Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

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comixminx
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Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by comixminx »

On the Jinty blog we have just published an interview with Anne Digby about her work on girls' comics:
https://jintycomic.wordpress.com/2016/0 ... interview/

She has mentioned some specific stories as being written by her but hasn't always given the publisher or comic that they were printed in. Can anyone supply any missing details so we can put up a partial bibliography? I did ask for this but it wasn't supplied, so I suspect that either she may not be able to give further information, or she may not have time to do so.
* Ella's Big Sacrifice - Schoolgirls Own Library, 1960
* A Horse Called September - Tammy (date?), and previously published as a text serial (also in Tammy, or elsewhere? date?)
* First Term at Trebizon - Tammy (date?) - art by Phil Gascoine
* The Fourth at Trebizon - text serial, Diane Gabbot doing spot illustrations
* The Dance Dream (date? title?) - reprinted in Girl Annual 1982 - art by Douglas Perry
* Olympia Jones - Tammy (date?)
* "Tennis Star Tina" June 1961, reprinted as "Tennis Star Toni" in June and School Friend 1967

The last story in particular has an oddity about it that Marc commented about, in that the 1961 original was drawn by Giorgio Giorgetti. But for the 1967 reprint, Robert MacGillivray replaced all the faces of the original comic artwork. Does anyone have any access to pages of the 1961 original that they could scan and upload here, so as to be able to compare the two versions?

Also if anyone has any more information on stories that Anne Digby is thought or known to have written then do comment and I can check them with her as appropriate.
jintycomic.wordpress.com/ Excellent and weird stories from the past - with amazing art to boot.

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philcom55
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by philcom55 »

Here's the cover of 'Ella's Big Sacrifice' culled from the internet.
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peace355
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by peace355 »

I have one episode of Tennis Star Tina from June issue dated 10/06/61
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peace355
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

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First term at Trebizon started in Tammy 19/11/83 and came with a factfile, it ended in Tammy 04/02/84

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comixminx
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by comixminx »

Thanks Peace, lovely to see both of those stories! I will update the Anne Digby interview accordingly so that readers over there will see them too. Nice art on that "Tennis Star Tina" - a bit old fashioned perhaps, but stylish.
jintycomic.wordpress.com/ Excellent and weird stories from the past - with amazing art to boot.

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philcom55
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by philcom55 »

Incidentally, does anybody recognize the artist on Tennis Star Tina? In spite of being a bit 'Middle Class' I thought Princess and June featured some really classy strips during the early 1960s, but it's surprisingly difficult to find out much about them.

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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by comixminx »

philcom55 wrote:Incidentally, does anybody recognize the artist on Tennis Star Tina? In spite of being a bit 'Middle Class' I thought Princess and June featured some really classy strips during the early 1960s, but it's surprisingly difficult to find out much about them.
Marckie has commented on the Jinty blog that this was drawn by Giorgio Giorgetti. Interestingly, Marckie also says that 'for the 1967 reprint, Robert MacGillivray replaced all the faces of the original comic.' Unusual!
jintycomic.wordpress.com/ Excellent and weird stories from the past - with amazing art to boot.

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philcom55
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by philcom55 »

Here's a page from the 1967 'Tennis Star Toni' reprint, but though it looks as if some of the artwork might have been doctored (and Toni certainly seems to have a different hairstyle) I can't see any MacGillivray faces! :?

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marckie73
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by marckie73 »

The 1961 doesn't look at all like Giorgio Giorgetti, like I was told.

Here is an example of the version I was talking about. When you compare this to the earlier post by Peace355, you can see the faces have been replaced by Robert MacG., whoever the original artist was.
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comixminx
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by comixminx »

Wow Marc - very visibly MacG faces, as you say! How odd. I wonder why they would do that? the original was fine as it was.
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marckie73
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by marckie73 »

Also the lettering was re-done. It's odd. Perhaps they thought the original looked too old-fashioned? But then again: the original was just six years old at the time...

I guess it must not have been one of Robert MacG's favourite jobs. I think an artist prefers to create his own work, instead of altering someone else's.

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philcom55
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by philcom55 »

I agree those are definitely MacGillivray faces. It makes me wonder if some other strips I've attributed to him might have just been touched-up reprints as well. It'd certainly explain how he managed to be so prolific. If Giorgetti did illustrate the original version his style must have altered considerably over the years, but as he was a British based artist who'd been drawing girls' comics since the early 1950s I wouldn't discount the possibility entirely.

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marckie73
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by marckie73 »

The man in the two panels at the bottom left do look like Giorgio Giorgetti's work.

You're right, Phil, we shouldn't rule out that the original is by Giorgio Giorgetti. The person who mentioned that it's his work must have gotten the information from somewhere. And an artist can have different styles. Just look at 'Moira, slave girl of Rome' and 'Super-girl Sandra' from Princess Tina. These are both by Alberto Salinas, but it looks like the work of two different artists.

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philcom55
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by philcom55 »

Incidentally, it's worth noting that Anne Digby also wrote text stories for some Girl annuals during the 1960s - though I don't know if she scripted any comic strips for Odhams.

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philcom55
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Re: Anne Digby interview, and questions arising

Post by philcom55 »

If anybody's still interested I have managed to find a copy of 'Ella's Big Sacrifice'. Here's the cover, along with a scan of the story's first page.

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