rupert’s dress code. Those yellow check trousers and that red jersey will always be a symbol of Rupert Bear.

Rupert Bear has lasted well over the ages and hasn’t aged one bit.

The first Rupert Bear Annual was published in time for Xmas 1936 and contained many of the stories printed in the newspaper during the previous year. Since then there has been an annual every year.

I can’t remember all of his playmates but Golliwog comes to mind and I am informed that he is now called just Golly to appease the PC brigade. There was Tiger Lilly the daughter of the Chinese magician and memory fails me after that.

As a final note – a 1936 annual in good condition would be likely to fetch over £1,000 today and much more if still had the original dust cover.

lancsdave · 08-11-2006, 18:03

Even he hasn't escaped the PC brigade, was in the news recently;

New design gives Rupert Bear a hoodie

Tuesday, October 24 2006, 01:48 UTC - by Dave West
Designers asked to breathe new life into Rupert the Bear have dressed him in a hoodie.

The Entertainment Rights media firm, which currently owns the character, hired a company to come up with ideas to keep the character fresh. It was feared, according to The Sun, that his Burberry-like scarf was making him look like a chav.

In one design they decked him out with a red hooded top, shorts, a chain hanging from his pocket and an iPod. Another saw him given a boyband-style look with a diamond ear-ring and a bandana.

However, according to the paper, the rights managers were not impressed with the results. They opted to stick with traditional Rupert and just change his shoes for trainers.

“The most shocking one was his new hoodie look," said a source. "Those types of tops are associated with gangs and street crime."

garinda · 08-11-2006, 18:18

Who'd have thought it?

Jambutty is really an old softy underneath all the gruffness.

I too loved Rupert, and even his evil old foe Raggety, the stick thin anor....oops, bundle of dried twigs.

West Ender · 08-11-2006, 19:58

There was no golliwog in Nutwood.

There was Bill Badger, Edward Trunk, Pong Ping (a Pekinese) and I have a vague memory of Algie Pug and twin rats. They were all animals, not toys.

I've seen what the new series Rupert is going to look like and it's a travesty. Everything, these days, is "Disneyfied" and the new Rupert is no exception - it's just not Rupert.

WillowTheWhisp · 08-11-2006, 20:21

That was not a Burberry scarf. It was a yellow scarf with black check. Why can't people leave well alone.

Billcat · 08-11-2006, 22:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambutty

8th November 1920 was a red letter day for probably the best known bear after the Teddy Bear.

Who?

Why Rupert Bear, of course.

Interesting. No knock on Rupert Bear - in point of fact, this is the first I've heard of him, but I would have to believe that Winnie the Pooh is better known.

BTW, interesting that Christopher Milne's bear, the original Winnie the Pooh, now resides in New York City. Maybe someone will eventually arrange for him to go on tour to the UK!

garinda · 08-11-2006, 23:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billcat

Interesting. No knock on Rupert Bear - in point of fact, this is the first I've heard of him, but I would have to believe that Winnie the Pooh is better known.

BTW, interesting that Christopher Milne's bear, the original Winnie the Pooh, now resides in New York City. Maybe someone will eventually arrange for him to go on tour to the UK!

Pooh bear is no longer welcome on British soil, after that nasty Walt Disney gave him a squeeky American accent.

jambutty · 09-11-2006, 09:49

Of course I am garinda. Just an old softie with a hard shell to deflect the slings and arrows of life. Nice avatar for the season. Great picture. Looks well for an 86 years old.

I remember a golliwog in Rupert but that was donkey’s years ago West Ender or maybe it is my tired old brain cell playing tricks on me. They weren’t all animals – there was Tiger Lilley and the magician, they were human. I wonder if Rupert’s dad still smokes a pipe? Would it be allowed today?

Rupert never really got over the pond Billcat so it is unlikely that you would remember him. But then you may have spent your childhood days in the UK. I don’t know.

Now here’s a bombshell! Twenty odd years ago it was reckoned that Rupert was gay because he had no ‘girl’ friends. I don’t believe that for one minute.

garinda · 09-11-2006, 10:43

Aryan Unity - Rupert the Racist?

There was at least one golliwog in my annuals.

garinda · 09-11-2006, 11:48

Politically Incorrect 5: Coon Island

jambutty · 09-11-2006, 13:45

Nice one garinda.

All those golliwogs and even the word ‘nigger’ and not a complaint in sight.

But then in those days people weren’t quite so sensitive to political correctness. In fact it didn’t exist.

Billcat · 09-11-2006, 14:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by garinda

Pooh bear is no longer welcome on British soil, after that nasty Walt Disney gave him a squeeky American accent.

Now, Garinda, be kind! I will agree with you that Walt Disney's version of Pooh is worthy of contempt.

But....the original stories (and the boy and bear who inspired them)? Still among the greatest children's literature!

West Ender · 09-11-2006, 20:02

Ooh, nasty old Rupert but that's not a golliwog in the picture, it's a black child. I suppose we were so insular in those days we didn't really know black people from Martians and I think the intention was innocent enough in its way. We knew no better.

Yes I know there were humans, Jambutty, I remember quite a lot of girl guides and scouts too but Rupert's contemporaries were animals. I used to look forward to a Rupert Annual every Christmas and I always tried, and failed, to do the origami thing that was always in the middle. I particularly remember one that was supposed to be a stork-like bird that flapped its wings. My effort looked more like a hybrid duck that had been badly mauled before rigor mortis set in.

jambutty · 10-11-2006, 14:12

You’re right West Ender it doesn’t look like the traditional Golliwog more like a picanniny, if that is spelled correctly.

The real golliwog can be seen at http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/golliwog.htm However there is one point that I would argue with in the text. It states that the word “wog” stems from golliwog. To the best of my knowledge a Wog was a Wily Oriental Gentleman and was what our armed forces stationed in Egypt during WWI called the locals.