6 May 2023

Eagle & Picture Post gramophone records

With the coronation happening today it seems like an appropriate moment to look at comic collectibles associated with the last coronation...

I've seen lots of those lists of record / CD covers / bands produced (or inspired) by comic artists or characters and I've seen a lot of the Dan Dare / Eagle merchandise that exists over the years, but one item I've never seen until very recently is the gramophone record (!) that was produced to tie-in with the coronation (in 1953).

Here's the blurb (taken from a cassette recording that the Eagle Society produced some years back), itself from the advert in Eagle...


And here's what the centre of the record 'looked' like

Here's evidence that the record exists (from a recent eBay listing) - the seller noted that the record is sold in a period Oriole sleeve. This isn't a copy autographed by the editor (see the advert). I don't know if the record came in an 'official' sleeve (like the Picture Post version below) or not. 

Knowing that this existed I was rather surprised to spot these images on ebay the other day of a gramophone record that sounds identical, except that it's published in association with Picture Post (Hulton Press published both Picture Post and Eagle). Both records are produced by Oriole but have different reference numbers (the Picture Post reference is MG20003, whereas the Eagle advert references gramophone record CB1140). Both reference numbers are clearly visible on the records.







So there you have it - a glimpse into some obscure 1950s comics merchandise, plus the only chance you'll get to hear legendary editor Marcus Morris speak.

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