Saturday, February 25, 2006

 

Obscurity of the Day: Jeanie


Now here's a real treasure. For reasons I can't fathom it never appeared in many papers during its run, and has been ignored or undiscovered by fans since.

Jeanie started as a 'filler' strip in the New York Herald-Tribune. During most of the 40s and 50s, the H-T ran a series of sixth-page strips as fillers when the page layout required. Usually this happened when they ran a page with a half-page strip and a third-page ad. The extra space would be taken by a one-tier filler.

Most of these 'filler' strips are eminently forgettable, but there are some notable exceptions. Perhaps the most interesting was Harvey Kurtzman's Silver Linings. But Jeanie is no slouch, either, with lusciously crisp art by Gill Fox, and snappy story by Selma Diamond. Diamond was a noted comedy writer and later a character actor. She's best remembered for her role on the sitcom Night Court. A short bio can be found here.

The strip started its run on 8/26/1951. Jeanie was eventually recognized as being far too good to remain an occasional filler strip, and was graduated to a full-fledge regular Sunday strip plus a daily in April 1952. As we already know, the syndication market was unaccountably uninterested in the well-drawn and well-written adventures of an often scantily clad gorgeous babe. Lack of syndication sales was probably the reason that Gill Fox dropped out in March 1953, to be replaced by Leon Win (a pseudonym?). Win's artwork looked like a very rushed version of Fox, and for all I know, may actually be just that. In any case, the drop-off in art quality certainly didn't help the strip's syndication chances, and it ended on 9/27/1953.

Labels:


Comments:
Thanks, Steven! I'll make a note of that in the Jeanie SG listing.

--Allan
 
John Benson has some circomstantial evidence for the fact that there may be more than the ten or twelve known installments of Harvey Kurtzman's Silver Linings that were published in the Herald Tribune. I believe he has a clipping for a Silver Lining from a different paper, leaving open the possibillity that Kurtzman did draw them for other dates as well - when they just weren't published in the HT. How did that work for the early Jeannie strips? Were they just drawn for the weeks that they were needed? And do you know of other papers that took these filler sunday strips?
 
I don't believe that the HT filler strips were produced except as needed (or alternatively, perhaps were ordered in batches of a certain number, and used or not used at the paper's need). I have never seen one of these filler strips in another paper, and that seems reasonable since the H-T did not even bother putting copyright notices on them. Certainly they never advertised them in E&P, of that I'm sure.

As for Silver Linings, it is essentially the same as Kurtzman's filler work for comic books at the time, so there may have been some cross-pollination going on. But running in another paper? Well, anything's possible.

Best, Allan
 
Post a Comment

Friday, February 24, 2006

 

Obscurity of the Day: Hollywood Johnnie

You gotta love the title of this strip. So evocative of the 40s. However, the original solicitations for the feature called it Hollywood Merry-Go-Round, and when it began running on 11/26/45, the title panel to the Sunday had the area where you see "Johnnie" in our sample blanked out. My guess is that the original title turned out to already be copyrighted and some last minute changes had to be made.

The title character was a small-time Hollywood agent, and his character swerves around between con artist and saint. Writer Renny McEvoy seemed a bit stuck for finding a direction in the storyline. The art by Jim Pabian, on the other hand, was excellent.

Poor Johnnie lost his star billing in April 1947 when the title was changed to Screen Girl. Apparently the title change wasn't enough to generate interest in the strip, and it ended on November 4, 1948.

Note in the sample the rare topper Movie Struck. Very few strips that began after World War II bothered with this convention of an earlier era.

Labels:


Comments: Post a Comment

Thursday, February 23, 2006

 

Mystery Strips of E&P - "C" Listings

Time for another letter of the mystery strips. If you don't know what this is about, look down about 5 posts for an explanation (I gotta figure out how to use those permalinks one of these days). EDIT - figured it out, here's the link.

