Lucky's Living Doll

[DavidKW]

I have to confess - this aphla male hetro beer lovong football fan has a gulity pleasure - a bit of a fan of Lucky's Living Doll from June & SF.

When I first saw a strip of it in a best of June & SF my mind started buzzing & pinging with ideas for the concept & after research was impressed with how well drawn & written it was (an idea that you can do a lot with as I'll later reveal).

I'll cut to chase - there are some things I'm curious about on the strip esp. as a purchase a few months back included a Schoolfriend from Dec 63 & Jul 64 & the 1980 & 82 June annuals:

When exactly did LLD start (I have an SF from Oct 63 & Dec 63 when LLD was now up & running in its first Xmas outing)?

In this strip Lucky Smith is initially drawn much younger with ringlet tails - how long before she was matured to a near pre-teen with shorter hair (and a bit old for dolls?) & was anything made of this?

What happened to Lucky's father & was anything made of this?

In the Jul 64 strip a flashback reveals Lucky making her wish for Tina to be alive. How did Lucky discover the sun & stars thing to wish Tina alive?

What were the exact circumstances for Lucky's wish? Loneliness was mentioned. But also grief? Moving to a new place & a struggle to make new friends? Bieng let down by people but a doll's always loyal?

Did Mrs Smith (Lukcy's mum) ever have her full name revealed?

Did she ever work? (no wonder they were so poor - as mentioned in the strips. But such were expectations of women back then).

The final "mistaken identity" story iin the final June (& Pixie) in 1974 (reprinted in the 1980 annual). Was it all played out in the final June or left unfinished or concluded in the depressing Tammy?

In the 1982 final June annual there are new LLD strips, but alas not drawn by Robert MacGilivray. Who drew those?

What were the circumstances for these other ones? ie outrage at MacGilivray's defection to DCT? Did he try to buy the rights to LLD off IPC for revival at DCT? Did he say to IPC that LLLD was cancelled far too soon (gut feeling says he was devastated - after all Maisies Magic Eye was swallowed by Tammy via Sally & subsequently cancelled; as was Jeanie's Uncle Meanie via Sandie).

Has to be said on the one hand these new non-Rob Mac strips are dire - none of the warmth or attention to detail he had. New ones are balnd & Lucky Smith now looks VERY sinister. Artist can't draw Tina's ace scowls as well as Rob MacG did.

On the other - what might have been - shows LLD still had life to run - both Lucky & Tina have got a more "punky" attitude (such Tina thinking aggressively "or I'm a Dutch Doll with clogs on!")

Lucky's Living Doll - don't know why it's a strangely mesmerising strip!

[RuthB]

Oh, I love this story too!!

[DavidKW]

One more question & thought through:

Did LLD sort of develop in characters?

I notice how Tina is intially very child like in early strips - she thinks snowflakes are feathers & in 1st Xmas strip thinks a lady with a store card is in Santa's Grotto & can help herself to all presents.

In later ones Tina is a problem solver & thinker - in a 69 edition I saw Tina works out what to do with excess milk Mrs Smith forgot to cancel ("I am a Dilly" she says. The language then!)

Ina latet strip I saw there's a bit more slapstick element to it (as in the final June & SF before the re-branding)

[philcom55]

While it's quite conventional for tales about magic toys to end with them being discarded when their owner finally grows up the story of Lucky's Living Doll had a surprisingly disturbing edge to it in that she knew the spell which enabled her doll to walk and talk would be instantly broken if anybody else saw it showing signs of life - even her own mother (though animals were OK).

For anybody unfamiliar with this charming series here's a cover showing Lucky (who understandably preferred to be known by her initials rather than her full name of Lucinda Ursula Cynthia Kate Yolande) in action with her magic doll Tina.



And here's a typical episode from the series' heyday in 1965.





Great stuff!

- Phil Rushton

[Tammyfan]

Lucky was one of the few characters who was allowed to age in girls' comics. But she never outgrew Tina. Who could outgrow a doll like that?

[Tammyfan]

LLD was not allowed to carry on in Tammy once June merged with her. Obviously they could not have two Robert MacGillivray stories, so they chose Uncle Meanie over LLD. Wonder why that was? Maybe they thought LLD had been running long enough?

[Tammyfan]

Lucinda Ursula Cynthia Kate Yolande? Now how did Lucky end up with a name like that? Long names like these are normally something you expect to find in royalty and the aristocracy. Maybe her parents couldn't make up their minds what to call her, so they gave her all the possiblities they had been considering. Or they decided they liked 'Lucky' and chose those other names to fit the moniker.

