PLAYHOUR PICTURES

Publishers: AMALGAMATED PRESS
Dates: 16th Oct 1954-14th May 1955 (31 issues, becomes Playhour)
Issues: CLICK HERE to view issues, super-size cover images and values in 9 grades

Originally published under the title Playhour Pictures, the title was shortened with issue 32 to Playhour.

Playhour was intended as a companion to Jack and Jill, initially aimed at a slightly older audience. The lead strip in its early days was "Prince, the Wonder Dog of the Golden West", drawn by Sep E. Scott. With issue #32 (21 May 1955) it lowered its target age-group and introduced comic strips based on A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh and Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows, both drawn by Peter Woolcock.

1956 saw the arrival of "Sonny and Sally of Happy Valley", two children (and their pet lamb) who were to be associated with the title until its demise in 1987; Sonny and Sally wrote the weekly editorial letter and children writing to the editorial address (Cosy Corner, The Fleetway House, Farringdon Street, London E.C.4 — the address of the publisher, Amalgamated Press) would receive replies signed by Sonny and Sally.

The stories of Sonny and Sally (drawn by Hugh McNeill) were initially related in rhyming couplets, as were a number of other early stories, although by the end of the 1970s the stories were written in normal prose form. Others were told in captions below the illustration, or text comics, as Playhour avoided the use of word balloons.

Playhour contained a mixture of original tales for young children and adaptations of well-known fairy tales (drawn by Nadir Quinto, Ron Embleton, Jesus Blasco and others).

Total value for all issues of this title listed:

Condition

PR
1.0
FR
1.5
GD
2.0
VG
4.0
FN
6.0
VF
8.0
VF/NM
9.0
NM-
9.2
NM
9.4
MINT
10.0
Issues 31 31 31 31 31 31 31 31 31
Total £ 13.85 27.70 42.75 87.50 209.00 360.00 540.00 715.00 885.00

Note: some PR issues may have no value. Selected issues in FN, VF or VF/NM may not exist in some titles.