C.B. Gordon - Mark Der Marderosian - Dickson-Bennett - weekly strip - 1981-82
Cactus Gal - Jack O'Brien - Nationwide Features - daily panel - 1949-50 [Charles Thompson supplies proof that Nationwide was a producer of advertising strips; not eligible for SG listing]
Campaign Button - Kearney Egerton - Interocean Press Syndicate - daily panel - 1972
Campus Laughter - Pedro Moreno - United Cartoonist Syndicate - daily panel - 1979-84
Can It Be Done? - Ray Gross - self-syndicated - daily panel - 1934-39 [Found! by Robert Brooke in Boynton Index]
Can You Imagine - Art Radebaugh - General Features - daily panel - 1947
The Candy Man - Bill Murray - Minority Features - weekly - 1981-present
Cap'n Kadd - Pat Anderson - self-syndicated - weekly strip - 1970-75
Cap'n Knot - Howard Swift - Russell Enterprises - daily strip - 1968-69
Capitaine Bonvent - P.J. Kuhn - Douglas Whiting Ltd - daily strip - 1965-69
Capital Carnival - Gerald A. Bennett - Dickson-Bennett - weekly strip - 1979
Capital Hills - Jack Anderson and Mort Gerberg - United Feature - daily and Sunday strip - 1982
Captain Wings - Flowers - Editors Press Service - daily and Sunday strip - 1946-47
Captain Skid - Richard Benavidez - United Cartoonist Syndicate - daily - 1988
Captain Cockle - Peter Garvey - Transworld News Service - daily panel - 1976
Captain Flame - Pat Boyette, Bruce Darrow, Don Sherwood - Al Smith Service - weekly strip - 1954-58 (Found! by John Adcock in Horry County News)
Captain Flight - Ray Tobin, Bob Robson - Allied Features - daily strip - 1945-46
Captain Freedom - Farrell - Allied Features - Sunday - 1941
Cargo Smith, Navy Seal - Bill Barry - Adventure Features - daily and Sunday strip - 1996-97
Caricatoons - Buzz Gambill - self-syndicated - weekly panel - 1995-present
Carol Day - David Wright - Piccadilly Press - daily strip - 1966-69 (looking for proof that it ran in US)
Cars And Stars - Ray McNamara - Christy Walsh Syndicate - weekly panel - 1926 [Alex Jay found this -- it's a photo and column feature, not a cartoon of any kind, so miscategorized by E&P]
The Cartoon Bug - John Gallagher - Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate - weekly strip - 1970-74
Cartoon Comedy Club - John Shepherd - self-syndicated - weekly strip - 1994-95
Castles In The Sand - Henrik Rehr - At Large Features - daily strip - 2001-02
Catesby - William Ferguson - Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate - Sunday strip - 1952-53 [found by Todd Hillmer - thanks Todd!]
Caught In The Act - Horace Knight - Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate - thrice per week panel - 1956
Chameleon - Al Wiseman - Altair Inc. - daily strip - 1973
Channel Jockeys - Phil Evans and Jim Asher - Wheller-Evans - daily strip - 1977-78
The Chargers - Ross Bunch - Grand Prix Features - daily strip - 1971-78
Charley - Nathan Diggs - Amadou Features - weekly panel - 1973
Charley Sez - David Brown - self-syndicated - daily strip - 1974-75
Charley The Chump - Jim Navoni - Wheeler-Nicholson - daily strip - 1926
Cheerful Earful - Hazel Duncan - Fortune Features - weekly panel - 1948
Chester - William Hatch and Tony Ortiz - Feature Service - daily strip - 1991-2002
Chickita - Ed Hechtman - Dickson-Bennett - daily panel - 1984
Chip's Place - L. Stuchkus - Dickson Bennett - daily strip - 1980-81
Chris The Li'l Martian - Pedro Moreno - Transworld News Service - daily strip - 1976-82, 1993-94
Christina Anders - Robert Acomb - Chicago Sun-Times - daily strip - 1950 (turns out to just be an alternate name for "Jack and Judy in Bibleland")
Christopher Strong - Bill Scott and Jim Seed - Register & Tribune Syndicate - daily and Sunday strip - 1950
Chubby - Guy Hooks - Agnes Kelleher - daily panel - 1937
Chuck And Sally Ann - Rhoda Burton - Allied Features - daily strip - 1979
Church Chuckles - Charles Cartwright - Chicago Tribune/Al Smith Service - weekly panel - 1959-97 [Found! by Alex Jay in Wichita Times]
The Circle - Aaron Kerns - Universal Press Syndicate - daily strip - 1970 [Found! by Jeffrey Lindenblatt in Minneapolis Star and Philadelphia Daily News]
Citizen George - George Wolfe - Al Smith Service - weekly panel - 1970-73
Citizen Senior - Dave Berg - Whitegate Features - daily - 1989-93
Clancy Boys - Dan Cortor - Dickson-Bennett - daily panel - 1983-84
Classic Stories - uncredited - Ledger Syndicate - daily strip - 1950
Classie Addie - Ellen Conner and Lorene Rutherford - Agnes Kelleher - daily panel - 1939 (Found! by Cliff Erickson in the Altus Times-Democrat. Thanks Cliff!)
Claude Hopper - Lorna Caviness - R-GAB Features - daily panel - 1980-82
Clean Ups - Richard Johnson - Richmond Syndicate - weekly panel - 1976
Clem's Best - Clem Scalzitti - Dickson-Bennett - daily panel - 1981
Click - Gordon Shepard - World News Syndicate - daily panel - 1973
Clipper - L.F. Van Zelm - Globe Syndicate - daily strip - 1950
Clipper Williams On Courage Island - Dick Calkins - National Newspaper Syndicate - daily and Sunday strip - 1937-38 (turns out to be an alternate title for Skyroads)
Close-Ups - Hinderer and Leitner - Wade Allen Syndicate - daily panel - 1968 [Found! by Charles Brubaker in Red Bluff Daily News; thanks Charles!]
Coby's Corner - Dick Smith - self-syndicated - weekly strip - 1991-93 (sorta found -- ran VERY sporadically in Orem-Geneva Times in 1991-93, not often enough to qualify as a regular series -- still looking for regul,ar appearances)
Codgie - H.F. Voorhees - National Newspaper Syndicate - daily strip - 1924
Coffee-Oddities - C.M. Payne - self-syndicated - weekly strip - 1938
Colonel Hush - Theodore Scheel - Queen Features - weekly strip - 1939
Colonel Cracker - Lloyd James Williams - Thompson Service - daily panel - 1931-33
The Colonials - Richards and Wetherholy - Gordon Langley Hall News Service - daily and Sunday strip - 1967
Color Blind - Orrin Brewster - Creators Syndicate - daily and Sunday strip - 1999 FOUND! by Charles Brubaker; thanks Charles!
Comet Bill - uncredited - Press Alliance - weekly strip - 1940
Comigraph - W.F. Peters - Publishers Feature Service - weekly panel - 1946-49
Concrete Jungle - Dale Patterson - Copley News Service - weekly panel - 1982 FOUND! by D.D. Degg in Oswego County Messenger
Condemonium - Lee Martin - McNaught Syndicate - daily panel - 1981
Congressman Dripp - Ben Youman - Federated Press - weekly panel - 1946-56
Consolidated Enormous - Bob Zahn - Feature Associates - weekly - 1980
Cookie Pushers - Buford Tune - EAS - weekly strip - 1930-34
Cooking With Gags - Bob Archer - Royal News Syndicate - weekly panel - 1949
Copp Twins - D. Orme - Jolyon Features - daily strip - 1939
Copy Boy/Copy Cub - Homer Fey - Western Newspaper Union - weekly panel - 1947-50
Copycats - Robert Ranger - Transworld News Service - daily strip - 1978
Cornflakes - Nellis Johnson - Superior Features - weekly strip - 1978-81
Cosgrove - Martin Duffy - Transworld News Service - daily panel - 1976-78
Cosmic Critters - Jim George - Dispatch Features - daily strip - 1966
Count of Monte Cristo - Jack Cortez - Eisner-Iger Associates - weekly strip - 1938-40
Coupons - Bob Vojtko - Pat Anderson Features - daily panel - 1976
Courthouse Squares - John Jarvis - Community Press Service - 1973,76,78,81-82,2001-present Found! in McHenry Plaindealer
Cowboy Joe - Joe Buresch - Unique Features - daily strip - 1938
The Cowboy - Gloria Jacquart - United Cartoonist Syndicate - daily - 1987-89
Cranberry Cafe - Tom Roy - Creators Syndicate - daily and Sunday strip - 2000
Crazy Quilt - Courtney Dunkel - Independent Features - weekly panel - 1965
Crazy Zoo - Hsaio Yen Chung - Sparks Syndication - weekly - 1991
Cringely - Al Fagaly and Harry Shorten - McClure Syndicate - Sunday strip - 1946
Critters - Jerry Cardona - United Cartoonist Syndicate - daily panel - 1980-84
The Critters - Gene Patterson - Allied Features - daily panel - 1969-71
Croaker (aka Crocker?) - John Jarvis - Community Press Service - weekly panel - 1983-2002
Crosby's Country Cousins - Joe Buresch and Abe Crosby - Crosby Newspaper Syndicate - daily strip - 1938-42
Cross Bones - Bob Ashley - Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate - daily and Sunday strip - 1974
Cross-Cuts - L.L. Cross - Fact Features - weekly panel - 1936-38
Crosscut - Morrie Brickman - National Newspaper Syndicate - daily panel - 1957-62 [turns out to be continuation of "Do It Yourself" -- thanks D.D. Degg for the info!]
Crowe's Feats - J.D. Crowe - Copley News Service - weekly strip - 1986-88 [found! by Charles Brubaker in a bunch of papers. Thanks Charles!]
Crowley Chronicle - Pat Crowley - Copley News Service - weekly strip - 1987-94
Cuff & Rubin - Curt Brando - American International Syndicate - daily strip - 1993-94
Curior-Rarezas - John Harvey - Inter-American Syndicate - daily panel - 1934
Curious Creatures - Richard Addison - King Features - daily panel - 1930-31 [Found! in Boston American]
Curious Facts - C.J. Petersen - Matz Unique Features - daily strip - 1935
Curley's Cranes - Roger Curley - Allied Features - daily - 1972
Cy Cylinder - Bob Moore - Nationwide Features - Sunday panel - 1949-50 [Charles Thompson supplies proof that Nationwide was a producer of advertising strips; not eligible for SG listing]
Cybil Action - Dibble and Hatch - Feature Service - daily - 1991-92
Cynth Hiddle - Wing - Johnson Features - daily panel - 1925
Cyril - Bob Battle - Transworld Features - daily strip - 1952-55

