The second page of Mustapha Million's debut
adventure occupied page 25 in the first edition of Cheeky Weekly, and
Mustapha's second page was again in the same location a week later.
The Saturday element of Cheeky's Week came to rest on page 25 for the
2 subsequent editions, following which a Wile E Coyote strip
represented the cartoon portion of that week's Saturday morning picture show.
Saturday's picture show was similarly located
for the 5 subsequent issues, meaning that a variety of Warner
Brothers animated characters were called into service to entertain
Cheeky and his fellow youthful cinema patrons...
| Date | Details |
| 26-Nov-77 | Henery Hawk (first appearance) 1/2 'Little Orphan Henery' |
| 03-Dec-77 | Wile E Coyote 1/2 'Poll Fault' |
| 10-Dec-77 | Henery Hawk 1/2 'A Peachy Idea' |
| 17-Dec-77 | Wile E Coyote 1/2 'Rage In A Cage' |
| 24-Dec-77 | Daffy Duck (first appearance) 1/2 'Daffy's Diner' |
The placement of strips in the following week's
Christmas issue was shaken up somewhat as a result of the festivities, leading to Joke-Box Jury making its first page 25 appearance. However, as things returned to relative normality seven
days later, another run of cartoons commenced...
| 07-Jan-78 | Wile E Coyote (final appearance) 1/2 'Extra Long Division' |
| 14-Jan-78 | Tweety (single appearance) 1/2 |
| 21-Jan-78 | Tweety and Sylvester (first appearance) 1/2 |
| 28-Jan-78 | Daffy Duck 1/2 'Ducking Out' |
The Tweety and/or Tweety and Sylvester escapades listed above were untitled.
Saturday then returned to page 25 for 2 weeks
following which the 'Beeps' of Warner Brothers' Road Runner appeared
in the comic for the first time (in this strip the fleet-footed (if
foot is the correct term for the thing at the end of an avian leg)
bird was given the ability to speak, something he was lacking - as
far as I'm aware – in the cartoons).
The following week a 9-issue run of Saturday
commenced, a sequence that was interrupted in the comic dated 29
April 1978 by the appearance on page 25 of an advert for Funny Faces.
If you're thinking that it was a bit early in the year to be promoting ice lollies, all will become clear when I reveal that
this was not an ad for Wall's famous visage-based frozen treats, but
instead a promotional push for packs containing a selection of
cartoon-style eyes, ears noses and hats, plus a blank face on which
to affix them. Sort of a 2-dimensional Mister Potato Head but without the carbs.
Saturday then returned for a week before being
displaced again by an advert, this time notifying readers that a
sufficient number of Trebor chew wrappers could be exchanged for
Corgi Junior models of Batman's road, air and maritime conveyances.
60 wrappers would bag aching-jawed youngsters the whole Batload.
Saturday then resumed for what was to be a
3-week residency on page 25, until more advertising appeared there in
the 10 June 1978 edition. This time it really was Wall's Ice Cream,
who were hoping the summer weather would be conducive to emptying the
nation's freezer-cabinets of their Tom and Jerry and Skateboard
Surfer lollies.
Saturday returned for a week, but 7 days later
the site under consideration was host to a competition of the 'spot
the difference' variety, in which readers were tasked to identify the
number of discrepancies between two similar images of Cheeky and
Manhole Man, who were pictured enjoying a game of Gyro-Tennis as
manufactured by M-Y Games. 30 of said bat-and-ball contrivances were
on offer to the lucky winners. Surprisingly (to me, anyway), these
games still seem to be in production.
Ads appeared on page 25 in the next 2 issues;
01 and 08 July 1978. The former saw Burton's promoting their Smax and
Wagon Wheels products by way of a campaign in which skateboard
posters could be obtained for 50p plus 4 tokens excised from the
wrappers of the aforementioned comestibles. The latter ad was placed by Rowntree
Mackintosh in relation to their wild-west-themed chewy confection
known as the Texan Bar which at that time was, somewhat
incongruously, offering purchasers a selection of prehistoric monster
stickers.
The following issue saw Saturday commence
another run, this time of 2 weeks' duration. Page 25 in the 29 July
1978 edition featured an ad for Trebor's Double Agents boiled sweets.
Wrappers from the spy-inspired fruit drops could be exchanged for
fingerprint kits. Parents would no doubt be delighted to find the
furniture coated with fingerprint powder as a consequence.
A further week of Saturday ensued, and 7 days
later Tweety and Sylvester pursued their ongoing feud in the subject
location. In the comic dated 19 August 1978, Saturday began what was
to be a 6 week run which brought to an end the feature's appearances
on page 25 because the following issue introduced the Mystery Comic
to its centre pages and Saturday was shunted further back as a
result. Saturday was the second most regular feature to occupy the
page in question, appearing there 27 times (including 01 April 1978's Saturday - April Fool's Day).
The following 2 issues saw Paddywack's
particular brand of discombobulation abounding on page 24, but in the
two subsequent issues Trebor were again encouraging widespread
mastication of their products by offering what was described as
'jeans badges' (possibly they meant patches) in return for 20
wrappers.
