I am always amazed that there are really kind people out in cyberspace.
I received an email from someone called Arthur Sevigny the other day and he wrote: "Attached is a scan of Anna Marita who performed at King's Cliffe Airfield on May 7th 1945. This was the home of the 20th FG during WWII." Arthur Sevigny MSgt USAF (Ret), Historian, 20th Fighter Wing Association.
Attached was a scan of an old fashioned flyer. I still didn't understand what I had, but after plucking up my courage I wrote back to this Arthur.
He replied quickly, and stated: "The flyer is for the V-E celebration for the defeat of Germany. Anna being an entertainer at the show. The 20th FG flew P-38 and P-51 aircraft out of King’s Cliffe which is near Wantsford. I spent 7 years (1980-1987) in the UK with the 20th TFW that was stationed at RAF Upper Heyford."
Now you're wondering what has this to do with Frank Bellamy. So was I until I searched my own website for the answer.....
Anna Marita's name appears in one place on the website - under Unpublished material search on that page for her name.
I had placed most of the extant life drawings in the late forties / early fifties - while Bellamy was working in Blamires' Studio, Kettering, or the Norfolk Studio in London. How? By the signature style which was more rounded earlier in his career. If that's correct then Bellamy managed to find Marita work as an artist's model (she was obviously supplementing her income as a 'performer').
Below are the items sent to me under a special note for those interested in King's Cliffe airfield and Ms. Marita. A simple search on the Net will give you more than enough information on the airfield's history. Now, we're not saying the above image had anything to do with Frank Bellamy, to be clear but is of interest historically for others maybe?
"Your teeth are ivory castles - defend them with Gibb's Dentifrice" - slogan from (at least) 1922
For those who have only known toothpaste in a tube, you might need enlightening.
This product came in a small circular tin and you had to
rub a wet toothbrush and create a fizzy paste to rub on your "ivory
castles" as Gibbs called your teeth! I can just remember the stuff in
the 1960s, and I think some toothpowder still exist!
Frank Bellamy produced 7 strips in the Gibb's advertising in Eagle
during the first 3 volumes entitled "Commando Gibbs versus Dragon Decay"
GD 311-1505, Eagle Vol. 2:42 (25 January 1952), p. 5
Dragon looks at 'young Jimmy' through telescope
GD 312-1505, Eagle Vol. 2:46 (22 February 1952), p. 12
Dragon enters bathroom
GD 313-1505, Eagle Vol. 3:2 (18 April 1952), p. 13
Dragon in tank attacks No.14
GD 314-1505, Eagle Vol. 3:6 (16 May 1952), p.13
Dragon in submarine attacks boat
GD 315-1505, Eagle Vol. 3:11 (20 June 1952), p.13
Dragon sends rocket to blow up the Smiths' "ivory castles"
GD 316-1505, Eagle Vol. 3:14 (11 July 1952), p.13
Dragon gets telegram and heads to Cliff House
GD 326-1505, Eagle Vol. 3:24 (19 September1952), p.13
Dragon dresses as Policeman on bike
Eagle Vol. 3:33 (21 November 1952), p.5 - Reprints Eagle Vol. 3:6 (16 May 1952)
Eagle Vol. 3:36 (12 December 1952), p.13 - Reprints Eagle Vol. 3:11 (20 June 1952)
Interestingly, I wonder if anyone has any answers for me regarding the numbering of adverts. Even though all previous advertising strips are numbered sequentially, 2 adverts were 10 issues apart, but their (up till now) regular numbering jumps from GD 316-1505 to GD 326-1505.
Anyway to round off, this dentifrice product ran for years. I've found
eveiodence from the 1920s and here is another (unknown) artist's take
on the theme from Judy 16 March 1963, p28.
Judy 16 March 1963
Finally I was astonished to see there was also an Ivory Castle game! Produced by D. W. Gibbs Ltd, and consisted of a coloured folding board, counters and dice, in labelled envelope with rules printed to rear, from c.1933/4 . The artist is unknown.
