Stripper's Guide: January 2008

Thursday, January 31, 2008

News of Yore: Walt Kelly Profiled - 1952

Walt Kelly Is Named Cartoonist of Year
By Erwin Knoll (E&P,4/26/52)

In a smoke-filled room in Darien, Conn., a deceptively mild-looking man named Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr., is grooming a dark-horse Presidential candidate. The candidate hails from the deep South—the Okefenokee swamp in Georgia, as a matter of fact—but he isn't a Democrat. Nor a Republican either.

And though he hasn't yet declared his intention to run, "Pogo for President" clubs are being formed all over the country and "I Go Pogo" buttons will soon be seen on every college campus.
Reason we mention all this at this time, besides the obvious political overtones, is the fact that Walt Kelly, who draws "Pogo" for Post-Hall Syndicate, has just been named outstanding cartoonist of the year by his colleagues in the National Cartoonists Society. The sixth annual Billy DeBeck Award, given in honor of the late creator of "Barney Google," was presented to Mr. Kelly Wednesday night at the Society's ANPA Convention dinner.

Campus Boosters
But to get back to politics, the "Pogo for President" movement seems to be here to stay. The strip, which in less than three years of syndication has built an impressive list of over 250 newspapers, has from the first found its greatest fans among the collegiate set, and it was on the campus that the Presidential boom began. Early this year political bids started showing up in Mr. Kelly's ample fan mail—over 100 letters a week. And several weeks ago Mr. Kelly took formal note of the movement in a letter to some of his campus fans. The letter said, in part:
"It seems a lot of college people want Pogo for President. Nobody has made it clear what they want him President of, but presumably they don't want him for President of Nicaragua or even of General Motors—though they are both nice outfits, no offense.

"What we have come up with is the suspicion that Pogo is in demand for the job of President of these United States. That is, no large party has come out for him unless you count a large party named Harold from Cornell, but many college groups have been demanding something tangible:
some sign, some word, a campaign button, a free trip to Europe. Anything that would indicate Pogo is available would do."

Mr. Kelly has ruled out the free trip to Europe, but the campaign button is in the works. So far, requests for 50,000 buttons have been received.

Walt Kelly is no newcomer to the stresses and strains of a political campaign. In 1948, while working for the late New York Star as art director, political cartoonist and editorial advisor, he drew a series of devastating "mechanical man" cartoons of Governor Thomas E. Dewey, depicting the Republican candidate as an adding machine, a cash register, a tank, a music box and just about every other mechanical device. The cartoons received nationwide attention and were widely reprinted.

'Nature's Screechers'
It was while working for the Star that Mr. Kelly, in his capacity as art director, directed himself to launch the daily "Pogo" strip. He took his cast of talking animals—they call themselves "nature's screechers"—from a series of children's comic books he had been doing since 1943. (Before that he had worked for Walt Disney Studios for six years.) He still does four "Pogo" comic books a year.

The new strip caught on with Star readers, but the paper didn't stick around long enough to benefit. When the Star folded in January, 1949, the New York Post saw a good thing and took "Pogo" on. Several months later, Post-Hall Syndicate started distributing it nationally, and added a Sunday page. The list of papers hasn't stopped growing since.

Fanatic Fans
Editors who try dropping "Pogo" —several have made the attempt— invariably find the strip has an almost fanatic claque of fans, who usually succeed in getting it restored to the comics page. Mr. Kelly himself is at a loss to explain this great enthusiasm.

"I try to comment on the passing scene," he says, "and get people to stop taking themselves and the world quite as seriously as they seem to be doing. It's a good thing, these days, to make people relax and feel that there's always tomorrow. The Okefenokee swamp, where Pogo and his friends live, is a land of its own, enabling readers to escape into another environment for a few seconds every day. But after all, these are things that so many comic strips try to do, and most of them succeed."

Some of "Pogo's" special appeal may be in the almost hypnotic weirdness of the dialogue, a synthesis of Elizabethan English, French, Negro and Indian dialects heavily interspersed with outrageous puns. Mr. Kelly is a student of languages and a former civilian employee of the Army's Foreign Language Unit. The "Pogo" dialect is definitely not genuine Okefenokee talk, since Mr. Kelly has never been to the swamp country.

Poison Pun
But "Pogo's" main asset is undoubtedly the friendly satire which spares no institution from Mr. Kelly's poison pun. His credo when he launched his cartooning career was: "I just want to be friendly and maybe make a buck at it." At 38, Mr. Kelly seems to be succeeding pretty well on both counts.

Labels: New of Yore

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 12:01 AM 1 comments

Comments:

How I miss reading Pogo! It was partly responsible for teaching me to have such a whack sense of humor about politics and life!!

# posted by

mamafrog : 1/31/2008 6:31 PM

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Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Bible Stories

You won't hear me say this too often, but Dan Smith may well have been to good an artist for newspapers. His delicately detailed realistic rendering usually turned to mud when subjected to the treatment of a high-speed newspaper press. When Smith was afforded a large enough format to really shine it was generally for cover and interior illustrations in Hearst Sunday magazine sections. The interior black and white illustrations are breathtaking, the color covers less so (Smith understood that bold colors were supposed to be the star of the show and considerably simplified his drawing style).

Here is Smith's only 'standard' comic strip, Bible Stories. He did some continued magazine cover series and occasionally contributed to Hearst's daily romantic cartoon series, but this is the only one I know of in daily strip format (though it was a weekly).

Bible strips came into vogue starting in the 1920s when cartoonists began to look for niche subjects for their wares. There were radio strips for the radio page, romance cartoons for the womens page, sports strips for the sports page. Religious strips for the weekly church pages were a natural, and quite a few came and went over the years.

Dan Smith's Bible Stories was one of the less successful entries in the market (by the way, it never actually ran with that title - it was only used in marketing). In Hearst's San Francisco Examiner it started on June 10 1933 and ran until August 31 1935. Smith handed off the creative chores to Dan Komisarow for the final month and a half of the run. The stories were generally short and the art (if a newspaper actually managed to print it clearly) was spectacular. Here are the stories titles; dates are from the Examiner which evidently didn't run the series strictly according to Hoyle since the proof dates don't match up properly:

Life of Samson, Strong Man of the Bible : 6/10 - 7/22/33
The Story of Queen Esther : 7/29 - 9/30/33
The Story of Joseph : 10/7 - 12/23/33
The Story of Ruth : 12/30/33 - 1/27/34
The Story of David : 2/3 - 6/9/34
The Story of Solomon : 6/16 - 7/21/34
The Story of Jezebel : 7/28 - 9/1/34
The Story of Salome : 9/8 - 10/6/34
The Story of Elijah : 10/13 - 11/3/34
The Story of Joel : 11/10 - 12/8/34
The Story of Abraham : 12/15/34 - 3/9/35
The Story of the Holy Child : 3/16 - 4/6/35
The Story of Moses : 4/13 - 7/6/35
The Story of Noah : 7/13 - 8/31/35 (by Komisarow)

The examples displayed above are from proofs. I regret that there is absolutely no way to give you a sense of Smith's art through these scans, but computer monitors, just like newspapers, do no justice to the art of Dan Smith.

A big tip of the Stripper's triregnum to Cole Johnson who provided the samples.

Labels: Obscurities

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 12:57 AM 2 comments

Comments:

Hi Allan;

What an interesting blog you have!

I just stumbled upon it and have to say your description in the article is really quite compelling, I can feel your passion for this kind of art.

I am amazed at the detail work on the large left panel of “The Story of Solomon”.

# posted by

Livingsword : 1/29/2008 11:29 PM

My fave is panel 1 of the David strip. The oxen really jump off the page on the proof sheet.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/30/2008 10:42 AM

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Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Adventures of Powder Pete

Lute Pease was the editorial cartoonist for the Newark Evening News for almost forty years, from the teens to the fifties. He won a Pulitzer for a cartoon about union leader John L. Lewis in 1949 at the age of 80 -- I believe he still holds the record as oldest recipient. As with many Pulitzer winning cartoons, Pease's was a pedestrian effort. It didn't hold the power and style of his earlier work; evidence of his bold and evocative style are far more evident in the Pease strips above.

Pease went to the Klondike in the 1890s gold rush and from then on styled himself something of a frontiersman. That made it a natural subject when he created a comic strip for the Newark paper in 1926, a lighthearted strip about a grizzled pioneer, treasure-hunter and adventurer. Adventures of Powder Pete began on March 29 1926 and ended on October 2 of the same year. The samples above include the first and the last strips.

A hearty tip of the Stripper's ten gallon hat to Sara Duke at the Library of Congress who provided samples and information about this rare strip.

Fun Fact: Lute's real first name was Lucius.

Labels: Obscurities

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 12:48 AM 0 comments

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Monday, January 28, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Over Here - Over There

Ernest Henderson took on the task of chronicling World War I in a comic strip that lasted as long as the American involvement in that conflict.

Over Here - Over There began (in the few papers that started it on time) on April 6 1927, exactly ten years after the U.S. entered the war. And for the few papers that stuck with the series to the bitter end, the feature ended on September 29 1928, a decade to the day after the armistice was signed. In the interim Henderson described the war in exacting detail over the span of 407 comic strip installments. The strip was syndicated by the Register & Tribune Syndicate.

Those good with dates will wonder how the number of strips meshes with the start and end dates. There should be a total of 465 strips if the series ran continuously. Unfortunately I don't have a satisfactory answer to that because I have had no luck finding a paper that started the strip on time and stuck with it until the end. My information is cobbled together from several different papers (specifically, the Oakland Tribune, the Jackson Daily News, the Nashville Tennessean), none from which I have a complete unbroken run. My best guess is that the strip took occasional vacations during its run.

Ernest Henderson was starting on his next comic strip brainchild, Flying To Fame, three months before Over Here-Over There ended.

