AIBU To Think That The Chalet School Matron Would Be In Prison Nowadays

[TheShellBeach]

..........................for giving unprescribed sedatives to the girls so frequently.

(lighthearted) (in case a million people tell me that IABU)

The Chalet School Matron was forever doling out sedatives to the girls, without even asking Jack Maynard to prescribe them first.
Shocking stuff. Nowadays, she would be jailed and struck off the NMC Register.

Wasn't it Forever Amber? Written in 1944, made into a film in 1947, totally scandalous, banned in fourteen states.

oh hang on, that must have been somebody else - the Saints was pre-war

Indeed ! it’s my favourite CS book, by far, and, given that it was written in early WW2, it’s impressive that EBD draws a clear distinction between German/Austrian people generally and Nazis.

Thekla was a bad lot.
Expelled for the terrible crime of "hating Joey Bettany" (and most people can understand that, TBH).

Betty Wynne-Davies was also expelled (in a later book) for treason. I always thought that that was ridiculous. She gave secrets to the enemy, yet her only punishment was to be expelled from the CS (for which she was probably heartily thankful) and to have to go and live with some old friends of her dead mother's.

In actual wartime, she would have been imprisoned and possibly hanged.

'Gone with the Wind' was a forbidden book - updated in the Armada editions to 'Forever Amber'. I've read 'Forever Amber' and it certainly is raunchy.

Ooh. I've been hoping for a chalet thread. I've just been indulging in a reread AND I've got hold of a couple of fill ins I've never read before.

EBD gives all her favourite characters a doctor to marry. The only one to escape that is Mary-Lou. I've never quite decided why she's allowed to actually have a career when Daisy V gets all the way through to winning awards and scholarships through her medical training and then EBD marries her off to another doctor and her career basically ends.

There's definitely an international drug ring. Proof is in the most bonkers of the whole series - redheads at the chalet school.

But yes. Jem whips Mario Balbini and everyone thinks this wonderful. And later there is the bit about needing to keep Mike away from his father as his not actually too terrible for his age behaviour 'causes' Joey to faint into 2 days of unconsciousness.

If you want to be truly horrified Joey and co in Tyrol explains how they all fit in their van including the way they intend to transport babies in hammocks...

That wasn't Vera Smithers, it was Jennifer something-or-other and about six cronies.

Poor Miss Browne.

Not only does she have a never-ending lawsuit going on with some annoying relatives (that would also be a good MN thread) but she moves her naice English school to the Tirol and builds a small chalet in which in can be accommodated, only to find that there is already a school there - on the other side of the lake.

Come to think of it, that would also be a good MN thread. (AIBU to think that we were here first so the new school are CFs?)

We never get told what Vera Smithers was reading.

Jennifer whatserface was reading gone with the wind in the earlier versions and then that was updated to forever amber.

@CatLoaf and jack goes galloping over the moors in a thunderstorm to fetch medicine/another Dr/an ambulance (can't get at my books at the moment to check). But Phoebe is definitely approved of, since she gets to marry her doctor, but not in the first rank since she has to adopt and isn't allowed her own children. All sorts of ethical problems there ...

Betty is well and truly redeemed in the marmite of the girls own world - the chalet girls grow up.

Which is banned from mention on certain Facebook groups as it causes so much distress.

Daisy V gets all the way through to winning awards and scholarships through her medical training and then EBD marries her off to another doctor and her career basically ends.

Yes. The triplets are discussing this with a new girl and make it quite clear that Daisy becoming a housewife because she has a family is expected, normal, and essential.

Poor Daisy. (AIBU to wish I hadn't bothered becoming a doctor because my entire family now thinks I should be happy being a SAHM)

Phoebe Wychcote is approved of because she is an invalid/cripple/delicate.

Luckily for her, Dr. Peters (who is apparently short and ugly) falls in love with her when he admits her to the San for treatment, and asks Joey to find out if Phoebe would be interested in marrying him.

And naturally - once the school is back in the Gornetz Platz, Frank and Phoebe Peters and their Kinder move in next to it.

The patient doctor ethics of the Peters relationship is possibly the most egregious in the entire series. And there are so many many places that doctors are unethical - not just in doing as Matey does and dosing people here there and everywhere.

The really mad thing about the books is that despite the turgidly boring and often pious bits about Christmas plays/pantomimes and the presence of Len Maynard, the most boring person in the world, they are still brilliant. Extra points for completely bonkers medical problems (someone has a growth on their neck that makes them fat, and everyone comments on how great it is that they’ll lose weight when they need surgery to remove it), daring rescues and collapsing into the arms of nearby doctors.

"............the marmite of the girls own world - the chalet girls grow up.
Which is banned from mention on certain Facebook groups as it causes so much distress"

........as I discovered when I mentioned it (Chalet Girls Grow Up) on a CS FB page - and then discovered that all my subsequent posts were hidden until Admin could have a look at them.

FFS.

And poor Grizel too. (AIBU my dad says I can't be a pe teacher; AIBU my stepmother hates me; AIBU my best mate has run off with my boyfriend and now she says we have to sell our shared business )

"..............the presence of Len Maynard, the most boring person in the world"

Thank you!

I cannot bear any of the Maynards. Sanctimonious, dull little beasts.
But Len is VERY VERY VERY boring.

"And poor Grizel, too"

Yes, indeed. She is described as "very unmusical" in the early books, then progresses to "fairly competent instrumentalist" and eventually to "head music mistress at the CS".

All this, despite her being only interested in becoming a PE teacher.

No wonder she sets Len Maynard on fire.

What I find odd is that Madge makes a success of her school, despite not having been to university or college, despite being only twenty two, despite not knowing anyone in Austria, despite only having about £100 with which to set up the school, despite knowing fuck all about schools and education..........................

And yet by the second term there are four mistresses and thirty pupils.

It's nonsensical.

@TheShellBeach

You need to join finishing school on Facebook if you want to talk about that book.

There the only real rule is that no one talks about hairwashing.

The chalet school phenomenon makes no sense. Adults cry about criticism. Other adults spend a lot of time writing 'fill in' novels. Hundreds of us collect the things. We can even argue about whether certain fanfic is cannon or not.

I've just managed to get my hands on Hilda Annersely: Headmistress. The satisfaction in getting my hands on it and comparing the characterisation and versions of scenes from another angle is surprisingly huge. I feel silly for being so swollen with joy for such a silly reason.

As an eldest I have some sympathy for Len.

Especially with her mother turning around in the final books and insisting she get engaged before even leaving school. She isn't boring enough to deserve Reg.

"Extra points for completely bonkers medical problems"

See also "growing a lot taller when you have to stay in bed for a few weeks with a broken leg".

Re Daisy... this is actually what happened to my grandmother. Years at University, qualified as a Doctor... and promptly married and became pregnant and never actually practicised. And my Grandfather met her when she was a school girl after returning from WWII.

I felt sorry for Peggy and Rix.. . Never saw their parents growing up after being left behind in Austria while their parents go on to have more kids!

I'd like a series about the life of the Drs in The San where the Drs' slot machine exists. Take a job, push in your 'I've now saved someone' token, and you get allocated a member of the CS 6th form.