'Gammidge Bargain Basement'.
The British cartoonist and scriptwriter Ian Gammidge was a longtime staff artist and writer for The Daily Mirror and The Sunday Mirror from London. Besides his own long-running cartoon feature 'Gammidge Bargain Basement' (1947-1981), he was a prolific scriptwriter for a great many of the paper's comic strips. He continued long-running comics series like 'Ruggles' (1946-1957), 'The Flutters' (1947-1971), 'Mr. Digwell' (1950s-1980s) and 'The Larks' (1970s-1985), helped revive the 'Jane' strip (1985-1990) and co-created 'Keeping Up With the Joneses' with Stephen Dowling and 'Little Joe' (1973-1976), drawn by Bert Felstead.
Early life and career
Ian Berwick Gammidge was born in 1916 in Ashstead, Surrey, as the son of an accountant. His elder brother, Henry Gammidge (1915-1981), later became a cartoonist and comic writer for the Daily Express, best-known for scripting the 'James Bond' newspaper comic, drawn by John McLusky.
Ian Gammidge studied at Malvern College in Worcestershire. After graduation, he worked as an insurance salesman and on a dairy farm. In the late 1930s, he became a member of the Territorial Army and during World War II he served in the Royal East Kent Regiment. The young recruit fought in France, but when the Nazi invasion couldn't be held on any longer, he escaped via Cherbourg. Gammidge continued his service in North Africa, Italy and Malta - he fought in the Siege of Malta - and was promoted to the rank of Captain. After the war, he continued his studies at St. Martin's School of Art in London, while working on a sugar beet farm. When he married in 1959, the cartoonist Reg Smythe (of 'Andy Capp' fame) was his best man.
Cartoon by Ian Gammidge.
Gammidge Bargain Basement
In May 1946, Gammidge published his first cartoon in the monthly pocket magazine Lilliput. It depicted a baby disappearing during a baptism, with the line: "Flora was holding the little beast a second ago." His freelance cartoons also appeared in John Bull, Everybody's, London Opinion, Tatler, Draper's Record and other magazines. Between 1947 and 1981, his cartoons ran in the Sunday Pictorial newspaper, (in 1963 renamed to Sunday Mirror), filling his own joke section, 'Gammidge's Bargain Basement'.
The Flutters
For decades, Gammidge was also a staff comic scriptwriter for both the Sunday and the Daily Mirror. In May 1947, he started as co-writer of the gag comic 'The Flutters', drawn by Len Gamblin and written in alternation with Jack Hargreaves. The feature ran on the sports page of The Daily Mirror and revolved around a couple who liked to gamble. At a certain point, Gammidge took over as a scriptwriter from Hargreaves completely and continued the comic strip as a more regular soap opera until its final episode on 27 February 1971. Later in its run, the feature was drawn by Neville Colvin.
Ruggles
In the second half of the 1940s, he also joined the writing team of Steve Dowling's humorous family comic 'Ruggles', starring the first working-class family in a British newspaper strip. Among the other writers were Guy Morgan and William Connor. The series ended on 3 August 1957.
Mr. Digwell
In the early 1950s, Gammidge took over from Ambrose Heath as scriptwriter of 'Mr. Digwell', a feature drawn by Jack Dunkley. Originally started in 1946 by Heath and the cartoonist Bernard Venables, the comic ran in The Daily Mirror until the early 1990s. During its almost 50 years of existence, the comic featured gardening tips in comic strip format. The main character was the mustached gardener Mr. Digwell, who worked together with his friends Jack, Lizzie, Mr. Newcome, Mr. Busyman and the newlyweds Jack and Pru. In 1977, a book compilation was published: 'Mr. Digwell's Everyday Gardening Book', which in 1981 was re-edited into a magazine special, 'Gardener's Mirror', issued by The Daily Mirror.
In later years, the Daily Mirror has continued to run 'Mr. Digwell' in reprints. The name of the character is still used by the paper for botanic articles and podcasts. The gardener Paul Peacock has released the gardening book 'A Year In The Garden' (2012) under the Mr. Digwell banner.
The Larks
In the late 1970s, Gammidge succeeded Brian Cooke as the final scriptwriter of another Daily Mirror family comic, 'The Larks' (1957-1985), which was originally based on a radio comedy. 'The Larks' was another collaboration between Ian Gammidge and the cartoonist Jack Dunkley. Working with Dunkley for over 25 years, Gammidge once stated the team "never had a difference of opinion".
Ian Gammidge co-creations
Among Gammidge's own co-creations was 'Keeping Up with the Joneses' (1960-1961), a feature with the byline "The strip that teaches you the art of living", drawn by Steve Dowling and Leslie Caswell. Between 15 April 1973 and 30 November 1976, Gammidge worked with the cartoonist Bert Felstead ("Fel"), co-creating the comic strip 'Little Joe', about a little puppy with patches on his trousers who lived in a barrel. In 1975, a book compilation was published by Mirror Group Books. Following the death of Elvis Presley in 1977, Gammidge wrote a biographical comic feature for the Daily Mirror called 'The Elvis Presley Story', drawn by Martin Asbury.
1980s version of 'Jane', written by Ian Gammidge and drawn by John Burns.
Jane
Between 1985 and 1990, Ian Gammidge was also associated with one of the Daily Mirror's most notorious comic heroines. Between 1932 and 1959, the paper ran the 'Jane' comic, a creation of Norman Pett, starring a sexy woman who frequently lost her clothes, though rarely showed any actual nudity. During her heyday she teased many excited readers. Starting in 1948, the series had been continued by Michael Hubbard, but its one marketing gimmick - the nudity - was toned down in it final years. Predictably, 'Jane' lost its popularity and ended in 1959. Between 1961 and 1963, the Britain-based Dutch comic artist Alfred Mazure created a spin-off, 'Jane, Daughter of Jane', which never caught on. A 1982-1984 live-action BBC comedy TV adaptation, 'Jane' caused enough of a revival to make the Daily Mirror reconsider a reboot. On 16 April 1985, the paper launched a new 'Jane' comic, this time starring the granddaughter of the original Jane, drawn by John Burns. Working with a writing team consisting of Ian Gammidge, Roger Mahoney, Hilary King, Tim Quinn and Les Lilley, Burns was allowed to be more explicit with sex and nudity. On 1 September 1990, the series was discontinued when the paper switched editors.
Final years and death
In his hometown Pirbright, Surrey, Ian Gammidge was additionally known as an theatrical actor and bass singer in the local church choir. He passed away in 2005 in the Surrey town of Frimley Green.
'Gammidge Bargain Basement'.