Monday, May 01, 2006

 

The Gorgeous Gals and Catty Gags of Annibelle






Annibelle began life on 12/29/1929 as a single tier strip that ran on Sundays in NEA's Everyweek magazine section. The strip ran on the womens page of the section. The cartoonist was Dorothy Urfer. Urfer had a blotchy, ink-stained style that worked out alright in the black and white version, but wasn't especially suitable when Annibelle made the jump to the colored comic section in 1935. In March 1936 the strip was taken over by Virginia Kraussmann.

The strip had no continuity, and the gags were of a catty, gossipy type that sought to emulate the conversations of the rich and spoiled debs of the day. These were the same young aristocrats seen in hundreds of Hollywood movies in the 20s and 30s.

Kraussmann apparently had some ghosts or assistants helping out, because the quality of the artwork varies considerably from week to week. I've picked examples with better artwork, presumably those in which Kraussmann took the most charge.

Annibelle last ran on 10/15/1939.

Comments:
Someone from the Isle of Man is trying to find out about Frank Tipper, aka "Mugsy Tipper" who was from the IOM and died in Los Angeles County in 1963.
Tipper was an animator (not a strip artist) and worked for Walter Lantz Studios, et al.
If you have any idea where we could find out more about Frank Tipper, please let me know.
Thanks,
Jack Cormode
jarmode@yahoo.com
 
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