The recent passing of Brian Walker reminded me to cover the WHOOPEE! run of Scream Inn. The strip started in SHIVER AND SHAKE comic in March 1973 and continued there throughout the 79-week run of the paper, ending on 5th October 1974. I covered the SHIVER AND SHAKE run of this highly entertaining feature in a series of posts, starting HERE.
Innkeeper was one of the characters shown marching to meet the crowd of WHOOPEE! stars on the centrespread of the ‘Big News’ issue of SHIVER AND SHAKE:
An inverted version of the same drawing was used on the centrespread of that week’s WHOOPEE!:
The transfer of Scream Inn to the new combined comic resulted in the cancellation of The Ghost Train – another spook-dominated comedy horror strip that Brian Walker drew since the first issue of WHOOPEE! Here is how it ended in the last pre-merger issue of the magazine:
The issue of WHOOPEE AND SHIVER & SHAKE cover-dated 12th October 1974 marked the start of the strip’s thrill-filled run that lasted nearly three years till 1st October, 1977. The strip was part of the ‘haunted’ Shiver section of the combined paper. Scream Inn picked up exactly where it had left off in SHIVER AND SHAKE – it was a reader participation feature where readers could win a pound for suggesting a character who’d venture to spend a night in the haunted bedroom of the creepy establishment and win a million quid!
The strip was given a new gloomy masthead, showing the inn and its uninviting surroundings, complete with the ‘We’re Only Here for the Fear’ sign, as someone rightly noted on Twitter – undoubtedly inspired by Double Diamond ad campaign slogan in the 70s…
The Scream Inn poster in WHOOPEE! cover-dated 13th September, 1975 (so nearly a year after the strip made the jump to WHOOPEE!) offers a perfect summary of what it was about, and introduces the resident spooks:
A closer look reveals that the poster features not just all the humanoid characters but also the other regulars, including the centipede with the Union Jack attached to its tail (first seen in the issue of 21st June 1975), the Father and Son duo of spiders Cyril and Sid, and even the two mystery creatures whose eyes shine out from the dark corners in nearly every indoors panel of the strip. The snake that was another regular is not featured in the poster, for some reason…
Scream Inn is one of the very few humour strips in British comics (if not the only one) that was covered in a scientific analysis: it received as many as 30 pages in the book “Comics: Ideology, Power and the Critics” by Martin Barker published by Manchester University Press in 1989. The book offers some interesting insights and findings of the researcher, and I can thoroughly recommend it to fans of Scream Inn. Here is the cover of the book and a little extract from the Scream Inn chapter:
I have reconstructed the Scream Inn guest book, ‘documenting’ who and when called at the ghastly establishment and tried to win the prize. Below is the list of the callers, starting from the first combined WHOOPEE AND SHIVER & SHAKE in 1974, till the end of 1975, with a few complete episodes. The next two posts will cover the years 1976 and 1977.
October 12, 1974 · Ron Rain, the Famous Western Film Star. I decided to show it here because it was the first episode in WHOOPEE! The menu board in the opening panel was a fun little feature in the vast majority of the episodes. Brian Walker and Cliff Brown (the scriptwriter) probably had lots of fun inventing the names of the dishes...
October 19, 1974 · Super-store lift attendant
October
26, 1974 · Secret Agent (looks
like I-Spy from SPARKY comic). This is one of very few examples in
British comics when a character appeared in a publication produced by the
competitor. Brian Walker illustrated 'I-Spy' in DC Thomson’s SPARKY comic, so the
inclusion of a look-alike in a paper published by IPC was a cheeky experiment
on his part. Check it out HERE
November 2, 1974 · Vacuum Chimney Sweep
November 9, 1974 · Chap with stew pot on his head so that he can't see Scream Inn ghosts and thus won't be frightened by them
November 16, 1974 · Boy Scout
November
23, 1974 · Frankie Stein – the big
star in SHIVER AND SHAKE and later WHOOPEE! See the full episode HERE
November 30, 1974 · Road Hole Night Watchman
December 7, 1974 · Donny Dazzle, the great singing star of stage, screen, TV and radio
December 14, 1974 · ACME vacuum cleaner company representative
December 21, 1974 · Maximus Bulge, the Strongest Man in the World
(NOTE: The paper was affected by industrial action and missed three issues at the junction of 1974 and 1975)
January 18, 1975 · Burglar
January 25, 1975 · Postman
February 1, 1975 · Florence Nightingale, the famous nurse
February
8, 1975 · Ghoul Getters Ltd. – fellow
WHOOPEE! stars; interestingly, the episode also gives a nod to Fun
Fear – another horror comedy strip in WHOOPEE! See the whole episode HERE
February 15, 1975 · Bud Gee the Birdman - lad who thinks he should have been born a bird
February 22, 1975 · Robot
March 1, 1975 · Mesmeraldi, the finest hypnotist in the world
March 8, 1975 · Indian snake-charmer
March 15, 1975 · Laughing policeman
March 22, 1975 · Septimus Moneyshuffle, the Miser
March 29, 1975 · Kung Fu Man
April 5, 1975 · Frank the Frogman - shark hunter
April 12, 1975 · Bravest Redskin Chief
April 19, 1975 · Vaxo the Ventriloquist
April 26, 1975 · Mr. Cannon Ball- human cannon ball from the circus
May
3, 1975 · ‘Orrible
Hole – fellow WHOOPEE! star, see the full episode HERE
May 10, 1975 · Dick Turpentine - the famous rough highwayman
May 17, 1975 · Old Mother Hubbard
May 24, 1975 · Tax Inspector
May 31, 1975 · Retired ghost
June 7, 1975 · Caveman
June 14, 1975 · Circus Clown
June 21, 1975 · Walter Tapp the plumber
June 28, 1975 · Willie Wipem the window cleaner
July 5, 1975 · Bully from nearby school
July 12, 1975 · Astronaut
July 19, 1975 · Little green man
July 26, 1975 · Farmer Blewett
August 2, 1975 · Scared Stiff Sam – fellow star from WHOOPEE! See the full episode HERE
August 9, 1975 · Gas meter reader from the gas board
August 16, 1975 · Head waiter at the "Hotel de Plush"
August 23, 1975 · Fearless Fernando the lion tamer
August 30, 1975 · Evil Eye - fellow-character from WHOOPEE! See the full episode HERE
September 6, 1975 · Harry Knockitt, the carpenter
September 13, 1975 · Owner of humble Chinese take away food shop
September 20, 1975 · Motorcycle scramble rider
September 27, 1975 · Telephone engineer (hopes to spend the night in a phone booth)
October 4, 1975 · Whoopee! office boy. An interesting example of a strip involving a member of WHOOPEE! staff. The office boy’s name was Ossie and he was in charge of the Letters section of the paper. Many readers addressed their letters directly to him:
October 11, 1975 · Antique dealer
October 18, 1975 · Wriggletto the great Escapologist
October 25, 1975 · Optician
November 1, 1975 · Sailor
November 8, 1975 · Beefeater from the Tower of London
November 15, 1975 · Thor, the Mighty Norse God of Thunder
November 22, 1975 · Fred Fizzog, the rubber-faced man
November 29, 1975 · Motorist
December 6, 1975 · Sweeny Toddler – Fellow WHOOPEE! star. See the full episode HERE
December 13, 1975 · Writer of Ghost Stories
December 20, 1975 · Deep-sea diver
December 27, 1975 · Cinderella (X-mas episode)
