Promoting Tommy Steele through 1950s UK Comics (Part 2 of 2) by Joan Ormrod
/Tommy as Magic Helper
Advert promoting the new series, “The New Tommy Steele Story.” Romeo #9, November 30th 1957, Page 15.
The fan could put herself in a fantasy scenario in the picture stories in which Tommy Steel appeared as himself. There are two significant tropes in these stories, Tommy as magic helper and the guitar as a magic object used to achieve a dream.
Tommy Steele’s “never told before” adventures in Romeo started 7th December, 1957 and continued until late 1958. The story banner proclaimed, “This is the Tommy as he really is, the Tommy few people know anything about” thereby inferring this is a secret between the comic and the Tommy Steele fan. In most of these stories Tommy acted as a magical helper able to elevate or enrich ordinary people through music and help people find true love.
One such story, “So Early in the Morning,” appeared in Romeo #40, May 31st, 1958. The story simultaneously showed Tommy as magic helper whilst promoting his latest film, The Duke Wore Jeans (1957).
While making The Duke Wore Jeans Tommy sets his alarm clock incorrectly and goes on set on Sunday only to find everything closed. However, there is a girl singing on the set. Tommy records her and plays the recording to the director. She is appointed to play in the film and she then becomes a singing star. This story appealed to the teenage girl’s desire not just for the star, but for recognition and fame.
Figure 7 ‘So Early in the Morning’. In the first panel the story promotes Tommy's new film. Romeo #40 May 31st, 1958, p.12.
Every fan's dream - that the star will recognise their talent, although here there is no hint of romance just stardom and fame. Romeo #40 May 31st, 1958. 'So Early in the Morning', p.13.
An example of Tommy’s ability to spin gold from little can be seen in “Ping Went the String of Tommy’s Guitar”, Romeo #19. Chorus girl, Maisie’s dress catches and breaks the ‘e’ string on Tommy’s guitar.[1] Desolate, she persuades Old Charlie, a busker outside the theatre, to donate his e string to Tommy. Charlie refuses Tommy’s money as reward and so Tommy busks outside the theatre with Charlie, earning a huge amount of money. This story reinforced Tommy’s affiliation with his working-class roots, his kindness and his talent.
The guitar as fetish object. ‘Ping Went the String’. Romeo 19, December 6th, 1957, p.7.
Dual promotion of Tommy's latest hit and his star image as a down to earth ordinary person but who can magically bestow favours. Romeo 19, December 6th, 1957, p.8.
Tommy and His Magic Guitar
The significance of the guitar is reflected the story of how he became a pop star in The Tommy Steele Story (1957). Tommy is introduced to the guitar when in hospital with a bad back. He is taught how to play a guitar and entrances hospital staff and patients with his abilities to entertain. When he leaves hospital, he visits a second-hand shop and buys a guitar which he takes around the world in his travels with the merchant navy. On his tour he picks up musical styles and creates rock ‘n’ roll. The guitar eventually becomes the means for him to achieve his dream to make his own unique music. The notion of the guitar as a means of achieving a fantasy or dream recurs in several stories.
A story told by Tommy occurs in Roxy in which the guitar was a significant feature of the narrative. The guitar, like that in his biopic, becomes the means for girls to achieve their less ambitious goals of love and marriage. This story was part of an ongoing series from the first issue to 1961 in which each week, a star told a story in which they helped a couple find love. In nearly all of these stories the inciting incident is shown in the first panel when the protagonist faces a dilemma. The star intervenes. There is often a romantic quarrel before the star helps to resolve the dispute.
In “Look What I’ve Won! Tommy Steele’s Guitar and Ten Guitar Lessons!” (Roxy 14, June 14th, 1958, pp.1-4) Trudy, “the shyest, quietest girl in town”, wins Tommy’s old guitar and has lessons with Dermott, a musician in a skiffle group. The second page of the story shows Trudy trudging through town, imagining everyone is laughing at her. She clutches the guitar which seems large and heavy in her arms (fig 12). Gradually her guitar teacher, Dermot, wins her confidence and love and he convinces her to play the guitar in front of an audience. Trudy buys a new dress, one that will draw instead of detracting attention from her (fig 13). Dermot tells her she is a natural born player and to believe in herself. (fig 14). “By now, so great was her love and faith in Dermot that if he’d told her to jump off the Blackpool Tower she’d have done it!” Trudy’s singing is a success. She forgets her stammer and shyness. The last panel delivers the coda, “If it hadn’t been for Tommy Steele’s old guitar all this would never have happened.” Tommy wraps the story up explaining how stammers can be cured through song.