Labels: Obscurities

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 7:56 AM 5 comments

Comments:

But the Armistice was signed on 11/11/18...not in September.

# posted by

Anonymous : 1/28/2008 11:41 AM

Hey, you're right! Only Bulgaria signed an armistice on 9/29. Well that shoots my assumption that the end of the strip was timed to coincide with the end of the war. Unless Henderson was a Bulgarian...

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/28/2008 1:49 PM

A closet Bulgarian?

# posted by

Anonymous : 1/28/2008 2:25 PM

Unless I'm mistaken, there have been some interesting amendments to the wording in "Setting the Stage": AGITATION seems to have replaced a shorter word, IN replaces a longer word, and SET UP probably replaces a single short word. I wonder what it said originally, and why it was changed. At what stage would it have been changed? The changes look a bit makeshift: could it be a local paper that did it in this instance?

# posted by

Lyn : 1/29/2008 6:53 AM

Hi Lyn -
Probably changes made by the syndicate editor. I checked this tearsheet against another run and the text is the same. This sort of thing isn't uncommon, especially since cartoonists seem to be genetically prone to be bad spellers.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/29/2008 4:08 PM

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Sunday, January 27, 2008

Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

Order Jim Ivey's new book Cartoons I Liked at Lulu.com or order direct from Ivey and get the book autographed with a free original sketch.

Labels: Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 10:55 AM 1 comments

Comments:

fantastic (nine letters)

# posted by

dddegg : 1/27/2008 11:56 AM

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Saturday, January 26, 2008

Herriman Saturday

In this delightful December 15 1906 episode of Zoo Zoo Herriman gives his cat the unequivocal starring role for the only time in the short series. If you're scratching your head over the final panel read about Comstock Laws here on Wiki.

For the next four days Herriman is relegated to providing only spot illos. On the 20th he has a sports page cartoon commemorating a 50 to 1 longshot coming in at the Ascot race track, and another episode of Zoo Zoo which will have to wait for next Saturday.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 4:56 PM 0 comments

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Friday, January 25, 2008

Bulletin: Author Goes Mad, Gives Away Books

Alfredo Castelli, Italian comics icon and cartooning history scholar, has been researching and writing his magnum opus, Here We Are Again, for the past decade. The work, which recounts the history of American comic strips in their formative period (up to 1919), was released with Italian text last year and an English translation is in the works.

In a strategy that has some fellow authors aghast Castelli recently announced that anyone who would like a copy of the Italian edition (text in Italian but the voluminous illustrations in their native English), which retails for about $300 US, may download it in PDF form for free. Castelli characterized the offer as "a late Christmas present" to comics fans.

Fellow researcher Allan Holtz, who contributed data to the book, said Here We Are Again "is absolutely the greatest contribution to the scholarship on American comic strip history yet published." Regarding the giveaway Holtz commented that "Castelli has obviously spent far too much time breathing old newspaper fumes. Mad as a hatter, I'm afraid. He has been struck down by an affliction that all comic strip researchers dread. Every time you open a newspaper bound volume you can feel the brain cells dying. It's a wonderful but highly addictive and harmful aroma."

Castelli's Here We Are Again is downloadable in a series of 12 zipped PDF files, each representing one chapter of the book, plus an English introduction. Those on slow internet connections are cautioned that these files are about 20 MB each:

http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/01.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/02.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/03.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/04.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/05.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/06.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/07.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/08.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/09.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/10.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/11.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/ENG.zip

Castelli says that the offer will expire on February 7 and the PDFs will no longer be available after that date.

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 8:39 AM 5 comments

Comments:

Is it madness, though? The zip files give you the text, though in Italian, and an indication of what these thousands of illustrations look like, though the resolution is such that you can't really see them that well. It has all really whetted my appetite for this book: full size, discernable pictures and in English. Brilliant promotion, in my opinion.

F Flood

# posted by

Detroiter : 1/25/2008 10:18 AM

Is the book n sale yet?
amazon?

# posted by

Eddie Campbell : 1/25/2008 10:56 PM

What? Me Worry?

# posted by

Alfred(o) : 1/26/2008 9:51 AM

Seriously speaking: thanks to Allan for the very kind (and very funny) words. You’ll find a similiarly enthusiasic appreciation of Stripper’s Guide at page 688, col 3 (Vol 11). It’s in Italian as everything else, and I’ll just translate the sentence “la più importante opera di reference mai
pubblicata sul fumetto americano in syndication”, “The most important reference work ever conceived on American syndicated comics”. A short entry dedicated to Stripper’s Guide Blog is at page 704, Col 1.
Please download the book’s frint and back endpapers, where Allan’s very important contribution to “Eccoci ancora qui!” is credited.
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/FrontEndpapers.zip
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/BackEndpapers.zip
To Eddie Campbell ---Hi Eddie, maybe you remember me when we both were “Honor Guests” at the Rome Comicon, together with Lupin III’s Monkey Punch – I took you to that messy restaurant where the dinner was held, “L’Ardito”. Eccoci ancora qui is sold, but it is very expensive (385 Euros!!!) as the first printing was only of 100 copies, with a (already rare) reprint of the extremely rare “The Yellow Kid in McFadden’s Flats” (download the color presentation at
http://www.eaq.it/eaqftp/EAQ/YK.zip
and other special gadgets. My advice: wait for the (not so) cheap edition in a single book. Anyway, for the Rockgellers and Berlusconis, connect to
www.eaq.it
Best, Alfredo

# posted by

Alfredo Castelli : 1/26/2008 4:51 PM

Alfredo!

ah, that was you. It all goes past in a blur. But I must say that my wife and I enjoyed the dinner very much (My mother-in-law was of Italian descent), and don't recall the place being too messy at all.

best to you

ciao
Eddie

and to Allan, I had a little trouble with Blogger myself today, but it came right. Am missing my shot of Zoozoo.

# posted by

Eddie Campbell : 1/26/2008 8:19 PM

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Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Can You ID These Artists?

I'm trying to get my index listing for the True Comics Sunday series as buttoned up as possible. Problem is that many of the toonists who contributed pages (and there were quite a few) didn't sign their work. I do know, or at least strongly suspect, that all these artists were primarily in the comic book field -- all the ones who signed were, anyway. I know Sam Glankoff did lots of the Sundays, with additional contributions by Ed Smalle, Lew Glanz and Chad Grothkopf and others.

I know some of you folks are also comic book fans and researchers, so I'm hoping you can ID some of these guys. Here are four samples from 1942. The first is a guy who did quite a few pages in 1941-42. The style is quite unique -- the faces, I think, are a dead giveaway to the artist, but who is it?

Our second contestant only did a few True Comics pages. The style is pretty basic but it has a few stylistic flourishes that may make an ID possible. Certainly this cartoonist was not on the "A" list, but can anyone ID him? The style looks to me like one I remember showing up in a lot of Blue Bolt and Target Comics:

Now here's a mystery artist with some real panache! Looks sort of like Mac Raboy to me, but I don't know his work from this era nearly well enough to make a positive ID:

And here's the last of our group. This cartoonist's work is pretty generic looking to me, but maybe there's something distinctive enough for an ID:

Okay, that's four mystery artists. If anyone has definite ideas on the IDs please let me know. If you'd give me some idea of your certainty (50%? 75%? 99%?) that would be helpful.

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 12:25 AM 15 comments

Comments:

All I know is Joe Simon is supposed to have done them in 1944, so I hope you will continue these into that area. I am no help on these, though.

# posted by

Ger Apeldoorn : 1/23/2008 2:51 AM

I used to know Ed Smalle's art real well - but it's been a couple years since I was certain of his style - so I wont guess yet. (but its possibly the first guy, less likely the second) His father was quite a singer though.
Lew Glanz is a penname for Louis Glanzman, you can email him getting his address from his website -
http://www.louisglanzman.com/

# posted by

Steven Rowe : 1/23/2008 8:14 AM

Sorry, didn't make myself clear. Glanz, Smalle et al did sign their work. The Sundays shown here are by other artists who did not sign their work.

And I was saving up Joe Simon as a surprise -- we'll get to him in a subsequent post.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/23/2008 10:29 AM

Other than those already mentioned I have Jack Sparling and John Spranger listed as contributing artists. Jerry Bails' Who's Who has Harry Lucey doing two weeks in 1942.
I don't know if the above did Sundays or Dailies or both, or if that is their art on any of your samples.
Wasn't Elliot Caplin the editor of this series?

# posted by

D.D.Degg : 1/23/2008 9:50 PM

The first one is by Lloyd Ostendorf a regular on Treasure Chest comics from Dayton, Ohio in the sixties and seventies.

# posted by

john adcock : 1/24/2008 9:43 AM

The second is probably Lou Fine who was doing a lot of advertising comic work at the time.

# posted by

john adcock : 1/24/2008 9:47 AM

Oops, Lou Fine is third. Third I say.

# posted by

john adcock : 1/24/2008 9:49 AM

I don't know much about this series but it must have been produced by Johnstone and Cushing who handled the comic section in Boys Life and probably Treasure Chest as well.
I'm 100% sure of the identification of Ostendorf and Fine.

# posted by

john adcock : 1/24/2008 10:13 AM

Hi John -
Re Lloyd Ostendorf, can you suggest somewhere I might see some of his comic book work? All I could find so far is a site with some later work, and it didn't have any of the style cues I'm seeing here.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/24/2008 3:00 PM

Hi Allan,
See my blogpost today on Yesterday's Papers. There is a link there to Treasure Chest digital archive with lots o' Lloyd.

# posted by

john adcock : 1/24/2008 3:24 PM

Hi John -
I checked the Treasure Chest site (wow - what an achievement by the way!) and the only Ostendorf stories they referenced were from 1962-63. In these I could see no trace of the style of mystery artist #1. Of course an artist's style could well have evolved a long way in 20 years. Anything earlier you can suggest?

