60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Discuss Blyton's magazines, short stories and poetry here.
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Rob Houghton
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Rob Houghton »

sixret wrote:Looking forward to reading your take on the next issue i.e. No.2 Vol. 5 tomorrow, Rob! I notice that Tony has uploaded the uncollected stories for us to enjoy. :D

I may not comment but I am definitely going to read your piece! :D
You beat me to it, Sixret! :-D I usually aim to get it done by Sunday - though occasionally its Monday! ;-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

I've never had Ovaltine either, Rob.
Rob Houghton wrote:This edition has a great wintry cover - uncredited, which I think is a real shame, as this artist has a great style. I particularly love one of the illustrations accompanying the story, where Will is looking down through the hole in the ice - it's literally quite chilling, imagining the realities of such a story.

The cover illustrates this first story - It Happened One Frosty Morning and its a story I really enjoyed. Its unusually dramatic - almost horrific in its suggestion of what has happened - quite a tense little story, with a couple of good messages into the bargain. It's a real pity this has never been reprinted in a short story compilation since, as I think it is a very strong story indeed.
I agree that 'It Happened One Frosty Morning' is an excellent story and really rather shocking. I'd have loved to read it as a child. The idea of waiting by the railway cutting to watch express trains roar past is exciting - and it's very tense reading that passage while wondering whether Eileen has obeyed her brother or wandered off. There are lots of interesting ingredients - the cosiness of Mrs. Adam's cottage with the cuckoo-clock and sea pictures; the comfort and protection that a dog provides; the thrill of fast trains and a frozen pond; the power of peer pressure and temptation; the horror of not knowing what has happened... This is Enid Blyton at her best!
Robert Houghton wrote:...the Sunbeam Society, with over 16,000 members helps the Sunshine Homes For Blind Babies and Children. I found it interesting to read what Enid said about this - I love how she gets her readers to think more deeply about the plight of others who are less fortunate - If you are not a member, shut your eyes for a few minutes, so that you are in complete darkness - and try to do a few simple things. Then remember that the blind children are in that darkness for always and see if your heart tells you that, in thankfulness for your own good sight, you feel you must help those whose eyes see nothing!
Enid Blyton is great at getting children to step outside their own lives for a moment and put themselves in someone else's shoes. No wonder she inspired so many to support the various clubs.
Robert Houghton wrote:Next Our Letter Page and unusually, a couple of the letters are from boys this time. The prize-winner is from Keith Williams of Aberdare, Glamorgan. He tells us how his mother knitted a jumper for charity and they raffled it off and were able to send a cheque to Enid for the spastic children's home for £5 5s.
A good amount of money for those days, though I can't help thinking that if Keith were a girl he'd have knitted the jumper himself!
Robert Houghton wrote:Following on - in Noddy Went Too Fast - can we be coming to the end of the story at last? Noddy is sad...
That story does drag on. It's more like Noddy Went Too Slowly than Noddy Went Too Fast! :wink:

Thanks for a great write-up, Rob - and for adding the uncollected story, Tony.
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Kate Mary »

Terrific short story in this issue. I enjoyed the picture crossword too. Great review Rob thank you and thanks to Tony for adding the story.
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Rob Houghton »

There are often picture crosswords in the EB magazines - I was glad this weeks crossword was able to be seen, as it followed on from the story! :-)
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Rob Houghton
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Rob Houghton »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:I've never had Ovaltine either, Rob.

Robert Houghton wrote:Following on - in Noddy Went Too Fast - can we be coming to the end of the story at last? Noddy is sad...
That story does drag on. It's more like Noddy Went Too Slowly than Noddy Went Too Fast! :wink:
:lol: You'll be 'pleased' to know that the Noddy story still has five more instalments to go!!! :lol:


I'm also glad I'm not the only one who's never had Ovaltine!! :-D
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Tony Summerfield »

I don't think that I have ever had Ovaltine either, Rob. As always interesting to read your summary of that issue - I have to admit that I have been so busy with my scanner over the last few days (+ work!) that I haven't yet read the story, but I will! :oops: I was just relieved that there was only one uncollected story, but I loaded it a few days ago anyway. The next issue is back to three!!
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Eddie Muir »

Thanks for your latest posting, Rob. :D

I remember having Ovaltine as a child. It was a rather sickly drink consisting of a mixture of chocolate and malt with added hot milk. If you haven't experienced it, you haven't missed very much. :|
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by John Pickup »

Thanks for the latest review, Rob. I enjoyed the story, It Happened One Frosty Morning, and I found it quite frightening when the hole in the pond was discovered.
I hated Ovaltine. I thought it was sickly. I've never liked that sort of drink since.
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Rob Houghton »

I'm rather glad I never tried Ovaltine, from what you say! Can it still be bought today? Not that I'd try it, as I don't eat or drink anything with chocolate in it! :D

I agree about when they found the hole in the ice in the short story - what a dreadful moment! I couldn't help imagining that the worst had happened - though as it was an Enid Blyton story, I was sure it would all turn out okay in the end!

