Teddy Tail was a British newspaper comic strip about a cartoon
mouse featured in ''
The Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publishe ...
'' from 5 April 1915. It was the first ''daily''
cartoon strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st c ...
in a British newspaper (being also the first to use speech balloon rather than captions),
The character survived until the 1960s with several artists drawing newspaper strips and the varied annuals. Such was his popularity that other newspapers created their own cartoon characters, the
Daily Express with ''
Rupert Bear
Rupert Bear is a British children's comic strip character and franchise created by artist Mary Tourtel and first appearing in the ''Daily Express'' newspaper on 8 November 1920. Rupert's initial purpose was to win sales from the rival ''D ...
'' and the Daily Mirror with ''
Pip, Squeak and Wilfred
''Pip, Squeak and Wilfred'' was a British strip cartoon published in the ''Daily Mirror'' from 1919 to 1956 (with a break c. 1940–1950), as well as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' in the early years. It was conceived by Bertram Lamb, who took the role ...
''.
The Folkard era
The first variant of Teddy Tail was drawn by
Charles Folkard (1878–1963) who wrote and illustrated Teddy Tail from 1915 until 1926. Teddy Tail is always seen with a knot in his tail. Only from reading his first 1915 published Annual ''The Adventures of Teddy Tail of The Daily Mail'' do you see his tail is knotted purposely to help his friend Dr. Beetle (a quack) escape from a hole he had fallen into. As quoted from the first book:
"''Then a dreadful thing happened. We couldn't get the knot undone. I don't think much of Dr. Beetle as a Doctor. He oiled and patted it, but it was no good. My beauty has gone for ever.''"
Teddy Tail continued with several stories based on Children's
Nursery Rhymes
A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes.
From t ...
and historical events as well as fairy tales that were popular at the time. There were several annuals or books printed in the years before his 1933 revival, which were reprinted from the Daily Mail cartoon strips. The story that followed between the first published book and the second was never republished, only the 84 remaining newspaper cartoon strip clippings show the story between running from the Cat at the end of the first book and meeting the Noah's at the start of the 'In Nursery Rhyme Land' book.
''The Looking Glass Annual'' also published a Teddy Tail story. This featured the Folkard drawings and story text adapted from the newspaper strips. This is the only appearance of Teddy Tail in another annual. This was a lesser-known children's annual from c1924-26 that featured a glass mirror inset into the front cover and was published by Middleton Publications, London. The Teddy Tail story appears in the last one from c. 1926 in the 'boy with a monocle' cover edition. Folkard left the paper soon after, and the strip concluded its first incarnation.
The Foxwell era
In April 1933 Teddy Tail was revived by the ''Daily Mail'', with new drawings by
Herbert Sydney Foxwell (1890–1943) who was already known as a cartoon illustrator having drawn ''
Tiger Tim'' since the mid-1920s for the
Amalgamated Press
The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the ...
, later known as
Fleetway
Fleetway Publications was a magazine publishing company based in London. It was founded in 1959 when the Mirror Group acquired the Amalgamated Press, then based at Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London. It was one of the companies that merg ...
. Tiger Tim had been part of the ''Bruin Boys'' since the early 1900s and featured in the ''Playbox'' annual since 1910 as well as his own annual since 1922. This second incarnation of Teddy Tail drew him as a schoolboy aged character and was aimed more at younger readers. He was part of a family group that lived in the village of Whiskertown including the 'Whisker Pets' which were looked after by Mrs Whisker, an adult mouse. Piggy the pig, Kitty Puss the cat and Dougie the duck.
Teddy Tail
annuals were issued from 1933 to 1940. Merchandising, following similar successes with
Mickey Mouse were popular, such items as small toys, cut-outs, jigsaws and Teddy Tail biscuits were made.
The 'Teddy Tail League' was started also in 1933, which involved members receiving enamel badges, birthday cards and free advice on Pets or Hobbies, similar to the
Pip, Squeak and Wilfred
''Pip, Squeak and Wilfred'' was a British strip cartoon published in the ''Daily Mirror'' from 1919 to 1956 (with a break c. 1940–1950), as well as the ''Sunday Pictorial'' in the early years. It was conceived by Bertram Lamb, who took the role ...
and
Bobby Bear clubs. Special events and public activities were announced in the Daily Mail. In the 1936 Annual, mention is made of "750,000 members". You had to collect six 'seals' from the Daily Mail newspaper to enrol and get the badge and Membership rules card and learn of Teddy Tail's 'secret sign'. You could add 12 more 'seals' to get the Sports Badge according to the 1934 annual.
Foxwell died whilst on service in 1943, bringing an end to the series until 1949.
Later revivals
In 1949, Teddy Tail was revived with illustrators Arthur ‘Spot’ Potts,
Tony Hawes (1929–1997) and
William St. John Glenn (1904–1974) drawing him. This time he was very anthropomorphised being now a skinny human type character in the vein of
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny is an animated cartoon character created in the late 1930s by Warner Bros. Cartoons, Leon Schlesinger Productions (later Warner Bros. Cartoons) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his starring role ...
and the redesigned
Mickey Mouse, but still generally similar to the Foxwell creation. The annuals were issued from 1949 to c.1962.
Annuals
There were several undated annuals featuring the first version of Teddy Tail. These follow an order as proved by the story continuity and those as shown in adverts in the back of the later prints of the books. They are as shown below in the order of issuing.
References
;Notes
{{reflist, 2
;Sources
* The Adventures of Teddy Tail of the Daily Mail, 1915, A&C Black, London
* Teddy Tail of the Daily Mail: The New Adventures of Mr. Mouse, 1915, newspaper clippings in a homemade book
* Teddy Tail of the Daily Mail: In Nursery Rhyme Land, 1915, A&C Black, London
* Teddy Tail of the Daily Mail: In Fairyland, 1916, A&C Black, London
* Teddy Tail of the Daily Mail: At The Seaside, c1916, A&C Black, London
* Teddy Tail's Fairy Tale, c1916, A&C Black, London
* Teddy Tail of the Daily Mail: In Historyland, 1917, A&C Black, London
* Teddy Tail of the Daily Mail: In Babyland, 1918, A&C Black, London (a story states returning from the War)
* Teddy Tail In Toyland, c1918-19, A&C Black, London
* Teddy Tail's Alphabet, c1919-20, A&C Black, London
* A reissue combining Teddy Tail's Fairy Tale and Babyland into one smaller volume, c1922, A&C Black, London
* Looking Glass Annual, c1926, Middleton Publications, London
* Teddy Tail's Annual dated 1934-1941 (published 1933 to 1940), Daily Mail Publications/Associated Newspapers/ William Collins
* Teddy Tail's Annual undated 1949 to c1962, Daily Mail publications.
British comic strips
1915 comics debuts
1962 comics endings
Tail, Teddy
Comics about animals
Comics about mice and rats
Tail, Teddy
Works originally published in the Daily Mail
Tail, Teddy
Tail, Teddy
Tail, Teddy