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/24/2008 9:41 PM

OK, here's a good one from 1952,"Outdoors With Dan" about boy's author Dan Beard, on the Treasure Chest site. Vol. 7, No. 9, January 3, 1952 page 10-13. His line is tighter and his skill in drawing expressive faces and hands is much in evidence. A quick link is to look under B for Beard under the main heading People.

# posted by

john adcock : 1/24/2008 10:28 PM

Funny someone would suggest Lou Fine for the third, for I would have guessed one of the artists mimicking Fine aorund the same time... which would be either Alex Kotzky or Jack Spranger (or I believe it's Jack, anyway).

# posted by

Ger Apeldoorn : 1/25/2008 1:53 AM

You could be right- if so its a dead swipe of Lou Fine.

# posted by

john adcock : 1/25/2008 9:26 AM

Hi John -
Checked out that 1952 story, I still see no resemblance in the distinctive faces which are my main point of reference on the 1942 mystery artist. Again, artists do get better in ten years, so I'm certainly not ruling it out.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/25/2008 11:06 AM

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Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Buster's Last Hurrah

I'm guessing this constitutes Buster Brown's last appearance, in strip form at least, in the Sunday comics. This 1934 ad campaign for Buster Brown Shoes doesn't seem to have gone on very long; at least this is the only sample I can recollect seeing.

This Buster strip is penned by the great cartoonist of the Betty Sunday page, C.A. Voight. The work isn't signed but Voight's style is distinctive enough to make it an easy call.

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 10:58 AM 5 comments

Comments:

Hello, Allan-----I think this Buster Brown ad was a one-shot, as I never saw another, either. Voight did several early ad strips, as well, for (I think) Rinso detergent. Other retired strip characters that made their last appearance as shills include Dumb Dora,(Wheaties, ca. 1940, by Paul Fung) the Joys and Glooms,(Pepto-Bismol, 1938) Doings of the Duffs,(Jell-o, 1934, by Ben Batsford) and the Yellow Kid. (Ready-made fill-in the blanks series of ads, ca. 1910, by Outcault.)---Cole Johnson.

# posted by

Cole Johnson : 1/22/2008 3:03 PM

Hi Allan and Cole. No, it was NOT an one shot. Take a look at "Eccoci Ancora Qui" (I have sent the links for downloading the whole 704 page book to PlatinumAgeComics and Comic Strip Classics; see posts "Late Xmas Present from Alfredo Castelli") and you'll find a different sample at page 191 (book 03).
If you need the links for you blog, Allan, feel free to copy them

Other retired strips that resurrected as ads were The Newlyweds (Minit Rub - Drawn by an unknown artist in a style totally different from McManus', but with the same characters, see EAQ page 408); Jerry on the Job (Grape Nut Flakes, Walter Hoban, 1938; the haracter was revived again ias a regular series in 1946). Yellow Kid was featured (with pants) in advertising booklets from Graham's garden tools published in 1915 (see EAQ page 561)
Best, Alfredo

# posted by

Alfredo Castelli : 1/22/2008 7:47 PM

Hi Alfredo -
Am I understanding you correctly that you wish me to publish the links to the downloadable book here on the blog? If so I will be happy to do so. I think anyone that visits this blog would be thrilled to have access to it, but I assumed you wanted to restrict access to the CSC group.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/22/2008 11:02 PM

LINKS to "HERE WE ARE AGAIN!"
Hi Allan,
Sure, if you think that "Eccoci ancora qui" may be of interest to the readers of "Stripper's Guide", I'll be very happy if you publish the links to download it. The book is copmplete, 704 pages, in Italian but with about 5,000 (Five thousand!) illustrations.
Best - Alfredo

# posted by

Alfredo Castelli : 1/23/2008 4:21 AM

Hi Allan,

Here is all the listings for True Comics in Jerry Bails' Who's Who (http://www.bailsprojects.com/). Hopefully it may give some hints.
Under "True Comics"
Some have art samples showing and that may help too
Name Category Credit Tenure
ADLER, ARTHUR
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (wr/) 1946-50
ALLISON, BILL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (asst/) 1942
APPEL, GEORGE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942 unconfirmed
ASHE, EDD
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: Table Turned (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #26 (c) 1943 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942-43
ASTARITA, RAFAEL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1949
BARE, AL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (wr/) 1942
BATTEFIELD, KEN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1943
BELL, FRED
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
BLAIR, JOE
Pen names
Possibly DAVID T. MARKE (MARK) at TRUE COMICS '41-45
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (wr/) 1941-c44
BLUMMER, JON
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
BORTH, FRANK
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
BRADY, BILL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
CAMPBELL, HARRY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
CAPLIN, ELLIOT
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Support (publ/ed/) 1946-49 [Imprint: TRUE COMICS]
TRUE COMICS~ (ed/) 1941-43
TRUE COMICS~ (wr/) 1941-48
CARRENO, AL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1947
CAZENEUVE, LOUIS
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: Basketball (ink/) in TRUE COMICS 1941 see scan 0116RicePierce
CERTA, JOE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1947
CHAPIAN, GRIEG
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (asst/) 1942
COHEN, JOEL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Text illustration (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS (c) 1946 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
DALY, JOHN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-46
DE LAY, HAROLD
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-44
DE MARTINI, A.
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1940s unconfirmed
DE MUTH, MARTIN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (wr/) 1941-42
DILLON, CORINNE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: Delaying Action (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #45 (c) 1945 Parents'
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942-47
DOBROTKA, ED
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
DRESSER, LAWRENCE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942-49
DRESSLER, LAWRENCE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: Up from Slavery (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS (c) c1945 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
ELKAN, MAX
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) c1942
EVERETT, BILL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
FAGALY, AL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942-43
FANSHAW, DAN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
FASANO, JERRY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1946
FERSTADT, LOU
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
FISK, HARRY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42/44-47
FLINTON, BEN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
FROEHLICH, AUGUST
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
GATES, ART
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
GERSHWIN, EMIL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
GILKISON, TERRY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
GILL, TOM
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (ink/) c1943-c47
GLANCKOFF, SAM
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: Mercy for Millions (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #45 (c) 1945 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
Non-fiction: The young flyer . . . (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #26 (c) 1943 Parents Institute
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GLANKOFF, SAM
Syndication
HOME-FRONT HEROES [Sunday] (pen/ink/) 1943-45 topper over TRUE COMICS for Parents Institute
TRUE COMICS [daily] (pen/ink/) 1942-44 AMERICAN VESPUCIUS; GERM TAMER; OLD IRONSIDES
TRUE COMICS [Sunday] (pen/ink/) 1942-44 AMERICAN VESPUCIUS; GERM TAMER; OLD IRONSIDES
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-47
GLANZMAN, LEW
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
GRANT, DOUGLAS
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-43
GRANT, GORDON
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
GRIFFITHS, HARLEY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-43
GROTHKOPF, CHAD
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
HALL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
HARRISON, GEORGE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941 Collaboration was signed: HARRY GEORGE
HART, ERNIE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
HICKEY, TOM
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941 unconfirmed
HICKS, ARNOLD
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
HUGHES, BOB
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
IVERS
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1940s
JACQUET, LLOYD
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Support (art dir/) 1941-42 through his studio [Imprint: TRUE COMICS]
JASINSKI, CHET
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1947
JENNEY, BOB
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1943
JORDAN, JOHN 1
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
KIEFER, HENRY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
KINSTLER, EVERETT
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) c1947
KOTZKY, ALEX
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (asst/) 1941-42
KOZLAK, CHESTER
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) c1942
LAMPERT, HARRY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ [fillers] (wr/pen/ink/) 1946-47
LIVINGSTONE, R. H.
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: Pres. Chaster A. Arthur (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #45 (c) 1945 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
LUCEY, HARRY
Syndication
TRUE COMICS [Sunday] (pen/ink/) 1942 two weeks
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
LYNCH, DON
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: Palace Teacher (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #50 (c) 1946 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
Non-fiction: The Mayos (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #26 (c) 1943 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-43
MARCOUX, GEORGE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942-47
MARKE, DAVID T.
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (byline/) 1941
MC ARDLE, JAY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-47
MEDITZ, JOHN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) c1944
MONTANA, BOB
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
MOREY, LEO
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-43
NAYDEL, MARTIN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
NODEL, NORMAN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (asst pen&ink/) c1943-c44
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1945-47
NOONAN, DAN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
OKSNER, BOB
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) c1940-c41
PADDOCK, MUNSON
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
PALAIS, RUDY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1943
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Note
Aka TRUE COMICS; POLLY PIGTAILS; TRANS-WORLD PRESS
Title published
TRUE COMICS #1-84] 1941-50
TRUE COMICS AND ADVENTURE STORIES nn 1965 reprint
PATENAUDE, RAMONA
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
PEDDY, ART
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/) 1949
PETER, HARRY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
PHILLIPS, JIM
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
PINAJIAN, ART
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
PLASTINO, AL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1943-46
POUCHER, EDWARD
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942/44
POWELL, BOB
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1947-48
PRENTICE, JOHN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942-46
QUINLAN, CHARLES SR.
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1943-46
RAMSEY, HARRY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-43 Collaboration was signed: HARRY GEORGE
REAVIS, LOGAN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
REINMAN, PAUL
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
RICE, PIERCE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: Basketball (pen/) [with Louis Cazeneuve (i)] in TRUE COMICS (c) 1941 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
ROY, MIKE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
RYAN, DOUGLAS
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
RYAN, EDWARD
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
SAHLE, HARRY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
SCHAARE, C. R.
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: The Narrow Escape of Henri de Tonti (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #26 (c) 1943 Parents Institute
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SCHROEDER, ERNIE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: Fireman's Dog (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #52 (c) 1946 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
Non-fiction: When the ship docked . . . (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #26 (c) 1943 Parents Institute
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TRUE COMICS~ (wr/pen/ink/) 1946-49 on comics staff
SCHROTTER, GUS
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
SHERMAN, HOWARD
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
SMALL, JON
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) c1943-c49
SMALLE, ED
Syndication
TRUE COMICS [daily] (pen/ink/) early-1940s
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: If a dead Jap . . . (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #26 (c) 1943 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
Non-fiction: Several log patrols . . . (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #50 (c) 1946 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-49
SNYDER, MARCIA
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942/47
SPARLING, JACK
Syndication
TRUE COMICS [daily] (pen/ink/) early-1940s
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: Best I like . . . (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #26 (c) 1943 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
TRUE COMICS AND ADVENTURE STORIES~ (pen/ink/) 1965
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1943/46-50
SPRINGER, FRANK
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1965
STARR, LEONARD
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) c1943
STONER, E. C.
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
TAX, JERRY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (ed/) possibly other comics titles
TAYLOR, HENRY
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
THOMPSON, BEN
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-42
TORBERT, FLOYD
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941-49
TRUE COMICS
Name and vital stats
TRUE COMICS (see PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS)
TUSKA, GEORGE
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1945
UNCREDITED ART
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Non-fiction: Clash for Empire (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS (c) c1945 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
Non-fiction: How It Got Its Name (pen/ink/) [by Ernest Schroeder?] in TRUE COMICS #52 (c) 1946 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
Non-fiction: Revere & Dawes (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS (c) c1945 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
Non-fiction: Sinbad (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS (c) c1945 Parents Institute
View Scan: 25% 50% 100%
Non-fiction: To stop the Nazi drive . . . (pen/ink/) in TRUE COMICS #50 (c) 1946 Parents Institute
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WARREN, JACK
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1941
WEBSTER, E. F.
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
TRUE COMICS~ (pen/ink/) 1942
WOLFE, LOUIS
PARENTS' MAGAZINE PRESS
Text (wr/) 1946 in TRUE COMICS

