'The Whiskers in Teleland' (1956).
Cyril Gwyn Price was a Welsh editorial cartoonist and comic artist, who also worked under the pen names Gwynne, Kim and Spike. He was a sports cartoonist for The Bristol Evening World (1932-1935) and briefly a political cartoonist in The Daily Graphic. In the 1930s, he was most notable as a children's comic artist in various magazines published by Amalgamated Press. After World War II, he drew various TV-themed comics for TV Comic and more straightforward children's comics for Playhour. His longest-running series was the funny animal comic 'The Whiskers' (1948-1952, 1956-1961). Price also drew the pantomime comic 'Harry' (1953) for The Daily Graphic.
'Montie the Monster' (1934).
Early life and graphic career
Cyril Gwyn Price was born in 1905 in Pontypridd, Glamorganshire. His father was a wood sawyer. At age 14, Price left school to work as a miner for a decade. When the pit closed, he and his family moved to Bristol, where he changed his career to become a cartoonist.
Editorial cartooning career
Between 1932 and 1935, Price was active as a sports cartoonist for the Bristol Evening World. After World War II, he would drew political cartoons for another newspaper, The Daily Graphic, using the pseudonym "Kim". After three of Price's cartoons had appeared in print, British cartoonist Kimon Evan Marengo - who used the pseudonym 'Kem' - sued The Daily Graphic. By 1948, the case was taken to the House of Lords, where the judge ruled in Marengo's favor that Price's pseudonym had "a reasonable possibility of misrepresentation." This ended Price's career as an editorial cartoonist, but, in a pyrrhic victory, also sounded death bells over Marengo's, since no British paper wanted to hire him again.
Comics in the Bristol Evening World
Price's earliest comics appeared in the Bristol Evening World. He drew 'Junior and Happy' and in 1934, inspired by the then-current news reports about the Loch Ness Monster, he launched a comic strip about this cryptozoological phenomenon, 'Montie the Monster' (1934).
Comics for Amalgamated Press
In 1934, Price joined the publishing company Amalgamated Press. For the remainder of the decade, he drew various humorous comics for their children's magazines, including for Illustrated Chips ('Private Potts', 1934), Comic Cuts ('Tomato Kahn' (1935), 'PC Penny' (1938-1944), 'Dizzy'(1939-1953), 'Big-Hearted Martha' (1939-1951), The Joker ('Bert and Daisy', 1937), Jolly Comic ('Al and his Pal', 1938) and Butterfly ('Spotsem and Getsem', 1939-1940). During World War II, Price's comics career was briefly interrupted due to paper shortage.
The Whiskers
After World War II, Price created his best-remembered comic strip, 'The Whiskers' (1948-1952) for The Daily Graphic. Published under the pseudonym "Gwynne", it featured the adventures of a group of forest animals, namely Whisk the squirrel, Hank the rabbit, Mr. Owl and Toddles the tortoise. Each episode was presented in a text comic format, with narration and dialogue appearing underneath the images. Between 1948 and 1952, stories were also made available in annual books. When the Daily Graphic was bought by a new newspaper owner in 1952 the paper changed its name to The Daily Sketch and 'The Whiskers' was removed from its pages. It found a new home in the magazine TV Comic for five years, where it ran under the title 'The Whiskers in TV Land' (1956), under his other pseudonym, "Spike".
Harry
In 1953, Price launched a new series in The Daily Graphic, titled 'Harry'. Harry is a dumb man with a triangle-shaped head whose antics are presented in pantomime comedy. Price also made large detailed cartoons called 'I.T. Antics' until 1957.
'Harry' (1953).
Other comics in TV Comic
Since TV Comic featured so many comics based on TV shows, Price couldn't stay behind. He made two comics about TV clown Coco (Nicolai Poliakoff) and Richard Hearne's comedy character Mr. Pastry. The latter even received a spin-off comic, 'Jane', revolving around Mr. Pastry's Scottish terrier. Under the pseudonym Spike, Price drew the gag comic 'T.V. Tim', about a little boy and his faithful spaniel Cathode. The gags begin with Tim seeing something on the television, after which he tries it out himself, ending in disaster. Price additionally made a series of beautiful cartoon animal illustrations in the tradition of Roy Wilson.
'T.V. Tim'.
Comics in Playhour
In 1959, Price joined Playhour, where he briefly drew a pantomime comic called 'Baby Brother', about a little boy and his dog. He had a brief TV series called 'Funnyways Farm' in 1963 in conjunction with Small Films (Oliver Postgate).
Price's final comic strip was 'Tricky Dicky' (1970-1973), a gag comic about a young boy who was rather lazy than tired. To avoid working he thought up seemingly clever plans, which eventually always fail. Price only drew the comic strip for less than a year, since he suddenly died. 'Tricky Dicky' was continued by other artists for another three years. 'Tricky Dicky' in Playhour should not be confused with the similarly titled gag comic by John Dallas which ran in The Topper in 1977.
Death
Cyril Gwyn Price's long career was abruptly ended when in 1970, he suddenly died from a heart attack in Bromley, Kent. He was 65 years old.
'I.T.A. Antics'.