Steve Holland has announced a project he has been working on for Look and Learn / Book Palace that: "...we're also working on The Complete Frank Bellamy Robin Hood. This is a Look and Learn/Book Palace project that has been in the works for a while now (it takes time to scan and clean up that many pages!). The book will reprint the whole of Bellamy's long run of 'Robin Hood and His Merry Men' and 'Robin Hood and Maid Marian' for 15 months in 1956-57 in the pages of Swift. Not, I may add, the abridged version that later appeared in Treasure in the 1960s. This is the complete run."
The date: 2008! Start saving your sixpences as that means approximately 134 pages of art plus any additional introduction etc.!
The very 21st century technology of mobile phones presents a mid 20th century version of Robin Hood!
Many thanks to John Freeman who helped me to get this to you. In the picture above you'll see two arrows on the right which allow you to browse the single mocked-up mobile screens
Mind you, the cover is not by Bellamy!
Now if we could see the complete Robin Hood and King Arthur stories from the Swift comic reprinted in one book, so an old man, like myself could read them, that would be brilliant!
ROK also produce mobile phone versions of early non-Bellamy Garth strips, but use the Bellamy Garth for their publicity
I have heard of all sorts of awards with strange names - the Oscars, Nibbies, Daggers etc. But a new one to me, which has been around for at least 5 years is the "Frank Bellamy Achievement Award"!
"Originally formed in 1977 as the Society of Strip Illustrators where comics professionals could meet socially, swap stories, share information and network. It still does all these things. But we've also adapted and changed since then. In 1992 the Society changed its name to the Comics Creators Guild in a move to more obviously represent all the various arts and specializations that combine to produce comics." says their About Us page.
Winners in the past have been from both sides of the Atlantic: 2006: John Severin 2005: Peter O'Donnell 2004: Leo Baxendale 2003: Dave Sim 2002: Dr Jerry Bails
On our page with references to articles about Bellamy, there is mention of the old Society's newsletter where an article was written about Bellamy and a follow up letter correcting errors in said article.
If anyone can let me know why Bellamy's name was chosen for this award, I'd love to know
Steve Holland has padded out the data I had on the Robin Hood strips, which originally appeared in Swift. He points out that the reprints in Treasure were in fact from #197 - 261 (22/10/66 - 13/01/68). The later reprints in Storyland (new to Steve - a miracle in itself!) still need complete data.
Steve adds: "the Treasure Robin Hood reprint [...] was abridged and bowdlerised in various places. It also dropped two episodes"which explains the discrepancy with Treasure only having 65 episodes and the original running for 67 through the two titles Robin Hood and his Merry Men and then Robin Hood and Maid Marian. Thanks Steve.
If you've never heard of Andersonic check out my blog entry of Sunday, 29 July 2007. The published article about Bellamy and Don Harley Frank, Don, Dan and the Tracys by Richard Farrell is now available at the address supplied on that blog entry or on my website (see the note)
Many thanks to Richard for a great article.... oh, and check out pages 25-27 for my thoughts on Anderson during my childhood!
I'm still looking forward to an authoritative piece detailing where Bellamy started his work on each Dan Dare story and where Don Harley et al continued. That's a story for another day, but compare the two heads of Rax from the same story "Terra Nova". The left detailed stippling was by Bellamy and the right hand one by Harley
Due to a frequently occurring erroneous statement on Bellamy's Star Trek work, (please don't hate me Rod ) I thought I'd wade into the waters with this blog entry.
THE BAD NEWS The following comment appears in several places around the Net: "Bellamy and Alan Willow produced covers for the series [TV21], which alternated between Star Trek and other titles until such painted illustrations were dropped as of issue 42 to allow an increase from two to three pages of Star Trek material per issue."
This originates (I believe) from a misreading of the wonderful The Gerry Anderson Complete Comic History which says: "Alan Willow is probably not a name most Gerry Anderson fans would recall... he is best known for the text illustrations in several early Doctor Who Target novelisations. But a few years before this, he painted most of the covers for TV21 & Joe 90 from late 1969, until the Star Trek strip replaced these on the front page in the summer of 1970."
To see the new series of TV21’s covers go to Comic Magazine’s sales site -and SCROLL DOWN. You’ll see no Bellamy covers at all, as he only drew for the first series. All those covers by Bellamy (five in total) were of Captain Scarlet strips.