Labels:


Comments:
I seem to remember that Captain Wings by Flowers was in fact a mexican strip done for the american market. I've read them in the argentine weekly Historietas. Sadly all my documentation is in Peru- However there was some info about this in "Puros Cuentos", the history of mexican comics (3 volumes).

Mario Lucioni
 
Hi Mario - thanks for the info. I'm assuming there was no English edition of "Puros Cuentos" for those of us who are Spanish impaired?
 
No, sadly.

Mario
 
"Concrete Jungle" by Dale Patterson was found in The Oswego County Messenger; but as a strip, not a panel.
Go to http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html
and search for Concrete Jungle, then get to the Oswego C. M. items. There are a few samples.
This paper seemed to print the Copley strips and panels in the first half of the 1980s. If you have any Copley strips from 1980 - 1985 that you're looking for, you may give this place a shot.
For example that "Gleeb" panel is found here.
 
Hi,
I have 4 original art of Citizen George by George Wolfe
it's not a weekly panel.
i have this date
10-1-73
10-2-73
10-3-73
10-4-73

if you want i can send the scansions
 
Capitain Bonvent by P. J. Kuhn is actually Kapitein Rob by Pieter Kuhn, a Dutch comic strip which did appear in French and German as well. See http://lambiek.net/artists/k/kuhn.htm for more on this. No idea if it was ever published in English though...
 
Crosscut - Morrie Brickman - National Newspaper Syndicate - daily panel - 1957-62
Crosscut is a continuation of Brickman's Do It Yourself.
The Deseret News and Telegram had been carrying Do It Yourself on their classified pages.
Saturday, March 2, 1957 is Do It Yourself - Monday March 4, 1957 is Crosscut.
For a few months the Deseret News ran the panel with their Do It Yourself heading right above the syndicate-supplied Crosscut heading.
The panel ran, though not every day, at least until June 20, 1962,
always on one of the classifieds pages.
Don't know how much a difference it is to your records but when the panel carried a copyright notice it read "John F. Dille Co.", not Dille's National Newspaper Syndicate.
 
Hi DD --
Thanks for the info! I'd seen Do It Yourself running later than 1956 pretty often, but never under that rather odd "Crosscut" title, and always so sporadically that I assumed it was papers using up old stock. Great to have that one cleared up.

Regarding Dille vs. NNS, I've never understood the system they used for assigning each of those company names to features. I usually record whatever is on the feature itself, which hopefully remains consistent, and figure someone someday will explain it all to me!

Best, Allan
 
I realize this isn't going to be particularly helpful, but the cartoonist of "Cuff & Rubin" signed himself as Curt Brandao, not Brando, at least in his pre-syndication days.

The strip was featured in Tomorrow's Comics, a monthly compilation of "undiscovered" strips which was distributed on college campuses around 1992-93. The main characters were two ten-year-old boys who were described respectively as a "genius who dresses like a claims adjuster" (Cuff) and "moody and imaginative" (Rubin).