# posted by

Ray Bottorff Jr : 1/23/2008 6:17 PM

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Monday, January 21, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: The Matinee Club

Here's one I was ambivalent about finding.

The Matinee Club ran twice in the New York Herald on 7/10 and 7/17/1898. The feature ran on the back page of the Herald's Sunday magazine section, not on the comics pages. Ken Barker's excellent Herald index doesn't list this feature so I assume he wasn't checking this section of the paper when he was going through the microfilm. That means the Herald needs to be given a second indexing by me to catch these additional items.

The De Yongh who signed these Sunday panels is probably John de Yongh (1856-1917). A quick Google search finds that he was responsible for a line of humorous postcards in the late oughts, and drew portraits and advertising matter as well.

By the way for the purposes of full disclosure I did replace the original lettering at the bottom of the panel. For some reason though the panel is given half page play the type at the bottom was set in tiny little agate type. Go figure.

Labels: Obscurities

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 9:06 AM 0 comments

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Sunday, January 20, 2008

Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

Order Jim Ivey's new book Cartoons I Liked at Lulu.com or order direct from Ivey and get the book autographed with a free original sketch.

Labels: Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 11:33 AM 0 comments

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Saturday, January 19, 2008

Herriman Saturday

These cartoons are from December 13 and 14 1906. The second, with Zoo Zoo regaining the starring role, is the third in Herriman's comic strip series.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 7:47 AM 1 comments

Comments:

Alexander -
I deleted your comment. I love comments but please do it without any profanity. I'm not a prude, but I don't want the site to get filtered out of searches because it's off-color.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/21/2008 8:56 AM

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Friday, January 18, 2008

News of Yore: Twin Earths Debuts

UF Adds 'Twin Earths' To Space Fiction Ranks
By Erwin Knoll (6/7/52)

Outer Space versus Wide Open Spaces has been the big debate in comic strip circles in recent months. Science fiction devotees have laid claim to the Westerns' previous mantle of pre-eminence, while cowboy interests have termed the space stuff a mere flash in the pan.

The science fiction trend, which several months ago brought on a heavy crop of new interplanetary strips and old strips converted to science fiction, seems to have quieted down a bit. Until this week, that is, when United Feature Syndicate gave the whole thing new impetus by announcing "Twin Earths," described by the syndicate as a "realistic" science fiction strip. The list of papers signed in advance is impressive.

Twin Planet Theme
The theme of "Twin Earths" is that there is a planet called Terra, a twin and counterpart of our Earth, travelling along the same orbit but hidden from us by the Sun. The people of Terra are some years ahead of us scientifically, and have invented spaceships— remember those flying saucers?— from which to snoop on Earth. They've even got agents working here.

One of these, a girl named Vana, who will be with the strip throughout, turns herself in to the P.B.I, and gets the plot of "Twin Earths" under way. She is taken in hand by Garry Verth, assistant director of the bureau, who will serve as the strip's male lead. That about takes care of the first six weeks of daily releases, and what happens next is anybody's guess. One more detail—for some obscure reason, 92 per cent of the people on Terra are women.

Adult Level
Some of the action in "Twin Earths" will take place on Terra, some on Earth, and some on space-ships in between. There'll be no interplanetary warfare, though. Creator Oskar Lebeck says he intends to keep "Twin Earths" on an adult level, even make it slightly educational without tampering with the strip's primary function as an entertainment medium.

Though Mr. Lebeck is writer, not artist, on the "Twin Earths" strip, he is a past master of brush and pen. He began his career as a stage designer for Max Reinhardt in Europe, later worked for Ziegfeld and Earl Carroll on Broadway. After working as an industrial designer for several years, he joined Western Printing and Lithographing Co. and the Dell Publishing Co. as art director and managing editor of comic books. He is now in semi-retirement, though still a consultant to Dell. Mr. Lebeck is author of three books of science fiction.

The artist who will execute Mr. Lebeck's ideas of the future, including such items as houses made of Polaroid glass which turn with the position of the Sun and chemical food factories which grow organic foods, such as meat, in synthetic forms, is Alden McWilliams. He is a veteran comic book illustrator and has also done some newspaper strip work.

"Twin Earths" will be available for daily six-a-week release beginning June 16. A Sunday page, following a separate story line, is in the works.

Labels: News of Yore

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 7:17 AM 0 comments

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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Versus

Here's Jack Wohl's Versus. It stars a little fellow named Walter, his wife, his brother-in-law Bert, and a giant named Sherman. Caught ya off-guard with that last one I bet. Sherman the giant, who unfortunately doesn't appear in these samples, makes a regular habit of stepping on Walter. A veiled attempt (gossamer thin) at a message about the little guy against a big bad world.

Wohl did this daily and Sunday strip in addition to his more famous Pixies feature (which we might well cover tomorrow since I have some samples right here in my mitt). Versus didn't catch on all that well, though. The art was excellent but the gags, well, they were okay but pretty forgettable. Not an uncommon problem when a creator tries to juggle multiple features.

Versus was syndicated by King Features from October 13 1969 to April 8 1973.

Labels: Obscurities

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 12:05 AM 1 comments

Comments:

You can also see daily samples of the strip at this site.

http://www.graphiqbrasil.com/tirasclassicas/sherman.html

Unfortunately, these are in Portuguese.

# posted by

Brubaker : 1/17/2008 2:17 AM

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

News of Yore: Mule Jumps from Movies to Comics Page

UF's "Francis" Strip Written by Publisher
By Erwin Knoll (5/10/52)

United Feature Syndicate's newest comic strip has the rare distinction of being written by a newspaper publisher and drawn by an editorial cartoonist. What's more, the strip features a talking mule who will be venturing into the newspaper business in a month or two.

The mule, of course, is Francis, already famous—or notorious—as a result of two best-selling books and two hit motion pictures. Francis is the brainchild of David Stern, publisher of the New Orleans Item, who is writing the continuity for the comic strip.

Artwork is by Cliff Rogerson, former free-lance artist and one-time assistant to the late Billy "Barney Google" DeBeck at King Features Syndicate. Mr. Rogerson has been editorial cartoonist for the Garden City (L. I.) Newsday since 1946.

Though most people regard Francis as a rather imaginative piece of fiction, Mr. Stern, who
has the innate veracity of a publisher, maintains that the mule really exists. He claims to have met him after the war in the South Pacific, where Mr. Stern was connected with the Middle Pacific edition of Stars and Stripes.

He further claims that the adventures detailed in two books, "Francis" and "Francis Goes to Washington," are straight from the mule's mouth. At any rate, the books and the two movies based on them did well. Two more Hollywood epics on Francis are due to be released this year, with more to come later.

As a United Features strip, Francis made his six-a-week newspaper debut this week. A Sunday page is in the works [never happened - Allan]. In the strip Francis is a tough ex-Sergeant who "has seen everything, done everything twice, and doesn't like it."

For the first 10 weeks of the strip, Francis and his side-kick, ex-Second Lieutenant Peter Stirling, will be exposing themselves to the hazards of the television industry. On the basis of advance proofs, Messrs. Stern and Rogerson take a dim view of the new medium. Next stop will be a newspaper sequence, which may be protracted for some time, unless the boys in the city rooms holler too loud.

Labels: News of Yore

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 9:07 AM 0 comments

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Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: New Jersey Patriots

Here's a rare batch of strips by Fred Fredericks, well-known artist on Mandrake the Magician. Depending on who you believe, New Jersey Patriots (aka New Jersey's Patriots) ran in 1959 only, 1957-59, 1956-59, 1957-60 or any other combination of late 1950s dates you care to come up with. With any luck there's some Fredericks fans out there who can give us some more authoritative information.

These samples, provided to Stripper's Guide by Cole Johnson (thanks Cole!), are all from 1959 - a miscellany of dates from May to October.

The Revolutionary war history strip was syndicated by Superior Features Syndicate, probably Fredericks' self-syndication company. This was one of several historical strips done by Fredericks before being tapped for duty on Mandrake. There was also Under The Stars and Bars and a strip that was advertised but I've not seen, The Late, Late War.

