After audience research revealed that story papers such as
The Magnet and
The Gem had a sizeable female readership,
Amalgamated Press took advantage of this audience by launching
The School Friend in 1919, the first such paper aimed squarely at girls. It was a success, and was soon joined by sister title
The Schoolgirl - not to mention numerous rivals launched by other publishers during the period between the wars - one author
Denis Gifford would describe as "the Golden Age of story papers".
School Friend folded into
The Schoolgirl in 1929, but in 1935 AP decided to launch another girls' paper. The publication launched on 28 October 1935 as
The Crystal, initially with a full-colour cover and using a 'dainty silverine bracelet' to tempt girls into a purchase; the first issue's editorial promised a further gift the next issue in the form of a 'Film Star Autograph and Photograph Album'. In common with many girls' story papers, the majority of the material in the title was written by men. , dated 26 October 1935.The opening line-up consisted of seven stories; the lead feature starred Detective Noel Raymond - ably assisted in his sleuthing by his niece June Gaynor - was unusual in a girls' magazine that both the main character and the writer
pseudonym were male, with Ronald Fleming penning Noel and June's adventures under the name 'Peter Langley'. Stewart Pride, later editor of the comic version of
School Friend, would later suggest "presumably it was felt that a woman could not write about a male detective". One of the paper's most popular stories, it would run until 1951. Fleming also contributed school story "The Madcap Form Mistress" to the opening issue, disguising himself as 'Jean Vernon' (a common tactic used by AP and other story paper publishers, to disguise how few writers were employed by each title) but the feature would be relatively short-lived. Another long-running feature was G. Cecil Gravely "Merrymakers" series, credited to 'Daphne Grayson'; ''Girls' Crystal'' would settle down to contain four or five stories an issue. and changed to a cover with red and blue overlays. Stories from ''Girls' Crystal
were reprinted in Schoolgirls' Own Library and, from 1939 on, the hardback Girls' Crystal Annual''. The latter supplemented its fictional contents with various lifestyle tips - including how to create a colourful dusting brush. The outbreak of
World War II in 1939 saw paper rationing reduce many publications, while large numbers of AP's staff were called up for war service (including Fleming). ''Girls' Crystal'
s full page front cover was reduced to half a page, while the page count dropped as low as 12. While many story papers were either merged or cancelled during the conflict, Girls' Crystal'' survived, and in 1940 absorbed AP's other girls' paper,
The Schoolgirl. Author Horace E. Boyten wrote some stories under the pseudonym "Enid Boyten." In 1953, lawyers for the popular children's writer
Enid Blyton complained to ''Girls' Crystal'' editor
Reg Eves that the names were similar enough that the publication was trying to cash in on Blyton's fame. Eves denied the charge, but from then on Boyten wrote under the name 'Hilda Boyten' (later changing it again to 'Helen Crawford').
Titles •
The Crystal (28 August to 28 December 1937) • ''Girls' Crystal Weekly'' (4 January 1938 to 19 May 1939) • ''Girls' Crystal incorporating Schoolgirl's Weekly'' (26 May 1939 to 18 May 1940) • ''Girls' Crystal and the School Girl'' (25 May 1940 to 14 March 1953) ==Comic==