Glad and Golden Hours

 Welcome to my 198th post: I'm rather flattered to learn I've had over 4000 page views now! Today, we'll be looking at some more Christmases past.

My earliest Christmas memories of Glasgow are centred on the toy department of Goldbergs in Glasgow. We came by bus from Chapelton, via East Kilbride, Rutherglen and Bridgeton . The bus then travelled along Duke Street, right through where St. Nicholas Garden is now and on to Cathedral Street. The library of Strathclyde University stands on the site of Collins the publisher and there was a "steamie" ( public laundry) where the student village is now situated. This photo from 1970 shows the cityscape of those days.

Steamie lower right - see the chimney? Note: no Buchanan Street Bus Station (upper right)

We walked down the High Street from the Royal Infirmary, rather than take one of the green, white and gold Glasgow Corporation buses. My impressions are of buildings draped in a black shroud of soot. Goldbergs department store was in Candleriggs- part of the "Merchant City" since the late 80s but in those days home to the fruit market, dilapidated townhouses and Bow's furniture store.

1975: spot funky purple sign

There was an air of American glamour about Goldbergs. It had the first lifts I ever travelled in and as a small child I was fascinated by the green  numerals  which displayed the floors and the tiny fan in the ceiling. The staircases, meanwhile, were clad in gilt and,  although I can't find much corroboration online, I  remember a glass aquarium at floor level near the foyer. The store was famous for its Christmas displays: the only one I half-recall had an undersea fantasy theme. A visit to the toy department was followed by high tea in the restaurant.

For some reason, Frasers supplanted Goldbergs in my mother's shopping favours by the mid-to-late 70s and I preferred John Menzies in the now-pedestrianised Buchanan Street and the Kardomah cafe. 

 The Seventies - honestly! 

My very last visit to Goldbergs was sometime in the late 80s  shopping for clothes. The store went into receivership in the early Nineties. After lying empty for a few years, it was reopened  as Weisfelds, a rather more tacky incarnation .It closed after about four or five years.
It's a gap site now: the neglected building was demolished ten years ago after the adjacent tenement collapsed. Selfridges was supposed to open on the site a decade ago but it never happened. Sad.

I was reminded of those toys of  Sixties Christmases past thanks to my jury service this week. Able to leave the flat later than normal, I caught reruns of the 60s Batman series on ITV4, specifically the episodes introducing Batgirl. She is a fresh dramatic element among the grandstanding turns of the Bat-villains- although I wish comics had more time for Egghead and King Tut.
When I was younger, I preferred the liberated ladies of Earth-2: the Huntress and Power Girl. It wasn't until the mid-90s that I finally got Batgirl, in this comic.

The animated Batgirl's fight with Clayface helped me realise that she is an aspirational figure and she should be a teen hero- the fact that she's Gordon's daughter and her bookish civilian identity all lend to her appeal. At that time, she wasn't even an active character in the mainstream DCU. Batgirl has been in the news this week after writer Gail Simone's shoddy treatment by DC. But Batgirl should be a comic that kids can pick up, proving that brainy girls who like to read can be heroes too.

Animated Batgirl owes much to the portrayal of the original "cute girl super-hero": Kitty Pryde aka Sprite. Christmas is a time for tales of the supernatural and this famous, final instalment of the Claremont/Byrne X-Men partnership pitted Pryde against a N'Garai demon. While this is obviously a blatant rip-off of Alien (inspired by the young Kitty's deliberate resemblance to Sigourney Weave), it also serves as a test and affirmation of her readiness to belong to the team.It's a satisfying done-in-one adventure although the trademark excessive narration undercuts the tension somewhat.

Hat's on Fire

Finally today, young heroes are the focus of this 2005 Christmas issue of Justice League Unlimited, It's highly unusual to see the teenage Supergirl and her E-2 counterpart in one story- alongside a dim Firestorm, Atom Smasher ( it's Nuklon, dammit!) and the feisty Hawkgirl. It reminds me of a long-gone Xmas favourite, the Thomas/Ordway Infinity Inc. Again, I wish DC had the nous to publish a Super Friends title like this.

Next time: further seasonal reminiscence

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