I don't know whether the strip ever made it into any mainstream newspapers so as to qualify for your index, but I just wanted to get some record of its existence out there.
 
I found "Classified Chuckles" running in Evening Vanguard (Venica, CA) and Daily News-Post (Monrovia, CA) from 1967 to 1969.

Samples - https://imgur.com/a/HyawiAp
 
Sorry for the double-post:

"Close-Ups" by Warren Hinderer (artist) and Stan Leitner (writer, and president of Wade Allen Syndication)

I found it running in Red Bluff (CA) Daily News from September 11, 1967 to December 12, 1968.

https://imgur.com/a/YQzo9ec
 
Classified Chuckles: sorry should not have been on the mystery list, feature #1193 in my book

 
Closeups: thanks for another one stricken from the mystery list, not to mention the pointer to another unknown strip, D.C.'s Washington in your imgur!
 
This comment has been removed by the author.
 
You got it, Allan!

"D.C.'s Washington" by Warren Hinderer, Pat Morain and Stan Leitner started appearing in The Daily Dispatch (Moline, IL) on November 7, 1975.

The Dispatch initially ran it every weekday, but starting in late December its appearances became spotty (initially it ran in the Opinion section but they also started running it in the Comics section later on). The latest I can find is March 13, 1976.

Also, there's a copyright slug for the Register and Tribune Syndicate.

https://imgur.com/a/PFogG98
 
This comment has been removed by the author.
 
I found "Crowe's Feats" running in The Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA). They ran it briefly in August and November of 1985, then on a monthly basis from March to October 1987, then weekly on Sundays during November of 1987.

I also found it in The Gaffney Ledger (SC), which ran it for a brief time, from August to November 1986.

Interestingly, I found several other papers run one or two "Crowe's Feats", then never again. But The Daily Breeze and The Gaffney Ledger (as well as a Canadian paper The Citizen) were the only ones that ran it kinda-sorta consistently.

https://imgur.com/a/R8nxMEx
 
Finding a Copley feature that ran anywhere consistently is a tough nut to crack. Odd that this humor panel seemed to always run on op-ed pages. Crowe's Feats checked off, thanks!
 
This comment has been removed by the author.
 
No prob, Allan!

I'm wondering how Copley distributed their comics. Did they have one of those weekly syndication packages like Al Smith and King Features Weekly Service?

And oof, you ain't kidding about Copley strips rarely running consistently. I found one of your Copley Mystery Strips, "Marsh Mellows", in a few papers, but those papers only ran it once or twice and (seemingly) never again. I'm still trying to find a paper that ran it on a frequent enough basis.
 
Copley is quite the enigma. The syndicate in general, anchored by papers owned by the company, was no hole in the wall at all; it was a pretty big concern. But their comics were 90% junk, and nobody, including their own papers, would run them except as desperation fillers. My guess is that they were provided as freebies to clients of their more serious offerings, and I think they just sent out proof sheets with whatever they happened to feel like sending each week. Those are just guesses, but I see not other likely explanation.

--Allan
 
Post a Comment

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

 

Obscurity of the Day: Mrs. Fret-Not


Mrs. Fret-Not is a delightfully funny strip that had a short but entertaining run; March 24 - August 16, 1913. The feature, and the one shown above is an excellent example, must be read in light of the era in which it appeared to be fully appreciated. The idea of an upstanding married woman being an accomplished card-sharp was, in these rather uptight post-Victorian years, scandalously wicked. This strip might have actually been worthy of a spit-take over a few breakfast tables in 1913.

The strip was distributed by Associated Newspapers, and that syndicate is eminently worthy of an extended discussion, but I'll leave that for another day. Today I want to focus on the cartoonist of this feature, a fellow by the name of Williams.

Now I know this signature as well as if it was tattooed on my forehead, because I love the guy's work. What I can't remember is how I came up with the notion that his slightly more complete moniker is O.P. Williams. I don't recall his signature ever being anything more than just 'Williams', and I don't recall a byline to that effect on any of his strips. However, that's how I have him listed, so I presume I discovered it in some way.

Anyway, his most memorable work was back in the mid-oughts when he took over the position once held by Winsor McCay at the Cincinnati Enquirer. Along with another fine cartoonist who has been lost to history, Apworth Adams, these two made Enquirer readers miss the great McCay a little bit less. If they didn't have quite the level of native ability of the master, they made up for it with imaginative concepts, good art and funny gags.

Williams seems to have been quite the gypsy. He first shows up on the comics pages in Boston, at first with the Herald in 1904, then doing strips for the Post and Globe. He then had his stint in Cincinnati in 1908-09, then returned to Boston again. Here he did a lot of work for the Post, and through them got syndicated with Associated Newspapers. In 1915 he shows up in Philadelphia working for the North American. Then he disappears for over a decade, only to reappear once last time in New York, doing a short-lived strip for the Evening Graphic.

Does anyone have additional information on O.P. Williams?

Labels:


Comments:
Apparently someone on Ebay last year
sold a 1914 sheet music insert from
the Boston Herald with cover art by
Orville P. Williams.

D.D.Degg
 
VERY cool, DD! It's even in the right city at the right time. I had a feeling my good ol' OP would have a cool first name. You'd think he woulda wanted to advertise that name, given its significance in the era.

Thanks, Allan
 
I was researching two baseball related cartoons I have by a "Williams". This site gave me my answer. My cartoons can be dated to Sept. 12, 1915 and Oct. 9, 1915. The contents of the cartoons provide specific information that allowed me to date it. Thanks.
 
