''Mary Plain'' is a fictional bear character in British children's literature who figures in a series of novels based on her adventures. The character was created by the Welsh author Gwynedd Rae and first appeared in the book ''Mostly Mary'' in 1930. The last original book, ''Mary Plain's Whodunnit'', was published in 1965. The books were reissued as paperbacks in the 1970s, and new editions of ''Mostly Mary'' and ''All Mary'' were published in the 1990s. In 2017, further editions of four of the books were issued by

Egmont Egmont may refer to: * Egmont Group, a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark * Egmond family (often spelled "Egmont"), an influential Dutch family, lords of the town of Egmond ** Lamoral, Count of Egmont (1522–1568), the bes ...

Characters and story

Mary Plain and her bear family feature in the stories, but the main characters are Mary and her human friend, the Owl Man. (The name refers to his spectacles.) He is kind and indulgent to Mary. He often takes her on outings. Mary and her friends can speak, but although anthropomorphic in that respect and in other aspects of their behaviour, the author is careful to point out that she is not a

teddy bear A teddy bear is a stuffed toy in the form of a bear. Developed apparently simultaneously by toymakers Morris Michtom in the U.S. and Richard Steiff under his aunt Margarete Steiff's company in Germany in the early 20th century, the teddy b ...

. Similarly, although Mary learns to write (in

rebus A rebus () is a puzzle device that combines the use of illustrated pictures with individual letters to depict words or phrases. For example: the word "been" might be depicted by a rebus showing an illustrated bumblebee next to a plus sign (+ ...

es) she does not wear clothes. Mary and her family live in the Bear Pits at

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

, in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. Mary's behaviour is much like that of a small child, with the Owl Man acting as a surrogate parent, guiding her through life and helping her out of trouble.

Style

The books are written in chapter form, with illustrations throughout and on the cover (front cover on original editions, front and back on paperback editions). The cover illustrations were updated in the 1970s and the references in some books were updated to change the currency to decimal coinage and to feature a ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Te ...

'' presenter

John Noakes John Noakes (born John Wallace Bottomley; 6 March 1934 – 28 May 2017) was an English television presenter and former actor. He co-presented the BBC children's magazine programme ''Blue Peter'' in the 1960s and 1970s and was the show's longes ...

instead of the older

Uncle Mac Derek Ivor Breashur McCulloch OBE (18 November 1897 – 1 June 1967) was a BBC Radio producer and presenter. He became known as "Uncle Mac" on ''Children's Hour'' and ''Children's Favourites'' and provided the voice of "Larry the Lamb" in ''Toy ...

from ''

Children's Hour ''Children's Hour'', initially ''The Children's Hour'', was the BBC's principal recreational service for children (as distinct from "Broadcasts to Schools") which began during the period when radio was the only medium of broadcasting. ''Childr ...

''.

Illustrators

The original illustrator for ''Mostly Mary'' and ''All Mary'' was Harry Rountree. From the third book onward, and in subsequent editions of the first two books, the illustrations were by Irene Williamson. New illustrations by Janina Ede were commissioned for the Knight Books reprints in the late 1960s and 1970s; the Egmont Press editions have illustrations by Clara Vulliamy.

Radio and television adaptations

Mary Plain stories were read on the BBC Radio ''

'' in the 1930s and have featured on the long-running BBC Television series '' Jackanory'' in 1969 with actor

Richard Wattis Richard Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffordshire, the ...

reading the books.

Books

*1930: ''Mostly Mary'' *1931: ''All Mary'' *1935: ''Mary Plain in Town'' *1937: ''Mary Plain on Holiday'' *1940: ''Mary Plain in Trouble'' *1942: ''Mary Plain in War-Time'' *1944: ''Mary Plain's Big Adventure'' *1949: ''Mary Plain Home Again'' *1950: ''Mary Plain to the Rescue'' *1952: ''Mary Plain and the Twins'' *1954: ''Mary Plain Goes Bob-a-Jobbing'' *1957: ''Mary Plain Goes to America'' *1961: ''Mary Plain, V.I.P.'' *1965: ''Mary Plain's "Whodunit"''

References

External links

Mary Plain stories online at Google Books
{{Portal , Children's literature British children's novels Series of children's books Children's novels about animals Books about bears Fictional anthropomorphic characters