Tammy 20 August 1983

Cover artist: John Armstrong

Namby Pamby (artist Eduardo Feito, writer Ian Mennell)

Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)

Welcome, Stranger! (artist Douglas Perry, writer Chris Harris) – Pony Tale

Room for Rosie (artist Santiago Hernandez, writer Alison Christie)

Holiday Miss Title! (writer Maureen Spurgeon) – Quiz 

Fate – or Fortune? (artist Carlos Freixas, writer Maureen Spurgeon) – complete story

The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, writer Alison Christie)

Backhand Play (artist Phil Gascoine, writer Ian Mennell)

Make Your Mind Up, Maggie (artist Juliana Buch)

Pretty Tidy (Chris Lloyd) – feature 

We had this issue before, but the post disappeared for some reason. So here it is again for 1983 issue in our Tammy August month round. 

Inside is one of the most historic moments in the saga of Bella Barlow – the moment when her arch-antagonists, Jed and Gert Barlow, make their final bow and disappear from her strip for good. We never thought we’d see the day. This was an astonishing move for Tammy to take, and we have to wonder what was behind it. Did ye Editor get tired of them or something? Anyway, good riddance to them. Our only regret is that although they had their karmic low points (including prison), they were never really punished for their treatment of Bella. 

In our other stories, Pam’s ridiculously overprotective mother does it again in “Namby Pamby”. The moment she hears Pam’s in a swimming match, she races to the pool, barrelling through the crowd and screaming hysterics, just because she thinks her precious little baby’s catching a chill. Oh, for crying out loud! Pauline Wheeler thinks she’s found “Room for Rosie” pretty quickly, but the new home falls through, so back to square one. No doubt this will be the first in a long string of failed homes before Rosie finds the One. “Backhand Play” is now on its penultimate episode, and it sets the stage for the final one: showdown between the tennis club and their backhand-playing tennis officer, Terry Knightly’s uncle, who’s now making an utter mockery of tennis. And the complications over juggling between riding and ballet get even worse for Maggie in “Make Your Mind Up, Maggie”.

Tammy’s complete stories are now the Button Box series, a Pony Tale series, and a self-contained complete story, a number of which had a supernatural theme. Some of them were reprints of Strange Stories, others were totally new and credited, giving us insight as to who might have written the spooky completes of the past.

Tammy 3 September 1983

 

• Namby Pamby (artist Eduardo Feito, writer Ian Mennell)
• Bella (artist John Armstrong, writer Primrose Cumming)
• Porridge Pulls His Weight (artist Bert Hill, writer Linda Stephenson) – Pony Tale
• Lonely Ballerina (artist Maria Barrera, writer Jay Over) – first episode
• The Button Box (artist Mario Capaldi, (sub)writer Linda Stephenson)
• The Moon Maiden (artist Hugo D’Adderio, writer Roy Preston) – complete story
• Room for Rosie (artist Santiago Hernandez, writer Alison Christie)
• Make Your Mind Up, Maggie (artist Juliana Buch) 
• Warmer Outlook (Mari L’Anson) – feature

What could be so spooky or terrifying about a ship in a bottle? A lot if you’re in a Roy Preston story and you’ve been cursed for deliberately wrecking a ship at the expense of lives so you can claim insurance. The story, “The Moon Maiden”, appears below. Roy Preston is credited as writing a number of complete spooky stories, often with comeuppances, for Tammy during her credits period. This lends credence to Preston having written some of the other creepy complete stories we’ve seen in the past: Misty completes, Strange Stories, Monster Tales and Gypsy Rose. 

(Click thru)

A new ballet story, “Lonely Ballerina”, reunites the creative team from another Tammy ballet story, “Slave of the Clock“. Tanya Lane is sent to Mary Devine’s ballet school for more advanced coaching, but upon arrival she finds things aren’t exactly how they look in the brochure. The school is a mess, the pupils laze about, there are no lessons, and the teacher looks as much a prima ballerina as a rice pudding. Looks like a cheat, but Tanya is determined to wring ballet lessons out of it if it kills her.

“Make Your Mind Up, Maggie” is on its penultimate episode. Madame has found out Maggie’s secret and expelled her for disobeying orders. Ironically, it’s all because of Maggie’s friend Nadia, who got her expelled in the mistaken belief that ballet was preventing Maggie from pursuing her true vocation, riding. It was the other way around, Nadia you great nana! Now Maggie’s hopping mad at her. Still, there can be no doubt everything will be sorted out next week because it will be the conclusion. It’s a bit strange, reading the penultimate and final episodes as single episodes when they appeared as a double episode in the original run because of an imminent merger.

“Namby Pamby” started in the same issue as Maggie but still has ways to go before it reaches its penultimate episode. No wonder, with the amounts of growth Pamela Beeton has to catch up on because of her ridiculously over-protective upbringing, which has left her with the maturity of a toddler. This week Pam is learning to ride a bike, something her mother never allowed her to do: “they’re too dangerous” she said. Pam is off for a bike ride with her friends but has to do it behind her mollycoddling mother’s back. Next week’s episode will tell if she gets away with it and takes another stride with independence and growth.

