THE STORy rArJER JAl\.LARY 1954 COLLECTOR No. 51 :: Vol. 3 6th Chri,tma' J,,ue, The Magner, i'o. 305, December 13, 191 "l From the Editor's NOTEBOOK HAVE Volume I, the first 26 name pictured in The Srory Paper issues, of the early Harms­ Collet!or No. 48, but the same I worth weekly paper for publisher, Rrett), a "large num· women, Forger-Me-Nor, which ber" of S11rpris�s, Plucks, Union was founded, I judge - for the Jacks, Marwls, and True Blues cover-pages are missing-late in were offereJ at one shilling for 1891. In No. 12, issued probably 48, post free to any address. Un­ in January 1892, there is mention like Forgec-Me-Nors in 1892, these of a letter from a member of papers must have been consi­ The Forget-Me-Not Club. ln the dered of little value in 1901. words of the Editress (as she What a difference today! calls herself): IF The Amalgamated Press A member of the Clul> tt•rites IO had issued our favorite papers inform me rha1 she inserted an ad­ in volumes, after the manner of vertisement in E x change and Mart, Chums in its earlier years, there offering Rider Haggard's "Jess" and would doubtless he a more Longfellow's poems for a copy of plentiful supply of Magnets and No. 1 of Forget-Me-Not, l>ut she Gems and the rest today. They did not receive an offer. This speaks did not even make any great 1'0lumes for 1he value of the earl: prndicc of providing covers for numbers of Forger-Me-Not. I readers who wanted to have should advise all those who are for­ their copies bound. But such tunace enough to possess the early covers were available, for a time numbers to keep chem, as 1hey will at least, to readers of The Pluck in all probability be <'ery l'aluable Library. I have found reference ere long. to them in No. 506, July 11th, There can be very little de­ 1914, with another paragraph on mand for copies of Forgec-Me­ the same subject a few weeks No1 today, and I wonder just later. The covers for six-month how much my Volume I would volumes were offered at one be worth. To find out, I invite shilling and ninepence each. offers. Were many purchased and used! And has anyone collecting to­ IN THE Sale and Exchange day ever come upon volumes column of The Boys of 1he Empire of The Pluck Library that had No. 40, July 9th, 1901 (a different been bound in these publishers' paper from that of the same covers! 2 An Amateur Magatine : : Published Since 1941 The Story Paper Collector No.51-Vol.3 Priceless \Virh a scniimencal sigh rhe Editor says--- GOOD· BYE, MR. CHIPS! ES, I KNOW full well that various changes in its name and ritle is not original with a more varied career than the Y me I It was used by James others-have been given a little Hilton for a story which space. In Volume One (p. 250) stays in one's memory, both as a Walter Dexter gave an account hook and as a movie. (I would of the different names and like to see it again I) And Her­ series of Wonder and there were hert Leckenby used it in the other references to it. In Vol­ O�lober, 1953, issue of The Col­ ume Two (pp.255, 274) Charlie lec'!ors' Digcsr for the same reason Daniel and Arthur Harris had a that it appears here: to bid fare­ few words for Chips. Come to well to the Amalgamated Prcss's think about it, ComicCuts seems long-estahlished comic papers, to have been completely neg­ Chips, Comic Curs, and Wonder. lected, except perhaps for brief But it is so appropriate that references that failed to find a I just haJ to use it. The Editor place in the Indexes. of Chips for many years signed The killing·off of the three his editorials"Cornclius Chips," comics in September of 1953 though I doubt very much if that created sufficient interest for really was his name. the occurrence to be com­ The comks have received mented upon in various news­ comparatively little attention in papers in Britain. News.Chronicle these pages, mainly, I suppose, devoted a "leader" to it on because they are nut much col­ September 2nd which began: lected. But Comic Curs, Chips - which used to be lll1mrared A fugirit>e sigh, a single senri· Chips- and \Voruler-which had menwl rear, may be pennissi ble 4 TI-IE STORY PAPER COLLECTOR roday 01•er the news that Comic home, but luckily a friend of Curs, Chips, and Wonder (or the family bought copies each Funny Wonder, as it once was) week and they were passed on are to cease publication next week. to me. The time seemed to pass so slowly while I was wait· Bransby Williams, the famous ing for them! ad:or, wrote a nostalgic piece for News of the World of Sep· l have little recollection now tember 6th which commenced: of what I read in them, hut l do remember-of course!