At the time of Star Trek's first appearance in UK comics (Joe90 #1 dated 18th January 1969), Frank Bellamy, was still about to give another 9 months on his version of Thunderbirds in the original series of TV21 (and later 4 issues of the combined TV21 & Joe 90 – the new series). In TV21 #209, dated 18/01/1969 his cover for Joe 90 #1 appeared in an advert.
This picture is a poorly joined scan of my copy which has travelled a long way since I bought it!
He never drew Star Trek in comics!
THE GOOD NEWS Bellamy won the 1971 Academy of Comic Book Arts Awards (for material published in 1971; awarded in 1972) for "Best Foreign Artist". Due to a technicality it was his Radio Times work on Star Trek that was judged rather than any of his past comics work as he was, at the time, not working in comics as such, but had just started Garth in the Daily Mirror. Barry Windsor Smith recommended him as a worthy candidate but due to the fact he wasn’t doing comics works they had to find a comic strip to display. Marv Wolfman showed some original Heros artwork and Bellamy won the award based on his Star Trek in the Radio Times. He also did two other Star Trek works; single panel illustrations to accompany the TV listings in the Radio Times
Hopefully this clarifies this misunderstanding. Any comments?
Rod McKie, illustrator extraordinaire, has mentioned his love of Bellamy's Garth on his blog. He reproduces some pages from the Titan Book reprints and reminds us why Bellamy's Garth was so loved by many.
Note: Martin Asbury, who replaced Bellamy on the strip, illustrates the head of Garth in the illustration below, (and he did the cover for the reprint book too.)
For those unfamiliar with Rod's work, he kindly shows some examples here.
I've managed to get a few of Tony Smith's articles on Bellamy, written after Frank Bellamy's death Tony did however meet and interview Frank.
Alas his first published work on Frank was his obituary.
This one is from 17th July 1990 and was written "to mark the 40th anniversary of the legendary Eagle comic" - to you and me that means the Hawk reprint books, The Adventures of P.C. 49, Harris Tweed, Riders of the Range and, of course, Fraser of Africa .
One particularly interesting feature in this article is a reprint of the rarely seen Bellamy work in the Football Telegraph or Pink 'Un, the sporting paper insert for the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph. (18 October 1949) "All forms of transport were used by Kettering fans to see - Kettering win"
The readers at the time (1947) would have been familiar with the football clubs' nicknames - see my key on the NET page- and Tony Smith kindly provides clues in his 1990 article
ALLY SLOPER number 1 was published in September 1976 by Alan Class with Denis Gifford as editor. Frank Bellamy created "Swade", for the comic/magazine, a Wordless black and white 3 page strip. Unfortunately he died before being able to do a strip for the second issue (in which his obituary appeared).
I knew that Bellamy had been invited to the launch of Ally Sloper but Nancy, his widow, couldn't remenmber if he actually attended the event in London.
Terry Hooper has managed to interview Alan Class and he kindly put the question to Alan regarding Bellamy's appearance.
I'll leave you to read the full article which includes reference to the launch aboard "the Steam-ship “Tattershall Castle”,which was berthed on the Thames near Blackfriars Bridge". The master-of-ceremonies was, apparently, the comedian Ted Ray - a name I haven't heard for ages.
I have always enjoyed seeing annotations to some of those popular graphic novels of the Eighties - Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Sandman etc. In the prehistory of the WWW, we had command line interfaces and boy, were they tough to learn! I always tested them by looking for any comics related materials and starting dribbling on discovering text files of this sort of material! Remember this is before web browsers, and images on the net!
Anyway, Peter Karpas and friends have put together all these miscellaneous web references in one place on their strangely-titled enjolrasworld.com including reference to one FrankBellamy.co.uk!
I feel humble as there are few UK entries!
Pictures taken from the Eagle strip "The Happy Warrior"
I have avoided taking any income for the Frank Bellamy site - and I will keep it advert free.
