Stripper's Guide

As you'll no doubt recall from previous installments of this series, the following features were all listed in the Editor & Publisher annual Syndicate Directory listings. Problem is that I have not been able to find these ones in any American newspaper. I'm looking for positive proof that (1) these features did indeed exist, (2) they are actually comics of some sort and weren't just mislabeled in E&P, and (3) they ran in U.S. newspapers. If you have any information about any mystery strip on this list please, please, please tell me all about it. And if you can provide positive proof that the mystery feature did indeed run in U.S. newspapers (a tearsheet is ideal proof) and qualifies for listing in the Stripper's Guide index, you can be the recipient of a goodie box chock full of all manner of comic strip ephemera -- could be reprint books, old tearsheets, magazines, original art or all of the above. Trust me that my goodie boxes do not disappoint! (SORRY - as of 2018 goodie boxes are sadly no longer available - I now live in Canada and our postal rates are so outrageous that I cannot afford to send out goodie boxes - SORRY!)

If you prefer to contact me privately rather than posting a comment on the blog, send it to strippersguide@gmail.com. Please be sure to mention Stripper's Guide in your subject line or I may miss your message in amongst all the spam.

Here's the mystery features starting with letter "P" as in "please get me off this list!". Each listing has the title, years advertised, creator(s), syndicate and format. Sorry, I'd put these in a more attractive tabular form, but Blogger plays havoc with tables:

P.J. Abominable, 1968, John Gallagher, United Feature Syndicate, daily strip
The PO Box, 1993-97, Earl T. Musick, self-syndicated, weekly (author says it sold primarily to specialty publications - thanks Earl!)
Pa and Abie, 1926, Russell, Wheeler-Nicholson, daily strip
Pa and Ma, 1926, Voorhees, John F. Dille, daily strip
Padded Cell, 1942, Charles J. Dunn, Watkins Syndicate, daily panel
Paddy Pigg, 1937, Richard Decker, Allied Features, daily and Sunday strip
A Page For Every Age, 1936, G. Melikov, Nu-Way Features, weekly strip
Pan-Dee-Monium, 1982, Jackson Gray, Mid-Continent Features, daily strip
Pandora, 1948, Kaye Spence, Press Features, daily panel
Panel of Fun, 1939, C. Decker, Bell SYndicate, daily panel
Pantomime, 1975, Sara Black, Spadea Syndicate, daily panel
Paperclips, 1981, Doug Brunner, Community Features, thrice weekly
Paradise Park, 1994-99, R. Claude, Singer Media, weekly strip
Parents Plus, 1968-69, Justin Manning, Four Corners Syndicate, weekly panel
Parking Space, 1931, Russell Askue, McClure Syndicate, daily panel
Party Gators, 1998-2004, Elaine Sandra Abramson, A&A, weekly strip
Party Ranks, 1986-87, Mike Pascal and Joe Stuart, JSA Publications, daily/weekly strip
Pat the Paris Shopper, 1932-35, Joan Carson, John F. Dille, daily strip (fashion feature?)
Patent Nonsense, 1999, Roy Doty, Paradigm-TSA, daily strip
The Patsy, 1933-34, Irma Harms, Thompson Service, daily strip
Patterson's People, 1968-73, Gene Patterson, Allied Features, daily panel
Patty Lee, 1933, Edwin Finch, Henle Features, daily
Peanut Butter Soup, 1990-92, Joe Amadeo and Tom Kerr, Syndicated News Service, weekly
Pebbles, 1951, Henry Boye, McClure Syndicate, daily panel
Pee Wee's Pencil, 1979, Joe Rice, Copley News Service, daily and Sunday panel (found by Charles Brubaker, activity panel, doesn't qualify for SG)
Peeping Tom, 1981, C. Crist, Globe Syndicate, weekly strip
Peg, Ann & Barbara, 1928-30, Mabel Whitney, International Syndicate, daily panel
The Pennypockets, 1939, Wes Dennis, Consolidated News Features, daily strip
People & Things, 1940, Prescott Chaplin, Bell Syndicate, daily/weekly strip (likely illustrated column)
PeraNormal, 1996-98, Jim Pera, Second Ring Syndicate, weekly strip
Percy's World, 1961, Howie Schneider, Page One Syndicate, daily strip
Perfect Couple, 1986, Rick Geary, Copley News Service, twice weekly strip
Peter Panic, 1973-2003, Lo Linkert, Singer Media, daily/weekly panel
Peter Pupp, 1937-39, Bob Kane, Eisner-Iger Associates, weekly strip
Petey, 1935, Lou Darvas, Thompson Service, daily panel
Pews, 1982-85, Joe McKeever, Copley News Service, weekly panel [Charles Brubaker reports that McKeever says he never saw the panel in print -- Copley told him they didn't know which papers, if any, actually ran it]
Phil Ossifer, 1934-36, Clyde Campbell and O. DeCaillet, Thompson Service, daily panel
Phillip's Flock, 1968-85, Doc Goodwin, Dispatch Features, Sunday strip (found in Columbus Dispatch, actually a weekly strip in daily format)
Phoney Photos, 1925, Bret Hart Jr., Readers Syndicate, daily panel
Phrog, 1985-86, George Albitz, Al Smith Service, weekly strip (Found! in Laurel Outlook)
Phyllis, 1939, Bernard Baily, Keystone Press Features, daily strip
Pig Newton, 1983, Mal Hancock, Field Newspaper Syndicate, daily panel/Sunday strip (found! in Philadelphia Daily News)
Pilot Storm, 1959-72, Henk Sprenger, Douglas Whiting, daily strip (Dutch - appeared in U.S.?)
Pinhead Pete, 1928-31, uncredited, Premier Syndicate, weekly panel (found! by Bill Mullins in Cleveland Plain Dealer and Portland Oregonian -- thanks Bill!)
Pinny and his Pals, 1937, Barney Bravman, Foreign Press Syndicate, daily/weekly strip
Pipe Dreams, 1957-63, Rud, Sun News Features, daily/Sunday panel
The Pit, 1957, Morris Turner, Pioneer Press Service, daily panel
Pixel, 1985, Frank Hill and Ted Mancuso, Al Smith Service, weekly strip
Playmates, 1924-25, Lloyd Jones and H.F. Voorhees, John F. Dille, daily strip
Plympton, 1978-81, Bill Plympton, self-syndicated/Universal Press Syndicate, weekly-4 times weekly panel (possibly political cartoon, originated in Soho Weekly News before syndication)
Pollutocrats, 1972, Larkin and Gordon, Allied Feature Syndicate, daily panel
Polly Esther, 1971, Ed McNally, Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate, daily panel
Polymericks, 1978, Steve McKinstry, Enterprise Features, 3 times weekly panel
Ponder This, 1965, Leonard Andrews, Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate, daily [Charles Brubaker finds this was a poetry feature, incorrectly categorized in E&P - thanks Charles]
Poor Little Rich Man, 1948, Courtney Dunkel, Chicago Tribune-NY News Syndicate, daily panel (found! by Michael Vassallo in New York News)
Pop Winters, 1935, Cliff Knight, Triton Syndicate, daily panel
Possum Holler, 1936, Boody Rogers, McClure SYndicate, daily strip
Pre-Columbian Mysteries, 1976, Mario Bertolini, Ed Marzola & Associates, daily strip
Prince, 1986, Winthrop Prince, Chronicle Features, weekly panel (author says it was syndicated as Free Zone to several papers and appeared in the SF Chronicle under this title - thanks Winthrop!)
Private Stuff, 1953, Jack O'Brien, Editors Syndicate, daily panel (found, but only in military base paper The Hilltop Herald -- still unfound in a mainstream paper)
Professor Naturebug, 1971, John Hazlett and Edward Thomas, Dispatch Features, Sunday strip (found in Columbus Dispatch, but very text heavy and doesn't qualify)
Professor Pi, 1959-72, V.T.Born, Douglas Whiting, daily strip (Dutch - appeared in U.S.?)
Professor Unquote, 1948, Bill Henry, Globe Syndicate, daily strip
Proven Proverbs, 1962, Bill Zaboly and William Davy, Select Features, daily panel
Pud, 1989-98, Steven Nease, Southam Syndicate/Liberty Features, daily strip (Canadian - appeared in U.S.?)
Punch Line, 1975-78, Palbo, Community Press Service, weekly panel
Punchline, 1995-96, Tim Newlin, self-syndicated, Sunday strip
Punchy and Judy, 1945, Loy Byrnes, NY Post, daily strip (found! in NY Post)
Puzzy, 1953, Jack Fitch, Editors Syndicate, daily panel

Labels: Mystery Strips

Fired by his successful introduction of the Weatherbird feature at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Horace B. "Harry" Martin set his sights on New York. He arrived in 1903 and, surprisingly enough, immediately got a job with the Hearst papers (which is odd since the P-D is a Pulitzer paper -- you would have thought he'd go to work for the World). Other than a few Pulitzer jobs Martin spent most of the next decade turning out material for Hearst, none of it to any particularly great renown.