This week’s pony tale is drawn by Bert Hill, an artist seen more often at DCT. As the story appeared during Tammy’s credits run, this is Hill’s only credited story. The story is about the bad old days of children being exploited and abused in mines in the 19th century, and in this case, how speaking out – and striking back – improves things. 

The Button Box tale has a moral on accepting things have their time and times change, and you must change with them. In Linton, the new cinema overtakes the hurdy gurdy man in popularity. For one day he and his daughter Dolly triumph over the cinema with a lotto (now bingo) game, but it can only be a one-off. The father realises the hurdy gurdy has had its day and takes a job to make ends meet, but Dolly appears to find it harder to accept. Years later, Dolly has the satisfaction of seeing the old cinema turned into a bingo hall.

Bella’s gymnastics club is at a competition, but the coaches keep quarrelling, which is affecting the team and their chances of winning. Bella takes a bold move to ensure they win: add some extra-difficult moves to her beam routine. At least the coaches finally agree on something – they are appalled at the risks Bella is taking. 

Pauline has to do some fast work to save Rosie from being smashed up and then being stolen. Plus another failed bid to find her a home. 

 

 

Tammy & Sandie 8 June 1974

Artist: John Richardson

• Ella on Easy Street (artist Jose Casanovas, writer Charles Herring) – final episode
• Wee Sue (artist Mario Capaldi)
• Make Your Mind Up, Maggie (artist Juliana Buch)
• Mrs Nimmo’s Ninth Life (artist Douglas Perry) – complete story
• Jeannie and Her Uncle Meanie (artist Robert MacGillivray)
• Photo – Marty Kristian
• Crystal Who Came in from the Cold (artist Douglas Perry)
• Competition – Win a Sewing Machine!
• No Tears for Molly (artist Tony Thewenetti, writer Maureen Spurgeon) – story ends
• Common Cathy (artist John Armstrong)

 

In part 4 of Tammy round robin, the issue that came out two weeks before June merged with Tammy on 22 June 1974 has been selected for 1974. With only two weeks until the merger, with totally new serials starting all through the issue, it is not surprising that Tammy is gearing up for the merger in finishing all her current serials as fast as possible. The serials in this issue are either on their final or penultimate episodes. June must have been doing the same.

What is surprising is that Tammy is scheduled for another merger in two weeks – but she still hasn’t dropped the logo from her previous merger! Why is the Sandie logo still on the cover with only two weeks to another merger? Currently it cannot be confirmed whether or not Tammy dropped the Sandie logo the following week, 15 June 1974. If anyone can confirm, please leave a comment.

Another surprise is that The Strangest Stories Ever Told is not going to join Tammy for another two weeks, yet Tammy is already running complete mystery stories. These have no narrator, only text box dialogue that seems to be in lieu of one. The story, “Mrs Nimmo’s Ninth Life” is about a bullying, cold hearted dancer, Monica Fleming, who grows worse when she is cast as an evil witch (suits her all right) in a production. When Monica bullies a pedlar, Mrs Nimmo, she becomes plagued by a mysterious white cat, which ends in both of them being hurt, after which she is much nicer to Mrs Nimmo. The other dancers are spooked by hints that Mrs Nimmo and the white cat are one and the same.

The Molly story ends this week and we are promised another next week. But the Molly story in the merger issue is totally new, so what does Molly do in the issue in between? Is it a complete story or is there an error here?

“Ella on Easy Street”, which is fondly remembered by Pat Mills, is about Ella Rutt, who lied about her family to win sympathy and make things easy for herself. But her lies have led to a teacher being sacked and now she’s having conscience pangs. Ella makes the decision to confess to the headmistress. Now what action is the school going to take?

“Crystal Who Came in from the Cold”, “Make Your Mind up, Maggie” (which I know finished with a six-page spread the following issue) and “Common Cathy” are on their penultimate episodes.

Maggie Miller’s problem is not so much that she can’t make up her mind whether to pursue ballet or horse riding but that she is torn between keeping herself fit for ballet and keeping her beloved horse from being sold to cruel owners. And now Maggie has another problem – Nadia is going to get her expelled. No, not because Nadia is jealous. It’s because she mistakenly thinks it is horse riding Maggie wants. Oh, for God’s sake Nadia – mind your own business! Incidentally, this story was reprinted by popular demand in 1983.

Crystal is a girl from the Arctic who is cursed with the power to bring cold and ice with her. Now it’s got a witch-hunting mob after her. Plus there is a Snowman who wants Crystal to return to the Arctic. Will this be the course of action Crystal decides to take in the final episode?

Common Cathy is the John Armstrong story in Tammy before Bella takes over in the merger. Like Bella, Cathy Sampson wants to pursue a dream (athletics) but her horrible parents keep blocking her. In this case they do so by lies, deceit, and stealing the money for Cathy’s entrance fees from her coach Mrs Mirren. But in this episode they take an unbelievable step further – binding and gagging Cathy to prevent her from speaking to Mrs Mirren. Now that is a shocker! Despite being tied up, Cathy manages to discover her parents’ deceit. But the problem Cathy must surmount in the final episode is finding Mrs Mirren and explaining it to her. Not to mention how to sort out her nasty parents and be able to pursue her dream at last.

Wee Sue and Uncle Meanie, the regulars that came over from Sandie, will continue in the June merger and be Tammy offerings to former June readers.