But what happens when one correspondent sends you information and asks you to author an article? Well, I have thanked Richard Farrell for his info, accepted the request to write an article and.... promised to put the following on my Blog - click to enlarge: Andersonic is a small fanzine which I found entertaining but have never seen advertised extensively. Richard says "No need to use the cartoon - hardly up to the standards of an FB site! The next issue will be out around September and will include a feature on Bellamy and Harley's Thunderbirds strips and Starcruiser from Look-In"
I like the cartoon! Instantly recognizable! I didn't write the article on Bellamy, but look forward to seeing it - as I haven't even been offered one for this advert Norman
Richard Sheaf has supplied the following information on Comicon 76. It appears that the Comic Convention brochure contains a simple Bellamy entry. Opposite the advert for (what I remember to be) an interesting fanzine is the following message taking up the whole page.
"In memory Frank Bellamy 1917-1976" No black border; no pictures; no biography, just a reminder we had lost a major person in the comic world!
Head over to the Look and Learn site to view a picture show (great feature gentlepersons!) and view Fortunino Matania's works in that magazine.
You can read a short biography on BookPalace's excellent site and buy original artwork and prints of his work
Why am I highlighting this? What's the Bellamy connection? Matania was admired greatly by Bellamy who wrote a fan letter or two to Matania and also received Christmas cards from his hero. Whether they met is still a mystery, but it's always interesting to see who influences whom.
There's a long list of his war work with loads of samples on "The Great War in a different light" website. But he is remembered , like Alma Tadema, for his drawings of classical antiquity with his 'accurate' detailing.
Clearing up a few more bits that that kind Richard Sheaf sent me:
Comic Collector No. 2 Apr 1992, Announcement on the Frank Bellamy Appreciation Society Richard supplied the advert below
I managed to get a copy of the following recently: Comic Media News No 27 Jul-Aug 1976, which has a tribute to the then recently departed Bellamy with a rarely seen photo of him.
Comic Media News #27
Comic Media News #27, p14
Comic Media News #27, p.15
...Which leads me to wonder whether the following entry on that page is wrong. Comicon 1976 No 27 tribute and photo as it appears so like the above! Does anyone have, or know anyone that has the Comicon programmes for the Seventies?
Making a few corrections in the pages: Deleted the description: Garth tryout - Black & white: 6 drawings of Garth used as a tryout for the strip from the Unpublished page
Added the details onto the Saga of Garth entry (c/o Comics Journal) on the Articles page. Click on the note accompanying the Saga entry for a bigger scan Bellamy, of course, did many "character sheets" of strips before commencing on them. The site lists quite a few, but the recent appearance of a 'Marco Polo' sheet was a great suprise - see the following blog entry!
On the Unseen Bellamy exhibition page, we had a placeholder asking if anyone could identify the French Infantry (item #9 in the catalogue)
Not only can we now identify it, but if you click the corresponding note, Jeff Haythorpe has sent me a scan and tells me he bought it at the exhibition. What better authority could a researcher want?
It appears to be an unpublished part of the series for the Look and Learn magazine/comic called The Story of World War One (LOOK AND LEARN 437 - 462 - 30/05/70 - 21/11/70)
Back from holiday, and saw many towns in the south, and I have added my reviews to http://www.tripadvisor.com of the 2 hotels. We also saw a flamenco event, but avoided the bullfights...although we did see one on the TV in a Tapas bar in Cordoba!
Anyway back to Bellamy
Richard Sheaf leant me "The Saga of Garth" a fascinating anomaly. It appears to have been issued to correct a misprinting from The Comic Journal (the UK version later called The Illustrated Comic Journal, then The Illustrated Comic Journal incorporating A.C.E.) as a free supplement. But I'd like to know which CJ it came with! I have added it to the listing.
"GARTH SUPPLEMENT
In CJ No. 28 the Garth article was mistakenly published with the pages out of sequence. We hope that this did not spoil your enjoyment of the article, however to make amends we have enclosed with this issue of the CJ a complete Garth supplement. This has been expanded from the original article and now includes two extra articles on Garth.
We hope that you enjoy it.
Yours
Bryon"
Cover adapted from: The Daily Mirror Book of Garth, London: IPC Limited, 1975.
