The best of St. Trinians

Back to school with the best of St. Trinians . . . 

'EUNICE! HOW MANY TIMES MUST I TELL YOU TAKE THE BAND OFF FIRST!'

LILLIPUT, APRIL 1951
(RONALD SEARLE, BACK TO THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE AND OTHER
UGLY MOMENTS, LONDON: MACDONALD, 1951, PAGE 50;
RONALD SEARLE, THE CURSE OF ST TRINIAN'S, LONDON:
PAVILION BOOKS, 1993, PAGE 49
EXHIBITED: 'THE ILLUSTRATORS. THE BRITISH ART OF ILLUSTRATION 1837-2015',
NOVEMBER 2015 - JANUARY 2016, NO 361)

  'Eunice, dear- aren't we rather muddling our patron saints?'

"And this is Rachel - our Head Girl"

"But Miss Merryweather, you said we could bring our pets back with us" 

"Cleaner's getting slack. Horsefall . . ."
(Lilliput 1952 Oct/Nov)

 "... and a pair of knuckledusters, and some scent, and a hammer ..."
(Lilliput 1951 6 Nov)

'Parents' Day'
(Lilliput NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1951, PAGE 39


 

Belles

Searle relaxes off-set with Sandra Alfred during the filming of 'The Belles of St. Trinian's' (1954)

Searle and his first wife Kaye Webb on the set of  'The Belles of St. Trinian's' (1954) with actress Joyce Grenfell.

Ronald sketches British starlet Sabrina on the set of 'Blue Murder at St. Trinians'. 'If you look at the CREDITS, you'd think Sabrina was the star : in the opening credits she was billed as "Guest Artiste" and in the end credits, she billed just after Alistair Sim. However, in spite of the film's publicity stills showing her in uniform, she never got out of bed (in in this case, gentlemen, that is not a good thing.) And she never said a word. Featuring as the school swot, she lounges with a good book as a JEWEL THIEF and several policemen revolve around her. It's unfortunate that the plot did not do the same.' - Nylon.net

Searle with actress Lisa Gastoni

Lilliput pt.1

Lilliput magazine was a popular, pocket sized magazine of the 1940s-50s. Searle's work for the magazine fell into two styles; the broad cartoons of St. Trinians and the Patrick Campbell series; and more naturalistic illustrations accompanying short stories.

'Life in the Studio' 1946

These two studies are in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.

Two sketches for 'Artist & Model' a cartoon for Lilliput magazine. Searle thoroughly explored the composition and forms of his figures before working up the final drawing. It looks like the first one was almost final then abandoned?

The same here: a study and a more worked up final but I'm not aware of them seeing publication in Lilliput.

October 1946

'"GIRLS, GIRLS! - A LITTLE LESS NOISE, PLEASE"' Lilliput, October 1946.
 Hurrah for St. Trinian's, London, 1948. 

January 1947 

'Cave!'
Lilliput, January 1947.

Hurrah for St. Trinian's, London, 1948, p. 57. 

March 1947

'The Place Where it Happened'

A Report by Honor Tracy

Lilliput magazine May 1949

'The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag'

A Short Story byJim Corbett

Lilliput magazine April-May 1951

'All Correct, Sir

A Short Story by Bill Naughton

Lilliput magazine May-June 1951

'Maisie was a Lady

A Short Story by Paul Vincent Carroll

Lilliput magazine June-July 1951

'Honesty's A Jewel'

A Short Story by Roderick Milton

Lilliput magazine Nov-Dec 1951

Searle only illustrated two covers for the magazine as far as I know.

Many of Searle's contemporaries worked for the magazine too; James Fitton, Anton, Walter Trier, Gerald Hoffnung et al. and it was well known as a compendium of the best of British illustration in the 1950s. Even the Disney animators were familiar with it and an hommage found its way into 'One Hundred & One Dalmations' (1961), perhaps a tacit admission from a film which stylized its art direction directly after Searle's work.

Searle's artwork was so ubiquitous during this era that even in an issue absent of Searle's editorial illustrations there would still be advertisements illustrated by him.

See my Lilliput blog for more. . .

The Wildcats of St.Trinians

Ronald Searle tried to distance himself from the film adaptations of his St. Trinians, but remained appreciative for the extra income it brought. The last two films made by the modern incarnation of Ealing Films saw Searle benefit with a hefty check that kept him in champagne he said!

'The Wildcats of St. Trinians' was released in 1979 and even then bore little resemblance to Searle's creation, geared towards kids and Dads as Frank 'one take' Launder admits in the video below.   Searle isn't mentioned once either, perhaps thankfully?

I think everyone may have been doing this for the money, including the aging Launder and some of Britain's best known actors of the era. Searle agreed to do the poster art but it looks like it was massacred by an art director with other ideas.

Searle himself appeares in The Belles of St. Trinian's (1954) as a visiting parent

Private Collections

Brian Sibley blogs about buying his original Searle here.

While in Los Angeles in November for the CTN-X conference I had the opportunity to see some originals in the collections of animation friends.  Disney animator Andreas Deja has several choice morsels:

Cover art for the eponymous Edwin Carp

"Yes, but have you seen the NEW Strand Magazine?"

Lucille Ball from TV guide, April 30th 1966

'Palm Springs' from HOLIDAY magazine, February 1965

Disney director John Musker owns this beauty

Cartoon Brew editor Amid Amidi is in possession of this beautiful cover illustration for the Big City




Uli Meyer in London just started his collection of Searle originals with this beauty.



Jesús Sánchez gave me a link to a gallery of his Searle originals. (If there is anybody else out there who would like to contribute photos, scans or any Searle related material please email me at the address in my Blogger profile.)


'Sorry Madam, no smoking in the museum' 1955

The above is a refined version of a gag Searle made over ten years earlier in 1944, below.




'My Life In Scotland Yard' Illustrated article by S.J.Perelman, HOLIDAY magazine, 1968
Pen & brush & ink, wash & purple watercolour.



New Yorker cover, 1994-unpublished. Pen & ink, watercolour, coloured pencil.



'Women'



'Workaholic'





Anonymous sent more shots of his collection of Searle originals. This is a beautiful example from Searle's Paris Sketchbook of Pere Lachaise cemetary.

Montmartre Cemetery 26 April 1961 -'Punch magazine approx 22cm wide x 29cm high (8 1/2 inch x 11 1/4 inch) A4



O.G. sent in this great scan of an early Searle in his collection, 'drawn with brown ink enhanced with blue crayon.'



Pete W. has sent me much better quality shots of his collection of Searle originals. He's included close-ups revealing details of the drawings displaying the subtlety of Searle's penwork.


This drawing also appeared in the book, "!The St. Trinians Story" without the finer rendering.

R. Wiener found the following at a Massachusetts book auction:

Lucille Ball cover Artwork for the I Love Lucy  TV guide, April 30th 1966

 New York World's Fair HOLIDAY magazine 1964

Can anyone identify where this was published?

A contributor who wishes to remain anonymous has sent me these photos of his collection of Searle originals. The first I believe is thus far unpublished.








This one was never published like this, although another version became a postcard.