As Anita said - this story is Enid Blyton at her best. I think it's one of her most effective stories I've ever written.
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Courtenay »

Ovaltine is definitely still available today — we serve it at the care home where I work — and I'd heard of it as a child, so I'm almost certain we have it in Australia as well. But I've never tried it in my life either and have no desire to! :lol: I'm not a fan of hot, milky drinks, really.

That really was a great and very tense short story. If it were ever reprinted in a modern edition, I'm guessing the line "Brothers should look after sisters" might be changed to "Older children should look after their younger brothers and sisters" — after all, if Eileen had been the older one and Will had been the five-year-old, would he have been expected to "look after" her just because he was the boy? :wink: — but as always, it's a reflection of its time, and it does make clear how dangerously irresponsible Will was being by leaving his little sister alone.
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Rob Houghton »

Another fortnight gone by, and time to open the latest Enid Blyton Magazine - here it is -

Image

Another great issue - packed with goodies. I read a lot of it in bed last night and it certainly kept me reading! One of the best issues I've read, I think. :-D

The cover picture shows an illustration from the first story, intriguingly called 'The Penny Stamp Men' and surprisingly based on a true story. It's an interesting and absorbing tale - at least I thought so, and very enjoyable. One of Enid's best of the 'adventure' type short stories...and one I must admit I thought was slightly unlikely until I read the final paragraph! You can read this entertaining story in The Cave - thanks to Tony -
http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/maga ... ?magid=903

I particularly love the fact that this story features a toy sweet shop, as I had one of these as a child, and I loved it! My sweet shop was also a post office, with stamps and letters and with jars of sweets and scales to weigh them out! I wish I still had it! I can remember that some of the sweets were those coloured 'rice crispy' type sweets in one of the jars, and also what we used to call 'rainbow dust'. :-D

What a shame this story has never been reprinted anywhere - but I guess its title and the theme are quite old-fashioned and of their time.

In fact, none of the three short stories featured this week have been republished, so follow the link to enjoy a bumper read this issue!

I've also decided to include a copy of Enid's 'Editorial for this issue, because its packed with interesting news, and who better to tell it to you than Enid herself? I was particularly interested to hear all about the party for the EB Magazine's 100,000 member - Linda Hooks, who was aged 7. If she is alive now she would be about 66...how thrilling it would be to be able to find her and maybe hear her recollections of that party and of meeting Enid Blyton! I found it quite interesting, though, that Enid doesn't really say much about poor Linda - she seemed to pay more attention to the cake, and the leaders of clubs who sat either side of her.

I also found the editorial interesting because Enid mentions how important Noddy has become to fund-raising and to many big shops - and was interested to learn that Enid let them use Noddy without any copyright payments - as long as the users donated money to her causes. That sounds very philanthropic of her! 8)

Image

Following on from the editorial, we have the short story about the penny stamp men - and then Some Things To Look For which can also be read in The Cave, as it is attached to the end of the short story.

The second short story - Bessie's Little Donkey is another good one. Maybe short on plot, but an effective and enjoyable tale. I was struck by just how cruel all the children are to poor old Bessie! No one seemed to have a kind word to say about her handiwork! Given that these days encouraging children and telling them they've done well even when they haven't, seems a popular strategy, it seems alien to read how much everyone makes fun of Bessie's hard work. Again, you can read this in The Cave - and again the illustrations are uncredited. What a shame! To me, the illustrations are very much like the work of Hilda McGavin - but perhaps I'm wrong. :-)

After the story, we have another picture crossword - always fun - and something that can be seen attached to the end of Tony's scan. :-D

The Puzzle Page this week has an interesting Famous Five prize puzzle - find the nine birds hidden in the sentence below, and you'll win an Enid Blyton book! Here's the sentence - can you find the nine birds? i have to admit, I can only find six! Maybe you can do better! :(

"John Clarke, the hawker who is wanted for stealing the ring from Ernest, has just run down the garden path, rushed up the lane, wrenched open a gate and ducked swiftly behind a hedge." 8)

In Noddy Went Too Fast! we continue the story with Mr Tinny telling Noddy all that he has done while Noddy was ill in bed - mending Noddy's little car and polishing it up so it looks as good as new. Thrilling stuff!! :roll:

Next - Five Go To Billycock Hill - Chapter 19 - A Morning of Work - and again, its great to see all the Eileen Soper illustrations, completely different to those in the book version, published later in 1957. Two illustrations this week, whilst in the novel, chapter 19 has only one illustration and only in black and white.