Run, do not walk, to ComicsUK and click on the Daily Page link on the opening page for a page-by-page reprint of, what some consider Bellamy's finest strip, The Happy Warrior.
Bellamy said he was intimidated by this commission as this was the first time the back page of Eagle was taken up with a living person's biography and the subject, Winston Churchill, would approve pages before publication. If you follow the strip day by day, as Alan Notton, the site's creator/moderator intends. you will see Bellamy start out in standrad panel formats, but later experiment with the panels style he later was loved and remembered for.
I'm off on holiday, and although my subconscious might have had a hand in this, I have just realised I'm heading to Andalucia, where Nancy and Frank Bellamy spent many happy hours. Both Nancy and Frank were great fans of flamenco and all things Spanish. And if you've read the website in detail you'll find many drawings are mentioned of bulls, matadors, toreadors etc.
Jeff Haythorpe kindly gave me permission to show this wonderful picture. I'll tidy up my references on my return. Jeff has given me other pictures which I'll add later. Jeff, thanks AGAIN!
Sometimes the social world of the Internet can seem very circular, with mentions/news turning up all over the place in a short space of time. Perhaps one day, I may have to list the virtual publications that mention this website!.....That way lies madness!
We have confirmed it was never commercially published:
EAGLE - Not Yet Found. Colour page of Dan Dare (mustard coloured uniform) holding ray gun with a circular space station and astronaut in background (black & white), all on red background
This begs the question "what does unpublished mean?". I have also referenced the source, a fanzine/comic called Sufferin' Satellites, published in 1998
Many thanks to Richard Sheaf - read more about this project on DownTheTubes
Someone on Facebook identified the craft at top-right as coming from "The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire" drawn by Don Lawrence in Look and Learn. I've tracked it down to the 13th story "Voyage to the Moon Bolus" - and the episode was published in Look and Learn #329 (4 May 1968)
Mike Butterworth & Don Lawrence's "Trigan Empire"
And SUFFERIN' SATELLITES (Issue 4, Mar 1998)
Sufferin' Satellites #4
Front cover - uses the unpublished Dan Dare Back cover - shows the complete mock up of the proposed Eagle re-launch which never happened (note: the pink hue is a publishing 'fault' as the original is a more pronounced red background
The credit for the rear cover - "A big thank you goes to JEFF HAYTHORPE [...] and Terry Doyle for this issue's eagerly awaited cover. Produced originally for a 1970s relaunch of the Eagle, this previously unseen piece of Frank Bellamy artwork is presented in its original format on the back cover".
The Eagle was actually re-launched by IPC on March 27, 1982 with no sign of this artwork!
Many thanks to Richard Sheaf for the loan of this rare magazine
It is in fact, Telegraph Sunday Magazine No. 49, 21st August 1977 pp. 18-22, "Where Eagles dared", by Byron Rogers, a three and a half page history of the Eagle comic - with one reference to Bellamy, but no relevant content!
But there is an interesting photo included - see below - with an error on it. Can anyone correct this for us, although not directly concerning Bellamy!
"The men behind the comic: from left to right, Frank Hampson, the original illustrator, Clifford Makins, who succeeded Morris as editor, John Pearce who launched the first promotion, Macdonald Hastings, Eagle Special Investigator, and Marcus Morris, the clergyman who conceived and created it, pore over early issues of Eagle.[...]" (p.18).
Unfortunately there are indeed five gents, but Hampson is instantly recognisable as being second from the left. Can anyone tell me who the first guy is?
They are, according to an
Eagle Times article ("Memories of Eagle" by Graham Page, Eagle Times,
Vol 30:3, Autumn 2017, pp12-14):
As stated earlier, Richard Sheaf has been really helpful in supplying details of articles about Bellamy in fan magazines.
The updated information (on the Articles page) includes:
Astral Group Member's Forum #4-5 Feb 1982
Astral Group Newsletter #7, 1981-2
Comics Journal #28 (UK version), Autumn 1994
Eagler magazine #2, Winter 1983
Eagle Times 1987 [pilot issue] which is a reprint of....
Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph 3 Sept 1987
Many thanks Richard - who supplied scans too! The last article by Tony Smith (who must have interviewed Bellamy more times than anyone) contains some more information which I'll use. The others are fairly derivative.
Interesting also to note the article reproduces this cartoon done by Bellamy for the Pink 'Un but with the wrong date! To understand the nicknames for the football teams read the description on the N.E.T .page
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE EVENING TELEGRAPH (Sat 11/10/1947) (Football Telegraph) "Will Ar Tarn douse posh, and the Russians scare the Poppies"
I thought it was time to correct something I left up on the site, namely this mysterious entry in the unpublished list:
Robin Hood:
Black & white with an inscription "Best wishes to XXXXXX" and signed
I'm pleased to say that wonderful Marv Wolfman agreed that I could let people know that he owns this original Bellamy drawing. He says "I also have two original painted Heros the Spartan pages, too."
It was the latter that was the start of suggesting that Bellamy be entered in the ACBA award for Best Foreign Artist in 1972. Due to the age of the Heros strips (1962-1965), they could not be used. However, someone (Barry Windsor-Smith?) had the bright idea of using the one-off comic strip of Star Trek that appeared in the TV and radio listings magazine in the UK, the Radio Times. And the rest as they say is history......
Footnote:
Many people think therefore Bellamy drew Star Trek in the UK. He drew only only this single page mentioned above with 2 spot illustrations for the TV listings. Mike Noble's run on Star Trek in the second series of TV21 is considered a high point.
Penny Turner, (the best person to have with you on a pub quiz team), reading the website mentioned 'had I read "Pawley's Peepholes"?' I hadn't....she had a copy which I borrowed and shortly after, I encountered Wyndham's clever take on time travel.
The story tells of ghostly appearances in a small town which turn out to be time tourists! The townsfolk get tired of the intrusions on their private lives .....and fight back. I won't spoil the ending!
What's this got to do with Bellamy? In November 1969 Bellamy was asked by BBC Educational Publications to produce 9 drawings in black and white for "Music Session One "Pawley's Peepholes Pupil's Pamphlets for the Summer of 1970.
To date, we have not seen a pamphlet. Can you help? Email us at the usual address See here for this
An aside taken from "Time Travel" - PBS Airdate: October 12, 1999: STEPHEN HAWKING: Time travel might be possible, but if that is the case why haven't we been overrun by tourists from the future? CARL SAGAN: This argument I find very dubious.
Shaqui has done it again. He's sent me a scan of the Daily Mirror for the 1st Mar 1978 and as he says, "it's a bit of a non-starter but, hey, you're the completist!"
But Shaqui has sent me other stuff which I have never seen! More to follow shortly
I tripped over some new information about "Suzy and the Red Stripes" and thought I'd look again at this article to improve it somewhat as I started it in 2007 (updated 10 years later)!
Bill Storie writes: "I was told by Terry Jones (when I was researching Bert Fegg's book) that he himself had been told the "Wings" illustration [as I've labelled it] for Paul McCartney was originally commissioned for the cover of a solo album by Paul's wife Linda under the project title of "Linda and the Red Stripes". Terry himself didn't know if that was 100% true though and MPL publishing never replied to me on the subject but maybe someone else out there on the net might know?" Below are the comments on this story Bill wrote back in 1992 for his fan publication dedicated to Frank: Gopherville Argus
Bill Storie and Terry Doyle produced Gopherville Argus in 1992 (Taken from Issue 1)
Paul McCartney takes two years to pluck up the courage to commission Frank Bellamy
It's for a record sleeve
Frank drew the rough
Meeting arranged in London
Frank died in July 1976
Gopherville Argus 1992 (Taken from Issue 2)
A bit more certainty it was for Linda's solo persona "Suzy and the Red Stripes"
This interesting article Seaside Woman by Suzy and the Red Stripes explains: "Paul called the group Suzy (Linda) and the Red Stripes (Wings) and they signed with Epic under that name. The name Red Stripes is from one of Paul and Linda's favorite drinks."
Linda's Pictures 1976
I put out another call to the Internet via Facebook and received this from Tony Smith, the reporter who most wrote about Frank during his lifetime:
I
also wrote to Paul [McCartney] not long after Frank's death, but received no reply.