[DavidKW]

Must say I always found it odd that (so far from what I found) no one outiside Lucky's family & vicinity ever referred to her as Lucinda or asked that her name was odd.

I never knew that Jeanie's Uncle Meanie was still in Tammy in June 1974 (Jeanie looks like a humanized Tina); it is a forgotten strip. It couldn't have lasted much longer though as I read Rob MacGilivray would go on to draw some other strips for Tammy (more angst-ridden ones, not as surreal).

Does seem daft if Lucky's Living Doll was deemed to have run too long, as it had at least another 10 years to keep going in it; it's an idea/concept that has 1000 ideas & more. (points made by the fact that the final "mistaken identity" strip re-printed in 1980 June annual left me wanting more - & perhaps others in 1974; plus the new strips for 1982's fnal June annual hold a mirror up to what could've been, with a few tweaks to LLD; just a shame Rob MacGilivray didn't draw these). A few tweaks & LLD could've run & run further.

Perhaps there was a contract to draw JUM in Tammy up to a certain year?

Or maybye LLD was judged as simple too happy for Tammy's pages of Doom 'n' Gloom (Sorry Tammy fans - each to their own).

Seems a bit daft the idea of "one artist one strip in a comic" IPC had at the girls' titles. Yet in the humour comics an artist could run a few strips in one comic.

[DavidKW]

Am just a bit curious - did any new LLD's drawn by Rob MacGilivray appear in any June Annuals or Summer Specials after the its cancellation in 1974?

[DavidKW]

I think that was a key factor of its appeal - Rob MacGilivray was such a tremendous artist - be it background detail or drawing thinks so well with Tina's dimensions & the warm way he drew the characters - when I read some of the strips I found my jaw dropped with amazement at how good they are.

I read that Rob MacGilivray was very good at & loved best the surreal theme of girls & their toys & gadgets.

It wouldn't surprise me that he was devastated at LLD's cancellation, but later on loved doing the stuff he did for "Misty", taking the theme of living dolls to horror levels.

Plus the later stuff he did for DCT, such as the series "Trixie's Treasure Chest" in "Debbie" & one-off stories for Bunty such as "MIni Mum" "Belle Of The Ball" and of course "The Balloon Of Doom" (would love to have this in my collection, esp after seeing the prints on this site).

Just how key MacGilivray was to LLD could be expressed when other artists tried to draw LLD - blandly and not as well.

LLD is an idea lots can be done with even today - has inspired (hypnotised?)me to write a few ideas too. .

[philcom55]

And don't forget 'The Flights of Flopear'. MacGillivray really did draw some amazing strips over the years!

- Phil Rushton

[RuthB]

And Maisie's Magic Eye!!

[philcom55]

In fact one tends to forget just how far back his career stretches - drawing the colour centre spread for Magic no.1 way back in 1939 for example!

- Phil R.

[Tammyfan]

Am just a bit curious - did any new LLD's drawn by Rob MacGilivray appear in any June Annuals or Summer Specials after the its cancellation in 1974?

Oh, yes! Funny thing is, the June annuals also reprinted old Storyteller stories long after he had joined Tammy.

[Tammyfan]

I think that was a key factor of its appeal - Rob MacGilivray was such a tremendous artist - be it background detail or drawing thinks so well with Tina's dimensions & the warm way he drew the characters - when I read some of the strips I found my jaw dropped with amazement at how good they are.

I read that Rob MacGilivray was very good at & loved best the surreal theme of girls & their toys & gadgets.

It wouldn't surprise me that he was devastated at LLD's cancellation, but later on loved doing the stuff he did for "Misty", taking the theme of living dolls to horror levels.

Plus the later stuff he did for DCT, such as the series "Trixie's Treasure Chest" in "Debbie" & one-off stories for Bunty such as "MIni Mum" "Belle Of The Ball" and of course "The Balloon Of Doom" (would love to have this in my collection, esp after seeing the prints on this site).

Just how key MacGilivray was to LLD could be expressed when other artists tried to draw LLD - blandly and not as well.

LLD is an idea lots can be done with even today - has inspired (hypnotised?)me to write a few ideas too. .

Balloon of Doom was reprinted in one of the Lucky Charms. Lucky Charm also reprinted another MacGillivray, Down with St Desmond's! But it had the revised title, Out to Ruin St Roslyn's for some reason.