Rupert

[Evans Electric]

Is Rupert Bear white or brown ? Someone reckons that an annual with him as one colour is very rare and worth loadsamoney . Which is the rare colour ?

Deke

 

[Robojin]

Is Rupert Bear white or brown ? Someone reckons that an annual with him as one colour is very rare and worth loadsamoney . Which is the rare colour ?Deke

White!

 

[Evans Electric]

Right thanks, was that due to printing ink restictions during WW11 ?

Deke

 

[Apache]

Right thanks, was that due to printing ink restictions during WW11 ?Deke

But you don't need to print white - that's the colour of the paper?

 

[Badger]

But you don't need to print white - that's the colour of the paper?

not if the paper is yellow or red :^O :^O :^O

 

[kme]

A lady called Mary Tourtel was the creator of Rupert, and her first cartoon strip appeared in the Daily Express on the 8th November 1920. The little bear, in many ways similar to today's character though a bit more 'bear-like', and with baggier trousers, was shown setting out to the shops in the village of Nutwood. The caption was in verse.

Mary designed many of Rupert's chums, too, including Bill Badger, Podgy Pig and Edward Trunk and dreamt up the strange, almost surreal world of Nutwood which featured people in medieval dress wandering amongst a mix of incongruities such as clothed animals (who often kept unclothed animals as pets), 'normal' humans, and weird scientific inventions. Mary was fond of using magic to whisk her bear hero away from trouble; her successor, the much-respected Alfred Bestall who took over in 1935, relied on proper twists in the plot. He also introduced a host of new characters, such as Pong-Ping, Bingo Pup, the Professor, Merboy and Tigerlily.

Alfred drew the stories up till 1965, and his last adventure was 'Rupert and the Winkybickies', though he continued to work on the annuals. In 1973, he was upset when a white Rupert was featured on the cover, rather than the traditional brown. Alfred had planned his beautiful painting around a brown bear, and felt there was no contrast between the white Rupert and the pale sky behind him. He was also aware that, artistically, there should have been a shadow on Rupert's face. To appease the artist, a handful of annuals from that year were printed with a brown Rupert, and today, to discover a 1973 annual with a brown-faced Rupert is a collector's dream.

Does that answer the question???