Monday, March 09, 2009

 

Obscurity of the Day: The Wonder-Girl's Diary

Gustav Michelson was a wonderful and prolific illustrator/cartoonist who made his name in New York first at Pulitzer's World in the late oughts, then in the teens with Hearst. Michelson's primary job was to illustrate news articles and features, but he did dabble in comic strips once in awhile. His strips were usually drawn from a feminine perspective, often echoing the type of material we tend to think of as the domain of Nell Brinkley and Annette Bradshaw, both on staff at Hearst in the same era.

The Wonder-Girl's Diary was Michelson't first comic strip work at Hearst, executed shortly after he switched over from the World. As far as I know from the index done by others, it did not run on Michelson's home turf at the New York American. I can only report that it ran sporadically in Hearst's LA Examiner from March 11 to May 28 1909.

Michelson went on to greater fame in the art world, first as a movie poster artist in the 1920s, then fine art for the rest of his life. Michelson died in 1964.

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Comments:
This is uncannily similar to the character known as "Different With Boys", played by Arabella Weir in the British comedy series The Fast Show (retitled Brilliant! for the US). In fact, the words in the last frame could almost be from a Fast Show script.

From the Fast Show character guide at answers.com:

Different With Boys, who acts in harsh and professional, "no-nonsense" way in front of female friends and colleagues but transforms into a giggling, ditzy, stereotypical "bimbo" whenever she is introduced to a man.
 
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