Paddywack then resumed occupancy in the comic
dated 28 October 1978, but this time sharing the page with a list of
winners of the skateboard and tennis competitions that ran in the 17
and 24 June 1978 issues respectively.
The Friday element of Cheeky's Week then made
its first visit to page 25, but its inaugural sojourn there proved to be
brief, as 7 days later the welly-booted wonder Paddywack returned,
although his was also just a single visit on this occasion as in the
subsequent edition page 25 hosted an ad for Pirelli slippers.
Paddywack was featured on page 25 a week later,
sharing that location with an ad for Cheeky Weekly's companion title
Whoopee! Page 25 in the comic dated 02 December 1978 hosted the final
appearance of Interval.
Luscious Lily Pop was to be found on page 25 in
the following issue as she was grilled by Baby Burpo in the debut
episode of The Burpo Special. Friday then returned, commencing what
was to be something of a marathon run of 28 weeks in the location in
question.
Readers' letters page Chit-Chat made a bid to
secure page 25 in the comic dated 21 July 1979, and managed to hold
on to the subject location for a further 3 weeks until obese oaf Tub
made his only appearance in the site under review, his half-page
adventure sharing that location with a list of winners of the Alpha Man competition. The following week saw Chit-Chat return to page
25, commencing a second run, which would extend to 3 issues. Yet more
advertising of chewy confections ensued, as this time Barratt
promoted their Oran-gee-tang bars for 2 issues.
Advertorial feature Whats, New Kids then moved
in for 2 weeks, before Friday made its final visit to the subject
location, bringing to 30 the number of times it graced page 25 (including 14 April 1979's Good Friday variant),
making it the most regular occupant of the site under review.
What's New Kids returned the following week,
after which the young performers of Stage School demonstrated their
showbiz prowess for 3 editions. By this late stage in Cheeky Weekly's
history, 6 Million Dollar Gran had suffered something of a demotion,
as her stories had not only been reduced from 3 pages to 2 (and
sometimes just 1), but the aged automaton had been relegated to the
rear of the comic. Thus the synthetic senior citizen landed up on
page 25 for 2 editions. Page 25 in the 01 December 1979 comic was
home to 2 ads for IPC product; Look and Learn, which was running a
competition to win an adventure holiday in Sudan, shared the location
with an ad for that Christmas present stalwart, the mighty Whizzer
and Chips Annual.
Robotic ructions were again in evidence on page
25 as Gran moved back commencing with the issue dated 08 December
1979 for what was to be a 3 week residency until a reprinted
adventure featuring double-decker-dwellers The Gang displaced the
creaky contraption. This was the only time that The Gang featured on
page 25.
Gran returned to page 25 in the 05 January
comic, and remained there for 2 issues until her normal strip was
interrupted when she was the subject of a spot the difference puzzle.
6 Million Dollar Gran then resumed her page 25
run for the 2 issues that remained before Cheeky Weekly ceased publication.
Gran was the third most regular occupant of the subject location,
appearing there on 9 occasions in her normal strip and once as the spot the difference subject.
Warner Brothers' characters appeared on page 25 in a total of 12 issues, but since the strips were named after the individual characters, I haven't included them among the top 3 features. And as far as I'm concerned they were little more than filler material.
Warner Brothers' characters appeared on page 25 in a total of 12 issues, but since the strips were named after the individual characters, I haven't included them among the top 3 features. And as far as I'm concerned they were little more than filler material.
| Elements | Total |
| Friday | 29 |
| Saturday 1/2 | 26 |
| 6 Million Dollar Gran 2/2 | 9 |
| Chit-Chat 2/2\Tub | 5 |
| Advertisement: Trebor | 4 |
| Wile E Coyote 1/2 | 4 |
| Paddywack | 3 |
| Stage School 2/2 | 3 |
| What's New, Kids | 3 |
| Advertisement: Barratt | 2 |
| Chit-Chat 2/2 | 2 |
| Daffy Duck 1/2 | 2 |
| Henery Hawk 1/2 | 2 |
| Mustapha Million 2/2 | 2 |
| Tweety and Sylvester 1/2 | 2 |
| 6 Million Dollar Gran Spot the Difference | 1 |
| Advertisement: Funny Faces | 1 |
| Advertisement: IPC\Advertisement: IPC | 1 |
| Advertisement: Pirelli | 1 |
| Advertisement: Smax and Wagon Wheels | 1 |
| Advertisement: Texan bars | 1 |
| Advertisement: Wall's | 1 |
| Good Friday | 1 |
| Interval | 1 |
| Joke-Box Jury | 1 |
| Paddywack\Advertisement: IPC | 1 |
| Paddywack\Winners of Skateboard and Tennis competitions | 1 |
| Road Runner 1/2 | 1 |
| Saturday - April Fool's Day 2/3 | 1 |
| Tennis Competition | 1 |
| The Burpo Special | 1 |
| The Gang 2/2 | 1 |
| Tub\Alpha Man competition results | 1 |
| Tweety 1/2 | 1 |
Can't wait for page 26 1/2! :)
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