Orphaned Alan Bell Artwork 2

Two more Alan Bell drawings unearthed by Uncle George. A couple of church-related ones from a single Justice magazine.

The first one is titled Four-Star Treatment:

An intriguing set up in a vestry/ringing chamber with four young ladies (choirgirls?), three in stockings and one in socks, very clearly under the control of a portly, balding older man (the choirmaster, vicar or verger?) wearing some sort of bib or tabard.

One girl has already been neatly folded into a loop in a bell-rope, knickers down, with a cane dangling from the end of the rope. From the stripes on her bottom, it looks like it has already been used. The man, meanwhile, is busy getting a second blushing girl into a similar position. Her surplice with a frilled ruff is the clearest sign that these may be choirgirls. In the background, the other two girls appear to have already been dealt with. Their surplices are hanging on pegs, their knickers are down and their bras unfastened. One is watching developments with a dreamy faraway look, while the other is facing the corner, showing off her cane-striped bottom.

So — what is going on here? Is this one girl, shown during the four stages of her four-star treatment? But if so, why the socks on one and slightly differing hairstyles? If there are indeed four of them getting the full four-star treatment, what have they done and what is the man’s role in punishing them? And what is meant by “four-star treatment” — are these the four star singers of the choir?

Thoughts via Comments please, and if anyone wants to write a full-blown story to illustrate the illustration feel free to send to me and I will post.

Moving on, the second one is titled Hey, What About Me?

Uncle George and I assume this is church-related too, due to the shape of the window in the background, but it is ambiguous and the scenario might better be understood in the context of a school.

A begowned gentleman (headmaster/vicar?) is disappearing into his office and about to hang a sign up asking not to be disturbed for 30 minutes. Some urgent business must have arisen. In the outer chamber of his office, however, he is leaving a delightfully curvaceous young lady with a ribbon in her hair and a charming blush on her cheeks. She is bent humiliating over a table, knickers down, bare bottom plumped up by cushions and clearly ready to be punished. Both the cane cupboard and the drawer with straps in are open.

Anyone coming in to this outer chamber in the next 30 minutes is going to have a lovely surprise, which is exactly why she's worried…