Collected Papers 1998-2010 on MALCOLM SAVILLE, CHILDREN’S WRITER: By Stephen Bigger, Malcolm Saville Archive. © Stephen Bigger 2010 1 Collected Papers 1998-2010 on MALCOLM SAVILLE, CHILDREN’S WRITER: By Stephen Bigger, Malcolm Saville Archive. © Stephen Bigger 2010 Note: All versions are revised editions of the original texts by Stephen Bigger which appeared in Acksherley! the magazine of the Malcolm Saville Society or Annual Gathering programmes. These are free to members. Papers here have been revised in 2010. See http://www.witchend.com and http://malcolmesavillearchive.blogspot.com for further information. PREFACE. Part 1. The Emerging Author 1. D J Desmond: the Anonymous Author. 2005 Malcolm Saville wrote occasionally under this name, and these works are discussed. 2. Malcolm Saville at My Garden Magazine. 2005 3. Apprenticeship: Malcolm Saville and David Severn 2003 The literary relationship between two beginning writers. 4. The Influence of J M Barrie on Malcolm Saville 2004 Malcolm Saville was fond of Dear Brutus by J M Barrie and this influenced his characterisation. 2004. 5. Did Malcolm Saville know W.E. Johns, author of Biggles? 2009. Part 2. Values 6. Families in Difficulties 7. Romany Secrets: The depiction of Romanies in the writings of Malcolm Saville. 2002 8. Children Coping - Welcome the Jillies. 1998 9. Yellow Peril? The Depiction of the Chinese in the Fiction of Malcolm Saville 2002 Malcolm Saville's depiction of Chinese residents of Docklands. 10. Good People Working Together: The Lesson of Sea Witch Comes Home Part 3. Locations 11. Why Choose Blakeney? Birds, Artists and Holidays in Digs. 2002 Post-war holidays and Malcolm Saville’s Jillies series. 12. Coping in dangerous waters: defining gender roles in the Ely Floods 2003 Relationships in The Luck of Sallowby (1952), Malcolm Saville’s fifth Jillies book, set in Ely floods. 13. Romanticised Landscape: Malcolm Saville’s Cornwall Real and fictional topography in Malcolm Saville’s Flying Fish Adventure 2003 14. Sea Watch at Southwold. 2004 Comparison of historical detail of the 1953 North Sea ‘great storm’ with Malcolm Saville’s Sea Witch Comes Home. Easter 2004. 15. Dartmoor, Flying Saucers and Military Secrecy 2005. Links between flying saucers in two Saville stories, and other science fiction literature. 16. Muker, North Yorkshire: The Mysteries of Muker: Or Which Steps, Which Barn and Which Crackpot? Part 4. Life in the 1940s 17. Spirit of the Place: Writing about England. 18. Small Creatures, and the Truth in a Tale Series. Nature writing. 19. Railways of Adventure. The place of railways in Malcolm Saville’s fiction. 2004 and 2007. 20. Harvest Holiday: A Happy Return to Townsend Farm. 2008 21. A Death in Normandy. The background to Mary and Michael’s father. 2009. 2 PREFACE These articles have appeared over a twelve year period in the Magazine of the Malcolm Saville Society, Acksherley! or in the Annual Gathering souvenir programmes. The articles presume a basic knowledge of Malcolm Saville’s books for children and generally encourage readers to re-read the books being discussed and to see new things in them. For readers new to Malcolm Saville, let me just say here that he wrote stories for children, some for younger children and some for teenagers, between 1943 and 1978. The early stories were dramatised on the radio (Children’s Hour) from the beginning. Malcolm Saville, born in Hastings, published some 87 books for children alongside a full-time career in publishing. He is best known for his Lone Pine Series starting with Mystery at Witchend, twenty full-length novels and one novelette. These spanned from his favourite Shropshire, to Rye, Dartmoor, North Yorkshire, Southwold and London. He is considered a master at evoking location. His other series included The Jillies, The Buckinghams, Mary and Michael, Susan and Bill, the Nettleford series and the Marston Baines novels for older children. The Jillies (6 books, 1948-53) starting in Norfolk with two families, the Jillions and Standings who meet on holiday in Blakeney, in Redshanks Warning. They meet up again in London, the Pennines , Ely, Austria and finally the home counties. In the Buckingham’s series (6 books 1950–74 starting with The Master of Maryknoll), children befriend the son of a famous exiled Polish violinist. Venues range from Ludlow, Shropshire, to north Yorkshire, Brighton, London, Italy, Amsterdam. For younger children there were two series: Mary and Michael (1945-57) were Londoners who were sent to the country and get to Cornwall, Dorset, Sussex, and the Grand Union Canal. The first book, Trouble at Townsend (1945), of their life on a farm, became a film. Susan and Bill were children who moved to a new town (unspecified): stories describe their settling in experiences as well as their holidays, including one in a railway camping coach. The Nettleford series are experiences of village