Plot:
Life is hard for Poppy Clark and her classmates at March Wind Boarding School. The school is run by an old miser, — Ebeneezer Scrape, who refuses to spend a penny more than he has to. Consequently, conditions are bad at “Skinflint School”—but Poppy is determined to change things for the better. The school hockey team wins a magnificent cup, but, when this is presented to their miserly headmaster, he makes off with it and pops it into the nearest pawnshop. Poppy vows to get the cup bock and teach Scrape a lesson he’ll never forget !
(Skinflint School – 1962; Art: George Ramsbottom)
(Skinflint School – 1965, Art John Leonard Higson)
(Skinflint School – 1970s, Art: George Parlett)
Notes:
- Art: George Ramsbottom (#116 – #129)
- Art: John Leonard Higson (circa #290, 1965)
- Art: George Parlett (1970s)
- Other Artists: Robert Hamilton, Ron Smith
- Skinflint School (Judy 1974) reprinted and translated to Dutch as “Meester Schraap” – Debbie Dubbeldikboek #14 (1979)
Appeared:
- Skinflint School – Judy: #116 (31 March 1962) – #129 (30 June 1962)
- Skinflint School – Judy: circa #292 (14 August 1965) – (?)
- Skinflint School – Judy: #354 (22 October 1966) – #371 (18 February 1967)
- Skinflint School – Judy: #401 (16 September 1967) – #408 (04 November 1967)
- Skinflint School on Tour – Judy: #418 (13 January 1968) – (?)
- Skinflint School – Judy: circa #561 (10 October 1970) – (?)
- Skinflint School Abroad – Judy: #610 (18 September 1971) – #630 (5 February 1972)
- Skinflint School Afloat – Judy: #808 (05 July 1975) – #839 (7 February 1976)
- Skinflint School – Judy: #863 (24 July 1976) – #879 (13 November 1976)
- Skinflint School – Judy: #903 (30 April 1977) – (?)
- Skinflint School – Judy: #1066 (14 June 1980) – #1077 (30 August 1980)
Other Appearances:
- Skinflint School – Judy Annual 1966
- Skinflint School – Judy Annual 1967
- Skinflint School – Judy Annual 1969
- Skinflint School – Judy Annual 1970
- Skinflint School – Judy Annual 1972
- Skinflint School – Judy Annual 1974
- Skinflint School – Judy Annual 1976
- Skinflint School – Judy Annual 1979
- Skinflint School – Judy Picture Story Library: #116
- The TV Stars of Skinflint School – Judy Picture Story Library: #153
- The Diamond of Skinflint School – Judy Picture Story Library: #162
Judy Annual 1974
There is a six-page story translated into Dutch as “Meester Schraap” (Debbie Dubbeldikboek #14, 1979), in which the school is in threat of being certified unfit for habitation, and Scrape goes looking for alternative housing in the Palace Theatre.
Regards,
Ramon
This is the story from the 1974 Annual.
Thank you, I have added it to my index on the Grand Comics Database.
Regards,
Ramon
Misers often seem to be the target of humour strips. But of course there are serials where ramifications are more serious – for the protagonist – before the miser finally gets his/hers. In Jinty’s “Cinderella Smith” for example, the antagonists lost their home through their own miserliness (too stingy to upgrade the wiring, so the house burned down) and too mean to have any insurance!
Yes, serious miser stories about the curse of too much money can be very powerful. Humorous miser strips I personally find become rather too repetitive. I confess I never really fell for Sandie/Tammy’s Jeannie and her Uncle Meanie, and I don’t know why Skinflint School lasted as long as it did – I suppose an audience of schoolkids is always going to like a series which puts a headmaster through the wringer once a week.
If it was short on new ideas, the series was pretty prolific with artists. Apart from the three illustrated above, I’ve seen contributions from Robert Hamilton, a Spanish DCT regular whose name I don’t know, and most memorably Ron Smith, who drew an absolutely brilliant Ebeneezer Scrape.
By the bye, the 70’s artist illustrated above is George Parlett. There were also stories in the 1966, 1967 and 1972 Annuals.
Yes, any humour serial that puts an unsavoury headmaster or other type through the wringer each week is bound to be popular.
I wasn’t a great fan of Uncle Meanie myself, but I was surprised with the makeover it underwent when it shifted from Sandie to Tammy. Uncle Meanie moves from a castle where he lives with Jeannie to a town house and gets married (why Martha married that skinflint is beyond me as she doesn’t like his mean ways), his clothes change from a more formal dress to sweater and kilt, and his nose changes from a fairly indistinct hook nose to a Miss Bigger nose.