Our Letter Page follows - with some interesting letters as always. These letters come from all sorts of places - including this week one from Zurich from Jacqueline Rubeli which tells of how the children of Jacqueline's school have been knitting squares for blankets (48 squares crocheted together to make a big blanket). Jacquiline writes - "Even the boys asked to be taught to knit so that they could help. We have also set up stalls in the street and sold anything from Xmas cards to hot roasted chestnuts and hot sausages..." Good work, boys! ;-)

There is one letter from Sydney Australia which tells of a cat called Mrs Tweedles. I know its perfectly natural for cats to have kittens...but 56? Not sure how I feel about that, despite it being natural...

In the next uncollected short story (available to read in The Cave) we have a story about Brer Rabbit. You be Careful Brer Fox! follows the familiar pattern of Brer Rabbit stories - amusing, but somewhat predictable. I used to love Enid's Brer Rabbit stories, but I can see why they haven't all been collected! Lovely illustrations by Grace Lodge, too - probably my favourite Enid Blyton illustrator. She adds class to any story.

Next, we have an advert for various Noddy items connected to Chivers products. I was particularly interested to see that they produced a Noddy badge, along the lines of the Robertsons Jam golly brooches. I would have loved one as a child. Looking on eBay, I see they are regularly being offered for around £25! Amazing how something that was once free, in return for several Chivers Jam labels is now fetching such a price!

Next we have chapter 9 of Secret Seven Mystery with illustrations by Burgess Sharrocks - as always, his illustration seems better than those he supplied for the book. Wonder why that is? I love the picture in this issue, which shows all the Secret Seven - although admittedly its hard to tell who is who, as Sharrocks never seemed good at making his children look individual - something I think the paperback illustrator Derek Lucas is particularly successful at.

Our News Sheet has a particularly sad story about a kitten, brought to the Busy Bees 'van-officer' 'some while ago. Enid tells us - "One day a small kitten was brought to him - very thin and weak. The children who brought him said it hadn't eaten anything for ten days - and it certainly was a woe-begon little morsel. All it seemed to want to do was to nestle in our Officer's arms for warmth and comfort. The odd thing was that when he examined the kitten there was nothing wrong with it at all! It was not long before the Officer guessed that the kitten wasn't wanted by anyone in the children's family - not even by the children! The mother said she really couldn't be bothered to look after it. So our officer took it home with him and his wife and he fed it with milk and wrapped it up warmly with a hot water bottle. He went to look at it after tea and had such a surprise! His own cat had decided to take over the duties of nurse, and was washing the kitten, who was purring happily! Some fish was put down in a saucer - and the big cat encouraged the tiny kitten to eat some. And from that hour the woe-begon little creature improved rapidly - all it had wanted was kindness and love! It had pined because it hadn't had either. Now the kitten is one of the family and the two cats are inseperable. Its a nice story, isn't it - and I expect you feel as glad as I do that our Busy Bees Van-officer is so warm-hearted and kindly."

Lastly we have an advert, telling us that Noddy invites you to meet him and his friends every Monday in TV COMIC! I'm sure Anita will be rushing out to order her copy. :-D

And so ends this fortnight's issue of Enid Blyton's Magazine. :-) One of the best so far, I think. :-D
'Oh voice of Spring of Youth
hearts mad delight,
Sing on, sing on, and when the sun is gone
I'll warm me with your echoes
through the night.'

(E. Blyton, Sunday Times, 1951)



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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Carlotta King »

I've got 8 of the birds as I type this, I'm still looking for the 9th! :D
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Carlotta King »

Found the 9th! Was difficult though! I could've done with Jack here!
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Great stuff as usual, Rob! You also seem to have something in common with Noddy as he also had a toy sweet shop and a toy post office, both of which would cost a bit to buy now!!

Image

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It is interesting that you also mention the Noddy Chivers page, as when I was scanning the stories I took a fancy to it and I have also scanned that and put it into the next Journal. I will look out my Chivers badge and put a scan of it into this thread if I can find it!
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Re: 60 Years Ago This Week - Enid Blyton's Magazine 1957 -

Post by pete9012S »

A great review Rob.Many thanks. :D
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