On this day, 28 May 1977: Krazy — GREAT NEWS FOR ALL READERS!

May 28

May 28 On this day, 28 May 1977: Krazy

On this day, 28 May 1977 … There’s a tonsil-tickling cover to today’s Krazy, and a general uproariousness throughout. All the IPC humour comics were full of laughs, of course, but I think Krazy exuded the greatest sense of manic hilarity throughout, as if laughing gas rose from the very pages as they were turned.

The Krazy mix included plenty of visual features and impromptu cartoon imaginings on a particular theme – such as, in this issue, toothbrushes, get well soon cards and bicycles. An additional ingredient that I think Krazy used more than any other comic around this time was celebrities. Not so much contracted appearances, such as Charlie Drake or Big Daddy in Buster, but one-off caricatures popping up in features and other characters’ strips, or library photos such as Benny Hill and Joanna Lumley in Custard Pie Corner. As well as Ernie and Purdey, this week’s comic has Micky Mimic impersonating Frank Spencer (plus literary celebs Just William (unnamed, for some reason) and Billy Bunter), while Bill Titcombe really goes to town with his A Krazy Look at TV take on Celebrity Squares.

A Krazy Look at TV: Bill Titcombe (artist)

With the help of nostalgia-lovin’ pals Sharon and Dene (and the good folk of Roobarb’s Forum) I have most of these stars of the seventies identified but there are a few we’re not sure about.

So far we have:

Top row (from left): John Inman, Larry Grayson, Hattie Jacques (or Mrs Mills, Mollie Sugden)

Middle row: Ronnie Corbett, Tessa Wyatt (or Jenny Hanley, Sally Thomsett, Liza Goddard)*, Bernard Manning

*UPDATE: Roobarb's Forum has now suggested Lena Zavaroni for the middle panel.

Front row: June Whitfield (or Katie Boyle), Willie Rushton, Les Dawson

Foreground: Bob Monkhouse

Any further suggestions appreciated!