Pretty sure this isn’t SF, but its sheer WTFery qualifies it for GSS.
Is that Mary Lou being restrained by devil woman and St. Nick? Did she require restraint after her toboggan accident? Terrible head injury, I’m guessing, but you’d think they’d take her off the mountain — there can’t be many neurologist at a costumed chalet.
Or was she, in fact, actually dead and has become some unholy revenant, torn between evil and good? Never mind the stick, Bishop Claus, make with the holy water! Get an old priest and a young priest and maybe a midget psychic.
And what kind of name is “Emerence”? Did she hit Mary Lou on purpose, and is she the one in the devil suit?
This is the kind of cover that sort of makes me wish I still dabbled in psychedelics. Their faces are totally acid trip, able to trigger a full hour of sharp, keen laughter, enhanced by meditating on the name “Emerence.”
@GSS ex-noob: these books were the bain of my life, as the sixty or so Girls’ School books (plus the equally-interminable Enid Blyton ones) filled the school library in the 70s to the exclusion of anything anyone would want to read. This one is #34 in the series, from 1956. It wasn’t realistic then, either.
I suspect that my teachers used them as anti-boarding-school propaganda (I was at a mixed Comprehensive, which is why I understand science and other languages and had spoken to girls before my thirties). Even girls who read ‘Bunty’ comic found them insufferable. I suspect Boris Johnson loves them.
@Tat: Eeesh. My school never got the endless series-type books, because that was trash that taxpayers shouldn’t be buying; the kids were supposed to buy their own Generic Extruded Juvenile Product. Closest to this was the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, which at least had mysteries and were rewritten periodically to keep them current and weren’t in the library once you got past age 12.
“. . . and then the men in white coats took her away to the loony bin. They were never sure why she kept asking Santa Claus to get rid of the Evil Elf. ‘Santa doesn’t exist, Mary Lou!’ they kept telling her.”
@Kendall: Exactly. That head injury from the accident really did a number on Mary Lou’s brain. Notice how her hair’s all unkempt and there’s stains on her dress, too. Poor Mary Lou is going to need a lot of help… but she ain’t gonna get it in 1956.
“The Insane Asylum of the Chalet School” was the least popular of the series. Kids were quite upset about the shock treatment.
@ Tat Wood: well fwiw I went to a non-mixed school and had to learn quite a bit of science as well as 2 extra languages. I have not yet spoken to a girl, though.
I doubt Boris Johnson likes these books because that presupposes reading. Having perused his book on London I can confirm he does not write.
@Bruce M: your comment made me think of this as a 1950s version of South Park: “Oh my God – they killed Kenny!” “You bastards!”
@GSSxN: wouldn’t that be a whole separate Chalet Insane Asylum” series?
I swear when I first saw this on my phone, the small picture made Mary-Lou’s hair look like a crown of thorns. That would make Santa into Pontius Pilate and the child on the left as Beelzebub. I thought I was looking at a Heidi version of the Last Temptation of Christ! And they were all *smiling*?
Which also makes sense considering the old trope about people in insane asylums thinking they’re Jesus..(Emerance is Beelzebub or maybe Judas.)
There WAS going to be a whole spin-off series about the loony bin, but like I said, the first one caused such an uproar the publisher axed it.
I wonder now, is “Chalet School” just a euphemism for asylum, and Santa and the devil are also delusional patients? Is there a kid dressed like Napoleon just out of frame?
Yikes, I’ve never seen those before… part of a completely conservative 50’s childhood??? If not for Beverly Cleary’s bratty Ramona and a stack of Asterix and TinTin books, I probably would have spent more time jumping in cow pies and throwing clods of dirt and my brother than becoming a library nerd.
From my brief perusal in the Sedona bookstore where my wife handed this copy to me, it seems like this was a post-war Billy Bunter-type of book, with fewer descriptions of unsavory personal habits.
Another awful cover on this site has a link to the Wikipedia article on Doctor Who and the Pescatons: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_and_the_Pescatons
Sarah Jane Smith on that album cover looks very similar to the arguing lady on the back cover here. Unknown Artist with a limited range for drawing faces?
June 21st, 2022 at 9:25 am
The rest of the year, Santa smacked children over the head with sticks.
June 21st, 2022 at 12:17 pm
This cover gives me extreme Wicker Man vibes.
June 21st, 2022 at 2:12 pm
Was this book part of the 1980s “Satanic Panic”? Because it sure looks like it.
June 21st, 2022 at 3:23 pm
It’s a good thing the toboggan run was both sharp and keen. Imagine if it’s keen and dull.
June 21st, 2022 at 6:25 pm
Pretty sure this isn’t SF, but its sheer WTFery qualifies it for GSS.
Is that Mary Lou being restrained by devil woman and St. Nick? Did she require restraint after her toboggan accident? Terrible head injury, I’m guessing, but you’d think they’d take her off the mountain — there can’t be many neurologist at a costumed chalet.
Or was she, in fact, actually dead and has become some unholy revenant, torn between evil and good? Never mind the stick, Bishop Claus, make with the holy water! Get an old priest and a young priest and maybe a midget psychic.
And what kind of name is “Emerence”? Did she hit Mary Lou on purpose, and is she the one in the devil suit?
June 21st, 2022 at 7:42 pm
This is the kind of cover that sort of makes me wish I still dabbled in psychedelics. Their faces are totally acid trip, able to trigger a full hour of sharp, keen laughter, enhanced by meditating on the name “Emerence.”
