Stripper's Guide

Sunday, April 5 1908 -- After the horse-racing season ends at Santa Anita, Herriman lets loose with a cartoon that expresses his true feelings about horse-racing and the 'pikers' who waste their money on it. Good for you, Garge!

In weazel skin hat news, Hen leaves the banquet hall only to find a certain black-hooded fellow right out front.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

Adam Chase (c) renewed 2013 by Russ Morgan. All rights reserved.

Adam Chase strip #11, originally published August 14 1966. For background on the strip and creator, refer to this post.

Labels: Adam Chase Sci-Friday

Thomas Benjamin Faucett was born in Idaville, Tennessee on February 22, 1884. His birthplace was found in his father’s profile in Gibson County, Past and Present (1961), and his birth date was on his World War I draft card. In the 1900 U.S. Federal Census, he was the oldest of five children born to John, a physician, and Everette. His birth was recorded as “February 1883.” They lived in Trenton, Tennessee. In 1902 Faucett was enrolled in the St. Louis School of Fine Arts at Washington University. According to Tennessee State Marriages, 1780-2002, at Ancestry.com, he and Iris M. Seat married on November 1, 1906. The St. Louis City Directory 1909 had this listing: “Faucett T Benjamin editor World Color Printing Co 811 N 19th r 3918A Botanical av”. He had a single turn, November 14, 1909, on Bart Bartholomew’s Practical Lessons in Drawing.


In the 1910 census, Faucett, his wife, daughter and brother-in-law were recorded in St. Louis at 3918 Botanical Avenue. He was a newspaper manager who wrote the text for Cat Tales (1910), which was drawn by English artist, Louis Wain. The 1916 city directory had two listings for Faucett:

Faucett Benjamin A [sic] art editor World Color Printing Co 716 Lucas av
Faucett T Benjamin artist r 3843 Flad av

According to Gibson County, Past and Present, both of his parents passed away in 1913. In 1917 he lived at 2209 Lawrence and continued an art editor. Faucett signed his World War I draft card on September 12, 1918. His address was the same but his occupation was managing editor at World Color Printing. At some point he moved to New York City. In 1918 his Bedtime Pencil Pictures began to appear. In 1919, for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, he contributed “Kinky Words Found in Your Dictionary” which included abaction, babu, epizoon, fantoccini, genethliac, skilligallee, theriac and zymurgy. The Editor, November 25, 1919, published his article, “Playing the Syndicating Game.”

The 1920 census recorded him in Brooklyn, New York at 158 Parkside Avenue (formerly Robinson Street). He was a magazine writer who worked at home. He wrote a number of articles for Popular Mechanics and other periodicals. How long he stayed in New York and when he moved to Nashville, Tennessee are not known. A 1924 Nashville City Directory listed him as a writer at 2319 Highland Avenue. He wrote and illustrated four books: Brainy Berries: A Night in Crystal Cave; Folksy Fruits: Anthropomorphic Adventures in Opal Orchard; Frolicsome Flowers They See The Wonderful Rajah Rug; and Venturous Vegetables at the Frolic Grounds, which were published in 1924.

In 1930 he remained in Nashville but at different address, 2502 Ashwood. He was a newspaper manager and his household included his wife, daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter. The 1931 city directory said he was the advertising manager of the Labor Advocate.

Faucett was the publisher of a labor newspaper according to the 1940 census. He and his wife lived at 2202 18th Avenue South in Nashville. Over the years he worked at other Nashville newspapers. The 1947 city directory listed him at 1519 Compton Avenue and as editor of Labor News. In the 1955 and 1959 directories he resided at 116 Mayfair Road and was editor of Trades & Labor News.

Sometime in the 1960s he moved to Florida. Editor & Publisher, February 5, 1966, noted Faucett’s passing: “T. Benjamin Faucett, 81, feature writer for the Nashville Banner, author of children’s books, Jan. 25.” He was buried at Daytona Memorial Park. His wife passed away in 1988.

