You Are My Sunshine

Christmas List: Sundance Yellow dress, hooded cape, Princess Line coat with Universe Blue trim and Go-go boots. Pilot's licence, fictional back story, fake passport, a bright sunny day in '77, Aviators and some plot...

Top banana.

Yes.

Girl Flight

Attention girls! In the sixties, Aspiration Pie was served hot in the form of Air Stewardess, Shirley Flight. The book series by Edward Reginald Home-Gall (gender bending pen name, Judith Dale) were a Brit alternative to the US Vicki Barr books, which ahem, Barr the name were pretty much identical in premiss: a 'career oriented' bunch of yarns for girls, about life as cabin crew. And there ain't nothing more high achieving than handing a hot towel to some dude in a tube of decreased air pressure, right?

Shirley actually seemed to have more fun than is plausible for one lifetime. She worked for Trans Continental Airways and almost always wore a pillbox hat on the cover art, no matter what adventures she encountered, be these scrapes with snakes in the Congo Reserve or finding bullion in a flying doctor's turban. I think it's fair to say I am now deeply obsessed with this bizarrely action packed portrayal of air hostess-dom and especially mad for the book jacket art. To the point where I'd definitely try bashing my face against a good few of the more exciting selection, just to see whether I can dive into the colourful canvas, Mary Poppins style, and join Shirls in a Pacific Castaway excursion or three. Only the Flying Jet adventure cover holds less appeal, as she appears to have injected her countenance with Margaret Thatcher, fifteen years too early. Boo. See what you think.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the land of Ten Years Previous, alternative fictional herione, Kitty Hawke, was a pilot. With her girl air crew, she gazed cooly from the pages of Hulton Press's 50s comic 'Girl,' in her sheepskin aviator jacket and fly hat. But little girls in nighties up and down the UK remained unimpressed. Publisher Marcus Morris (founder of both Eagle and Girl) reasoned it was due to the lack of personal stuff in the plots. Apparently girls only liked action if there was a long lost uncle or a romance at the end of the runway. Bah. Damn that genetic propensity for human interest.

Interestingly Marcus Morris was a priest as well as a publisher (that old combo). So his main aim was to create a wholesome 'alternative' to American strips which he thought, 'brought horror into the nursery.' His first ever idea was a comic strip following the adventures of an inner city parson called Lex Christian to appear in Eagle, but it never came to pass (much like my ideas for Hades Boy, Professor Exodus, Scooby Dumali and John the BapMan). Instead, Lex swiftly morphed into 'Chaplain Dan Dare', the first parson to be launched into space (closer to God?) and then again into the secular Dan Dare (clearly prayer and orbit didn't gel) where the dog collar was dropped in favour of a captain's badge, and the Chief of the Interplanet Space Fleet was born.

Kitty lasted a bit longer than Lex, but not much. Which made her effectively as unpopular as the defunct space parson. It's odd as equally cool Flight Officer Joan Worralson, pilot in the Woman's Auxhilery Airforce and fictional star of the Worral's book series, was a female avio protagonist hit despite the lack of fwuffy dogs, missing relatives or time travel. Worrals just flew around on ordinary missions (within the earth's atmosphere) busting spy rings, with all relatives safely stored away at home.

Later, Girl tried again with a new heroine of the skies: Angela Air Hostess. But Angela wasn't cool. She didn't fly her own plane, head up a crew or punch spies. Nope, she just looked for lost toddlers in a nice skirt and squabbled with a 'beautiful selfish cousin' who also fancied the handsome, vigorously chinned Captain Ian Lewis: he of the 'puzzling' yet important manner and impressive array of off-duty, jazzy cravats. If she'd also been a secret ballet dancer who sewed buttons on cakes for sick donkeys, and kept a basket of kittens in her overhead locker, it wouldn't have been too off the mark. She gave good hat though.

Angela was born at the pen nib of artist Edward Dudley Pout, and although she may have been a little prim compared to Kitty and tiger-torn stockinged thrill-seeker Shirley, she did have a bunch of fictional yet very covetable dresses. Does this make Pout an unlikely fashion designer? Either way, Pout's drawings were/are ace, stuffed with big chins (men), long necks (girls) and now-vintage charm (mostly the cars). Outside of comic land he was a versatile artist, designing billboards and posters for the film industry. A life bookended with quaintly named residences, he started his existence on Frog Island Farm, and ended it at Gribble Bridge. Like a comic strip story-sandwich, he clearly knew a good beginning, middle and end.

If Dudley Pout were still alive, my perfect proposal for him would involve this: Kitty and co-pilot Worrals rocking the helm of a Lockheed Constellation with Angela and Shirley in the back selling muffins, tea and gin to Lex Christian, en route to The Siberias to fight tiger-bears in turbans. On the way they all solve at least four Chinese Puzzles each and everyone has a quiff. By the end, Lex is drunk and fighting diamond smugglers, Shirley has five members of a Venus spy ring safely detained in her hat and after a day trading barrel roll tips, Kitty has secured a date with Captain Dan Dare aboard the Tempus Frangit.

Now that's what I call an adventure.

Amen.