Labels: Obscurities

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 12:37 AM 2 comments

Comments:

Around this time and into the sixties he also did a lot of work on Dell's Twilight Zone, sometimes whole issues. Quite an impressive artist, more so than Mandrake on it's own would indicate.

# posted by

Ger Apeldoorn : 1/16/2008 2:11 AM

What an interesting web blog. I have a number of sunday comics from the San Francisco Bulletin from the year 1902. I have identified two of the artists as Thomas Dorgan and Grant Wallace. They are single page comics in a very primative four color presentation for the most part and they are in very good shape considering they are over 100 years old. Can anyone out there assist me in finding out more about these comics? Thanks for some interesting reading. Thanks.
My e-mail: Tabs4959@msn.com

# posted by

Anonymous : 3/19/2008 7:31 PM

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Monday, January 14, 2008

News of Yore: The New Orleans Picayune Frog

Picayune Frog People's Choice By Tradition
(E&P, 4/19/52)

New Orleans—Tradition lovers sent up a mighty cheer this week when The Picayune Frog emerged victorious over Pogo the Possum in a stormy "weather derby."

Frog's the winner by a 5,170 to 4,087 count. He thereby earns squatter's rights as official illustrator for weather stories in the Times-Picayune. Pogo will continue to entertain readers of the Times-Picayune with his comic strip antics. And, in case of an emergency, he'll substitute for The Picayune Frog.

The Picayune Frog vs. Pogo weather derby proved again just how newsworthy the weather really is.

2,839 Votes Cast
The contest ran for one week. On the final day of balloting, 2,839 votes were cast. It started quite innocently.

Some weeks ago, Pogo—with an occasional assist from Albert, the alligator—began helping the weather editor. His appearance immediately brought letters from readers who, invoking the power of tradition, wanted this usurper Pogo ousted and The Picayune Frog reinstated.
Frog was guessing the weather in the Picayune back in 1894, and for 20 years thereafter. He was one of the many inspirations of Mrs. Eliza Jane Nicholson, co-owner with her husband, George Nicholson, of the Picayune at that time.

One of the great newspaper-women of her day, the late Mrs. Nicholson decided her readers should have a weather prophet capable of tickling their funny-bones as well as passing along predictions.

Posture Gives Clue
She inspired cartoonist L. A. Winterhalder to create a dapper, pot-bellied frog with rolling eyes and a swagger rear. With a top hat and cane, smoking a cigar, holding a fan or an umbrella, his rakish posture told what to expect that day in a weather way.

The Picayune Frog was an immediate hit from his first appearance on Jan. 13, 1894. He became the theme for dancing academy programs, was borrowed for book store campaigns and rode on a Carnival float. Later he achieved fame on the Children's Page when he organized a Frog Circus. He was even the model for souvenir spoons. With his crafty look and debonair appearance. Frog reigned for 20 years.

And the current weather derby proved his loyal followers haven't forgotten him.

From "The Picayune's Guide to New Orleans", 1903, available on Google Books:

THE PICAYUNE FROG
When the "Frog" first made its advent in New Orleans as the "Weather Prophet" of the Picayune, and appeared daily at the head of our "Guide to the Weather" column, arrayed in various garbs, indicating the kind of weather one might expect for- the next twenty-four hours, enthusiasm for the "Picayune Frog," as our prophét was immediately dubbed, was very great.

Not only did the great popular heart go out to Froggie, but the most exclusive circles caught the idea, and "Picayune Frog Teas," "Picayune Frog Pins," "Picayune Frog Calendars." menu cards, etc., with the pictures of Froggie in his amusing garbs became the fashion of the hour. No entertainment, no reunion, no fair, or children's party was considered complete without the presence of the Picayune Frog. The Frog soon became the "mascot" of every charitable and philanthropic entertainment, the booths at which he was invited to take up his headquarters generally carrying the fair. Cakes and drinks and fashionable dishes were named in his honor, and so great was his popularity that a famous old chef in the French Quarter, unable to control his enthusiasm for the little frog, who had left the bayous and swamps of this old Creole State to take up his abode in a great newspaper office, complimented him with an original dish named in his honor. "Picayune Frogs il la Creole." Froggie, always ready to adapt himself' to circumstances, at once responded the next day by appearing as a waiter serving the dish.

Subsequently, on occasions of great festivals in New Orleans, such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, etc., Froggie always appeared in this conventional garb, ready, as he said, for duty. And so when the Picayune published its Creole Cook Book, Froggie., who, as distinguished critics aver, "is able to do all things and do them well." delighted the public by offering to serve the dishes which the old Creole Cook so faithfully portrayed in the cut presented for their delectation.

Labels: News of Yore

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 9:06 AM 2 comments

Comments:

thanks for the article on the Picayune weather frog. Do you know where I can see past pics of him?

# posted by

Belle : 6/07/2008 11:53 AM

Hi Belle -
I think there was one in the Google Books link.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 6/07/2008 5:34 PM

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Sunday, January 13, 2008

Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

Order Jim Ivey's new book Cartoons I Liked at Lulu.com or order direct from Ivey and get the book autographed with a free original sketch.

Labels: Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 12:24 PM 2 comments

Comments:

May I take a moment to tell Jim how much I enjoy his ramblings? I like the randomness of it and the honesty. It also hold up as a cartoon with some very nice 'inventions' like the way he divides anecdotes by a bold line between the panels. So much of the 'tricks' of comics is problemsolving and it is amazing how little Jim depends on standard ways of doing these things.

# posted by

Ger Apeldoorn : 1/13/2008 12:40 PM

Hi Ger -
Jim isn't online but he'll see your comments once he gets the hardcopy version. I'll say thanks for the compliments on his behalf.

I heartily agree with your assessment of Jim's problem-solving on these pages -- great inventiveness on every page. More amazing is that he can actually teach these techniques to others. You might not know that Jim was a cartooning teacher off on and for many years. I took one of his classes (despite being utterly unable to draw) and saw for myself that he uses lots of great examples of creative problem-solving in his teaching that gets the students' juices flowing. Too bad there's no art schools in Orlando that teach cartooning. Jim has a gift for teaching that is going to waste these days.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/14/2008 10:16 PM

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Saturday, January 12, 2008

Herriman Saturday

Here we go with Zoo Zoo, Herriman's first continuing comic strip for the LA Examiner. Not only an early Herriman (quasi-) daily, but starring a cat! Though Zoo Zoo is relegated to a spear-carrier part in the second strip, the kitty will regain its starring role in the next strip. In case you don't follow the gag in the second strip, Evangeline's dress is shrinking in the rain. A woman showing an ankle in those days was well worth an ogle-fest from the menfolk.

These cartoons appeared in the LA Examiner on December 10 through 12 1906.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 1:23 PM 1 comments

Comments:

Now we know how the Krazy Kat strip evolved. Thanks for all the work you have done. charlie

# posted by

Anonymous : 1/13/2008 12:48 PM

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Friday, January 11, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: The Boys in the Other Car

Roy Grove, a cartoonist in the NEA stable from 1917 until the mid-20s, did his best work on this daily panel, The Boys In The Other Car. The cartoon was derivative, taking its cue from features like Indoor Sports and Eddie's Friends, but a good read nevertheless.

The cartoon was about the ribbing and playful banter that occurred on commuter trains. In those days when the suburbs were beginning to sprawl across the American landscape businessmen seldom owned cars, so their daily commutes were by rail. Each car on the train evolved into an informal club with twice daily get-togethers.

Grove had a good ear for dialog and the slang-laden snarky badinage rings true. It's also pretty darn funny stuff. I wonder, though, if anyone other than a few of us retrospective types can even make sense of the subject matter and archaic jargon in this feature.

The Boys in the Other Car ran from November 26 1919 through August 6 1920.

Labels: Obscurities

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 7:03 AM 2 comments

Comments:

For whatever reason I was checking out Roy Grove a few weeks ago.
As J. Roy Grove he has a page at the Cleveland State University Library where they reproduce some of his WWI cartoons as published in Scripp's Cleveland Press.
http://images.ulib.csuohio.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOBOX1=cartoonists&CISOFIELD1=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOOP1=any&CISOROOT=all
or http://tinyurl.com/ywj6w9

He also seems to have been a sports writer for NEA, specializing in golf. Later, in 1930, he was doing an illustrated golf column for Central Press titled "From Tee to Green".
That Library page above has some later attempts by him to get syndicated in the 1930s with something called the Jeburn Features Syndicate. You got anything on that JFS?

# posted by

D.D.Degg : 1/12/2008 10:40 AM

A staffer in charge of that page sent me a query about Jeburn few months ago. Unfortunately I have never heard of it and have never seen these Grove tryouts reach the published page.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/12/2008 1:41 PM

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Thursday, January 10, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Ben Swift

Ben Swift was one of the early entries in the now burgeoning genre of strips about older folks. Ben was a retired newspaper editor living in a small but comfortable country home, and his main foils were wife Bessie and grandson Petey. Although the strip was rarely laugh-out-loud funny, Ben's low-key observations on life were pretty consistently entertaining and often quietly captivating.

John Lane, the creator of Ben Swift, was a longtime art director for United Media and no stranger to the comics page. He handled the art on many NEA and United Features limited-run strips, including three of NEA's Christmas strips. He gave up that job to create Ben Swift which started on February 16 1981. The strip got picked up by a decent number of papers right from the start but from what I've seen many of them didn't stick with the strip for very long. Ben got his gold watch on February 17 1985.

A clue to the strip's lack of success can be found reading an interview with Lane printed in Cartoonist Profiles #50 (June 1981). In response to a question from Jud Hurd as to the genre of the strip, Lane says, "After the [original] retiree promotion was out, someone said, "How embarrassing that is -- you don't have to attract senior citizens to the newspaper -- they devour the newspaper!" But the strip isn't just about a retired person ... it's a family strip."

