View source for Film Fun

{{Short description|British celebrity comic book (1920-1962)}}
{{for|the Canadian children's television miniseries|Film Fun (TV series)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{italic title}}
{{more citations needed|date=December 2011}}
{{Infobox comic book title
<!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->

| image               = "Film_Fun"_British_comic.jpg
| imagesize           = 
| caption             = Film Fun annual 1947
| schedule            = Weekly
| format              = 
| limited             = 
| ongoing             = 
| 1shot               = 
| Adventure           = Y
| Humor               = Y
| multigenre          = 
| publisher           = [[Amalgamated Press]]<br />[[Fleetway Publications]]
| date                = 
| startmo             = 17 January
| startyr             = 1920
| endmo               = 15 September
| endyr               = 1962
| issues              = 2,225
| main_char_team      = 
| issn                =
| writers             = 
| artists             = 
| pencillers          = 
| inkers              = 
| letterers           = 
| colorists           = 
| editors             = Frederick George Cordwell ("Eddie the Happy Editor")
| creative_team_month = 
| creative_team_year  = 
| creators            = 
| TPB                 = 
| ISBN                = 
| subcat              = 
| altcat              = 
| sort                = 
| nonUS               = y
}}
'''''Film Fun''''' was a British [[celebrity comics]] [[comic book]] that ran from (issues dates) 17 January 1920 to 15 September 1962, when it merged with ''[[Buster (comic)|Buster]]'', a total of 2,225 issues. There were also annuals in the forties and fifties. As the title suggests, the comic mainly featured [[comic strip]] versions of popular actors from [[film]]s.<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Mark |last=Voger |date=March 2023 |title=Send in the Clowns: Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis in the DC Universe |url=https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_152&products_id=1678&zenid=2hgu5onnn6uguc8o85oh8pf7q6 |magazine=RetroFan |publisher=[[TwoMorrows Publishing]] |location=United States |issue=25 |page=34}}</ref>

== Publication history ==
''Film Fun'' was launched by [[Amalgamated Press]] (they would later release similar titles like ''[[Radio Fun]]'', ''Sports Fun'', and ''[[TV Fun]]''). Pre-[[World War II|war]] circulation at its peak was around 800,000 copies per week.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.comicpriceguide.co.uk/uk_comic.php?tc=filmfun |title=The Comic Book Price Guide For Great Britain - FILM FUN |publisher=Comicpriceguide.co.uk |access-date=2014-03-03}}</ref>

The title was renamed ''Film Fun and Thrills'' in 1959 (when Amalgamated Press was bought by the Mirror Group; later known as [[International Publishing Company|IPC]]). In 1962, sales of ''Film Fun'' dropped below 125,000 a week, prompting IPC to merge the comic with ''[[Buster (comics)|Buster]]''.

===Mergers===
''[[Picture Fun]]'' merged with ''Film Fun'' soon after its launch in 1920, followed by ''[[Kinema Comic]]'' in 1932, ''[[Film Picture Stories]]'' in 1935, ''[[Illustrated Chips]]'' in 1953, and ''[[Top Spot (comics)|Top Spot]]'' in 1960.<ref>{{cite web|author=Lew Stringer |url=https://lewstringer.blogspot.com/2011/01/top-spot-clint-of-1958.html |title=Blimey! It's another blog about comics!: Top Spot - The 'Clint' of 1958? |publisher=Lewstringer.blogspot.com |date=2011-01-30 |access-date=2014-03-03}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dandare.info/history/TopSpot-notes.htm |title=Loading |publisher=Dandare.info |access-date=2014-03-03 |archive-date=15 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415081110/http://www.dandare.info/history/TopSpot-notes.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Eddie the Happy Editor==
[[Frederick George Cordwell]] was better known to ''Film Fun'' fans as "Eddie the Happy Editor." Cordwell edited the comic until his death in 1949, aged 62 in [[Richmond, Surrey]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} Cordwell wrote many scripts for the strips as well as text stories for ''Film Fun''. He introduced the idea of characters receiving huge plates of [[bangers and mash]], giant [[Christmas pudding]]s, and pies and such from grateful beneficiaries of their efforts. Cordwell even made it into the stories himself, "meeting" [[Laurel and Hardy]] a number of times, [[Joe E. Brown]], [[Wheeler and Woolsey]] and other characters.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

