I saw the old listings for The Orbits in E&P well before I finally stumbled upon some samples of the strip. Not having seen it, I assumed that it would be some interesting futuristic 'Jetson-y' sort of thing. Turns out not so much. The strip is a rather pedestrian drama-comedy about a typical American family. Why are they called the Orbits? I dunno.The strip was by Bill Juhre, who was coming off a modestly successful five-year run as the artist on Draftie, a strip about a couple of soldiers. Draftie had tried to adapt to a post-war world but newspaper editors had a lot of wartime strips trying the same gambit and Draftie was one of the features that didn't make the cut.
The Orbits may well have been intended as a drop-in replacement for Draftie (which, by the way, was named Lem and Oinie in its last few years). Both strips were syndicated by the John F. Dille Company. I don't have a definite starting date for The Orbits, but I wouldn't be surprised if it debuted the day after Lem and Oinie ended on May 4 1946. I do know that early on the strip was titled The Orbit Family, and the shortened version of the title followed quite early on.
The Orbits ran daily and Sunday until May 31 1953 in what seems like a very respectable seven-year run. However, you find the strip appearing in very few papers throughout that time, and usually it ran in third- and fourth-string papers in big cities -- the guys who had to pick over comic strip crumbs in the days of territory exclusivity contracts.
Am I wrong or, always for Dille, Juhré ghosted BUCK ROGERS?
ReplyDeleteHi Fortunato --
ReplyDeleteAlberto Becattini cites Juhre doing assist work on the Buck Rogers Sunday 1957-58.
Best, Allan
Weren't The Orbits seen in the Los Angeles Times?
ReplyDeleteMight have, dunno. Most of mine come from the famously cheapskate comic section of the Boston Globe.
ReplyDelete--Allan
I don't think I saw it noted here that E&P is about to reach a finale after 125 years.
ReplyDelete"Readers express shock"
I always associate Juhre with the "Tarzan" strip, although as an assistant or ghost he seems to have been everywhere.
ReplyDeleteThe Orbits was a regular in the Boston Globe. bill Juhr was a ham-radio enthusiast, and often featured it in the strip. He used his own call sign, W9IMQ as the call sign of Mr. Orbit.
ReplyDeleteThere was a Bill Juhre working with Mort Walker as staff artist on the Missouri Showme in 1949. Does anyone know if he was related to this Bill Juhre?
ReplyDeleteAnyone have any of these comics? Bill Juhre is my great grandfather!
ReplyDeleteI have an original daily, Laura. I bought it at auction some years ago, without knowing the artist or even the name of the strip, In fact, I just found out about ill Juhre a few minutes ago. I posted the piece earlier tonight on a Facebook discussion group called "Hogan's Alley," if you want to join and check it out!
DeleteLaura, he's mine too! My Grandmother is is daughter Sara and my dad is her son Daniel.
Delete"The Orbits" was a regular feature in The Long Island Press during the early 1950s.
ReplyDeleteBill Juhre is my great grandfather. Orbitz was a regular strip in the Green Bay Press Gazette, and he drew inspiration from life with his wife Grace and my grandmother and her siblings.
ReplyDelete