Sounds like Lane was insecure about his choice of subjects and a few blustering editors had convinced him that a strip about a retiree wasn't marketable. In response to these criticisms, ridiculous as they were, Lane was adding a whole raft of additional characters to the strip diluting its original appeal. My guess is that things all went downhill from there.

Labels: Obscurities

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 12:17 AM 0 comments

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Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Philo Vance

Here are a few really bad samples from microfilm of the very rare Philo Vance comic strip. It was distributed by Bell Syndicate and seems to have been released between two more popular series of the same genre, Sherlock Holmes and Fu Manchu.

These Bell series were notable not only for their fan-favorite characters but also their very short stories, rarely running more than a month long. Without much chance for character and plot development they make for pretty dull reads though collectors seek them out because of the famous subjects.

Philo Vance was an amateur detective created by S.S. Van Dine. Vance, a a foppish man about town appeared in a series of bestselling novels. The character was popular enough to have many of his tales adapted into movies, some starring the great William Powell (unfortunately missing his Thin Man better half Myrna Loy in these outings).

The only paper I've found that ran Philo Vance is the Atlanta World, a black daily newspaper whose microfilm, as you can tell from the quality of the scans, is in awful shape. The World ran only two stories - The Insurance Mystery (story E) and The Skull Mystery (F), each 24 strips. F seems to have been the last in the series, leaving 4 stories unaccounted for. The strip was credited to Van Dine, of course, but he almost certainly had nothing to do with these productions. The name signed to the strips is R.B.S. Davis who is a complete mystery to me.

Providing running dates for any of these Bell mystery series is tough because the strips were sold in batches. Some papers ran them late and out of order, and very few newspapers stuck with the series all the way through. Philo Vance is a particularly tough nut to crack because it is far rarer than the other two series, and the more popular Sherlock Holmes and Fu Manchu series weren't exactly running in a lot of papers themselves. My guess that this strip was meant to run between the other two (which would have it starting around April 1931) really isn't borne out by the tentative running dates I have for the other two strips, but as I said, they ran in very few papers, seldom as a complete series, and frequently out of order. If someone has made a study of this trio and would like to compare notes I'd love to hear from you.

Labels: Obscurities

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 12:43 AM 6 comments

Comments:

Great find!!! (never heard or seen)
I think you're absolutely right saying that Van Dine had nothing to do with it. Even if all the original books (but the last) start with a "dramatis personae", it seems suspicious that the two known comic stories titles aren't "The [...] murder case" but "The [...] mistery", given that all the 12 Vance novels have as title "The [...] murder case". It seems to me that the stories weren't "translations" of Van Dine books. And this is very different from the two O'Mealia strips (SHERLOCK HOLMES and FU MANCHU), that were strictly based upon original novels (and had no ballons).
BTW in 1931 Van Dine had written only his first 5 Vance novels.
---Fortunato

# posted by

Anonymous : 1/09/2008 9:09 AM

Hi Fortunato -
My reason for lumping the three together, despite the artistic and source differences you point out, is that they're all mysteries, appeared in the same timeframe, used those story letters, and in the World at least the Fu Manchu series started at the end of the brief Philo Vance run.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/09/2008 9:57 AM

Hello, Allan----I wonder who was the "S.J.Wright" in the PHILO VANCE copyright? ------These strips were based on Van Dine's actual writings. "THE INSURANCE CASE" is actually his Vance novel "THE COLE CASE", and I venture to guess "THE SKULL CASE" is really "THE SKULL MURDER CASE". Perhaps the names were changed to prevent some kind of conflict of interest, since the novels and films of these stories were then current. ------Cole Case Johnson.

# posted by

Cole Johnson : 1/09/2008 12:54 PM

Dunno -- kinda assumed it was Van Dine's publisher?

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/09/2008 7:59 PM

Interesting info, Cole.
So there's a Vance novel titled THE COLE CASE?
I never heard of it (but I'm not a PHILO VANCE expert).
I have read all 12 Vance novel (if they're really 12) and no Coles in them.
Titles (as I know it) are:
1. The Benson Murder Case (1926)
2. The Canary Murder Case (1927)
3. The Greene Murder Case (1928)
4. The Bishop Murder Case (1928)
5. The Scarab Murder Case (1929)

6. The Kennel Murder Case (1932)
7. The Dragon Murder Case (1933)
8. The Casino Murder Case (1934)
9. The Garden Murder Case (1935)
10. The Kidnap Murder Case (1936)
11. The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1938)
12. The Winter Murder Case (1939)

When the strip presumably, started only first 5 novels were already written.

Maybe THE COLE CASE was a Vance short story or was a S.S. Van Dine novel with with other characters?
In this second option, the cartoonist, having no more Vance novel to adapt, started adapting Van Dine (no Vance) novels.
Can you give us more info about it?

# posted by

Anonymous : 1/10/2008 6:44 AM

Hello, Everyone----I ask your forgiveness. THE COLE CASE and THE SKULL MURDER MYSTERY were not actually Philo Vance stories, but from another series that S.S.Van Dine wrote, centering on "Dr. Crabtree", an elderly amateur slueth, and "Inspector Carr", his stock befuddled foil from the police department.These were made into a series of twelve two-reel shorts by Warner Brothers in 1931-32, starring Donald Meek as Dr. Crabtree, and John Hamilton (best known as Perry White on the SUPERMAN TV series) as Inspector Carr. For some reason, it seems some of these were adapted to be Philo Vance stories. The titles of the Dr. Crabtree films, officially known as the "S.S.VAN DINE MYSTERIES", are: 1]-THE CLYDE CASE 2]-THE COLE CASE 3]-THE SYMPHONY MURDER MYSTERY 4]-THE CAMPUS MYSTERY 5]-THE CRANE POISON CASE 6]-THE WEEK END MYSTERY 7]-THE WALL STREET MYSTERY 8]-THE STUDIO MURDER MYSTERY 9]-THE TRANS-ATLANTIC MYSTERY 10]-THE SIDE SHOW MYSTERY 11]-THE SKULL MURDER MYSTERY 12]-MURDER IN THE PULLMAN.----------Cole Johnson.

# posted by

Cole Johnson : 1/10/2008 9:25 AM

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Tuesday, January 08, 2008

The New York Post Turns a Corner

For most of its existence the New York Post was one of the most staid papers imaginable. It was the paper of Wall Street, concentrating mainly on financial news. In the 1930s, though, it went through an ownership change and the paper that had only appealed to the gents in the board rooms took a populist turn. The Post added lots of new features including daily comics. It wasn't until the beginning of 1942, though, that the Post took the really big plunge and added a Sunday (well, actually a Saturday) color comics section.

The strips above were printed in March 1942 as advertisements of the new feature. As you can see, most of the Post color comics section was to be composed of the new AP Sunday strips (themselves only as old as late 1941) , including Dickie Dare, Homer Hoopee, Scorchy Smith and Oaky Doaks. To this they added Mutt and Jeff, Abbie 'n Slats, Captain and the Kids, and Nancy.

The last strip is Post staffer Stan MacGovern's Silly Milly commenting on the new addition to the paper. MacGovern tries to be jaunty but it's pretty obvious he's not entirely happy with the addition. Guess he didn't want the competition.

A tip of the tam to Jeffrey Lindenblatt who sent me these delightful ad strips.

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 12:39 PM 1 comments

Comments:

This set of changes were implemented not long after the Schiff family bought the Post (in 1939). At this point in time, it was a broadsheet (having been, briefly, a tabloid), before reverting to tabloid format in 1942. One imagines that with the Journal-American in town until the 1960s, they didn't get much King Features product.

The Post did, for a while, experiment with colour comics again in the early 1990s, though today they don't run Sunday comics, and have a very slim, largely forgettable comics section. Pity. Either the Sun or the Post could make a splash by allowing for new talent.

# posted by

EOCostello : 1/08/2008 6:24 PM

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Monday, January 07, 2008

Stripper's Guide Index Q & A

Thanks to all who sent questions and comments on the Stripper's Guide Index application preview. Here are my responses to your input. We'll start out with the contents of the SG Index, then go on to technical and publication matters.

Q Does the index get into the related subjects of cartoonist biographies, syndicate histories, etc.

A The index doesn't try to provide biographical information. You can track the movement of cartoonists from one paper or syndicate to another through the titles they created, of course, but as far as birth and death dates, details on their personal lives, no. Maybe in another few decades!

Regarding syndicates, though, I have been maintaining a document of vital statistics on syndicates for the the past dozen years that I update as I find info. This has not yet been published in any form. It will presumably be included with the Stripper's Guide index, probably as part of a help system.

Q Does the SG index cover ghosts, assistants, staffers, etc.

A When I get information on ghosts and assistants I usually include that in the notes for the associated strip. Since you would be able to search in the Notes field you should be able to find such information. Ghosts generally do not get a credit in the Artist and Writer sections, which are pretty much reserved for those who 'officially' worked on the features.

Q How do you handle weekly and other frequency strips?

A Weekly strips have their own frequency category. There's also "Less Than Daily", pretty much reserved for the quasi-daily strips of the 1900s and 1910s. For even more oddball frequencies, like three or five times per week, they get tossed into a catch-all "Other" category with a note detailing their specific frequency.

Q Why is the Slim Jim sample you showed in the video missing part of the newspaper name in the masthead? Are you editing these out?

A No. I scanned that Slim Jim because I thought it was kind of interesting that when this preprint section went through the presses they somehow lost part of the masthead. Goes to show how little these guys cared about getting it right that they didn't bother to scrap that batch, or try running it through a second time.

I never intentionally obscure copyrights or anything like that -- those who do such things seem to be laboring under the fantasy that removing the copyright puts the subject into public domain. Doesn't of course.

