ORIGINAL ART: Heros, 3 Garth Sundance and 3 sketches

Eagle 24 August 1963 Vol 14:34

The second auction this month to feature multiple Frank Bellamy originals is from Compalcomics. As usual Malcolm Philips offers a listing at both his Compalcomics and TheSaleroom

HEROS THE SPARTAN: Eagle 24 August 1963 (Vol. 14:34)

The image at the top of this article shows the 25th episode of the story "The Eagle of the Fifth". There is a slight error in the listing, if you're trying to match this to the comic. It should say 1963 not 1962. This is the first time I've seen this original art and it looks pretty good - especially as Heros is so scarce! The auctioneer's estimate is £4,000- £4,500 and the last one sold at auction went for over £7000.

It is described as:

Heros The Spartan double-page original artwork (1962) [sic 1963] painted and signed by Frank Bellamy from The Eagle Vol. 14, No 34, 1962. [sic 1963]The Men of the Jackal's screaming warriors attack Heros, Berbrix and their small band as the traitor, Guthrac, strikes… Bright Pelikan inks on board. 27 x 18 ins

GARTH: Sundance - 3 episodes

Garth: Sundance Episodes E180, E182 and E191

These three strips are all from the first that Bellamy drew in the Daily Mirror newspaper. Bellamy took over from John Allard on 12 July 1971 (#E162) and this first story ran to 11 October 1971 (#E226). Episodes from this story are certainly rarer than most and are one of my favourite in the Garth run.

The auction is estimated to reach £700-£900 but that is way under what I think will happen - especially as at the time of writing it's reached £1,120! Malcolm described them like this:

Garth: 3 original artworks (1971) by Frank Bellamy from the Daily Mirror 2nd/4th/14th August 1971. From the Bob Monkhouse Archive. General George Armstrong Custer leads the U.S. Seventh Cavalry with Garth as his Chief Scout in search of Sitting Bull. Indian ink on board. 20 x 18 ins (x 3)

BELLAMY SKETCH: To be or not to be

"To be or not to be"

This sketch, thankfully, has provenance as it comes from the Bob Monkhouse collection. The auction is described thus:

Frank Bellamy original signed sketch (1940s) 'To Be or Not To Be'. The Catering Corps Sergeant in a dilemma over the troops tinned rations menu. (Probably hung in the Sgt's Mess!). From the Bob Monkhouse archive. Indian ink and wash on card. 14 x 10 ins

The Sergeant has written "Menu for tomorrow" and "How to cut up margarine into portions to look like butter"  and I love some of the descriptions on the cans - "Kippers - Depth-Charge Brand" or "Salmon - Fresh from Hong Kong". We know Bellamy ran drawing classes before the war and we also know he is seen in some photos drawing whilst in his uniform, but where or if this ever appeared in print, I have no idea! I don't think the title is very clear "To be or not to be" or it's his best cartoon work - which were very good when he drew for the Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph. The auctioneer's estimate is £60-£80 with an opening bid of £55 but so far no-one has bid

BELLAMY SKETCH: 2 Portraits

2 charcoal portraits

 Finally this interesting early work, I say early because the lips on the woman are very crude and nothing like the Bellamy we see in the 1930s newspaper work or later. This might possibly be his earliest work that still exists!

They are described as:

Frank Bellamy (1940s). Two original charcoal pencil sketches, both signed in capitals 'Frank A. Bellamy', probably of his parents. 9 x 13 ins, 10 x 14 ins (2)

 I think Malcolm is being ambitious with his estimate of £250-£350 but I've been wrong before! And whether they might be Bellamy's parents I have no idea. I've forward the idea to Tess Bellamy to see if she could comment, but the image of the man looks to be of someone in uniform.  As Horace Bellamy was born in 1885 he would have been 45 years of age in 1930, for example, so I wonder. But let's see what turns up


AUCTION SUMMARY

HEROS THE SPARTAN
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom
STARTING BID: £3600
ENDING PRICE: £5,700
END DATE: Sunday 24 November 2019

GARTH: Sundance 3 episodes
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom
STARTING BID: £640
ENDING PRICE: £1,180
END DATE: Sunday 24 November 2019

BELLAMY SKETCH: To be or not to be
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom
STARTING BID: £55
ENDING PRICE: £125
END DATE: Sunday 24 November 2019

BELLAMY SKETCHES 2 Portraits
WHERE?: Compal/Saleroom
STARTING BID: £230
ENDING PRICE: "Passed"
END DATE: Sunday 24 November 2019

Frank Bellamy and a T-Shirt Rocket Design (Part2)

MF2 USA T-shirt  design

Well! What a few weeks I've had! I've been dealing with family matters but Bill Storie certainly cheered me up by pointing me to this. Unbelievably we have another unseen Frank Bellamy original artwork, but thankfully we know something about this one!

Back in January 2015, I wrote about Bellamy having done some rocket t-shirt designs. The latest, and unseen by me, is labelled: Frank Bellamy Space Rocket T Shirt Design Original Art NASA THUNDERBIRDS, the seller cleverly including some good keywords!

Their description is minimal:
Original Art Work by Frank Bellamy.
MF 2 Rocket
Date: Unknown
Condition: The Illustration is lovely, some damage and stains to board.
Size of board - 54 x 62 cm Size of Artwork - 41 x 23 cm

The previous one found was listed as "The size of the frame is 314 mm by 416 mm", so my guess is that this current one is the larger of the three he drew (yes three! - read on!)

T-Shirt outline provided on the board

I'm curious why the artist's details appeared on the front of the board, which I think was unusual for Bellamy.

Anyway to repeat the information here which I wrote in January 2015:

Equity Designers and Equity Printers Limited of 15-21 Ganton Street London W1 appears to have been run by D.K.Humby (Managing Director) and J. B. Blight (Company Secretary). Their publicity stated they were "Graphic designers, Lithographic and silkscreen printers". They asked Bellamy to produce three designs:

1. Small rocket motif £15

1. Large rocket motif £25

1. Take-off rocket motif £25

I'll leave you to decide which you think is which and whether we will ever see the third!! And what's with the MF2 and SP50 (2) markings? Any guesses? S=Small; M=Medium? Or as I said last time perhaps the SP(2)50 was Daimler signifier SP250, but then what's the MF2?

Frank Bellamy T-shirt design SP250

Oh and it was nice to discover the seller's kind words about my blog on the old eBay listing for the first t-shirt design!

SUMMARY

• WHERE?: eBay
• SELLER:  VintageMagazineCompany
• BUY IT NOW: £500.00 (or make an offer)
• END DATE: 17 December 2016

NEWS UPDATE: Frank Bellamy Kettering Exhibition and unseen artwork

STOP PRESS@ See below for pictures of the Exhibition as it's assembled 

Frank Bellamy - Masai Warrior

The Alfred East Gallery, Kettering, which has previously run exhibitions of Frank Bellamy's artwork is due to include some of his work in Comics Unstripped!. The Gallery explains, it will be "where we look at the history of comics and graphic novels. The exhibition features the original artworks by Kettering’s Frank Bellamy, including some examples from Garth, Thunderbirds and Dan Dare".

The exhibition, runs from 9th July to 20th August,and will have a booklet for sale, produced by the Gallery from Paul Holder's expanded digital version which will make a nice souvenir as it contains images taken from original art and provides the brief Frank Bellamy biography he wrote for "True Brit: A Celebration of the Great Comic Book Artists of the UK" edited by George Khoury. See the whole book - now a collector's item -  here on Amazon, but I'd recommend, if you can't attend, buying a digital edition which is cheaper and also has more content in colour!

Frank Bellamy souvenir booklet

Information for dates and times was found on the Council's website, and not the Gallery's but this was only announced today. The event includes:  

Super Heroes and Heroines Family Fun Day - Wednesday 3rd August, 1-3.30pm Join us for a family fun day in the Manor House Museum Gardens dressed as your favourite super hero or heroine! Come along to take part in craft activities, trails, face painting and lots more!

Comic Strip & Character Workshop - Saturday 23rd July, 11am-1pm & 2pm-4pm Learn how to create your very own comic strip and design your own characters in this 2 hour workshop for children aged 8 and above. The workshops cost £5 per child, (£4 with Leisure Pass) and booking is essential; call 01536 534 274.

There will also be prints to order which are "printed on 300gsm heavyweight archival fine art paper to the original size (approximately 41 X 63cm)" Although the original artwork will not be on display - as to my knowledge it still resides with the Bellamy family - there will be the opportunity to purchase prints (such as the Masai Warrior at the top of this article and the lovely artwork of Nancy Bellamy, Frank's late widow below) via the Gallery and postcards of other unpublished Bellamy works as well of his Thunderbird 6 film poster.

I suspect the dates mentioned on a Facebook event are wrong as some of the events listed on the council website take place after the dates mentioned. I have let the Facebook owner know UPDATE: Apprently Facebook only permits 2 weeks for an event!!!].

Lastly here is a piece not seen by very many people at all as it used to reside in Nancy's sitting room. She was an exceedingly liberated woman of the 50s and 60s and she felt very proud of this portrayal by her late husband

Nancy Bellamy by Frank Bellamy

Thunderbird 6 film poster postcard

Thanks to Jeff Chahal for these pictures on the Facebook Events page

9 Garth strips; Disc magazine, Heros, 2 Thunderbirds and Radio Times posters

Circus Posters, Montgomery (?), David the Shepherd King and others

New Frank Bellamy pieces discovered!

You know by now that I love the chase and discovery of material to do with Frank Bellamy and his artwork. Well, this time I bring you two new pieces!!

Garth "All the best Nancy" Frank Bellamy

The auctioneer Arthur Johnson and Sons Limited (in Nottingham) who sold this earlier this year kindly shared this image. The original auction was labelled:

Frank Bellamy (1917-1976), a pen and ink drawing, titled Garth, a comic strip drawing, Frank Bellamy was the illustrator for the Daily Mirror and Garth was one of the comic strips, width 29cm

I asked about the piece and got the reply:

I booked the item in personally, the vendor's mother knew that it was a dedication to Frank's wife Nancy, which was also the name of her own mother, that is why she bought it originally. From where I do not know.

I actually wonder whether Frank Bellamy would have drawn a piece in this vein for his wife especially as it states "Garth in Nottingxxx" which looks to me to be Nottingham and ties in with the Auctioneer's location. Maybe the seller's mother was the mysterious woman who is addressed and she told her daughter this story! Having my Mum pass away two years ago, I am only too aware of how family stories differ from what we think they are. We may never know

And just like London Buses, another popped-up - this time from Martin Baines who saw the following image which looks like a riff on the above.

Garth at the Fisherman's Cot

I found an explanation about this piece and the interesting reference to the "Fisherman's Cot" - the only one I know of is in Tiverton, Devon.

NEWS FROM KEVIN. 

My family owned the Fisherman's Cot Hotel at Bickleigh Near Tiverton in Devon between 1963 and 1979 when it was sold to Sir Fred Pontin. During our time there we had many celebrities visit including Art Garfunkel, David Jacobs, George Harrison and others.

 Jim Edgar and his wife Jessie spent their holidays with us in the mid-seventies. Jim wrote the scripts for “Garth” which was featured in the Daily Mirror for many years. One day I asked him if he and cartoonist Frank Bellamy could do something featuring the “Fisherman`s Cot” and he very kindly obliged!

I contacted Kevin via the website to ask for details on how to obtain copies and he kindly told me about his website now offering prints of the above in A4 and A3. As I said to him, this piece has wonderful provenance and is very unique and what a pleasure to discover two more Bellamy's!


SUMMARY ("All the best")

WHERE?: Arthur Johnson & Sons Auctioneers
SELLER: Unknown
ESTIMATE: £40-60

ENDING PRICE: £55
END DATE: 16 January 2016
No of bids: 2
No of bidders: 2

Frank Bellamy "Life Study" art for auction

UPDATE: Now for auction on eBay, starting at 99p!

This is just a quick note to mention Andrew Urquhart has alerted me to the fact that a 'life study' by Frank Bellamy is up for auction. There are many of these out there as Nancy Bellamy sold several of her husband's studies after his death but it's nice to see others.

Life study by Frank Bellamy

I have written about these previously here and fully expect many others to surface over time. How much are they worth? That's a difficult question, I'll enter the end price below as soon as a I learn what it is.


SUMMARY

• WHERE?: eBay
• SELLER:  postmanag2001
• STARTING PRICE:£0.99
• ENDING PRICE:  £46.99
• END DATE: SEPTEMBER 13  2015
• No of bids:5

==================================

• WHERE?: Gildings Auctioneers, Market Harborough
• SELLER:  [Lot # 342]
• ESTIMATE:£250 - £350
• ENDING PRICE: Not sold
• END DATE: AUGUST 18  2015
• No of bids:

Frank Bellamy and a T-Shirt Rocket Design

T-SHIRT ROCKET DESIGN BY FRANK BELLAMY

Rocket design

In the 1970s, after a constant weekly deadline, Bellamy left regular comics work and took up illustrating 'Garth', in the Daily Mirror on a daily basis! To supplement his income he did illustrations for the Sunday Times Colour Magazine and the Radio Times. But he had always wanted to be seen as a 'serious' or fine artist rather than a comic strip artist and was proud of his work in these latter magazines.

In the early 1960s technology made it possible for Paul Hamlyn (who 30 years earlier had had success with "Books for Pleasure" - a cheap 'coffee table book' imprint) to found "Prints for Pleasure" - a cheap process meant low cost art for the masses. Even my Mum bought one as they were art at a very low price on a mock canvas! Bellamy sent in some of his work but there is no evidence to show any of these were accepted! One might see why when one looks at the sort of thing that was produced (Weeping children, heavily coloured sunsets, search Google for Zinkeisen Childhood as one certain example).

What does this have to do with the piece that is currently on sale on eBay, illustrated above?

You'll notice whoever framed this original artwork left the 8" (eight inches) visible at the bottom. This appears to be an art director's instruction as to the size this should be reproduced.And that's what reminded me I had seen somewhere that Bellamy had received payment for a design (or designs in the plural) from a printing and design company in 1970.

Equity Designers and Equity Printers Limited of 15-21 Ganton Street London W1 appears to have been run by D.K.Humby (Managing Director) and J. B. Blight (Company Secretary). Their publicity stated they were "Graphic designers, Lithographic and silkscreen printers". They asked Bellamy to produce three designs:

1. Small rocket motif £15
2. Large rocket motif £25
3. Take-off rocket motif £25

He was also to receive (in the pre-Decimal currency days) sixpence (2.5 pence) as a royalty for every shirt printed (with the company retaining copyright). Whether Bellamy ever did three designs I don't know. I never expected to see the designs at all! But I'm as certain, as anyone can be, that this is one of them. The 8 inches reproduction size makes sense for a T-Shirt design.

Bellamy loved sports cars and owned a Datsun 260Z himself and it doesn't seem far fetched to think he might have used the Daimler signifier SP250 on this rocket ship!

When I first saw this design I was reminded of something from a 'Thunderbirds' strip that Bellamy illustrated. TV21 #82, the last episode of the 'Atlantic Tunnel' story has the Hood trying to escape International Rescue. The fins on the aircraft are in my opinion similar.

The Hood's aircraft form TV21 #82

The seller let me know he purchased it at a fine art auction so the provenance is sound

 

I will update the sale details, as usual below, when the auction ends

SUMMARY

• WHERE?: eBay
• SELLER:  Dorseteleven
• STARTING BID: £129.99
• ENDING PRICE: £262.01
• END DATE: 12 January 2015
• No of bids: 2
  

Original Art on eBay: Red Devil Dean and Radio Times

Just a quick note to let anyone who doesn't already know that the owner of the recently reviewed original art "Red Devil Dean" has put it up for sale at £1,900 or Best Offer on eBay

Here are the accompanying pictures:

Cover

Complete artwork (without tracing paper addition)

Tracing paper addition

He also has for sale (offered at £450 or best offer) another piece of artwork by Frank Bellamy, which originally appeared in the Radio Times magazine for 22 July 1972 - 28 July 1972) as part of the "Grand strategy" series. This one (#3 appearing on page 34) shows Frank bellamy's interpretation of the attack on Pearl Harbour. It was these graphic dispalys in the radio Times that got me hooked on Bellamy. They were so inventive and exciting - even when reproduced on that ghastly cheap pulp paper.

 

Frank Bellamy and Red Devil Dean (Part Two)

Red Devil Dean by Frank Bellamy

RED DEVIL DEAN PART TWO


The original artwork from Chris Harris, (featured in the blog of 16 May 2013), drew a number of responses and, in particular, began an exchange of correspondence with David Slinn -(who has recently assisted Steve Holland on his marvellous "Boy's World: Ticket to adventure", more on that in a later feature). Where this eventually led, is also for another time, but his initial observations are presented unedited as he can say it better than I can!

“First, let’s deal with ‘Red Devil Dean’. Included in ‘The Editor writes’, Junior Express Weekly, No.40, 25 June 1955, is this announcement about next week’s issue:

“...Then we have RED DEVIL DEAN. Red, an ex-Commando who finds post-war life humdrum, has a way of turning up wherever there is trouble. In his first adventure he is involved in an Arab rebellion in mysterious Morocco.”

Even that brief description uncannily tallies with the character Frank has depicted – though, disappointingly, as you’ll quickly spot in this first episode [pictured below], it appears Tug Wilson has already decided to go a.w.o.l.? 

'Red Devil Dean' by Desmond Walduck
Junior Express 41 July 2, 1955

In the mid-Fifties, your average youngster having grown up during the War, will have associated the “Red Devils” as the nickname for the 1st Parachute Brigade and, most probably, their involvement at Arnhem. As you’ve already established, the insignia is of Allied Combined Operations and, to add to these coincidences, even allowing for Desmond Walduck’s unmistakeable style, there is a discernible facial resemblance with Frank’s redheaded character. Admittedly, with Junior Express Weekly’s production restricted to red as a second colour, editorially expediency may have decided this new hero’s genetic traits.

Without knowing just when the specimen artwork was produced and why Frank’s version shows both men in uniform equipped for combat, suggesting the proposed stories were to be fictional wartime adventures, it’s difficult to offer much more than conjecture. Other than, while children’s titles of that period tended to persevere, often for years on end, with proven familiar content - unusually, Junior Express Weekly’s format, strips and features all seemed to be constantly evolving week-by-week.


By the time this new series had been planned to replace Jim Holdaway’s ‘Joanna of Bitter Creek’, the paper had embarked on a very successful strip adaptation of ‘The Colditz Story’, superbly illustrated by Tony Weare which led to ‘The Dam Busters’ and, later on, ‘The Bold and the Brave’ series of real-life wartime exploits. This may well have influenced the editorial decision to make Red Devil Dean an ex-Commando, with his adventures set in a civilian environment.

In any event, Frank’s further participation would have been ruled out by developments elsewhere. When, as you know, in addition to drawing ‘The Swiss Family Robinson’ for Swift he was asked during February 1955, to take over the ‘Paul English’ serial from Giorgio Bellavitas who was also coping with ‘Mark the Youngest Disciple’, on Eagle’s prestigious back-page colour feature.”

==============================================
Many thanks to David for his clear thinking on this matter and, as you’ll see next time, also providing another fascinating insight to Frank’s early career – with a triple-discovery – Be here for ........‘The Missing Lynx’!

Frank Bellamy - various bits and pieces again

I get quite a few emails regarding Bellamy's work and there are a few enthusiasts who know that no detail is too small, and Bill Storie gave me several things to do this week when I was wondering what to share with you!

Firstly he alerted me to this sale on eBay of a single that has some familiar artwork on it!

Frank Bellamy's artwork

The artwork is taken from TV21 Thunderbirds story "The Bereznik Zoo Rescue" from TV21 issue 110. I've asked the seller for more information and will update this on receipt

TV21 110

Bill made me realise that as a "Southerner" I hadn't realised that the Daily Record was the Daily Mirror's name in Scotland when Bellamy was around. Why did he mention this?

I have noted one of the times Bellamy was interviewed on TV. I have a transcript and recording and to be honest it's not much use as an interview. In my view Barry Askew held the opinion that comics were ephemeral and hardly worth mentioning and the usual BAM, POW, CRASH were mentioned - a good indicator that someone's view of comics is stuck in the 60s Batman show. The programme, Edition, went out as the last programme of the evening (yes, TV used to be less than 24 hours a day!) and states "Frank Bellamy, the artist who draws 'Garth' in the Daily Mirror and the Daily Record [...]"

Radio Times (24/11/1973 - 30/11/1973) Page 51

As Bill says:

The Radio Times "Modest Strip Artist" reference mentions that (erroneously) FB drew for the Daily Record - this is technically accurate inasmuch as he was never (as far as I know) commissioned to do art for that paper but his work did appear there quite often in the form of Garth and various other spot illustrations such as the moon landing piece. Back in those days the Daily Record was basically the Scottish version of the Daily Mirror (the Mirror did not have a large Scottish readership and much of the Mirror's daily output was simply re-jigged into the Daily Record).

It's amazing to me how I can seen this piece for 40 years and not have noticed the Daily Record reference. I've added the version from the copy of the Radio Times that I cut out and stuck in a lined notebook all those years ago. Needless to say I didn't stay up that late to watch it as I didn't even notice it was on till too late - and videos were as likely to be in my possession as a full size replica of Thunderbird 1!

Radio Times (24/11/1973 - 30/11/1973) Page 4 as it appeared

Lastly Bill also pointed out to me a piece that I knew about was glad to be reminded so I could show it to you. I've placed it under the Unpublished section of Bellamy's work.

Lion and lioness in profile with dead zebra

And for good measure here we see Bellamy's rather abstract image of a Lion and zebra

Lioness and zebra - abstract

Two lions and a zebra

 Many thanks to Bill, a fellow Mike Noble fan, for his prompting me to look at these points.