Sunday 13 April 2008

From Jim Petrie

Hi Peter , Just an Update as Radio 4 is broadcasting prog-Comic reunion 20th at 11,15 am. Its a chatty history past &present . My comment "Minnie kept me in porridge all those years!" may be in. Should have added WATERY porr.!!Comments re D Dan are hilarious.Of course Dave Torrie ex Dandy ED is a seasoned story teller and a mine of info re Office & characters. Best wishes Jim


On a side note I was to be on the show interviewed as well as a comic fan.
But it got cancelled 3 times due to someone else cancelling in London. I was just too far away for the interviewer to come to my own home being from Surrey Guildford the interviewer from the Midlands.......so bit annoyed and disappointed.. :( ..... :D anyway should be a good program to listen too.
Peter Gray



More emails from Jim...
Brings back memories.Craig Ferguson & myself were chuckling over Fatty F last month-Craig wrote the scripts for the FF feature as well as Minnie -all 1st class works Catch up with u later Best wishes Jim

The website I did on Jim Petrie comic work...Minnie the minx...The Sparky People...etc..
http://uk.geocities.com/pjgjimpertie/

I though those stories were very clever...so now we know who the writers was...loved Minnie for the topical references...tv...in the news...craze..etc
and good movie spoofs... Peter Gray




Another email from Jim Petrie

Hello Peter, I had forgotten some of the characters U showed on the JP site.!! Just getting acquainted again. Thank U ,Peter.I dont have a Comp but I use the Council ones now & again. 2 Russian women told me that I had been spotted on Google-they are Scientists at the Uni.so here I am.

I saw Gordon Cook on the Sparky site-must add a comment there.T-lady was to be 2pages but no page rate increase so I kept to 1page-wasnt sure of how much mileage in T-lady too! The Creative Scriptwriters arent recognised for their 1st class work. R.D. Low ,Managing Ed. spoke of the Creative teams in DCT and how 1/3 of the pages could carry the Comic, He wasnt keen on artists meeting others. John Geering wanted to meet everyone when he started here-official line was Dont mix writers and artists.It didnt work !!
Best wishes Jim

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He seems to be saying that an artist with one style couldn't do more pages in the comic....though as said before David Sutherland did because he had different styles.
Peter Gray

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These comments are also found at comicsuk forum.
http://www.comicsuk.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=127&t=1673

Kashgar
I've mentioned this 'page restriction' rule before in relation to adventure strips in the Thomson tabloid comics where, for example, if a new strip was appearing drawn by, say, Ken Hunter and the editor wanted to reprint an old strip that happened to be drawn by the same artist, he would be forced to have the old strip redrawn by another artist in order to conform to the rule.




Hello Peter, Pas son any comments I send U, I just use the facilities at the Uni. Methinks RD Low would be speaking about the popular characters making the Comic 1st class and if they had 1/3 of the pages the 2/3 would be supporting. Wasnt about artists. the readers polls would give a lead and they could change as we know!! I preferred a simple script to draw from and I drew Minnie up to her usual japes .All the writers were on the ball . they turned out marvellous ideas. "We start with blank pages every week" RD s comment.Must leave youa as this is Life Drawing evening- group of fellow artists with Dundee Art Society for practice & improvements. Yours JIM

Anyone got any questions for Jim let me know!
Nice he is still drawing...Peter Gray

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Craig has emailled me see his message at the website..

Thanks Craig..made my day

He is also willing to answer any questions....as a writer for Minnie...please let me know and I can email him.

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Jim's retirement on the BBC news
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1106186.stm

3 comments:

Matthew said...

In my quest to put names to the artwork of the great cartoonists of my childhood I had to look up the Minnie the Minx artist. He was always my favourite during my time reading The Beano from the late seventies onwards. Now I know it was Jim Petrie!

His double page spreads for Mini really couldn't be mistaken for any other artist's work (likewise his Sparky work). I remember the great energetic character poses, grotesque but hilarious facial expressions, Chester the Cat always there in the detail, Minnie's expressive and elastic beret, the huge, swooping whizz lines circled by clouds of dust, all of which added up to (and very importantly) very funny, appealing drawings in their own right.

My favourite Mini strip was one I recall from the early eighties but haven't seen since. It was a very clever idea in which Mini was strolling past the Beano Office when the script for that week's story blew out of the window and into her possession. From there on she knew who was lurking around every corner for the next two pages, much to the bewilderment of her thwarted ambushers. Anyone remember it?

Great to see that Jim is well and enjoying painting. If he ever reads this I'd like to wish him well and thank him for all the fun.

Thanks to you too, Peter!

jim petrie said...

Hi Peter, Just finished Fatty Fudge script no.73-- Cleaned up the inkwork this morning and ready to hand in to the Beano on monday. Took a while to get the flow going again as i havnt been drawing pages for a long while Back to the paint now. Always enjoy your comments on Minnie!! Best wishes Jim Petrie

Peter Gray said...

Hi Jim..can't wait to see it..wonder what the parody is?

You've probably seen my animal art paintings opn this blog.what do you paint do you have any examples up online for us to see.would be interested..
My dad was also an artist and did oil paintings..