Q Would you like me to send you information for the index? (asked specifically about ghosts)

A All information is, of course, gleefully and gratefully received. I assume if you don't say otherwise that when you send me data that you are consenting to have it cited in the SG index. All data used in the index is credited to the contributor.

I should insert the caveat, though, that not all data will necessarily be used -- most importantly reports of strips not currently in the index. As most of you know, the SG index guarantees against phantom features by not listing anything that I haven't seen with my own widdle eyeballs. I'm glad to take reports of previously unknown features and will add them to my research list, but I need sample tearsheets (photocopies and scans are fine) to add it to the list. Originals and proofs don't pass muster as they're no guarantee that the feature ever made it into print.

Q Will there be any way to search for features of a certain type, say paper dolls, sports strips, black cartoonists, etc.?

A In the current version there is no subject index so I must give a qualified no. For paper dolls a search of the Notes would most likely turn up a reasonably complete list since I usually note such features. A search for black cartoonists would have to be done by searching the syndicate names for "Chicago Defender", "Pittsburgh Courier" and so on, then using those results to further search for those creator names from other mainstream venues.

There is actually a subject index in my working database. Unfortunately the idea for it came to me at least 6 or 7 years into the project and the information recorded therein is woefully incomplete. I keep intending to go through the whole title list and fill in subjects but it is a daunting task, and there are lots of features that, years after initially indexing them, I wouldn't have a clue as to their subject matter.

Q Does the index include panel cartoons, editorial cartoons?

A Panel cartoons are included as long as they are from a series. So you will find Grin and Bear It, Briggs panels, Life's Like That, Dennis the Menace and a kazillion other panel features in the index.

Editorial cartoons are not included. I consider them a separate subject unto themselves. Gotta leave something for other researchers, right?

Q Did you say 7000 titles?!?

A Yes, but I'm afraid I was gilding the lily. I'm actually at 6710 at the moment. On the other hand, if you count alternate titles I'm at 10,244.

Okay, that about does it for content questions. On to techie stuff:

Q Regarding fair use are there any pros or cons with that issue in regards to which format would be legally more manageable?

A I don't believe there is a difference in legal terms between a book and a software application as regards fair use. One way or another you're republishing the copyrighted work of others. Based on my reading the fair use doctrine should cover me for a single example of a given feature. The further I get away from that the murkier the waters become. Of course the syndicates make things easier by not bothering to renew their copyrights on most strips. But as I've said many times before, just because a syndicate doesn't have a legal leg to stand on doesn't mean they can't take me to court and generally make my life miserable.

Q Why not make the data open source/free?

A Maybe it's the tens of thousands of hours I've put into it, maybe it's the tens of thousands of dollars it has cost me for research trips and purchasing materials. Although I have absolutely no hope of recouping such outrageous expenses it sure would be nice to get some small remuneration for those efforts. Besides, my wife would kill me if I gave it away. For the past 12 years she has gotten exactly one vacation where the destination wasn't predicated on the contents of its local library. I've been feeding her a line of bull all along that there was going to be at least a little payoff for all that.

Q Will the application work on a Mac?

A I'm not a Mac guy but I was under the impression that the later versions of that OS could run Windows-based applications. Am I misinformed?

Q Why not make the application a web-based application?

A That would definitely be a great solution. Problem is I'm not all that well-versed in writing web apps. I can stumble along a bit with HTML, Perl and Javascript, but the time it would take me to learn enough about web-based databases, subscriptions, interfaces, security and all that jazz is substantial. Between trying to run my software business and ongoing SG research I just don't have the time available to put that together. I was able to write this new SG app in one long weekend -- a web app would take months of research and development.

Q How about implementing a way of doing searches within searches?

A A neat idea, though I don't know that the database really has enough layering to make that a really powerful feature. I've tried to implement a very basic sort of that 'drill-down' functionality by saving your searches so that you can fine-tune them. I'll let that idea roll around in the ol' noggin and see if any sparks fly.

Q Consider multiple sort options. Instead of the initial database being sorted only by title, the ability to change the database in order to sort by year, artist, syndicate, et al would be nice.

A That would be possible to implement, but I don't know how it could be used to any great effect within the context of the application. If the index were to be published in a book I had every intention of doing cross-reference indexes sorted by syndicate, creator and start date.

I would definitely like to come up with a way of sorting the index without regard to upper/lowercase, spaces etc. I have it doing the sorting that way when printing hardcopy but haven't come up with a way to do it (easily) in the app. That's something I would definitely want to implement before the release though.

Q Consider some ability to export information to allow limited exports of search results or checklist generation. You can create tags to protect your copyright.

A Factual data, which of course is the bulk of the index, is not copyrightable. No one can own facts (thank goodness). For that reason I have reason not to allow exports, because once the data is just in the form of a list of titles and dates I can lay no legal claim to the work. Not allowing exports gives me at least some semblance of control over its dissemination. By the way, it's for that reason that there are some ringers in the data just in case anyone gets any bright ideas.

Q Consider the ability to add more than one thumbnail, especially with strips that had multiple artists over the years.

A With multiple artists I think fair use might well cover multiple samples. Not sure how I would set that up in the application but it's just a matter of expending some brain juice on it. I'll see what I can do.

Q Would the index be released letter by letter as it was years ago?

A No, the whole index would be released.

Q How about instead of referencing only your blog postings in the app you reference any website that discuss or reproduce samples of a given title?

A Sounds great but that would be a huge project unto itself. How about a button that will automatically open your web browser and do a Google search for the title? That shouldn't be too hard to implement.

Finally we come to the biggie. I mentioned in the video that my real dream was to have the index published in book form. I said that I was prepared to back off from that dream because Stripper's Guide research continues indefinitely and that provides no obvious stopping point at which to publish.

I was surprised and thrilled to find practically every commenter saying that they would really like to have the index in book form even if it needs to be updated on occasion. Well, if a book is what I want and a book is what you want then I'm going to give a serious reassessment to the subject.

A lot of you mentioned print-on-demand (lulu and the like). I'm willing to go that direction but only after at least approaching some 'real' publishers with the project. A book publisher can do a far better job of production on the book than I could, and comes with a marketing engine that would hopefully put the book onto a lot more bookshelves than it ever could going the self-publishing route. For instance I see libraries as an important venue for a book edition and I seriously doubt that librarians are combing through lulu looking for reference books.

So in the end we've come full circle. The release of the SG index application is now officially on hold and I'm going back to the original plan of submitting the book to publishers (the application, by the way, would presumably be released along with the book, so it's not that I'm abandoning it). Now all I have to do is write that brilliant book proposal that makes the publishers beat down my door. Stay tooned...

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 10:48 AM 4 comments

Comments:

Ringers? Oh, Allan, please say it ain't so! The ringers that Overstreet have had for years in his listings have long since been discovered by collectors and folks down the line will eventually parse your work for them too.
The problem is that your hard work is more than a commodity. Its more than that. It is a source of historical research that will be used and judged by your peers and future scholars for decades. The moment you include poison pills into the data to protect your monetary claims to the information, is also the moment that you help make your data suspect for all future scholars. The question will become for someone using the data 50 years from now, which is real and which is fake? What you have done is a historical and scholarly achievement, which is for posterity as well. Don't undercut yourself with future researchers.

For the Mac question, the new Mac's run on Intel processors in which can run Windows software. I run the old Stripper's Guide myself on a Windows emulation program. If someone has an older Mac or does not have such software, they will not be able to use your software.

As far as web-based software. If you don't know how or have the time to write it yourself, how about inquiring from folks who do and have them write it for you? And it might not have to cost you anything either and here is how... The Grand Comic-Book Database project (www.comics.org), has a tech list that is full of computer and software savvy people/comic fans who have been working on a new schema for the database. All free, all volunteers. There has to be plenty of folks who love the Stripper's Guide who also could help you write the program you want as a web-based model in no time at all. The right programmer could probably knock it out for you what you want in no time. The problem will then becoming web hosting, and that is an entirely different matter long-term. But that is more an issue of money and bandwidth at that point.

Yeah for a book copy! My only fear might be the price!

my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr

# posted by

Ray Bottorff Jr : 1/08/2008 11:35 PM

Hi Ray -
Regarding the ringers, for reasons that I'll keep mum about they're perfectly obvious to anyone actually reading the listings -- they're only going to act as gotchas if someone was copying the material en masse.

By the way, there originally weren't any ringers. They were added when it became obvious that some subscribers to the old version of SG were distributing it to others.

Re Macs, thanks for the info. Perhaps the application could just be recompiled for 'native' Mac use. I don't think the MSVC compiler has a Mac equivalent using common calls but I'll look into it.

--Allan

# posted by

Allan Holtz : 1/09/2008 9:49 AM

AAAAEEE!!! I'm one of the people who suggested Lulu thinking you'd release the darn thing now at a reasonable price, Alan! Really, you will not find a publisher who will do any editing on this for you, and it will have an exorbitant price. Ask John Lent about his experience with his bibliographies if you don't want to take my word for it. A full set of his 10 bibliographies will cost you about a grand and a half. If you can export the data, you can self-publish.

Mike

# posted by

Mike Rhode : 1/15/2008 8:20 PM

Hi Allan,

I'm a bit late into this conversation, but I have a suggestion or two.

Perhaps you could publish the printed index in sections (for example, A-C, etc.) and sell them with 3-hole-punches that can be put into a Stripper's Guide binder that you could also sell. That way you would reduce the price to the buyer, who could purchase the index bit by bit and it would also allow you to make updates to it and sell the updated pages separately. It would probably reduce the initial printing cost as well since there would be no covers.

Good luck! I look forward to seeing the index in print. You've done an amazing job.

# posted by

Anonymous : 1/27/2008 1:56 PM

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Sunday, January 06, 2008

Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

Order Jim Ivey's new book Cartoons I Liked at Lulu.com or order direct from Ivey and get the book autographed with a free original sketch.

