Rupert at War
Alfred Bestall’s Rupert at War Stephen Bigger, 2009. Introduction. The Rupert Bear strips in the Daily Express were begun by Mary Tourtel in 1920 until poor health caused her to withdraw in 1936. Alfred Bestall was commissioned to take them over in 1936, after a varied career as illustrator in various books and magazines. Rupert became his life’s work up to 1973 when a disagreement with the newspaper, over altering his 1973 Annual artwork (making it the only “white faced Rupert” Annual cover), brought about his resignation which caused five years of great uncertainty. Mostly, the stories in the Annuals first appear in newspaper strips, which were coloured for the Annual, but some stories were specially written for Annuals. Where this is significant, I indicate it in the analysis which follows. This article discusses the strips and stories presented during war years, and especially 1939-1945 although there is one significant cold war addition. Although there are of course few direct references to war conditions, the anxieties surrounding fighting, bombing, and invasion fears affects creative thoughts even in these ‘simple’ stories for young children. Actually, Bestall stories are never simple. Rupert’s imagined adventures have to be taken as true as Rupert himself takes them, and as children tend to think of their own adventures. Mrs Bear delightfully welcomes him back for tea with ‘Have you had a nice day dear”, when yes he has, delivering the world from mass destruction, monsters, crooks, tree sprites, imps and the like. And yes please to more jam. 1939-1941. By September 1939, Alfred Bestall had developed his personal style in the Daily Express Rupert strips and maintained the tradition of Christmas annuals, entitled Adventures, New Adventures or More Adventures of Rupert.
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