The Back-Page Boys

'Playbox has gone and only a few weeks ago Rainbow breathed its last, and now Tiger Tim and the Bruin Boys, who first appeared in 1914 and still arouse nostalgic memories, have been banished to the back page of Tiny Tots,' says the Schoolmaster. Competitors were invited to compose a lament of not more than twelve lines of verse inspired by this information.

THE entries for this competition sorted their respective authors out pretty obviously into generations: pre-Mrs. Hippo, con- temporary, post, and a fourth batch who frankly owned their ignorance. The sub- ject, I suspect, failed to arouse strong emo- tion in many breasts, and competitors fell back on either parody or comparison with present-day comics.

In their benign zoology The tiger loved not blood, but tuck, And only jam was red, and stuck.

wrote Martin Jordan, who also supplied the surprising information that Mrs. Hippo had a wireless set,.though he admits that 'con- cessions to modernity . . . were few?. My own memory goes back to the occasion when Tiger Tim and his friends were honoured with a visit from no less a person than His Majesty King George V ('Mercy!' screamed Jacko) and I had hoped for other nostalgic recollections. It was this lack of corroborative detail that made so many lamentations bald and unconvincing. Veri- similitude, artistic or otherwise, was sadly lacking. J. A. Lindon, with his 'ever-smiling' Tiger and 'compliant purple-painted Jumbo' was one of the few exceptions, and this, combined with a well-sustained Whitman style puts him in the prize-winning trio, who receive two guineas each. The other two are Granville Garley (for his clever Skeltonian skit) and G. J. Blundell (chiefly for his fourth line). Had Martin Jordan's third verse been as good as his first two, he would also have qualified. Runners-up were R. A. McKenzie, Katy, R. Kennard Davis, W. K. Holmes, J. M. Andrews, H. A. C. Evans and J. H. Burns. I am also indebted to Nancy Gunter and R. D. P. White for supplying the idea for the title. PRIZES

(J. A. LINDON)

O Tiger Tim! 0 Bruin Boys! 0 long-lost playmates!

O kindergarten camerados, menagerie odd- ments, showmen on the way out, Living precariously on in memory, in modest circumstances, Suffering exiled monarchy in forgotten back- page flats of. Tiny Tottenham, I greet you, I raise the hand to you, scorning to be downcast!

Salutaciones, 0 Tim, my Tiger, 0 ever-smiling transversely striped amigo!

O Jumbo, 0 cheery-plump compliant purple- painted Jumbo! 0 Jacko, hand-footed simian! 0 Fido Dog ! O Parrot Joey (if you were); 0 ?? Bear; 0 Ostrich and Giraffe of vanished names, I greet you! For myself, for my great country. for a generation of comic-lovers I salute you, passing, as one has-been to another, refusing to weep,

0 my Tiger Tim, my Tiger, my Tiger Tim! What good if I cried for you, 0 Tim, my Tiger, my Tiger!

(GRANVILLE GARLEY)

AGAINST THE RAINBOWE'S CLOSING (A Skeltonian Lament)

Alas, it will me slo That Tiger Tim is gone me fro!

Placebo!

Georgie, Jumbo.

Speke parrot, speke Joey Heu, heu—I know he Is deader than Dido, With Bobby and Fido And Willie and Jacko, Alack, alacko. That Bruin Boys preserved be Amen, amen, say ye with me!

(G. J. BLUNDELL)

They shone like Rainbows in our childhoo, sky The comics, bold of caption, bright of hu,. Hung in grimed windows to attract the Folded to give a tempting semi-view.

Spending our pence, we dug up crocks of gol The grey world vanished in a splendid bla Our minds aglow, we bade each page lid°, Some shining pleasure to our raptured gal' Now, even Tiger Tim the bold and gay Is relegated to a mere back column;

And, with that old friend, Playbox, passed

away, How dim the world is, and how drab solemn !

'COMMENDED

(R. A. MCKENZIE)

Tiger Tim, come, tell me true, What may a Nobleman find to do Now the only reading that suits his brain Has gone to gurgledom down the drain? His weekly comics he can't forget

(He's sick and tired of that demned Debrett}' When he's shot his pheasant, and slain his f0,5.' And gaffed his salmon, and changed his soc0. And draws to the fire and wants a thrill, ,„7 Must he stodge on Silverman's beastly IN" Tiger, Tiger, his lire burns bright,

But what'll he read on comics night?