AIBU To Think That The Plots Of The Chalet School Books Were Really Improbable

[TheShellBeach]

.................................such as Prince Cosimo, the endless kidnappings, all the train crashes/bus crashes/car crashes/plane crashes/boat sinkings hang on a minute, were there any boat sinkings

Okay, I've just remembered that there were a couple of near misses with boats when the CS was on the island. Joey was nearly flung overboard once (a missed opportunity for EBD to get rid of her IMO) and there were probably others.

Anyway - all aboard and ahoy there.

You may have missed the hilariously un-CS bit where it’s strongly implied at the beginning that the landlady is a brothel madam (raddled, slash of red lipstick, lots of Evil Hinting) and is planning to get Adrienne to pay her rent by working for her, before she’s rescued by the Robin.

I remember the yellow nylon dress with green embroidery too - it sounded sticky and garish, but as long as it was ‘dainty’, that’s the key thing.

You may have missed the hilariously un-CS bit where it’s strongly implied at the beginning that the landlady is a brothel madam (raddled, slash of red lipstick, lots of Evil Hinting) and is planning to get Adrienne to pay her rent by working for her, before she’s rescued by the Robin.

This is such an unusual thing to put in a school story - but then reading it as a child, I just thought that the landlady was going to make Adrienne do all her housework and live on bread and water (a la Cinderella). It definitely reads very differently to an adult! It's even more incongruous as by then the books were largely formulaic with very unchallenging storylines with large sections devoted to explaining the bath routine and where you had to put your items on your bedside table (I do wonder if girls ever rebelled and dared to put their photos somewhere else).

I think that's a good point. As a child I'd never have picked up that sort of thing, and similarly would have thought of Cinderella/little princess etc.
As an adult we can see the potential for worse.

I wonder which EBD intended us to see. Because most of the time she comes across as fairly naïve, and innocent, so I wouldn't have expected her to have even suggested that by vague implication. At the same time she could have times when she wanted to show much more than you'd expect in a children's book (like Exile) so maybe she read something which made her want to raise awareness.

I think the accepted view of the very late books is that EBD was in poor health and her friend (and fellow writer) Phyllis Matthewman was filling out ideas to keep the Chalet books on the road. So although no one knows for sure what was happening, large parts of these books are probably not actually written by EBD herself.

EBD is supposed to have dictated Leaders to Phyllis Matthewman as she was bedridden by that point, there's a thread started by a lodger of theirs (Elinor lived with the Matthewmans in later life) who says he doesn't think PM wrote anything of Elinor's though.

www.the-cbb.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=8692&sid=255e54411d9da6dae38eb379e287dabf

Does Getrud the German girl spy ever reappear? I quite liked her and thought that she might, but I haven't read all the books.

The embroidered dress is nicked straight out of L M Montgomery's Anne of the Island. Only silk is updated to nylon.

No she doesn’t reappear despite the book stating that she was going to be sent back to the school.

I'm fairly sure she doesn't reappear, but she may have a sentence mentioning her at some point.

It would have been difficult having her reappear, because Miss A says when expelling Betty that because the school knew that Betty was a traitor (although she didn't actually realise, she was being spiteful) she would have too hard a time from the school. With Gertrud she wasn't being a traitor but she was deliberately (albeit under threat) spying, so no one would have trusted her.

Although, honestly, that is pretty ridiculous that the Nazis would have thought the Chalet School was so important that they had to send a spy there. And use a schoolgirl spy rather than an adult teacher if it was so important. Even as a child that was one I thought was pretty silly.

I have a question for the thread. I still have most of my old 1980s/90s Chalet School Armadas. The only ones I reread are the earlier books which I mostly own in hardback, having bought them when I realised the scale of the Armada cuts.

So what should I do with the paperbacks? I don't think I'd get anything for them from Amazon and I don't know if charity shops would really appreciate them. No children of my own who I could force to read them. Any ideas welcome!

Offer them for sale on the FB chalet school sales and wants group, I sometimes buy the armadas off there for a few pounds. Some people offer them just for price of postage.

Ah thank you @MissyB1 , I'll do that!

White slavery was a scandal in the early 20th century, but about 30 or 40 years before this book. It sounds like something screamed by people who get upset that Tinkerbell is black, but was actually about women being trafficked into the sex trade.
Only 30 years late makes it just right for EBD to include in a book :D

@MargaretThursday I remember thinking when I first read that as a teen how odd that story line was!

Stick them on Ebay for 0.99p each plus £3.50 P & P.

They'll sell eventually.

She also fitted them for shoes, oddly.
I could never understand that.

I'd stick them on as a job lot and try and get rid of them in one lot. There's loads of individual and it will take ages to sell them all, but there's only a few bundles so it will stick out more.

It’s the flat foot thing. Checking their arches presumably.

"...............................a life consisting of endless pregnancies, toddler tantrums and trailing around after the school"

But all Joey and Jack's children were taught obedience from the get-go, so there were no toddler tantrums, naturally.

Actually she'd have probably written the whole prospectus. Can you imagine?
Page 1:
"Welcome to the Chalet School.
I was the first Pupil of the Chalet School, and I know that if you don't fit in then it's your fault not the school."
Page 2: Art
"I got thrown out of art lessons for annoying the art teacher so much he threw everything at me. Ha ha! You'll find so many of my little exploits are loved by the school. By the way. I must tell you about the time I dyed myself green..."

Page 3:
Sex Education

There is no sex education at the Chalet School. You will therefore get pregnant within a few moments of marriage. Nice girls do not have sex before marriage so the chances of your getting pregnant prior to this are nil.

Page 4:
Baths

You will take a cold bath every morning and like it. If you get pleuropneumonia as a result this is your own fault. You probably didn't dry yourself properly.

Page 5:
Hair

Your hair will be mocked mercilessly. All girls are expected to conform to outmoded hairstyles and will submit to Matron's authority on this subject. She will cut your hair if she doesn't like it. So will Miss Annersley.

**neither Matron nor Miss Annersley are qualified hair stylists

@TheShellBeach That's a bit unfair - you're allowed to have your bath 'chill off'.

My “chill off” would be very hot with lots of bubbles. And better put me last on the bathroom rota as I will be in there for 30 minutes, reading my book! Imagine Matey’s face 😂

No, no.

Bubbles are only allowed as a comedy device, where naughty Middles put them into the mistresses' baths, causing mayhem and merriment throughout the school, and adding yet another hilarious story to their annals.

I did wonder why the mistress got into an empty bath, then started running the water. I always fill mine before I get in.

I'm currently reading "Barbara" and loving Chapter 8 when they go off on an expedition and Rosalie Dene puts OOAOML in her place several times! My favourite is when she says "you'll end up as one of those domineering women that nobody likes". Shame the unsufferable brat didn't take it on board.