No Tears for Molly

Tammy 6 February 1971 - 21 November 1981

One of Tammy's two signature serials (the other being Bella), and the only feature in the opening line up to last more than thirty issues, No Tears for Molly [1] told the story of young servant girl [2] Molly Mills, 
and her abusive relationship with Pickering the butler at Stanton Hall from 1926.

She arrives at the same time as her perennial nemesis, although a year later Pickering would be described as having worked there for "a couple of years", implying that his arrival had predated Molly.  They get off to a bad start [3], but it soon becomes evident that "nasty" is just Pickering's default setting, going well beyond anything reasonable in his punishments of those he is responsible for, though no one gets it as bad or as often as Molly. He regularly hits her, but more creative punishments include locking her in a pillory, tying her up in a deserted tower, forcing her to stay up all night working, and at one point locking her in a flooded dungeon. How he gets away with this behaviour is unclear, though the rest of the staff's limp acceptance of each new attack doesn't help.

The format breaks down into a series of individual stories each running for several issues. They are episodic, but with no ongoing subplots or character arcs. Nobody is ever really changed by the dramatic events that occur and everything defaults back to the status quo at the conclusion of each story. To the point where characters even seem to forget events that happened in previous episodes.[4] This is not to say that there's no carry-over. A character who comes to visit in one story may well return at a later date, and the previous episode may even be referenced, but nothing substantially changes.

As far as I've read, anyway, so feel free to correct me in the comments (but don't give away too much. The story may be forty years old but it still counts as spoilers to me). There remains a lot I have yet to see, but a glance at an issue from 1981 finds essentially the same cast looking much the same age, and although the date does seem to move forward in real time, nothing really seems to have changed in ten years.

Interestingly, Molly isn't quite the complete innocent, unjustly tormented, like many Tammy protagonists. Of course Pickering's bullying is so far beyond reasonable reaction as to be clearly over the line into criminal abuse, but Molly so regularly disobeys explicit instructions, often for little substantial reason, that it's only because the narrative supports her as the One Whose Heart is in the Right Place and arranges for her sometimes thoughtless actions to turn out to be the right thing to do, that gives her any moral high ground.

For example, one story [5] has Molly going ghost hunting in the unused east wing of Stanton Hall despite it being categorically stated from the start that it's an out of bounds area, and a firing offence if she was caught there. She has no excuse; no cause. She just goes there because she's curious, after finding a secret passage that leads there . In fact she is spotted by Betty and Kitty, who see her at a distance, mistaking her for the rumoured ghost, which then gets wildly exaggerated in the retelling, precipitating subsequent events of the story.

No such ambiguity with Pickering. He's always mean, always nasty, and always in the wrong. He's also a complete coward, crumbling at the merest suggestion of threat toward him. Which somehow none of his victims ever think of exploiting.

Other members of the cast downstairs include Molly's two friends among the staff, Cook (is she ever given an actual name?), and Charlie the boot boy, plus two petty and spiteful servant girls, Betty and Veronica Kitty who often seem to be oblivious to the story in progress, and serve only to provide extra obstacles for Molly, like the time they push her in the fountain for a laugh when she's in the middle of trying to save someone's life. Upstairs there are Lord and Lady Stanton, and their wheelchair-bound daughter Mistress Clare (also a friend to Molly, often supporting her against Pickering), but the Stantons disappear from the narrative for long stretches. They also seem to have an inordinate number of guests, as many stories will revolve around people who are visiting the hall, even though their hosts are often nowhere to be seen. Other staff appear as individual stories require, and then vanish again afterwards, sometimes never to be seen again.

 Originally I thought that the series had been inspired by the popular period drama Upstairs Downstairs, but a little research finds that while both débuted in 1971, the comic strip predates the TV show by six months. It's a topic that seems to be a perennial favourite, with Downton Abbey being the latest drama to focus on what goes on among the servants in a great house as much as it does with the owners. Tammy, being Tammy, is more interested in the working class domestic staff than the upper class family.

The writing, by Maureen Spurgeon can be entertaining, often finding creative ways of bringing the most unlikely characters and situations to Stanton Hall, but this seems an effort to cover the lack of any real knowledge about how domestic service actually worked, and the complete lack of any depth or development in the regular characters, which makes anything character related repetitive and irritating after a while, and the amount of violence routinely directed toward Molly is disturbing.

The art by Tony Thewenetti isn't as slick as Jean Sidobre; it doesn't have the emotional depth of Dudley Wynne or the attention to detail of Giorgio Letterati, but it works for this strip. Molly herself is depicted as young and vulnerable, while Pickering has a permanent frown. There's clearly no lack of research in the art, as everything Thewenetti is asked to show is portrayed in realistic detail, from gypsy caravans to circuses to zoo animals. His main fault is that he's not great at showing movement. Whenever somebody is supposed to be running it looks a little stilted, and he uses the same bent leg pose all the time. He stays with the strip until 1977. I don't think the artist who follows him is anything like as good a fit, but we'll get to that another time.