==Content==
The cover of the first edition featured [[Harold Lloyd]] but named as "Winkle", the screen name by which he was known in Britain at the time. Apart from [[Laurel and Hardy]], ''Film Fun'' used to feature many film and stage comedians of that era like [[Charlie Chaplin]],<ref name="lambiek.net">{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/w/wakefield_t.htm|title=Terence Wakefield}}</ref> [[Abbott and Costello]],<ref name="lambiek.net1">{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/w/ward_norman.htm|title=Norman Yendell Ward}}</ref><ref name="lambiek.net2">{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/bell_walter.htm|title=Walter Bell}}</ref> [[Buster Keaton]], [[Ben Turpin]],<ref name="lambiek.net3">{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/w/wakefield_gw.htm|title=George William Wakefield}}</ref> [[Jackie Coogan]], [[Fatty Arbuckle]],<ref name="lambiek.net3"/> [[Joe E. Brown]],<ref name="lambiek.net3"/> [[George Formby]],<ref name="lambiek.net3"/> [[Wheeler & Woolsey]],<ref name="lambiek.net3"/> [[Max Miller (comedian)|Max Miller]],<ref name="lambiek.net3"/> [[Lupino Lane]],<ref name="lambiek.net3"/> [[Red Skelton]],<ref name="lambiek.net"/> [[Harold Lloyd]] (named ''Winkle'' in those days),<ref name="lambiek.net4">{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/r/radford_tom.htm|title=Tom Radford}}</ref> [[W. C. Fields]], [[Terry-Thomas]],<ref name="lambiek.net"/> [[Sid Field]], [[Frank Randle]], [[Morecambe and Wise]],<ref name="lambiek.net5">{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/w/wilson_roy.htm|title=Roy Wilson}}</ref> [[James Cagney]],<ref name="lambiek.net6">{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/w/walker_jos.htm|title=Jos Walker}}</ref> [[Tony Hancock]], [[Sid James]], [[The Goon Show]], [[Frankie Howerd]], [[Tommy Cooper]],<ref name="lambiek.net7">{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/p/pease_charlie.htm|title=Charlie Pease}}</ref> [[Martin and Lewis]],  [[Arthur Lucan]] (in his drag role as Old Mother Riley) and [[Bruce Forsyth]]. There would also be serialised cowboy films featuring stars like [[Roy Rogers]] and [[Gene Autry]]. There were also detective stories featuring a fictional detective named Jack Keen.

==Contributing artists==
* Walter Bell<ref name="lambiek.net2"/>
* [[Bertie Brown]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/brown-bertie.htm|title=Bertie Brown}}</ref>
* [[Freddie Crompton]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/c/crompton_freddie.htm|title=Freddie Crompton}}</ref>
* Fred Holmes<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/h/holmes_fred.htm|title=Fred Holmes}}</ref>
* [[Albert Pease]]<ref name="lambiek.net7"/>
* Tom Radford<ref name="lambiek.net4"/>
* Eric Roberts<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/r/roberts_eric.htm|title=Eric Roberts}}</ref>
* [[George William Wakefield]]<ref name="lambiek.net3"/>
* [[Terence Wakefield]]<ref name="lambiek.net"/>
* Jos "Josiah" Walker<ref name="lambiek.net6"/>
* Norman Yendell Ward<ref name="lambiek.net1"/>
* Roy Wilson<ref name="lambiek.net5"/>

<gallery widths="154px" heights="200px" class="center" caption="Films stills (selection)">
File:Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1918) - 1.jpg|Still for the American film ''[[Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1918 film)|Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves]]'' with Ali Baba ([[George E. Stone|George Stone]]) being asked by his rich brother the secret of the cave, from pages 16 and 17 of the February 1919 ''Film Fun''
File:Deliverance (1919) - 4.jpg|Still for the American film ''[[Deliverance (1919 film)|Deliverance]]'' with [[Helen Keller]] and [[Anne Sullivan]], (1919), page 22 of the July 1919 ''Film Fun''
File:The Green Temptation (1922) - Compson 1.jpg|Still with [[Betty Compson]] for the American film ''[[The Green Temptation]]'' (1922), page 17 of the April 1922 ''Film Fun''
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Sources ==
* {{gcdb series|id= 61778 |title=Film Fun}}

==External links==
{{commons category-inline}}

{{Buster}}

[[Category:Fleetway and IPC Comics titles]]
[[Category:British humour comics]]
[[Category:1920 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1920 comics debuts]]
[[Category:1962 comics endings]]
[[Category:1962 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1920]]
[[Category:Magazines disestablished in 1962]]
[[Category:Comics based on films]]
[[Category:Comics based on real people]]
[[Category:Comics magazines published in the United Kingdom]]