Trudy, the shyest girl in town wins Tommy Steele’s guitar and finds romance. Roxy 11, May 24th, 1958
Roxy 11, May 24th, 1958, page 2.
Trudy turns to consumerism and fashion to solve her problems.
The stories usually end with the protagonist sending an update on their romance to the star. Tommy's guitar not only makes romance happen and cures Trudy's stammer.
There is a similar to a story in Roxy 1 (which I discussed in an article for The Journal of Girlhood Studies[2]) in which an equally shy girl is given a lucky guitar by Tommy, buys a dress and finds love.
Marilyn's Screen Test No. 1 - Spanish romance combines the glamour of a Spanish holiday with the holiday romance. The fan can interact and daydream about the star. Note too, the record promotes Tommy's new film, Tommy the Toreador (1959).
The fan was also hailed in the Marilyn Screen Test series in which pop stars acted out a scene of dialogue on a record that could be purchased for one shilling and nine pence. The Tommy Steele record was advertised in Marilyn, 26 September 1959, and the record ephemera proclaimed, "You star with Tommy Steele in Marilyn's Screen Test! Screen Test is a game you'll be thrilled by. YOU play a love scene with TOMMY STEELE." The record story, set in Spain, where “They go in for something called romance in a very big way,” promoted Tommy’s latest film, Tommy the Toreador (1959).
A girl goes on a Spanish holiday with a group of friends. Tommy, setting up the action, says, "In the gang you went with, was a boy you liked very much. I'll play the boy and you're the girl . . . It is moonlight . . . in the distance you can hear the sea washing the shore and somewhere a guitar is playing." The dialogue refers to the daydream.
Girl: ‘It’s just a dream.’
Boy: ‘No, love. You wake up from dreams.’
Boy: ‘We only need two things to make it perfect.’
Girl: ‘Such as?’ Boy: ‘Two orders of fish and chips.’
These stories and promotional elements of the comics in these early years of teenage culture and pop music continued a tradition that started with Hollywood promotion in the early twentieth century. These cross promotional tactics were used in exploitation of independent films in America and the UK in the 1950s. Film companies, comics publishers, radio and later television in the late 1950s early 1960s attempted to understand the phenomenon of rock ‘n’ roll and how it could be tamed and exploited. It was in their interests to downplay the sexual and violent dark side of rock ‘n’ roll, making these new stars less dangerous to parents. Although the stories and promotional materials surrounding Tommy Steele may appear naive and, at times, slightly comical, the promotional tactics pioneered later fan and industrial practices. They were precursors for fanfic, DIY culture of the 1960s onwards and star promotion. The British pop industry developed promotional tactics for stars that culminated in the mid-1960s UK pop invasion of America spearheaded by the Beatles.
ENDNOTES
[1] Romeo #40, 4th January, 1958, pp.7-8
[2] “Reading Production and Culture in UK Teen-Girl Comics 1955-60: Consumerism, Pop Stars and Lucky Guitars,” Journal of Girlhood Studies, 11(3) pp.18-33. https://www.berghahnjournals.com/abstract/journals/girlhood-studies/11/3/ghs110304.xml
Dr Joan Ormrod is a senior lecturer in the Department of Media at Manchester Metropolitan University. She specializes in teaching subcultures, comics, fantasy and girlhood. She has published widely on these topics and she has edited books on time travel, superheroes and adventure sports. Her monograph, Wonder Woman, the Female Body and Popular Culture will be published by Bloomsbury, February, 2020. Joan is the editor of Routledge’s Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics and she is on the organizing committee of the annual conference of Graphic Novels and Comics. She is currently researching girlhood and teenage comics in the UK 1955-1975.
The ‘Remembering UK Comics’ series is edited by William Proctor and Julia Round