Notes:
1) Later shortened to Molly Mills, with individual story titles, perhaps because somebody pointed out the original title was so inaccurate; barely an episode would go by without Molly bursting into tears
2)Her job title is never specified, even though the hierarchy of domestic service of the period was rigidly defined. She's certainly some kind of maid; the variety of work she is seen doing most often suggests chamber maid, though the vagueness about anything job-related in the primary cast makes it easy to infer that despite writing it for ten years the writer never got around to doing the research.
3) Molly's fault for not looking where she's going and knocking his suitcase off the platform where it immediately gets run over by a train.
4) In the issue dated  1 July 1972 Molly states that it's the first time she has seen a circus, forgetting that she went to one a year earlier in the 17 July 1971 issue. It must be all those blows to the head causing her memory loss.
5) Begins in issue dated 18 March 1972.

Dawn and Kerry Double for Trouble

Tammy 6 February - 20 March 1971

Unlike most Tammy serials, Dawn and Kerry Double for Trouble is character based, rather than plot based. By which I mean that there is no overarching plot, no long term goal to be reached.  Kerry and Dawn are just two friends who accidentally trip over Scooby Doo style plots every so often. They don't learn from it. They aren't changed by it. They just continue on until it's time for something else to happen to them. Their initial run is the shortest of Tammy's initial line up, but they return for a second adventure a few months later.

In an opening so clichéd that it would turn up as a parody in The Rocky Horror Show only a couple of years later, friends Dawn and Kerry are caught out in the rain and forced to seek shelter in the nearby spooky mansion Whispering Heights. They've barely had time to duck under the cover of the courtyard before they are accosted by a large unfriendly man and an old woman. These are Madam Sahl and Gerald. They will be our villains for this adventure.[1]

Why the two villains are wandering around in the rain is never explained, but perhaps they saw the girls approaching the house and decided to head them off into the exact place they wanted to keep them away from.

The rain lets up a bit so Dawn and Kerry leave, but before they've got far Kerry notices her purse has gone missing. In fact we can see it knocked out of her bag when the villainous guy was pushing her around earlier. Sneaking back to search for the purse, the two girls find a staircase leading down that they'd failed to notice before [2], and decide to nose around, because nothing gets the curiosity up like large unfriendly men pushing you around and monocle-wearing old women telling you to leave.

Downstairs the find a girl locked in a dungeon.They immediately manage to get themselves locked in with her[3], but are able to escape when the villains let the girl, Victoria, out to have dinner. The two sleuths run to the nearest police station for help, but when they return to the spooky mansion the villains deny ever having seen the girls, and perplexingly, so does Victoria.

As they leave, Victoria passes a note to Dawn[4] that reads:

I have done a dreadful thing that must not be known by the Police, and I owe everything to Madam Sahl for keeping my secret. Thanks for trying to help, but keep away from Whispering Heights - for your own sakes.

Victoria.[5]

Dawn and Kerry immediately plan to return to Whispering Heights and so, for the sake of plot, walk twenty minutes back to the hotel run by Dawn's aunt Betty, where they are staying. Aunt Betty sets them to work, cleaning the place in preparation for two very distinguished looking visitors.[6] It's plot convenience theatre here, as we are informed that Mr and Mrs Courtney-Bingham are only staying at the hotel because their car broke down, and before the page is over Kerry has accidentally caused one of their suitcases to fly open revealing a photo of Victoria helpfully inscribed "To darling Mummy and Daddy".

Mr Courtney-Bingham bursts in for some reason, catching the two going through his luggage. Kerry tells him that his daughter is being held prisoner at Whispering Heights but despite all the evidence to the contrary, he denies having a daughter or ever having heard of the place that Aunt Betty is even at that moment phoning for a taxi, at his request, to take him to.

But it must be a very slow taxi or a very busy day for them, as it's only just arrived as Dawn and Kerry get to Wuthering Whispering Heights. They hide behind an open window to listen in but strangely the clear glass pane does not hide them very well and they are spotted almost immediately. Realising there's no way they'll be rid of the two pests until they tell them what's going on, Courtney-Bingham explains that Victoria's father was his best friend, and that Victoria never recovered from the death of her parents, acting strangely and even becoming violent. Dawn refuses to believe this, but after Victoria runs out of the room Madam Sahl follows her and as soon as she is out of sight, shouts for help.

Running to her aid, they find Madam Sahl at the bottom of the stairs with Victoria standing over her. Sahl claims that Victoria pushed her down the stairs but Victoria denies it, but then starts talking about the voices in her head.

It's raining again, and so Madam Sahl invites the interfering girls to stay for tea. But the weather only gets worse, and so, rather than phoning for a taxi to take them the couple of miles home, Madam Sahl insists they stay the night. But they are barely settled in their bedroom before a note is slipped under the door. The note reads:

Please come to the room at the top of the stairs - Urgent!

