Recently up for sale by ace ebay seller phil-comics (here) was this intriguing letter sent to (founder of the Samaritans and also comics writer) Chad Varah regarding a script proposal he's submitted.
You'll see from the text of the letter that the proposal (about 'Bridget of Ireland' - presumably Brigid, the patron saint of Ireland - wiki page here) has been rejected for being too violent! A new idea is called for, and quickly, as the strip is to run in Girl in December 1959 - February 1960 and it's already October (1959).
I don't have a list of Girl true life backpage stories so I'm unsure what they ended up running with or, indeed, if Chad wrote it. If you can help do let me know.
UPDATE:
here's a selection of the backpage strips that he did script
UPDATE (2):
Friend of the blog Steve Winders says...
Re. Bridget of Ireland: It did appear in Girl in 1960 as Bride of Ireland. Bride is another name for Bridget. Drawn by Gerald Haylock.It is mentioned in Martin Crookall's blog on the Girl Comic Part 3 page with a Gerald Haylock tag.
It is also mentioned in a Down the Tubes page about Chad Varah and the comics uk forum where Phillip Rushton posted some images of the strip. Nevertheless it looks like it did appear in Girl, after all.
Chad wrote the narratives that were biographies on the back page of Girl. Bridget amongst them. Some fabulous art
ReplyDeleteThe strip they ran was "Bride of Ireland - The True Story of St Bride." It appears they went with it after all, presumably just toning down the problematic elements.
ReplyDelete