June 21st, 2022 at 8:09 pm
@GSS ex-noob: these books were the bain of my life, as the sixty or so Girls’ School books (plus the equally-interminable Enid Blyton ones) filled the school library in the 70s to the exclusion of anything anyone would want to read. This one is #34 in the series, from 1956. It wasn’t realistic then, either.
I suspect that my teachers used them as anti-boarding-school propaganda (I was at a mixed Comprehensive, which is why I understand science and other languages and had spoken to girls before my thirties). Even girls who read ‘Bunty’ comic found them insufferable. I suspect Boris Johnson loves them.
June 21st, 2022 at 9:39 pm
Enjoy.
https://www.abebooks.com/collections/sc/elinor-brent-dyer-chalet-school-series/4c66UwxA6TQJUjia8hDUdx
June 21st, 2022 at 10:08 pm
Mary Lou dies at least once in every book in the series but is aways brought back by her supernatural tormenters.
“Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it” – Mephistopheles, “Dr. Faustus at the Chalet School.”
June 23rd, 2022 at 6:43 am
@Tat: Eeesh. My school never got the endless series-type books, because that was trash that taxpayers shouldn’t be buying; the kids were supposed to buy their own Generic Extruded Juvenile Product. Closest to this was the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew, which at least had mysteries and were rewritten periodically to keep them current and weren’t in the library once you got past age 12.
@Bruce: GSS!
June 23rd, 2022 at 8:17 pm
“. . . and then the men in white coats took her away to the loony bin. They were never sure why she kept asking Santa Claus to get rid of the Evil Elf. ‘Santa doesn’t exist, Mary Lou!’ they kept telling her.”
June 23rd, 2022 at 11:13 pm
@Kendall: Exactly. That head injury from the accident really did a number on Mary Lou’s brain. Notice how her hair’s all unkempt and there’s stains on her dress, too. Poor Mary Lou is going to need a lot of help… but she ain’t gonna get it in 1956.
“The Insane Asylum of the Chalet School” was the least popular of the series. Kids were quite upset about the shock treatment.
June 24th, 2022 at 4:14 am
Hello, Mary-Lou, goodbye…sanity?
June 24th, 2022 at 4:23 am
@ Tat Wood: well fwiw I went to a non-mixed school and had to learn quite a bit of science as well as 2 extra languages. I have not yet spoken to a girl, though.
I doubt Boris Johnson likes these books because that presupposes reading. Having perused his book on London I can confirm he does not write.
@Bruce M: your comment made me think of this as a 1950s version of South Park: “Oh my God – they killed Kenny!” “You bastards!”
@GSSxN: wouldn’t that be a whole separate Chalet Insane Asylum” series?
I swear when I first saw this on my phone, the small picture made Mary-Lou’s hair look like a crown of thorns. That would make Santa into Pontius Pilate and the child on the left as Beelzebub. I thought I was looking at a Heidi version of the Last Temptation of Christ! And they were all *smiling*?
June 24th, 2022 at 8:48 pm
“And they were all *smiling*?”
JJYoyo – Mary-Lou is looking forward to saving all mankind. [1]
[1] Not “all humanity?” Not with the vintage of this book series!
June 25th, 2022 at 1:41 am
@JJYoyo: I like your Biblical interpretation.
“The Last Temptation of Mary Lou”.
Which also makes sense considering the old trope about people in insane asylums thinking they’re Jesus..(Emerance is Beelzebub or maybe Judas.)
There WAS going to be a whole spin-off series about the loony bin, but like I said, the first one caused such an uproar the publisher axed it.
I wonder now, is “Chalet School” just a euphemism for asylum, and Santa and the devil are also delusional patients? Is there a kid dressed like Napoleon just out of frame?
@Hammy: GSS!
June 25th, 2022 at 3:35 am
Yikes, I’ve never seen those before… part of a completely conservative 50’s childhood??? If not for Beverly Cleary’s bratty Ramona and a stack of Asterix and TinTin books, I probably would have spent more time jumping in cow pies and throwing clods of dirt and my brother than becoming a library nerd.
July 2nd, 2022 at 4:07 am
From my brief perusal in the Sedona bookstore where my wife handed this copy to me, it seems like this was a post-war Billy Bunter-type of book, with fewer descriptions of unsavory personal habits.
July 2nd, 2022 at 4:21 pm
Is that Sarah Jane Smith making a cameo appearance on the back cover?
July 3rd, 2022 at 12:09 am
@Lars: Looks kind of like, but I think it’s Mary-Lou screaming at her music teacher.
Dunno if it was before or after her head injury.
July 5th, 2022 at 3:26 am
Another awful cover on this site has a link to the Wikipedia article on Doctor Who and the Pescatons:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who_and_the_Pescatons
Sarah Jane Smith on that album cover looks very similar to the arguing lady on the back cover here. Unknown Artist with a limited range for drawing faces?
July 5th, 2022 at 5:39 am
I’ve sent in a cover which has plenty of things for us to make fun of. Guess what publisher!
July 6th, 2022 at 12:57 am
Sounds like “Brain”, but with a piece missing?
July 6th, 2022 at 1:02 am
@Lars (21): so is the white-bearded Archimandrite singing ‘Hello Dolly’ like Tom Baker?
July 6th, 2022 at 1:22 am
Maybe it’s Elisabeth Sladen having it out with John Nathan-Turner.
July 6th, 2022 at 3:00 am
@Lars: Now that I’d believe. Who didn’t want to have it out with JNT?
Aww, you guessed.