You probably know this by now: Williams, Orville Peter, 1876-1944. “Deaths and Funerals,” Boston Globe, January 3, 1944, p. 3. I can send you more citations. Sara
 
Hi Sara --
Yes, I now do have a positive ID of this fellow as Orville P. Williams, and thanks for the message to remind me to say so here. What is still wrong in the essay above is that Orville never worked in Cincinnati -- that turned out to be yet another Williams -- Carll B. Williams to be specific. That information was also determined too late to make it into my book, sadly.

--Allan
 
Post a Comment

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

 

Obscurity of the Day: The Nearsighted Mister Magoo


Some animated cartoon characters have made successful transitions to the newspaper comic page. Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, of course, and later Yogi Bear and The Flintstones, have all be syndication success stories.

Unfortunately syndicate suits often see those successes as based purely on the popularity of the characters in their native medium. The truth, of course, is that to be a success the newspaper version must stay true to the character and have good gags. The toughest part, though, is to judiciously modify the character for the new medium.

For instance, one of the surefire bits of business for Donald Duck on screen are his insane tantrums. Frenetic action, though, does not translate well to the comic page, so Al Taliaferro made a very important tweak to Donald's character. Instead of tantrums Donald in the newspaper became a master of the slow burn and a hilarious Jack Benny-like doubletake. The tantrums still make an occasional appearance, but they tend to be the springboards for gags, they're not relied on to be the punchline.

No such deep thought seems to have gone into the translation of Mister Magoo, whose cartoonist(s) were uncredited (Pete Alvarado is mentioned in one reference). The gags are mostly repetitive and unimaginative. The gag in our sample is so lame that it is barely recognizeable, and Magoo's speech in the last panel is out of character and, more importantly, hits like a lead balloon. Worse yet, the storyline depends on Magoo having good eyesight - good enough to recognize that there's a bunch of tourists in his car from across the parking lot. Sheesh!

The Nearsighted Mister Magoo was syndicated by the Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate, and I don't recall seeing it appear anywhere other than their papers. It ran 12/5/1964 - 5/8/1966.

Labels:


Comments:
The Nearsighted Mr. Magoo (Nov. 1967)
published by Pyramid
reprints 244 daily strips.

Reprinted in an abridged edition by
Scholastic in 1977.

D.D.Degg
 
Post a Comment

Monday, February 20, 2006

 

Obscurity of the Day - The "In" Kids


Taking a break from the E&P mystery strip listings...

Here's a real rare one by Pat Boyer. It ran from November 6, 1967 to January 27, 1968 as a daily in the Washington Post. The Post also ran the Sunday but only a few times. If it ran longer elsewhere I haven't been able to locate it. It was syndicated by Publishers-Hall Syndicate.

This is one of those attempts to be mod and 'with it', notable for being an early entry in that late 1960s-early 70s genre that continued with features like Laugh-In and Peter Max's Meditation.

This is Pat Boyer's only syndicated credit that I know of. Since I find his/her characters to look vaguely unsettling and menacing (those eyes! ) this doesn't seem too surprising.

Labels:


Comments:
Hello, Allan---THE 'IN' KIDS ran in The Philadelphia Bulletin until at least Feb. 24, 1968.----Cole Johnson.
 
Thanks very much for the info Cole!

--Allan
 
Hello, Allan-I was at the library today. The Philadelphia Bulletin ran "THE 'IN' KIDS (everyone's favorite therapy project strip from the psycho ward) until Thursday, March 7, 1968. I assume that it actually ended on Saturday, March 9, but the Bulletin ran plugs for it's replacement (MISS PEACH) in it's space on the 8th and 9th. ---Cole Johnson.
 
Thanks Cole!
 
Post a Comment

Sunday, February 19, 2006

 

Mystery Strips of E&P - "B" Listings

Here are the mystery strip B listings. Read yesterday's post to see what this whole mess is about.

I'm going to stop with B for a few days to see what sort of response comes in. Putting together a letter's worth of listings takes anywhere from 2 - 6 hours, so it's a major time investment. I'd like to see if the investment has any dividends...