His longest-running feature was It Happened In Birdland, a return to the Weatherbird character that had spurred his ambition in the first place. As you can see from the samples above the strip was often an accompaniment to a sports editorial cartoon.

When the feature debuted on April 12 1907 in the Evening Journal it was titled A Little Bird Told Him To, but that title was dropped in favor of It Happened In Birdland on April 29. As was typical for the day, though, the feature was often untitled or had a one-off title of the day.

The initial run of the strip ended January 16 1908, and Martin did no series at all for over a year (his sports cartoon may have continued, but my files are mute on that question). Then on February 26 1909 the strip reappeared, this time running on the center stage of the New York American. There the strip ran until September 7 1909.

Thanks again to Cole Johnson, the scanning demon, for these samples.

Labels: Obscurities

We seem to be in 'lesser-known brother' mode here at Stripper's Guide this week. The Cynic's Corner was penned not by Phil Interlandi, the famed Playboy cartoonist, but brother Frank.

Frank was primarily an editorial cartoonist; he worked for the Des Moines Register in the fifties, and then the LA Times in the sixties. Unfortunately I lose track of his career after that -- anyone know what Frank was up to later on?

The Cynic's Corner was drawn using a fascinating double-line technique. I've seen cartoonists employ similar conceits, but Frank Interlandi really used it to great advantage -- the cartoons just seem to pop right off the page. Combine that interesting art with the delightfully pungent gag lines and you have to wonder why in the world this is an obscurity.

My guess is that the Register and Tribune Syndicate's salesmen just didn't push the feature. Perhaps they though the cartoon series was just a sop to the staff editorial cartoonist and of little consequence. 'Tis a shame.

The Cynic's Corner, which was often run as an untitled feature (and the listings in E&P didn't suggest a name) ran from October 12 1953 until sometime in 1956.

Labels: Obscurities

The Glackens brothers, Louis and William, were both prolific, well-known and respected newspaper and magazine illustrator/cartoonists. Amazingly enough, though, between the two of them there were just a few newspaper comic strip series, including Peter Popple the Prize Pilgrim.

Louis M. Glackens is responsible for this entry in Stripper's Guide and he was definitely the less famous of the pair. While William was getting out of the newspaper business in favor of fine art, and making a major name for himself as one of the original Ashcan artists, Louis stuck to cartooning primarily as a regular at the humor magazine Puck. When the magazine hit the skids in the 1910s he shifted his focus to animation work.

Louis' only foray into the newspaper comic strip series field was done far away from his regular stomping grounds of New York and Philadelphia. Perhaps this series, done for the Boston Herald, was his way of testing this new sort of material on the road.

Glackens' Boston Herald strip follows the pattern set by that syndicate of choosing their material based entirely on the quality of the art. Peter Popple, like most Herald strips of the era, was nice to look at but a real stinker in the writing department. The strip was set in pilgrim days and concerns a tubby dullard kid named Peter and his father, Jabez. Jabez is the strict disciplinarian who always manages to make a fool of himself while trying to catch Peter in mischief. The strip, other than the era in which it's set, shares a lot in common with the long-running Boston Globe strip, Fatty Spilliker.

Peter Popple the Prize Pilgrim didn't impress anyone in Boston, despite the traditional Boston setting. The strip ran from May 6 to August 26 1906.

Thanks to Cole Johnson for the scans!

Labels: Obscurities

Jim Ivey's new book, Graphic Shorthand, is available from Lulu.com for $19.95 plus shipping, or you can order direct from Ivey for $25 postpaid. Jim Ivey teaches the fundamentals of cartooning in his own inimitable style. The book is 128 pages, coil-bound. Send your order to:


Also still available, Jim Ivey's career retrospective Cartoons I Liked, available on Lulu.com or direct from Jim Ivey for $20 postpaid. When ordered from Ivey direct, either book will include an original Ivey sketch.

Labels: Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics