Time for the latest issue of Enid Blyton's Magazine' - zooming through your letterbox soon!
here it is -
8 - 21 May 1957
What a great issue this latest one is, too! I really enjoyed reading it, and looking at the contents page, we can only guess how thrilled Enid's readers would be - there's literally 'something for everyone'.
The cover this week shows an illustration from the first story,
Beware Of The Bull - another story that is uncollected. Read it by following the link, as Tony has kindly added the uncollected stories to The Cave. Many thanks Tony, as I know this is quite a long-winded job!
Its a story that follows the usual Blyton lines, but I found it very entertaining - especially the first half. Somehow it didn't end up quite as satisfying as I thought it would - though it was certainly amusing. With all the elections we are having these days in the UK I couldn't help being reminded of the election when I read how the boys were going to vote for a worthy leader!
In Enid Blyton's editorial
Letter we have the usual news from Enid's neck of the woods - but this time I found it even more interesting as she mentions being on holiday in Purbeck, and describes the hills and gorse and views which I remember from my own visits. I was also interested to see she mentions that the Famous Five film is now ready and will soon be released - and she also mentions a radio dramatisation of a Five Find Outer book - in Australia. I wonder if any of our Australian members (or their parents) remember such a series on the radio? I didn't realise that such a thing had been done. Pity its not available now...even though it might seem odd to me to hear Fatty speak with an Australian accent!
You can read Enid's Letter by following the link.
After the cover story we have the first chapter in Enid's new series
The Birthday Kitten This is one of those short 'young family' stories, and benefits greatly from wonderful illustrations by the great Grace Lodge. I'm a bit confused by this story, as I believed it to be the last series Playways Magazine published before it ceased as a magazine...but I can only find it as appearing as a book in 1958 so presumably the story had its 'premiere' in Enid Blyton's Magazine in 1957...?
Our Letter Page this time consists of letters from children who have raised money for the Centre for Spastic Children. Nita Millsum from Darlaston has raised an amazing £27 from running a whist drive (do these even exist any more?!) while Mary Siddle from Coventry has earned 2 shillings to give to the Home from a 'forgettory' box - where her family have to pay fines if they forget things!
Secret Seven Mystery continues with chapter 16 - 'Unexpected News'. I do prefer Sharrocks illustrations from this version of the story to those he provided for the book version. Strange but true.
This issue we have an
Overseas Puzzle which I thought I'd supply for those who enjoy puzzles! -
What Am I?
My first is in pint but not in quart
My second is in one and also in nought
My third is in fight but not in foe
My fourth is in arrow but not in bow
My fifth is in cut but not in sever
My sixth is in now but not in never
My whole is a vegetable everyone knows
Which in every country garden grows.
In
Rumble and Chuff we continue with Chuff (who is the pixie, not the train) and Rumble (who is the train and not the pixie!) meeting up and Chuff having a ride in the train all around the nursery before deciding to go off together.
I was interested to see that at this point The Cave lists the next item as being 'Welcome To The Countryside' -- something that is definitely not in my copy from this fortnight...could it be that it's an error?
I think the article of that name appeared in an earlier issue?
Next, we have a real treat for people like Anita who can't get enough of Noddy. He hasn't been around in the magazine lately - but Anita, you'll be glad to know he's back - and you can read the story by following the link at the bottom of this post.
Unfortunately
Noddy and the Balloons is a somewhat annoying Noddy story, which is entertaining in its way but could have been successfully told in about half the words. At least this time its not Noddy being silly...but I sort of prefer it when he is! This is a story which makes Noddy look very clever...which is amazing in itself!
The uncredited illustrations are very good though!
The next page is an advert for
The Famous Five Stories and a list of books in the Famous Five series. It's interesting to see which books the owner of my magazine had ticked to say they had read/owned. They are some of the best in the list - Five on a Treasure Island, Five Go To Smuggler's Top, Five Get Into Trouble, Five Go Down To The Sea and Five Go To Mystery Moor.
Puzzle Page this issue has the usual type of puzzles, some pretty easy.
The Famous Five Puzzle -
Can you find the animals hidden in the following sentences?
(a) "It's easy to add up this sum"
(b) "That man has a long beard."
Then we have what must be one of the easiest Enid Blyton puzzles I've ever seen - for the Busy Bees -
Can you find the wild flower hidden in the sentence below?
"Take the dish for the butter, cups and saucers and everything else off the table." easy or what!!
Now Then Make-a-Fuss is the next uncollected short story - you can read it and the other stories by following the link below -
http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/maga ... ?magid=910
It's probably the most enjoyable story of this issue, but still a bit simple and somewhat daft...relying on a massive coincidence and a feat of almost impossible wind-power!
Still, I enjoyed it, and it was good to read a story about a comical character that wasn't Mr Meddle or Mr Twiddle or The Three Golliwogs etc...although it could easily have been a Mr Twiddle or meddle story!
Its always interesting to see adverts for books in the magazine - and books that aren't Enid's, in particular. I'm not really into 'Horse Books' but there are some more listed this week. Why I find it interesting is that while Enid's books are still selling by the thousands, these books seem to have completely disappeared...shows just how popular Enid still is.
Books like 'Jump for the Stars' by Gillian Baxter, or Rosina Copper and Rosina and Son by Kitty Barne, or Three of a Kind and Red Conker by Kathleen Mackenzie. I've never heard of any of these.
In My Garden reappears this issue with some advice on planting Lupins from seeds. I was surprised to read this, as our Lupin plants are already quite high - though maybe they can be planted any time during the spring and still flower in Summer.
Our News Sheet contains another anecdote from Enid about her Australian fans, when she tells us about one of her earlier trips to Dorset -
As I have told you in my letter, members, I am away from home,
and down by the sea - though actually I spend most of my time up on the hills. I play golf a good deal, and I think I really must tell FF Members of a funny thing that happened here once. I drove a ball very badly and it went onto the road and hit a parked car on the roof. Out popped two children, ran after the ball, and gave it back to me, all smiles. I suddenly saw they were wearing badges - FF badges - so I introduced myself, of course - and then discovered that they were Australian FF members, touring England with their parents. You can guess how thrilled we all were to meet so unexpectedly. I'm glad they were wearing their badges, otherwise I wouldn't have introduced myself of course. I always go up to any child wearing one of our badges - and you look SO surprised!
I wonder if Enid's golf ball dented the car, which presumably was a hired one...?
Lastly, Enid mentions the next Famous Five serial, coming soon. I'm always interested in little details, and Enid tells us
I have finished a new Famous Five serial for you and I will put it into our magazine as soon as I can -but, of course, the artist has to get busy first, so it will be a few weeks before it begins. I do hope you will like it!
One thing I'm wondering about with the mention of the Famous Five serial is just how long it had taken Enid to write it. The serial in question was Five Get Into A Fix - and she's often quoted as saying she wrote such a serial in five days at most - but she has now mentioned writing it a couple of times before in the Enid Blyton Magazine - almost making it seem as if it took her longer than a couple of weeks to complete. I guess we'll never know!
Enjoy the stories this issue, and see you again in a fortnight!