D C Thomson free gifts - the 1950's

[Kashgar]

In the 1950's D C Thomson published a total of 3794 juvenile papers of which 243 where accompanied by a free gift. The titles in question being Adventure, Rover, Wizard, Dandy and Beano which each published 521 issues, Hotspur 511 issues, Topper 360 issues, Beezer 206 issues, Bunty 102 issues and New Hotspur 10 issues.
(Romeo I haven't included as I feel this was never really a publication directed at the juvenile market as such even if, in it's 122 issues published in the 1950's, it did include such free gifts as the Rock 'n' Roll Wishing Ring in issue No1 (31/8/57) and an autographed photo of Tab Hunter in issue No2 (7/9/57))

[Kashgar]

Of the free gifts issued by the Thomson juvenile papers in the 1950's it should be pointed out that neither the Dandy or the Beano, although possible sources of gift giving, never felt the need throughout the whole decade to give away a single thing due to their huge popularity and that gift giving at all, across the whole juvenile paper range didn't recommence after the austerity of the war years and beyond until January 1953 when Adventure No 1460(10/1/53) gave away 'The Football Fan Book'.
The Thomson boys' papers provided the vast majority of free gift issues throughout the decade with 223 of the 243 free gifts being either give in away in Adventure (58 gift issues), Rover (49 gift issues), Wizard (60 gift issues) and Hotspur (56 gift issues). For full details of these gifts you can do no better than consult a copy of Derek Marsden's definitive volume on the subject.

[Kashgar]

The remaining 20 free gifts given away by the Thomson juvenile titles in the 1950's were as follows -

The Topper

No1 (7/2/53) The Big Crack Bang
No2 (14/2/53) The Swanee Hummer
No3 (21/2/53) The Thunderclap

Interestingly Topper gave away no more free gifts until 1961 allowing its tabloid sister paper the Beezer, although not first published until three years later, to easily outstrip it in the gift giving department during the decade.

The Beezer

No1 (21/1/56) The Whizz Bang
No2 (28/1/56) The Whistling Whizzer
No34 (8/9/56) The Hilly Billy Banger
No148 (15/11/58) Beezer Tootle Flute
No149 (22/11/58) Baby Crockett Rocket
No 196 (17/10/59) The Beezer Bingo Banger
No197 (24/10/59) The Beezer Buzzer Bee

[Kashgar]

Next up, if we ignore Romeo which I intend to do, we have Thomson's first genuine picture paper for girls, Bunty.

Bunty

No1 (18/1/58) The Ladybird Ring
No2 (21/1/58) Princess Picture Album No1 Dancers and Dancing
No3 (1/2/58) Princess Picture Album No2 Famous Girls of Today
No4 (8/2/58) Princess Picture Album No3 All the Royal Family
No37 (27/9/59) Pretty Bangle
No38 (4/10/58) The Girl of the Islands (picture story booklet)
No90 (3/10/59) Alice Band
No91 (10/10/59) The Bunty Book of Dancing Stars

And finally, for the decade, the revamped boys' story paper Hotspur as a brand new picture paper.

The New Hotspur

No1 (24/10/59) The Jumping Frog
No2 (31/10/59) Miniature Sure Aim Bow and Safety Arrow

Next time we'll head on into the 1960's when all sorts of new titles emerged giving all sorts of opportunities for gift giving.

[Phoenix]

an autographed photo of Tab Hunter

I first encountered Tab Hunter when his record company issued Young Love, a fantastically catchy single that I'm sure reached number1 in the Top Twenty. The opposition version was by Sonny James. I've just taken my pile of singles from the record cabinet so that I could post a scan but it's not there. It should be between North To Alaska by Johnny Horton and She Thinks I Still Care by George Jones. Maybe I didn't buy it after all. I did used to sing it round the house, although I didn't get a guitar till a few years later.

Tab moved on from making records to having his own TV programme The Tab Hunter Show, in which he played the part of a strip cartoonist, and each week he would feature a very pretty starlet, a different girl each week. The only ones I can recall, presumably because I fancied them, are Pat Crowley and Tuesday Weld.

At the time there is no way that I would have thought he was gay, largely due to the fact that I wasn't even aware that men could fancy men. What a sheltered environment I seem to have lived in!

[Kashgar]

'Young Love' reached No1 on Feb 22nd 1957, a month after I was born, and stayed there for seven weeks.

[Phoenix]

'Young Love' reached No1 on Feb 22nd 1957, a month after I was born, and stayed there for seven weeks.

So you won't remember The Tab Hunter Show then.

[Hen Broon]

I have most of the free gift's listed i think i am only missing a couple of the Bunty gifts if anyone would like a pic of any of them let me know.
Romeo #2 free gift Tab Hunter autographed photo
Hope you like.

[Kashgar]

No Derek. I don't remember 'The Tab Hunter Show'. He did star in the film version of one of my favourite musicals though 'Damn Yankees!' Thanks for showing the photo Hen.

[colcool007]

Did Romeo not feature a fair bit of Gordon Livingstone's early work?

[stevezodiac]

The dealer at the ephemera fair who had the silver age DC comics had a box of the small free gift DC Thomson booklets from the 30s for around £5 each.

[Phoenix]

The dealer at the ephemera fair who had the silver age DC comics had a box of the small free gift DC Thomson booklets from the 30s for around £5 each.

Although some of the booklets are rarer than others, I would say that across the board £5 is a fair ask.

[philcom55]

The Girl Of The Islands picture story booklet sounds interesting. Did this reprint a story from the weekly comic or was it all new material?

[alanultron5]

Seems that Bunty was in the same position as Sparky in the 1960s. Possible low sales instigating many free gift promotions! Any chance of seeing what 1960s gifts Bunty gave away please Ray?

[Phoenix]

The Girl Of The Islands picture story booklet sounds interesting. Did this reprint a story from the weekly comic or was it all new material?

It was an abridged version. The original appearance ran in the first eighteen issues of Bunty at basically three pages per issue. The free gift version had twenty-eight pages. The pictures used were inevitably reduced in size but if all instalments had been used the gift would naturally have been much thicker.