Wednesday, December 14, 2005
At the Top of my Christmas Wish List
My Stripper's Guide index, which is a serious attempt to bring together in one resource all the vital statistics on every newspaper comic strip and panel cartoon series to run in U.S. newspapers, has, if I may be so bold, darn few major informational 'holes' at this point. Much of the data still missing is for all intents and purposes impossible to find at this point.
An example of data that is most likely lost beyond any chance of retrieval is much of the information from the New York Evening Graphic syndicate. Only a few bits and pieces of the home paper was microfilmed, and the few papers that took the syndicated material are similarly unfilmed or present the material late, incomplete or out of sequence. Although I hate to admit defeat, I realize that certain information like this will probably never be found.
On the other hand, there is certain data that I know is out there somewhere, but despite my efforts I have been unable to track it down. At the top of that list is the beginning of the Associated Press' Sunday comics. According to Ron Goulart the AP Sunday comics were inaugurated in October 1941, yet in a decade of searching I have never been able to find any Sundays that early. The closest I can come is March 1942 when the New York Post began running what I assume is the complete section. The line-up was:
Oaky Doaks
Scorchy Smith
Adventures of Patsy
Dickie Dare
Modest Maidens
Sport Slants
Homer Hoopee
Neighborly Neighbors
Strictly Private
Things To Come
Scorchy Smith
Adventures of Patsy
Dickie Dare
Modest Maidens
Sport Slants
Homer Hoopee
Neighborly Neighbors
Strictly Private
Things To Come
If anyone could supply the name of a paper that ran this section from the start (and preferably complete) I would be very much in your debt.
PS: An obvious source for this information would be Ron Goulart. I have not been in contact with Ron for many years, but way back when I was I did ask him for the source of his information but did not get a reply.
