To think we are all ready to remove to Inter V at the Chalet School.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

New thread for all the Chalet School fans!

[SolidGoldBrass]

Eurgh, Cheddar! That has quite put me off Anna's famous lemon biscuits.

Anyway, hadn't someone better start a new thread? Oh, and just to distract you all, I am currently re-binging on the wonderful Sue Barton Nurse series - anyone else got a fondness for 1930s US medical stories?

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Me, me, me!! I love the Sue Barton books! I so wanted my student nurse days to be like Sue's. And I'd rather marry Dr Barry than Dr Jack - fo sho!

[grayling57]

I love the Cherry Ames series (like the Chalet School, got them from a big box of my mums old books). I think it's 1940s and they have the added interest of blatant war propaganda for girls to join nursing. Who doesn't like perpetually job changing, mystery solving Cherry who has such naturally red cheeks that she's sent out in the first day of nursing school to wash away the rouge. ;) Plus they're on Kindle.

[fairnotfair]

Following on from TooExtra's far-too-plausible sub/dom scenario, here's some Blurred Lines, Chalet style:

OK, drink this milk. I’m tryin’ to sedate you.
Cos you’re a Chalet girl, and so it’s in my nature.
Just let me put you under
Hey hey hey
You don’t need to wonder
Hey hey hey
And that’s how I’m going to wed a Chalet girl…

[SelectAUserName]

[Summerbreezing]

They're both great.

There once was a girl Mary Lou
Into a smug brat she grew
She bossed and she strutted
She frowned and she tutted
Matey, please give her a brew.

[DeWee]

EBD said:
When I write the books then I know
Readers just want to hear about Jo
She's breezy, she's fun,
She's friendly-The One!
And without her the books sales would slow!

Readers said:
Dear Elinor, the books are your own
But we can hardly restrain a groan
At the wonderful Jo
We'd like to say "NO!"
Please, could you just leave her alone.

[hels71]

Brilliant!!!

[fairnotfair]

Fantastic, Select, Summer and DeWee. Take a bow and some

If we set them all to music, we might have enough to launch "Chalet School: the Musical" in the West End. But what would we call it? "Pansy Eyes and Golden Voices"? "Drugged Milk"? Or - my own personal favourite: "Solid Lump of Comfort"?

[flugella]

Ooh the Sue Barton books! I loved those and I am definitely in the Dr. Barry camp. I picture him as a bit Clooneyesque...

Loving everyone's work, please go to Mary-Lou for your prizes (condescending pats on the head)!

[SolidGoldBrass]

Today's rereading has been Redheads, which is possibly the silliest of the lot. I wonder if EBD at that stage was thinking she needed to add more drama and more 'grittiness' to the plot and that's why we got Criminal Gangs (who are terrified of ticket inspectors).

[Vintagejazz]

I've just re-read Carola Storms the Chalet School.
Wow her parents were neglectful - leaving her at the age of 11 with a totally unsuitable relative, having no personal contact with her for the next 4 years and forgetting what age she is. What an irresponsible pair.

And then, of course, Joey decides to assume loco parentis on the basis of some very tenuous connection between Jack and Carola's father. Because obviously Miss Annersley isn't capable of looking after the welfare of a 14 year old girl without Joey's expert support.

[Tanith]

Now you come to think of it, the Sainted Madge was pretty dire as a mother, too.

Poor Sybs :(

[FruitPudding]

It must run in the family. Dick and Mollie Bettany went 8 years without seeing their 3 oldest kids, having dumped the lost with Madge.

[Vintagejazz]

I also found it strange when a pregnant Joey, remarking on one of kids getting what looked like chickenpox, remarked that hopefully 'it will just turn out to be german measles'

[Whyamihere]

Apparantly it was quite common for children to be left with relatives/boarding school though if their parents were working in places that were deemed unsuitable for children. I think there was an article in one of the Friends of the Chalet School magazines. I guess there were less international type schools then so options were limited.

[Toospotty]

It was really common. It still lingers today - the FCO, MoD, and plenty of multinational companies still pay boarding school fees. Now it's easy to fly out for holidays, but in the days of sea travel, it wasn't possible even to do the return journey in most school holidays. The climate in colonial parts was seen as bad for kids, and there were lots of nasty diseases.

German measles is far milder than chicken pox. We only inoculate because of the affect on foetuses. Rubella is only one strain too. I had German measles twice as a child. It was really just a rash and a minor temperature.

[Vintagejazz]

I know, but Joey was pregnant at the time and was hoping that her child had German measles and not chicken pox. When was the connection between German measles and foetal harm established?

[Tanith]

It was established fact by the 1960s. The plot in Agatha Christie's 'The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side' hinged on it.

[Tanith]

According to Wikipedia, a link was discovered in Australia in 1941.

[Toospotty]

Sorry, missed the pregnant bit. Probably very unlikely that EBD had noticed that development!

[Summerbreezing]

When did the CS books begin to go downhill? I never read them in any particular order.
I'm currently re-reading A Genius at the Chalet School and it seems to be quite weak even though some of the books written not too long before it eg Mary Lou of the Chalet School and Carola Storms the Chalet School are still on form.

[TooExtraImmatureCheddar]

There are a number of books where the mother clearly decides to go with her husband to a foreign land rather than stay with her children - Mollie Bettany, obviously (someone, think it's Marie, says in Rivals that she would hate to have go and leave her children behind, and Joey replies 'But what about poor old Dick?'. Well, poor old Dick is an adult and has made the choice to take a job in India!), Katherine Gordon's parents, who leave her with the scatty aunt, Carola's parents...I'm sure there are more. The children are expected to understand and sympathise with the view that their father needs his wife on site (to, ahem, fulfill their matrimonial duties?) more than they need a parent.

Summer, I think quite a lot of the Switzerland books are weak, but not in chronological order. CS and Barbara is terrible, and it's the first of the Swiss ones, but I like Trials, Theodora, Redheads, Feud and New Mistress. There are some filler books before, as well, such as Peggy, Shocks and Changes. The thing you notice most about Changes is that it is Commander Christie who finds the treasure, not a CS girl. Had EBD written that book earlier in her career, Emerence and Co would have found the tunnel, followed it and come across the treasure all on their own.

[DeWee]

I would say generally they go downhill with the Swiss books. I quite like Barbara, although I only have the paperback and it feels as though there's a lot of the initial friction between her and Vi left out. I've always assumed you'd see that in the hardback, but if I'm wrong I'm disappointed.
There's one or two I like in the Swiss set, but generally they're much more generic school stories than the others.


The last couple, and certainly Prefects (the last one) there is some doubt whether EBD actually wrote them, or all of them. I can't remember where I've read that, but I've heard it two or three times. The writing style is different, and there's little plot that we haven't heard before.

[Wabbitty]

It has been discussed before about the mother choosing to follow husband abroad rather than stay with the kids and the answer came back that it was ensuring that the husband didn't cheat/ meet someone else and want a divorce.