Albert Barnes Dandy Editor

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 14 Mar 2007, 13:15

please share some stories about this strong character...

he sounds like Desperate Dan in person...he did some great stuff by having Dudley draw Oor Wullie and The Broons...and the creation of Desperate Dan.........what other characters...comics did he help or mostly create...

Trevor got 4 A4 page reject letter...he told me this to encourage me as I start out as a cartoonist to be prepared....

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 14 Mar 2007, 14:03

Hi Peter, I'll post a few details re Albert Barnes shortly.

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 14 Mar 2007, 23:45

Thanks in advance..and also for finding the info on the iron eater...

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 21 Mar 2007, 18:31

anyone else got any stories...

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 30 Jun 2007, 11:46

Kashgar wrote:Hi Peter, I'll post a few details re Albert Barnes shortly.

it will be interesting to find out more about this extrodinary character...

Steve Bright have you got any input?

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 03 Jul 2007, 10:11

Sorry Peter. I forgot all about this. We,ve got the grandkids down from Scotland staying at the moment but bear with me and I'll post some details on Albert Barnes and on 'The Great Flood' strip in 'Beano'shortly.

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 03 Jul 2007, 10:42

thanks........enjoy the grandkids...hope they are comic fans...

Steve Bright · Post by **Steve Bright** » 03 Jul 2007, 13:04

Peter, my apologies also - I meant to post sooner. No grandkids though...yet!

The start of my comics career overlapped with the end of Albert Barnes' phenomenal, record-breaking stewardship of The Dandy by about three years. During that time, I was a young upstart sub-editor on The Beano (18 months) followed by The Nutty. Back then, as now, The Beano and The Dandy offices were at either ends of the same short corridor, and although the staffs of both regularly enjoyed liquid lunches together, I don't recall braving the Dandy office during working hours unless I was specifically despatched to do so.

There was only one reason for that - Albert Barnes. Not that he'd ever done anything to merit my fear - in fact he made a point of completely ignoring my existence whenever I did step into his kingdom. But I was young and impressionable, and easily swayed by his reputation as a no-nonsense dictator who ate office juniors for breakfast. So I kept my visits brief and quiet, ensuring I tugged my forelock upon entry to, and departure from, the office.

I got the feeling he lived there. His desk was piled high with 'stuff' defying gravity - possibly too terrified to spill off. There was an air of Dickens Miss Haversham about the man - I swear there were cobwebs all around his corner, knitting him into the very fabric of the office.

I have no anecdotes beyond these recollections involving me, but I had heard stories about this fearsome man's encounters with aspiring artists that ranged from writing letters along the lines of, "Dear, sir - you have no talent. Your pal, The Editor", to having others make the long journey to Edinburgh's Waverley Hotel in order to tell them the same thing face to face. He obviously did get out of the office occasionally.

I've also heard stories of soir?es involving great Dandyesque japes, such as gleefully knocking the hats of policemen (they don't wear helmets in Scotland) and when reprimanded by the scowling officer, saying "Don't you realise who I am? I'm the Dandy Editor!", as if that gave him every right perform such a stunt.

There was also a tale of a driving trip to Germany in his beloved Triumph Stag (I think), during which he parked his car in the fast lane of a an eight-lane autobahn in order to get out and take a few souvenir snaps of some attractive mountains.

I can't verify any of the above, nor guarantee I've recalled them exactly as they were told to me. But then, I have no guarantee that I heard the whole truth in the first place, and knowing the great story-telling skills of the my main source, I would cast very affectionate doubt on that. But it really doesn't matter - Albert Barnes was undoubtedly a formidable character - that much I could work out from my own limited first hand experience.

His son was the lawyer who handled the sale of my first house. He was utterly charming and delighted to be dealing with someone who knew his father, albeit in the terms I described above. I didn't have the nerve to ask about all the stories, but he told me enough to confirm the larger-than-life status of the formidable first Dandy Editor.

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 03 Jul 2007, 13:22

Thanks for sharing those anecdotes Steve. For me, The Dandy under his editorship was as close to a perfect comic as it could be, in my opinion. The mixture of slapstick humour and society-threatening adventure stories c.1964 made it a far more interesting comic than most of its contemporaries, I felt.

Lew

Cap Haggis · Post by **Cap Haggis** » 03 Jul 2007, 16:17

Is it just me or does he sound like a pompous bully ? lol - Or did the "charater" side of his personality shine through all that nonsense? He seems to be held in high regard so I imagine it would.

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 03 Jul 2007, 16:34

thanks Steve.....he he he I knew there would be some stories......he must have written lots of stories as well for The Dandy.....he also rightly or wrongly kept artists of the past alive in reprints..

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 30 Oct 2007, 12:26

Kashgar when you've got time...love to hear more stories facts..thanks

Kashgar · Post by **Kashgar** » 30 Oct 2007, 14:21

Duly noted Peter. I'll try to drop in a few details re A W Barnes sometime before the Dandy's seventieth.

felneymike · Post by **felneymike** » 30 Oct 2007, 19:56

There was also a tale of a driving trip to Germany in his beloved Triumph Stag (I think), during which he parked his car in the fast lane of a an eight-lane autobahn in order to get out and take a few souvenir snaps of some attractive mountains.

Or at least, that's what HE said XD. Knowing the reputation of original Stags, which had a totally new engine designed on a typically shoestring BMC budget...

Peter Gray · Post by **Peter Gray** » 04 Dec 2007, 11:24

Duly noted Peter. I'll try to drop in a few details re A W Barnes Dandy's seventieth.

look forward to it...thanks in advance...

is he the longest running comic editor in comics?

Comics UK