Babs & Aldo - Buddy Valentine - King Features - daily/Sunday strip - 2003 (found! ran in Deseret Morning News - thanks to Charles Brubaker)
Baby Bee - Garcia - RDR Syndicate - daily panel - 1983
Baby Lynn - Tony Marchese - Trans-World - weekly panel - 1978
Bac Talk - Bob Howard - self-syndicated - weekly strip - 1973
Bachelor Bill - Bill O’Malley - Independent Features - daily panel - 1965
Bachelor Party - Adam Miller - Creators Syndicate - daily panel - 2002-03 (found! by Charles Brubaker in Salt Lake Tribune -- albeit running only selected dailies on Sundays)
Bachelors - George Castillo - United Cartoonists - daily strip - 1988
Back Home - Homer Box - Editors Copy Syndicate - weekly strip - 1986-present
Backfire! - George Leeds and Henry Riddick - Family Features - daily panel - 1948-49
Bad Example - Carlton Winford - self-syndicated - daily panel - 1971
Bad Libs - Ronald Boerem - Danny Ball Productions - weekly strip - 1978-79
The Baffles - Mahoney - National Weekly Newspaper Service - weekly panel - 1956-62 (found! in Soda Springs (ID) Sun)
The Bag Line - H.F.Voorhees - Dille - weekly panel - 1925
Ballads Of Classified Clara - Clarence W. Payne - CP Syndicate - daily panel - 1936
Balloonatics - Ernest Hix - Bell Syndicate - daily panel - 1948
Balloonatiks - Mark Gandy and Fred Goodman - Animagic - daily strip - 1996-97
Baloney - Martin Duffy - Trans-World - daily panel - 1976-78
Bannister Babies - Constance Bannister - Columbia Features - thrice weekly panel - 1972
Barbs & Brickbats - Allen and Owen Richardson - Dickson Features - weekly panel - 1979
Bargain Daze - Harley Schwadron - Davy Associates - weekly panel - 1990-present
Barkis And Family - Crockett Johnson - George Matthew Adams - daily panel - 1955 (FOUND! in Oakland Tribune)
Barklay - Laing - Interpress - daily strip - 1973
Barnacle - Alexander Monroe - Singer - weekly strip - 1978
Barnacle And His Friends - Alex Moore - Oceanic Press Service - weekly panel - 1983-95
Barnstormers - Frank Tabor - Trans-World - daily panel - 1976-81
The Barnyard Gate - Sarge O’Neill - Southern - daily strip - 1970-78
Baron Nobux - Jack Thomas - Queen Features - daily strip - 1939
Barring None - Burck - Chicago Times - daily panel - 1941
Barry Finn - Tarpe Mills - Watkins Syndicate (Brooklyn Eagle) - weekly strip - 1939
Basic Nature - Dick Lancaster - Continental - weekly panel - 1995
Batch - Marty Bartels and Bill Lane - Chicago Sun-Times - daily strip - 1994-95
Baz And Company - Mike Higgs - News America - daily panel - 1993
Be A Detective - Bruce Patterson - Matz Features - daily strip - 1937
Be A Sport - Jim Janeway - American International - daily strip - 1992-94
Beaker - Leonard Bruce - Leoleen Durck Creations - daily strip - 1991-92
Beat This - Tip Brady - McClure Syndicate - daily panel - 1958
Beau Geste - P.C. Wren - Register & Tribune Syndicate - daily strip - 1933-34 (never mind -- turns out this is an alternate title for Flying To Fame)
Beau Peep - Andrew Christine and Roger Kettle - The Syndicate - daily strip - 1987-90
Beauregard - Jack Davis - McClure Syndicate - daily strip - 1961 (Ger Apeldoom says the strip didn't sell, ran in a humor magazine instead)
Beautiful! - Charles Bowen and Barbara Jones - Allied Features - daily panel - 1977-86 (found! by Jeffrey Lindenblatt in Indianapolis News)
Beautyettes - Aldine Swank - Associated Features - daily panel - 1935 (note: name is a pseudonym of Faith Burrows)
Becky - Frank Tabor - Anderson Features - weekly strip - 1970
Becky’s Senior - Evans Krehbiel - Weekly Features - daily strip - 1986-89
Bee Smart - John Prinkey - Other Dimensions - daily strip - 1971-79
The Beehive - editors of Childlife - Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate - Sunday strip - 1957-61
Beep-Beep - Robert Leduc - Service Offset de Presse - daily and Sunday panel - 1968-71
Begger - Ken Muse - Dickson-Bennett - weekly strip - 1982
Belly Laughs - Sarge O'Neill - Southern Cartoon Syndicate - daily strip - 1970-73
Benny Kukoe - T.J. Garlan - Thompson Service - daily - 1932
Berenstain Bears - Stan & Jan Berenstain - King Features - daily panel - 1982
Berserkers of the 21st Century - Bob Tuna - Lew Little Enterprises - daily and Sunday strip - 1998 (creator tells me that the strip has so far appeared online only)
Bert 'n' Gert - Jack Levin - General Features - daily strip - 1954 (found! turns out to be continuation of "Hands 'n' Faces")
Best Years - Ed Heckman - American International Syndicate - daily strip - 1992-94
Best of Church Humor - Jack Hamm - Religious Drawings Inc - Sunday - 1960 (not the same as Church Humor from the 1970s)
Best Of Press - L. Hughes - Editors Copy Syndicate - weekly panel - 1976
Bettey And Her Pals - William Miller - Unique Features - daily panel - 1945
Betty Blurbs - J.C. Beesley - King Features - daily panel - 1929-30 (FOUND! in Lethbridge Herald)
Betty Botch and Bob Botch (listed separately) - Mel Millar - Pat Anderson Features - weekly panel - 1972-75
Betty Brighteyes - Bill Seidcheck - General Features - weekly strip - 1937-42 [found! by Art Lortie in Hastings News]
Betty Lee - Ralph Matz - Matz Features - daily strip - 1935-38
Between Us Girls - Ashton Wing - Allied Feature - daily panel - 1964-69
Bi-Focals - Ruth Marcus - McNaught Syndicate - daily and Sunday panel - 1977 (found! in Clearfield Progress)
Bible Stories in Color - La Sorgente - Spadea Syndicate - weekly strip - 1973-75
Bible Story - Glen Cassel - American International - daily strip - 1990-94
Bible Today - M. Roget - Mark Morgan Inc - weekly panel - 1970-72
Bibs - Mickey Jai and Martin Kormic - Dickson Bennett - daily panel - 1982
Big Boss & Company - Richard Davies - Community Features - weekly panel - 1980
Big Boy - Ferd Himme - Lowery Cartoon Corp - weekly panel - 1932
Big Brother - Clem Scalzetti - Dickson-Bennett - weekly strip - 1980-82
