Girls' Crystal (also known as The Crystal, Girls' Crystal Weekly and Girls' Crystal and School Girl at various points) was a British weekly fictional anthology publication aimed at girls. Published by Amalgamated Press and later Fleetway Publications from 26 October 1935 to 18 May 1963. Uniquely for an Amalgamated Press title, Girls' Crystal began as a story paper before transforming into a picture comic between editions, with the new format debuting on 21 March 1953. It ran for a combined total of 1432 issues before merging with School Friend in 1963.
Story paper
Publishing history
After audience research revealed that story papers such as The Magnet and The Gem had a sizeable female readership, Amalgamated Press took advantage of this audience by launching The School Friend in 1919, the first such paper aimed squarely at girls. It was a success, and was soon joined by sister title The Schoolgirl - not to mention numerous rivals launched by other publishers during the period between the wars - one author Denis Gifford would describe as "the Golden Age of story papers". School Friend folded into The Schoolgirl in 1929, but in 1935 AP decided to launch another girls' paper. The publication launched on 28 October 1935 as The Crystal, initially with a full-colour cover and using a 'dainty silverine bracelet' to tempt girls into a purchase; the first issue's editorial promised a further gift the next issue in the form of a 'Film Star Autograph and Photograph Album'. In common with many girls' story papers, the majority of the material in the title was written by men.
The opening line-up consisted of seven stories; the lead feature starred Detective Noel Raymond - ably assisted in his sleuthing by his niece June Gaynor - was unusual in a girls' magazine that both the main character and the writer pseudonym were male, with Ronald Fleming penning Noel and June's adventures under the name 'Peter Langley'. Stewart Pride, later editor of the comic version of School Friend, would later suggest "presumably it was felt that a woman could not write about a male detective". One of the paper's most popular stories, it would run until 1951. Fleming also contributed school story "The Madcap Form Mistress" to the opening issue, disguising himself as 'Jean Vernon' (a common tactic used by AP and other story paper publishers, to disguise how few writers were employed by each title) but the feature would be relatively short-lived.
Another long-running feature was G. Cecil Gravely "Merrymakers" series, credited to 'Daphne Grayson'; Girls' Crystal would settle down to contain four or five stories an issue. With the tenth issue (dated 28 December 1935), the publication changed title to The Girls' Crystal, and changed to a cover with red and blue overlays. Stories revolved around adventurous, plucky teenage girls never afraid to put themselves out to help someone in trouble, and rarely featured romantic storylines.
Stories from Girls' Crystal were reprinted in Schoolgirls' Own Library and, from 1939 on, the hardback Girls' Crystal Annual. The latter supplemented its fictional contents with various lifestyle tips - including how to create a colourful dusting brush.
The outbreak of World War II in 1939 saw paper rationing reduce many publications, while large numbers of AP's staff were called up for war service (including Fleming). Girls' Crystal's full page front cover was reduced to half a page, while the page count dropped as low as 12. While many story papers were either merged or cancelled during the conflict, Girls' Crystal survived, and in 1940 absorbed AP's other girls' paper, The Schoolgirl. Author Horace E. Boyten wrote some stories under the pseudonym "Enid Boyten." In 1953, lawyers for the popular children's writer Enid Blyton complained to Girls' Crystal editor Reg Eves that the names were similar enough that the publication was trying to cash in on Blyton's fame. Eves denied the charge, but from then on Boyten wrote under the name 'Hilda Boyten' (later changing it again to 'Helen Crawford').
Titles
The Crystal (28 August to 28 December 1937) Girls' Crystal Weekly (4 January 1938 to 19 May 1939) Girls' Crystal incorporating Schoolgirl's Weekly (26 May 1939 to 18 May 1940) Girls' Crystal and the School Girl (25 May 1940 to 14 March 1953)