When I interviewed Frank early in 1976, he told me Macca and Linda
called at his home entirely unannounced a few weeks earlier. He showed
me a photographic book written by Linda and signed by them both, which
they gave him, and I understand they wanted him to do the artwork for a
forthcoming Wings album.
I'm guessing the present was Linda's pictures: a collection of photographs / photographs and words by Linda McCartney London: Cape, 1976.
So now we also know this encounter was likely to be the beginning of 1976
Which set me looking for any other information and I remembered this interview with Nancy Bellamy. On 9 July 1992 Nancy and Howard Corn (who was the Editor of the Eagle Times and lifelong champion of Eagle, who passed away in 2016) were interviewed on the radio programme Turning Back the Years with Arnold Peters
AP: And of course through Frank’s work and his… for so many different people… it was largely the Eagle but also lots of other people you had strange phone calls some times, didn’t you?
NB: Well..
AP: The phone rang and you answered… go on, tell us.
NB: Yes, well one, I think it was a Saturday morning, the phone.. I used to answer the phone for Frank because it sort of helped him, it didn’t disturb him drawing, and this voice said ‘Can I speak to Frank Bellamy?’ and I said ‘Yes, who’s calling?’ and the voice on the other end said ‘Paul McCartney’ and I think my eyes must have widened very much but anyway I went to get Frank and sort of whispered to him ‘Paul McCartney’s on the phone for you’. So anyway the outcome of that was he went up to London to meet Paul and Linda McCartney and he said they were very very nice people and they wanted him to do a rough for a design for a sleeve for a record that they were producing.
AP: Just like that?
NB: Yes, just like that.
So here we learn
Phone call initiated process
Saturday morning?
London meeting happened
Rough required for record sleeve
Lastly Russell Jenkins - Frank's nephew - mentioned:
I seem to remember Franks’ meeting Paul and Linda being several years before Frank died [1976] and before the move to Geddington [1975] . I asked him what he had drawn for them and he said it was a woman coming out of the sea. So, “Seaside Woman” makes sense. Maybe the artwork was never used because of Franks’ death?
The artwork was of a woman coming out of the sea
Wikipedia tells us that:
In 1977 the reggae-inspired single "Seaside Woman" was released by an obscure band called Suzy and the Red Stripes on Epic Records in the United States. Suzy and the Red Stripes were Wings, with Linda (who wrote the song) on lead vocals.The song, recorded by Wings in 1972, was written in response to allegations from Paul's publisher that Linda's co-writing credits were inauthentic and that she was not a real songwriter.
"Seaside Woman" was first recorded 27 November 1972 at Air studios, London. later in 1973 further work was carried out at E.M.I.'s Boulogne-Billancourt Studios near Paris, and on 26 November at the Pathe-Marconi studios, Paris. An album was planned but never appeared at the time, however the single "Seaside Woman" (A-side) and the wittily titled B side "B-Side to Seaside" was released eventually in America on 31 May 1977 and reached number 59 in the Billboard charts.
Oscar Grillo created an animated short for the song in 1980, a year after it's first official release, and it went on to win the Cannes Film Festival’s "Short Film Palme d’Or.”
There's more information on The Paul McCartney Project website on "Seaside Woman" and Linda's explanation for the name "Suzy and the Red Stripes" appears in "Band on the Run" by Barry McGee, (NY: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2003) where she says:
"When we were in Jamaica, there had been a fantastic version of "Susie Q", so they used to call me Suzy. And the beer in Jamaica is called Red Stripe, so that makes it Suzy and the Red Stripes" (p.225)
I've checked through all those items of artwork I have access to and still not found one of a anything that's likely to be this, so I would love to see the draft artwork. If anyone wants to suggest how Paul might communicate with me, or me with him - after a few attempts already - I'd be so grateful
~Norman Boyd
=============
(Thanks to Bill Storie and Terry Doyle for dating the interview in Goperville Argus #2 Aug 1992, p.2) and Tony Smith for a better date, and for the wonderful websites such as The Paul McCartney Project,