Big Feet - Pedro Moreno - United Cartoonist Syndicate - daily panel - 1979-85
Big Flat City - Richard Kolkman - self-syndicated - weekly strip - 1994-97 (FOUND! Creator reports it ran in college papers 1988-96)
Big Foot - Robert Beasley - Danny Ball Productions - daily strip - 1979
Big Little Things - Walter Galli and Dick Thomas - Watkins Syndicate - weekly strip - 1936
Big Moments - Ving Fuller - self-syndicated - daily panel - 1950
Big Town Follies - Mike Gray and Bob Moore - Nationwide Features - weekly panel - 1949-50 [Charles Thompson supplies proof that Nationwide was a producer of advertising strips; not eligible for SG listing]
Big World Of Little Things - Alfred O. Shedd - Science Service - weekly panel - 1927
Bigg's Business - Bob Zahn - Centurion Press and others - daily panel - 1972-79 and 1990-present
Bill And Hazel - Harlan Wade - Transworld News Service - daily panel - 1978
Bill Bunker - Henry Formhals - United Feature - unknown - 1933
Billy And His Dog/Billy The Kid - Lloyd James Williams - self-syndicated - daily strip - 1939-40
Billy The Beaver - James Rodriguez - Comic Art Therapy - daily - 1993-95
Bing And His Buddies - Ed Brennon - General Features - weekly strip - 1937-42 [found! by Art Lortie in Hastings News]
Bizness Peepul - W.O. Evans Jr - Thompson Service - thrice weekly panel - 1933-34
Bizz And Biff - F.H. Cumberworth - Watkins Syndicate - daily strip - 1940
Black Bart - Dick Locher - Winford Co. - daily - 1971
Black Sheep - W.A. Dillard - Columbia Inc - daily strip - 1935
Black And White - Weihrauch - Select Features - daily panel - 1948
Blaze Braden - Paul Morgan - Crown Features - Sunday strip - 1960
Blisters - Jeb Ladouceur and Neel Roth - Transworld News Service - daily strip - 1978
Blockheads - John Gile - Register & Tribune Syndicate - daily panel - 1979
Bloop - Joseph Morton - United Cartoonist Syndicate - daily - 1988
Bob Bannon - Prentice Phillips and Ray Tucker - Ray Gross Features - daily panel - 1938
Bob Sledd - Stuart Welsh - McClure Syndicate - daily strip - 1928
Bobby Babysitter - Ron Fritz - American International - daily strip - 1992-94
Bodities - Dr. Kruidenier - Esquire Features - daily panel - 1939
Boids - Peter Garvey - Transworld News Service - daily panel - 1976
Boldo Inc - Steve Moore - Star Group - weekly panel - 1984-85
Bonzer U - Kearney Egerton - LA Times Syndicate - daily strip - 1968
Boomers - Kent Whitaker - Kentoons - thrice weekly panel - 1994-97
The Boomers - William Feld - Stuyvesant Syndicate - weekly strip - 1970
Boosterville - Leonard Bruce and Douglas Nelson - Leoleen-Durck Creations - daily strip - 1985-86
Born Lucky - Bruce Plante - Universal Press - weekly panel - 2001-present (found! verified by creator Bruce Plante)
Bossy The Rooster - R.S. Matz - Unique Features - daily strip - 1946
Botony Boy - David B. Wood - Transworld News Service - weekly strip - 1977-78
The Brain Trust - Jack Roman - Press-Craft Features - weekly panel - 1978
Brain Wave - Ed Wilkens - Transworld News Service - weekly panel - 1978
Brass Tacks - Nick Frising - Allied Features - daily panel - 1978-86
Breaker, Breaker - J.W. Lynch and Mike MacCormack - Copley News Service - daily strip - 1977
Brother Simon And Lucas - Pedro Moreno - Transworld News Service - daily strip - 1976-88, 93-94
Brothers-In-Law - Jacquin - Premier Syndicate - daily strip - 1926 just a messed up listing in E&P -- this is an already documented strip by Darrell McClure
Brothers-In-Law - Edward Bryant - self-syndicated - weekly - 1991-92
Buccaneers - Al Ciederman - American International Syndicate - daily strip - 1989
Bucksaw - Randy Muir - American International Syndicate - daily strip - 1987
Bud 'n' Bub - Ed Kressy - Publishers Autocaster - weekly strip - 1931 DD Degg found this strip running in Cass City (MI) Chronicle - thanks DD!
Bud Broker - KmC - Feature Associates - daily - 1984
Buffo - Howard Rands - Al Smith Service - weekly strip - 1989-91
Buford - John Marshall - Syndicated Newspaper Services - daily strip - 1982
Buford's North Forty - Chris Carr - self-syndicated - daily strip - 1986
Bug - Rand Renfore - United Cartoonist Syndicate - daily - 1985-87
Bug Movies - Stookie Allen - EAS - weekly strip - 1930-34
Bugwine - Arthur Akers and Dudely Williams - Allied Features - daily strip - 1935
Builders Of America - George (Jimmie) Smith - Transatlantic News Features - ? - 1942
The Bumbles - Al Smith - Al Smith Service - weekly strip - 1982-83 [found! in Burleson Star by Charles Brubaker. Thanks Charles!]
The Bumpalumpkins - Robert J. Alberts - United Cartoonist Syndicate - daily - 1987-88
Bumper T. Bumper - Robert Laughlin - Transworld News Service - daily - 1979
Bumpy - C.D. Russell - Famous Features - daily strip - 1925
Bus - Woody Gelman - Solomon & Gelman - daily strip - 1947
Bush League - John Bianchi and Ken Shaw - LA Times Syndicate - daily and Sunday strip - 1975
Bush League Barry - Victor Pazimino - EAS - weekly strip - 1930-34
Business Card - Anne and Gene Bass - Cartoonist & Writers Syndicate - thrice weekly - 1992
Business As Usual - Harley Schwadron - Allied Press International - daily panel - 1980-81
Buster - Aaron Bacall - Transworld News Service - daily strip - 1976-77
Buster And Lester - Virgil Maldonado Jr - United Cartoonist Syndicate - daily - 1986-87
Butter And Eggs - Norcross - Wheeler-Nicholson - daily panel - 1926
Butterball - Bill Danch - Select Features - daily panel - 1957-62
Button's Bunch - Ford Button - Dickson-Bennett - daily and Sunday strip - 1980-86
Button-Up - Ford Button - R-GAB Features - daily panel - 1980
Button-A-Day - Ed Moore - United Feature - daily panel - 1972-73
Buzz And Biff - F.H. Cumberworth - Watkins Syndicate - daily strip - 1939
Buzzy - Brian White - Watkins Syndicate - daily strip - 1935-36
By George - George Callahan - Dickson-Bennett - daily strip - 1982
By Murphy's Law - Robert Howell - Journal Syndicate - daily - 1982-86

