Monday 10 January 2011

Yaffle and Flambo Revisited




Some time ago (30 August 2010 to be exact), I asked if anyone new the true identities of author Yaffle and illustrator Flambo. 

I`ve now had a reply via blogger  from someone using the name Weedking, to tell me that Yaffle was in fact Bernard Boothroyd , a columnist with the sinister-sounding New Leader 1929 - 33, later humour editor for Reynolds News and eventually editor of Peace News. Boothroyd was also apparently the man who discovered the cartoonist Giles.

According to Weedking, Flambo was "almost certainly" Montague Phillip Medoza aka Philip Mendoza aka Mendoza aka `Flam`, an illustrator often associated with pulp-fiction covers, but who actually engaged in a range of illustrative work. Mendoza had apparently illustrated Yaffle/Boothroyd`s New Leader column for a time, and also contributed full-page pieces to the same publication. 

For more on Mendoza, my informant recommends `Philip Mendoza (Montague Phillip Mendoza)` which was posted on Tues 6 March 2007 at http://bearalley.blogspot.com/ .

Weedking has no blog and has not provided me with a way to contact him/her, but I would like to use this chance to express my thanks for this information, and also to share it with others.

Much obliged, Weedking.





The three illustrations here are from Yaffle and Flambo`s Foiling the Reds ( Labour Research Department, 1926)  which you`ll find at 3553 in our listings. As you`ll see, in the top illustration a fiendish-looking individual has stolen a copy of the New Leader from three other characters, possibly lending credence to the suggestion that the artist was the New Leader`s Mendoza.

If considering buying this, please read our description carefully, including the condition details. Cheers.

P.S. Just out of curiosity, what was New Leader ? I`m vaguely aware of an American journal of that title, which began in the `20s and only ceased production a few years ago, but presumably Boothroyd/Mendoza were contributing to a UK publication of the same name ? If anyone knows, that would be interesting. I have an inquiring mind, as you can possibly tell.   

1 comment:

  1. The New Leader was the paper of the Independent Labour Party, founded originally by Keir Hardie.
    see
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labour_Leader

    ReplyDelete