Victoria

Ascending the stairs, they open the door to find only empty space. It's a sheer drop to the ground. Madam Sahl and Gerald appear behind them and explain that it once led to the east tower but that the staircase rotted away ages ago.[7] Kerry tells them about the note and they go and confront Victoria. Victoria agrees that it's her handwriting, but doesn't remember writing the note. Then Madam Sahl spots the key to the treacherous door beside Victoria's bed.

Dawn is suspicious, and so once everyone has gone back to bed, she determines to confront Victoria in her bedroom in the cellar.[8] Victoria starts talking about hearing voices again, and right on cue, loud voices start booming into the room.

Dawn immediately traces the voices to a tape recorder hidden in a ventilation duct. She then investigates Madam Sahl's study and finds a blotting paper copy of the note that was left to them, along with Victoria's note book, which they deduce enabled Sahl to forge her handwriting.

The plot then becomes clear. Courtney-Bingham, who conveniently seems to have left the house despite the rain that kept Dawn and Kerry from leaving, is the administrator of Victoria's parents' estate, and Madam Sahl and Gerald are employed by him to run Whispering Towers and look after Victoria (and her trust fund) until she comes of age. With Victoria thought to be insane then they get to keep control forever.

Before Kerry and Dawn can escape to tell anyone, Madam Sahl and Gerald burst in and catch them. Gerald drags them off to throw them through the east wing door, but Dawn manages to hit him over the head and knock him out  with a conveniently placed morning star. The girls then go looking for Victoria, and split up so that Madam Sahl can catch Kerry alone and knock her out, and then lure Dawn up to the east wing door to push her through to her death.

But it turns out Kerry's head is far too hard to be stunned for long by a tap like that, and she yells a warning, causing Dawn to duck, and Madam Sahl to go flying through the door. But the murderous old woman manages to hang onto the ledge, and the girls pull her up. Plot convenience theatre then resumes as Mr Courtney-Bingham turns up again and brings in the police, and the villains confess all, wrapping up the story in half a page.

This last part is clearly rushed to finish off the story to make room for the upcoming merger with Sally. But even so, I'm not sure it would have run more than one more episode. It's just that the story is already so compressed that squeezing it down even further is painful. Particularly where Dawn and Kerry spot the returning Courthey-Bingham's car (which they can't have seen before to recognise) through the deadly doorway, which we have been told only a page earlier was a hundred foot drop, and also appears to be on the other side of the house.

Aside from that, the story is... okay, I guess. It's sub-Scooby Doo "We would have gotten away with it if not for you meddling kids!" fare. Written by Maureen Spurgeon (who also did Molly Mills), it does get horribly contrived in places, which is partly a function of the compression needed for a strip that only runs two pages per issue, but in some places it's just lazy, where the writer has stuff happen purely to fit the plot, without any effort to make it work as story. There are odd moments of humour that do work, but there's not enough of them to pull the story out of its ordinariness or offset its myriad problems.

The art by Giorgio Letteri is much, much better than the story deserves. It is clear and descriptive. When the story tells you that Dawn's purse has fallen out of her bag, you can go back a page and see it happen. When Victoria slips her a note, you see that detail in the picture. When the weather gets bad, you can see lightning through the window in the background. When the story says there's a hundred foot drop from the east wing door, you see a hundred foot drop from the east wing door. Which is a little unfortunate when a page later the art has to contrive to also show the front drive visible from the same door.

We will see more from Dawn and Kerry later, when they trip over another mystery.

Notes:
1) These are so obviously the villains of the story that we can see it before we even know what the story is about. The old woman is even wearing a monocle. Nobody who was up to any good ever wore a monocle in British comics (not counting Jemima Carstairs, who wasn't technically in a comic). Even Richard O'Brien, when designing flamboyant costumes for his parody homage to 1950's SF and horror B movies stopped short of giving anyone a monocle.
2) even though they'd been so close to it that the purse is found halfway down the steps.
3) I'm not sure how that works, either, since they unbolted the door when they went in. And why did they go in anyway?
4) It is hard to tell them apart at times, but of the two, Dawn is the more sensible and Kerry the more impressionable and flighty.
5) This dreadful secret thing is never referred to again. It could refer to the voices or some other staged incident, but it seems awfully specific.
6) If she's waiting until after they've booked in to tidy up the place then I'm not sure the guests are going to be that impressed.
7) As did, apparently, the east tower, which is not visible in any of the panels featuring this door. And doesn't it let the rain in, being an internal door now having to do the job of an external door? Why hasn't it rotted away?
8) If this is the same cellar room she was locked in at the beginning of the story, you may recall that it was a plot point that not only was it bolted shut, it couldn't be opened from the inside even when the bolt wasn't on it, so how is Victoria supposed to have got out to leave the note? And if it's not, why is Victoria sleeping in a cellar?