Labels:


Comments:
Hi Steven -
Bug Movies, if my recollector is working right, appeared in that comic section distributed by Eastern Color Printing. Problem with it is that no one has ever seen it packaged with a US newspaper (only a Canadian one), so its not yet eligible for Stripper's Guide inclusion. Since the company was based in the US it seems only reasonable that they managed to sell it to someone here, but no evidence of that so far. Eastern did package some reprint books of these strips, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if they also sold them to comic books later on.

Best, Allan
 
Big Flat City - Richard Kolkman - self-syndicated - weekly strip - 1994-97

I can tell you this comic strip existed because I drew it from 1988 to 1996. It began in Sagamore Indiana University newspaper, and was syndicated to alternative and college papers from 1990 to 1996. Peak number of papers was 12 in 1992. Mini-Comics for sale at www.xulucomics.com
 
Thanks, Richard - excellent to get the straight dope right from the horse's mouth! Did it ever get syndicated into 'mainstream' (ie not college) papers?

Thanks, Allan
 
Oh, and "Born Lucky" also existed. It ended last year.

Some strips http://www.ucomics.com/bornlucky/
 
Hi Charles -
Thanks very much for your msgs and the provided links. What I need, though, is confirmation that these features ran in newspapers, not just on the web. That's the problem with a lot of these strips from the last ten years or so. They run on the websites (comics.com, uexpress, etc.) as sort of tryouts, and some (many?) never actually make the leap into actual newspapers. The samples of "Bachelor Party" that you link to, for instance, with their computer shading, have the air of something that was meant more to look good on the web than on newsprint.

If you can send me clipped samples of any of these strips, or scans definitely from newspapers (paper names please) I'd not only be thrilled to get them, but of course you'd be getting one of my famous goodie packages for your effort. Provide proof of all four and I guess you'll be getting the ultra-mega goodie package!

Best, Allan
 
Re: Beauregard - Jack Davis - McClure Syndicate - daily strip - 1961

This was written about in the Comic Journal special Edition #4. Made for a syndicate but didn't sell and was finally published in Sick. I think the writer did the article for the CJ.
 
Hello, Allan---"THE BERENSTAIN BEARS" feature never came about.---Cole Johnson.
 
Bhob Stewart, in his blog today, backs up Ger's assertion about Beauregard and supplies samples.
http://potrzebie.blogspot.com/2008/02/jack-davis-beauregard.html
 
Re Bachelor Party, I did a spot check of the Salt Lake Tribune and could not find the strip there. If it did run it came and went fast.

--Allan
 
In Google's news archives, I found a few appearances of a "Brothers-In-Law" strip syndicated by Premier, but it's says it's by Darrell McClure, not "Jacquin".

These links should take you to the right page, but you may have to scroll around to found the strip.

06/02/1926

06/03/1926 [Google thinks it's 06/04]

06/04/1929

06/07/1929

06/08/1926 [Google thinks it's 06/09]

06/09/1929
 
Hi Anon --
I already had this strip documented (as Brother-In-Law rather than the plural) and didn't make the connection. I'm sure you've IDed the right one tho. E&P just REALLY screwed up on the creator name!

Thanks -- another one struck from the list!
 
Hello to all at Stripper's Guide I am very new to this and finally found a website that seems to now about vintage comic strips. However I was looking to find other comics from C.A. Voight I have the Betty strip from the Sunday August 3, 1919 Pittsburg Paper any ideas where I could find other comics from this same Comic? Sally
sally.jordan61@yahoo.com
 
Is this true King Features tried to launch a Berenstain Bears comic strip based on Stan and Jan Berenstain's books in 1982?
 
Allan,

I found "Bachelor Party" running in Salt Lake Tribune, although they seemed to have run them as a batch of strips on Sundays in their "Salt Substitute" section. Here are pages

Here are a bunch of pages with the strip (it also ran a Signe Wilkinson strip called "Shrubbery"

https://imgur.com/a/3rnu2vG
 
Okay, got Bachelor Party and Shrubbery in the database now; Philadelphia Daily News ran the latter complete. Thanks Charles!

 
No prob, Allan!

Here's another to cross off your list. I found "Buford's North Forty" in Sapulpa Daily Herald (Oklahoma). It began on April 4, 1986 (Friday) there; the paper ran a blurb on that date saying the strip will run every Friday and Sunday. The creator, Chris Carr, was a resident of Tulsa, OK.

However, the microfilm archive didn't seem to save the Sunday comics section, so while I found the strip running weekly on Fridays, I can't find any of the Sunday comics.

The latest I can find in the paper is May 6, 1988 (a Friday).

Here are the samples: https://imgur.com/a/QbofI7k
 
Thanks for that Charles. Looking closely at that run, I see that they ran the strip late (the first one is dated 3/20/86), and that at some point the strip went to daily frequency based on strip dating, though the Herald kept on running it only on Fridays. Thus, their end date is very late. The last strip there was dated 2/9/1987. I think the Sunday comment is a red herring: the paper ran so few dailies, I find it hard to believe that they had Sunday comics. A text search of the paper for "comics" finds no mention of a Sunday comics section.
 
The Bumbles - Al Smith - Al Smith Service - weekly strip - 1982-83

I found it running in Burleson (TX) Star from April 19, 1982 to July 18, 1983

https://imgur.com/a/nhmfMG6
 
There's quite a few goodies in that Burleson paper (Al Smith Service and Copley Syndicate strips), but it seems to have disappeared from newspapers.com. I tried accessing it from a Texas library site, but their server dies after about three page views! Oh well, at least you found The Bumbles! --Allan
 
No prob! I used this site to find Burleson Star archives. If you're still having trouble, I can try grabbing as much of their comics section as I can if you need info on Copley and Al Smith strips

https://texashistory.unt.edu/
 
Post a Comment

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]