Labels: Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 7:04 PM 0 comments

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Saturday, January 05, 2008

Herriman Saturday

Much thanks to everyone who commented, publicly and privately, on the Stripper's Guide Index preview. In my business the beginning of the year is a very hectic time and I haven't had time to respond to the many comments, but I'll do a post this coming week on that subject.

Our Herriman items for today were originally published on December 8 and 9 1906. The first is a rather generic editorial cartoon about the trusts -- a subject very much in the news throughout the 1900s.

Next we have an odd one. Herriman supplies a cartoon for a news story about Senator Platt receiving hush money. The odd part is that H seems to be experimenting with an alternative style using heavier than normal outlines on some of the figures. The change isn't particularly obvious on a quick perusal, but having spent two hours cleaning up this cartoon (it had a very heavy dark fold line running through it) I had ample opportunity to examine it. Herriman abandoned this stylistic experiment forthwith, as can be plainly seen in the third cartoon, where he returns to his damnably wispy lines (not that they aren't attractive, but they reproduce badly on my photocopies).

The third cartoon finds Herriman jabbing boxer Jack O'Brien who was making noises about a possible retirement from the ring. O'Brien didn't go through with it, though -- he was active (though less so than in previous years) until 1912.

Finally we have an ad for the anniversary edition of the Los Angeles Examiner featuring a nice Herriman cartoon. The Examiner was a wee three years old this year. The paper finally folded in 1989, though it was a shadow of its former self from the mid-60s on when constant labor strife hobbled it.

Be sure to tune in to Herriman Saturday next week. Herriman inaugurates his first recurring comic strip for the Examiner!

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 12:56 PM 0 comments

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Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Stripper's Guide Publication Video Preview

How's this for weird? A video on a comic strip history blog. Last year I made a new year's resolution to publish the Stripper's Guide index. This video documents what I came up with in the past year.

I produced this video to show you folks the Stripper's Guide software application that I've been working on. The video is about 20 minutes long, filled with me saying brilliant things like "um" several hundred times (script? we don't need no stinking script!), and video quality that leaves a whole lot to be desired -- oddly enough, my real desktop isn't a blurry pixelated mess. The first few minutes is audio only, so bear with it.

I'd be thrilled if you folks would give the video a watch and post feedback about the proposed application. What you like, what you don't, suggestions for features and improvements that you would like to see. I'd also be mighty interested to know what sort of price you think would be fair (no, free is not an option smarty-pants).

EDIT: turns out that Blogger only allows me to show this video at thumbnail size -- watch the video at full size (still blurry but at least legible) by clicking right here.

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 11:35 AM 8 comments

Comments:

Hi Allan,

I'm excited to hear about your project... it sounds like it has been quite an undertaking. Regarding a print version, you may want to consider print on demand, since it is quite affordable. One of the best known POD publishers online is lulu.com... I have some friends who have had good experiences with them. Hope that helps make your big hardcover wood-pulp dreams a reality. Thanks for the wonderful blog!

Best wishes,

Steven Stwalley
stwallskull.com

# posted by

mrmonkey23 : 1/01/2008 1:41 PM

I am also a book kind of guy and I would like to see it in printed format. I have a Doug Hinman index relating to The Kinks of some 550 pages which he also added a supplement of 65 or so pages a few years later. So the print-on-demand idea, with occasional supplements, works for me.
As for the software application, that's looking good too. Maybe I would have to buy both formats if they were both available.
So...I seem to remember you having some doubts about fair use policies of some syndicates. Is there any pros or cons with that issue in regards to which format would be legally more manageable?
Also...you bringing up the McManus brothers had me wondering how in depth you would go with people in the comic strip business. Does Leo McManus get a mention and/or entry as a KFS staffer? With McNaught there is McNitt and McAdams. I always enjoy when you get into this kind of background information on your blog or in your articles. Will the Stripper's Guide go anywhere down that road.
Finally...did you mention a time frame when this may be available. I, of course, want it now!

# posted by

D.D.Degg : 1/01/2008 2:35 PM

Hi Allan,

I'm also very excited at the prospect of a brand spanking new version of the Stripper's Guide. I still have my old version and use it rather frequently.

The search tool looks MUCH better on the new version. I love the fact that you've add so many new search parameters. I also like the fact that you've lessened the amount of clicks one needs to get to the info.

More images is always better, since much of the material can't easily be found by folks like me.

I would love to see basic biographical info given on artists, even just birth and death years, but I understand that that would be a rather daunting task.

Really, it looks like a great tool and I look forward to its release.

Price? If it were done as a subscription, like the old version of SG, I see no reason by $50 couldn't be a starting price, with say, one year of updates. Then, maybe $25 per year for updates. If this will be the end product, with all of the info already set, I still think $50 would be reasonable.

Best,
Rob

# posted by

Rob : 1/01/2008 6:16 PM

Hi Allan,

I am glad to see the Stripper's Guide will be updated. Its been a while and even if the book project doesn't come through, its good to see your further efforts get out to the public.

We have had this discussion years ago about making this data more open source, but for a number of reasons you want to maintain the work as your own and I can respect that. I hope that even though you are going this route again, I would like to present to you some thoughts I had to maybe help make the database even better.

1) Consider scripting the database in a cross-platform language (like a java-based language) so it can be used equally by an ever growing Linux and Mac audience. The ability of people using PDA's or iPhones being able to access the data while away from their home computer could only expand the potential audience and make the information more available to the public. Perhaps even an internet accessable database might be a better way to go to allow those who paid for the data to have more options to access the data.

2) Consider some search within search abilities. Let's say I use the extent of the search engine to get a set of data, it would be nice to be able to search even further within the data to parse the information out further.

3) Consider multiple sort options. Instead of the initial database being only sorted only by title, the ability to change the database in order to sort by year, artist, syndicate, et al would be nice.

4) Consider some ability to export information. I know you would never allow the database to be exported out of the program en masse, but how about the ability to allow limited exports of search results or checklist generation. You can even follow the way some research periodicals export their information online to college students. The students can export the data, but the information is tagged with all necessary copyright/trademark information and its is also tagged with the proper endnote citation that the student can use when citing the material. You can create similar tags to protect your copyright.

5) Consider the ability to add more than one thumbnail, especially with strips that had multiple artists over the years so more than one artist can be displayed.

6) Consider doing a one-time sale of the entire database (for a fixed one-time cost) with payable updates available over time instead of a subscription that had a several year wait as it went through the alphabet. One or two DVD's should hold the entire database, I would think, and I am not as young as I used to be and I do not relish the idea of a several year wait for the entire database again. :-)

And that was it. Regardless of how you go, The new Stripper's Guide will be on my short list of items to get in '08.

my best
-Ray Bottorff Jr

# posted by

Ray Bottorff Jr : 1/02/2008 1:40 AM

Hi, Allan.

I am very interested, of course. But will it be Apple-accessable? I have to agree with Ray that the computer world is changing and you may have to find a way to be able to adept to that. Honestly, I would prefer to have a source like this available from the intrenet. Take a look at Atlas Tales, for example, This is a site (done by a programmer such as yourself) I use a lot and is very friendly to use. And as Ray says, it will still be accessable by other applications when they become more important. I ceertainly would find it cumbersome to have to rely on a cd all the time.

Still, if it helps you going I'll probably get one anyway.

# posted by

Ger Apeldoorn : 1/02/2008 4:32 AM

Depending on the price range, I would buy this guide, whether it's on a book format or a software format.

You list the type of format the Daily and Sunday strips have (panel or strip format). Out of curiosity, how will you list that with strips that only comes out once a week (ie: the entire DBR Media comics output)

# posted by

Brubaker : 1/02/2008 5:02 AM

Allan: Very interesting demo. I could go for an online or software format. The search engine addresses the frustration I often have with books. I agree that it would be good to add more sort options. I like the idea of a one-time offer of the whole database, say on dvds, with an option for yearly updates.

Regards,
Joe Thompson ;0)

# posted by

Joe : 1/02/2008 11:28 PM

Allan,

I too am really looking forward to your issuing a new version of this. I agree that a couple of samples would be nice, given how often artists change on some strips.

Re the format - rather than 'Blogged' perhaps the field should be something like "Website" where you can put in anything, not just your site. That way you could put in OSU or GoComics links, or the like.

The new search IS impressive.

Finally, I'd second the recommendation for Lulu, which I'm currently using to put together a book on film adaptations of comics - you can have your cake and eat it too. Or you can also publish cds through Lulu which will let them handle the copying and distribution so you don't have to worry about it.

BTW, the first strip you show in the video - the end date doesn't match what you wrote in your notes.

Great work!

Mike

# posted by

Mike : 1/03/2008 6:38 PM

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Stripper's Guide

Thursday, January 31, 2008

News of Yore: Walt Kelly Profiled - 1952

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Bible Stories

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Adventures of Powder Pete

Monday, January 28, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Over Here - Over There

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Herriman Saturday

Friday, January 25, 2008

Bulletin: Author Goes Mad, Gives Away Books

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Can You ID These Artists?

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Buster's Last Hurrah

Monday, January 21, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: The Matinee Club

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Herriman Saturday

Friday, January 18, 2008

News of Yore: Twin Earths Debuts

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Versus

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

News of Yore: Mule Jumps from Movies to Comics Page

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: New Jersey Patriots

Monday, January 14, 2008

News of Yore: The New Orleans Picayune Frog

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Herriman Saturday

Friday, January 11, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: The Boys in the Other Car

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Ben Swift

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Obscurity of the Day: Philo Vance

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

The New York Post Turns a Corner

Monday, January 07, 2008

Stripper's Guide Index Q & A

Sunday, January 06, 2008

Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics

Saturday, January 05, 2008

Herriman Saturday

Tuesday, January 01, 2008

Stripper's Guide Publication Video Preview

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