and farm life for young children. For older teenagers, the Marston Baines thriller-romances (1962-1978) echo James Bond, a master spy whose university student friends get into some serious difficulties with terrorists, anti-semites, drug dealers, black magic and mafia. Two books never resulted in series: Treasure at the Mill (1957); and The Thin Grey Man (1966).The films of Treasure at the Mill and Trouble at Townsend have recently been reissued and are attractive period pieces of children's cinema. Malcolm Saville also wrote non-fiction, generally on country themes (such as Country Scrapbook, Open-Air Scrapbook, and Seaside Scrapbook of the 1940s, encouraging post-war outdoor pursuits and holidays. There were two main religious books, King of Kings (1958, a life of Jesus) and Strange Story (1967, the crucifixion seen through the eyes of contemporary Roman children). Further Reading: The Malcolm Saville Society website, http://www.witchend.com, contains information and links. The entry Malcolm Saville on Wikipedia contains an accurate list of his books for children. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Saville. Mark O’Hanlon, The Complete Lone Pine Worcester: Mark O’Hanlon (2nd edition) Mark O’Hanlon, Beyond the Lone Pine Worcester: Mark O’Hanlon (biography) 3 PART 1. The Emerging Author 1. D J DESMOND: THE ANONYMOUS AUTHOR. © STEPHEN BIGGER, 2005. Later in his writing life, Malcolm Saville proudly signed books “Signed by the Author Malcolm Saville”. Author normally has a capital A, to say that it was a status worth having. Works attributed anonymously as D J Desmond therefore are interesting. Those currently known are: his first book, Amateur Acting and Producing for Beginners (1937); Stonewall Jackson, a story (1939); a poem contained within his Country Scrapbook (1944); Craftsmanship in a Machine Age (1948) and John & Jennifer on the Farm (Denes, 1949). Amateur Acting was essentially completed as part of his job, one of a series. As such a pseudonym was natural. ‘Stonewall Jackson’ was from the same period. His prose poem in Country Scrapbook is part of a miscellany of poems by more famous people, so the pseudonym is not to draw attention to his own authorship. ‘Craftsmanship’ used the pseudonym because it was his second article in the same book, the first being ‘The World’s Greatest Port’ under his own name. John & Jennifer on the Farm with the publisher Nelson was someone else’s series, Gee Denes who used photographs as the skeleton of this series for young school children and who is named as the author. With his career profile, Malcolm Saville may have preferred not to use his own name for a ghost written book. It gave him the opportunity however for his own series for Nelson with Susan and Bill (note the switch in order of gender). Nevertheless, all these works should be recognised as part of his authentic corpus of work. As to the name, until I have further evidence, I will continue to assume that, like James Herriott, it came from the telephone book. I. Amateur Acting and Producing for Beginners was published in 1937, price 2/6d, as part of C Arthur Pearson Ltd’s The Beginner Series including, according to the back cover, books on photography, stamp collecting and short story writing. Pearson’s were in Southampton Street, The Strand in London, a part of the George Newnes publishing empire for which, after a period in journalism, Malcolm Saville has just started to work in marketing (where he helped to launch Enid Blyton’s career): like Fleet Street for newspapers, this was a street of book and magazine publishers of great significance to Malcolm Saville’s working life since it also housed Newnes, and My Garden magazine. This was a street where publishers and editors met in pubs and cafes and did deals. Capt WE Johns’ office was here, for Popular Flying magazine (bought by George Newnes in 1935 who introduced a spin-off Flying, both hugely critical of government inactivity in preparing for war. Johns met Theo Stephens of My Garden magazine in 1936 and wrote a year long series called The Passing Show about his own Surrey garden later published as a book (1937), and many other garden articles. Publishing was a small world which provided Malcolm Saville opportunities for authorship. Decisions to use an alias or pen-name are always interesting. Possibly Malcolm Saville saw this as a one off and quirky book, a work task, not something he wished to define his own career. I think it was probably not lack of confidence – seeing your own name on your first book motivates many a writer! The back cover states: “Written by an experienced amateur, this book is a practical and entertaining guide to the essentials of amateur acting and the art of producing”. In the book, Malcolm Saville talks about the “society of which I am a member” (p.25) who referred to key background organisers as “Five Industrious Mechanics”.