-Weary uDeath from natural causes," Willie and Tired Tim, the sUJtes the foreman of the jury. Yes, Casey Court Kids, and Home­ but what cause? That u·as the ques· less Hed:or in Chips and the tion I pondered when I read thar Mulberry Fln-itt:S in Comic Curs. never again u·ill a schoolboy be seen Those Chips characters were muling a copy of Comic Cuts or still in the paper at the last Chips and Wonder. Those three issue, but the inhabitants of publications -mrely as celebrated as Mulberry Flats had long dis· any in the English-speaking 1t'Orld- appeared from Comic Curs. will be seen no more, except as My chief memory of Chips in colleClors' curios. those, for me, early days is a The London Recorder (I quote serial, or a series, uThe Red from The Colledors' Digest for Inn." The proprietor of the inn Oaobe r) haJ a Sweeny Todd-like chair which was very useful for drop· commencing on Comic Curs makes ping into the cellar with a dull the surprising statement thar irs thud anyone who annoyed him, mccess was so phenomenal chat ir or who appeared worth robbing, brought in almost immediately a and who was so careless as to pro/it of £25,000 a year. sit in the chair. (I do not know If that was so, it is not surprising if the stories in The Bullseye of that the publishers soon fol­ the early 1930s, f�aturing an inn­ lowed it with Chips and Funny keeper, a lonely inn, and a re· Wonder, or that others jumped volving chair were reprints from in with comics of their own. Chips or new stories with a similar theme.) Y RECOLLECTIONS of Comic I did not become acquainted M Cuts and Chips go back with Wonder, then known as only to about 1910.Comics The )ester, or perhaps it was The were not considered a necessary Jester and Wonder, at that time. part of everyday living in my The others were sent to us each The Last Issue of Chips: No. 2997, Sept. 12th, 1953 Sec overleaf] [Facing pag< i Comic Cuts No. 1, May 17th, 1890-No. 3006, September 12th. 1953. Combined with Knockout. Chips lsr Series, No. 1, July 26th, 1890-No. 6, August 30th, 1890. New Series, No. 1, September 6th, 1890-No. 2997, Sep· tember 12th, 1953. Combined with Film Fun. Wonder 1st Series, No. 1, July 30th, 1892-Final Series, No. 1760, September 12th, 1953. Combined with Radio Fun. GOOD-BYE, MR. CHIPS! 5 week, for several years, after we Tired Tim who, it is said, so got crossed the Atlantic. Lacer they on the nerves of one of their were seen but not read, unti I artists, the noted Tom Browne, the day came when I was en· that he gave up the job because gaged, among other things, in he dreamed of them. selling them myself to another Chips had, however, made a generation of youngsters. concession to modern times, in During the papers' first two that there are two serial picture· decades their stories were of a stories, these being unknown in more adult type than was the "the good old days." Comic Cws case later-but let me quote and Wonder were also carrying again from the October Collec­ picture-stories. tors' Oigesr: The final issues, dated Sep· But ic was nnt only che (Omic tember 12th, 1953, were: Comic sec'tions u·hich made chese papers so Cues, No. 3006; Chips, No. 2997; mccessf11l in more resrful days; \Vonder, No. 1760. Because it chere were che serials. Until cite started a new series at No. I oucbreak of che Firsc \'(/orld \'(/ar several times \Vondtr finished at chese were tl'rirren mainly for che a much lower serial-number elder members of che family. I don'c than the others, but adually it mean chey were not /it for children was much the same age. co reatl, in rhe manner of "Adulrs The last picture of the Weary Only" signs oucside the cinema, Willie and Tired Tim adventure jusr char their plocs were more in Chips No. 2997 had this under suirable for grou·n-ups. Even as it: adulc swries they 1t•crc tmique, in a "You're the funniest customers class co chemsc/1•cs somehow, dif.