Saturday, April 21, 2007

 

Sponsored Comics: Pixie Puzzle Adventures



Pixie Puzzle Adventures will be familiar to some comic strip fans; as far as I can tell its the only feature in the Family Comics section that wasn't created especially for it. This activity feature by Matt Curzon originally ran in the New York Herald-Tribune Sunday comics section from 1948 to 1956. The puzzles aren't exactly Einsteinian in their complexity, but it is pretty neat how Curzon weaves them into a storyline.

I know nothing about Curzon except the tidbit, gleaned with a little Googling, that he contributed work to some of the early comic books in the mid to late 1930s.

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 11:28 PM
Comments:
hi Allan - I would like to obtain some originals of Matt Curzon's work for our family. He was my uncle (grandmother's brother). I met him several times and always thought he just did the "color college" in the NY Post?? Now I'm seeing there was much more to his work. What should I look for and where should I look - any ideas? He was married but they never had any children. When his wife died it was probably her side of the family rather than mine that disposed of or took whatever of Matt's may have been around.
Matt came to the US from Minsk in 1903 at around 6 years old. His name at that time was Nathan Kurtzon - I guess he changed it to something more anglo sounding. Matt, my grandmother and the other siblings were all creative and loved to laugh - a very warm, funny family - gr8 senses of humor.
Robert in Los Angeles
# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 1/17/2008 8:26 PM
 
Hi Robert -
The only "Coloring College" I know of ran in the NY Daily News on Sundays -- think it ran in the 70s and 80s.

If you're looking for originals you should probably keep a watch on eBay. Everything shows up there eventually.

Best, Allan
# posted by Blogger Allan Holtz : 1/21/2008 10:30 AM
 
Matt Curzon was my uncle, and when I was engaged in 1948 he put me in his cartoon, and when I was married in 1949 he did me as a bride. I remember the engagement ring so vividly. I am 80 years old. This would be fantastic if I could find it for my children and grandchildren. Thankyou.
# posted by Anonymous selma eiges : 6/08/2009 5:33 PM
 
In case Mr. Curzon's relatives come back to this page at some point, they will also be interested in his short-lived 1946 daily feature Shaddo, examples of which can be seen in the Tuscaloosa News and the Pittsburgh Press. Starter URLs below.

The Milwaukee Journal carried Pixie Puzzle Adventures, for sundays at least, in 1952. The niece who appeared in the strip might find herself, albeit in black and white.

Pixie Puzzle Adventures was also offered in daily form, and was carried by the Beaver Valley (PA) Times in 1951. The starter URL below is to a promo photo of the artist.

Hope those are of interest to someone,
Bob Harris

Shaddo strip at image 2 here: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=XUmZziu-z7kC&dat=19460108&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

Shaddo promo at image 12 here: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=djft3U1LymYC&dat=19460118&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

Pixie Puzzle at image 132 here: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=jvrRlaHg2sAC&dat=19521214&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

Photo of Matt Curzon here (scroll to top of page):
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1981&dat=19510109&id=mp0iAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4a0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=4354,620607&hl=en

# posted by Anonymous Anonymous : 3/07/2016 7:05 PM
 
Hi Robert - I knew his wife, Gussie Curzon, very well (as a young child). Did you ever find Matt's work?
# posted by Blogger Unknown : 12/29/2016 11:44 PM
 
To my knowledge, Coloring College (later changed to Crayon Corner) ran in the NY Daily News on Sundays, from sometime in 1962 until at least 1983 (the latest date I’ve seen). I loved this coloring feature as a kid in the early 70’s, and have collected some NYDN comic sections from that era in recent years to obtain some clean unmarked examples. With coloring books for adult relaxation coming into vogue in recent years, I’ve taken to xeroxing some of my CC’s and coloring them. Great stuff - always educational, great wildlife drawings, birds, fish and whatnot. I’d love to have them all (7,000+ different by my estimation), but there’s so little information about them on the internet. Why this wasn’t syndicated in hundreds of papers around the country is completely beyond me. The only other paper that’s come up in Google searches as having carried it is the Orlando Sentinel in FL. -Tom B., NY
# posted by Anonymous Tom B. : 9/17/2020 5:49 PM
 
Correction - over 1,000 different entries, not 7,000+. I calculated based on every day instead of weekly!
# posted by Anonymous Tom B. : 9/18/2020 7:39 PM
 
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