Labels: Ink-Slinger Profiles

T. Benjamin Faucett is a fellow I know very little about, but what I do is indicative of quite a Renaissance man. Besides today's feature, Bedtime Pencil Pictures, I have found Faucet's name on a few other cartoon features, as a New York Post syndicated writer, as an author of children's books, and as a contributor to Popular Mechanics. Faucett was a busy guy, and it all seemed to happen in a sudden great outpouring in the 1910s and early 20s.

Web searches show that his children's books are offered for quite high prices, but considering that I find no children's book fans discussing the fellow, I think the high prices have more to do with rarity of the tomes than for any perceived quality or fan following. None of his other ventures, writing or drawing, seem to have garnered a great deal of popular attention.

Bedtime Pencil Pictures was used as a part of World Color Printing's weekly page of daily-style strips from 1918 to about 1924. I used to think this was one of the very few original items they ran on that page (the rest being reprints, mostly culled from the backstock of other syndicates), but then I found a few isolated examples of the panel bearing a syndicate stamp of American Newspaper Service. Not being familiar with that outfit, I did a little digging and discovered that it was a start-up formed in 1918 by W.H. Johnson, former head of Hearst's International Features Syndicate, after he got bounced out in a business consolidation. Evidently his syndicate went nowhere, because Bedtime Pencil Pictures had been sold off to World Color Printing before the end of that year.

So my guess is that American Newspaper Service tried to sell Bedtime Pencil Pictures, probably got no more than a few clients, if any, and was happy to sell off the plates to World Color Printing later that year. World Color, in their typical slipshod way, failed to rout out all the old syndicate stamps, and so we were left with a little telltale bit of evidence to what happened. The question I'd most like answered is whether the panel did in fact get run through the auspices of American Newspaper Service at all, or if the syndicate was a complete failure and never actually got anything in print.

Well, that's a lot of gabbing about a not terribly interesting connect-the-dots feature, isn't it? Especially considering that my scope rules specifically exclude activity panels. Oh well. Those who feel they did not get their money's worth today will be issued a full refund.

Tomorrow Alex Jay will weigh in with an eye-opening Ink-Slinger Profile of  Mr. Faucett.

Labels: Obscurities

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 features running 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 a 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 -- that is, an actual clipping from a newspaper or a copy thereof -- is proper 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 -- reprint books, old tearsheets, magazines, even original art find their way into my goodie boxes. 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 are the mystery features starting with letter "R". 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:

Radio Bugs, 1925, E.C. Dunkel, Readers Service, daily panel
Radiolaffs, 1925, Jo Fischer, Audio Service, daily panel
Rags 'n Muffins, 1939, Joe E. Buresch, Newspaper Art Features, daily/Sunday panel
Recess Set, 1970, Walt Buchanan and Mary-Ann Hill, Hopkins Syndicate, daily panel
Reck Romance, 1966, Nino Perez and Dick Scalone, Newsday, daily panel
The Record Book, 1970, William Feld, Stuyvesant Syndicate, weekly panel
Red Diamond, 1945, Don Moore, Raymond Doherty, daily strip
Red Pepper, 1951-54, Audavee Bransford, Atlas Features, weekly strip (Found! by Mike DeLisa in Indian Valley Record)
Red Pepper, 1974, Pat Anderson, self-syndicated, weekly strip
Reddickulous, 2003-?, David Reddick, Seriocomics, daily/Sunday panel
Albert T. Reid Cartoons, 1925-29, Albert T. Reid, Bell Syndicate/self-syndicated, daily/weekly panel (probably political cartoons; yes, says Ray Bottorff who has found them in a few papers)
Reincarnations of Eve, 1925, Frank Ellis, Register & Tribune Syndicate, weekly panel (found! by Ray Bottorff in Des Moines Register; questionable because text heavy, but I'm listing it in SG)
The Reporter, 1971, Bill Ryan and Ed Valtman, Gannett News Service, thrice-weekly panel (found! by Ray Bottorff in Ithaca Journal and other papers)
Retirement Is..., 1974,Eugene Carr, National Newspaper Syndicate, daily panel
Retread, 1995, Tom Nast, Avanti News Features, weekly
Reuben, 1979-80, Byron Vaughn, self-syndicated, daily panel
Rev., 1985-86, Nick Hobart, United Cartoonist Syndicate, daily
The Revolutionaries, 1973, John R. Kock, Spadea Syndicate, daily strip
Rib, 1986-88, Mike Paulson, Extra Newspaper Features, weekly strip
Ribbets, 1978, David Ball, Trans World News Service, daily strip
Ricky's Little People,1986-87, Ricky Barrera, United Cartoonist Syndicate, daily
Ride 'em Cowboy, 1939, Joe Buresch, Miller Features, daily strip
Riff McTic, 1967-69, Alex Crosby, Editorial Board Syndicate, daily strip
Riff Raff, 1976-77, Ed Wilkins, Trans World News Service, weekly panel
Riggin' Bill, 1937, Fred Schwab, Harry A Chesler, daily/Sunday strip
Ring Rongs, 1932-34, Leonard Merrill, Thompson Service, daily/weekly panel
Rink Brody, 1946, H.D.Williams, Ledger Syndicate, daily strip
Rip Tide, 1959-72, Frances Herron and Jerry Grandenetti, Columbia Features, daily/Sunday strip
The Ripoffs, 1978, George Hartman, Richard Lynn Enterprises, daily strip
Rita, 1981, P.I.B., United Press International, daily panel
Road to Adventure, 1965, Ray Golabiewski, Alex S. Arnott, daily/Sunday panel
Robert R.N., 1990-98, Joe Genovese, American International Syndicate, daily panel
Robots, 1935, Victor A. Brown, Thompson Service, daily strip
Rocky, 1980-81, Joseph Parkolay, Dickson-Bennett Features, weekly strip
Rocky Reach, 1948, Ed Finch, Globe Syndicate, daily strip
Rod Craig, 1949, Sydney Miller, Reuters, daily strip (Australian strip -- did it ever run in U.S.?)
Rodney, 1963, N. Norton, B.P.Singer, daily panel
Rodney, 1985-86, John Viola, United Cartooonist Syndicate, daily
Roger and his Pal, 1939, Pete DeAngelo,Waltan Features, daily strip
Roger Kaputnik, 1992-200?, Dave Berg, Whitegate Features, daily/Sunday strip
Rojo the Red Lobster, 1991-97, Elaine Sandra Abramson, Create-a-Craft, daily/Sunday strip
Romanticats, 1998-200?, Elaine Sandra Abramson, A&A, daily/Sunday strip
Ronda on the Telephone, 1984, Ed Heckman, Dickson-Bennett Features, daily panel
Room & Board, 1978, G.A. Bennett, R-GAB, daily strip
Roosty Roosty, 1941, Charles Bowers, Bell Syndicate, weekly strip
Roscoe, 1982-86, Goddard Sherman, Dickson-Bennett Features, daily strip
Rose Riley, 1935, Vaywor, uncredited, daily strip
A Round A Day, 1965-68, Eugene Craig, Dispatch Features, daily/Sunday panel
Roundo, 1946-50, Don G. Moore and Michael Shay, Midwest Syndicate, weekly panel/daily strip (I think all Midwest features are for advertising)
Rube From Trube, 1976-78, Phyllis Maxwell, Trans World News Service, daily strip
Rube The Boob, 1934-48, Ralph Matz, self-syndicated, daily strip
Ruby of Pun Kalab, 1939, C. David Vormelker, Jolyon Features, daily strip
Rudy, 1977, Doug Borgstedt, Copley News Service, daily panel (found! by Jeffrey Lindenblatt in Philadelphia Inquirer)
Rudy Bear, 1980-81, Bob McFerren, Dickson Features, daily panel
Rudy and Judy, 1946, R.S.Matz, Unique Features, daily strip
Rural Route, 1959-67, Walter Ball, Toronto Star Syndicate, weekly strip (Canadian feature -- was it successfully syndicated in the U.S.?)
Ruth & Roxy, 1939, Chenoweth and Rhymer, Publishers Syndicate, daily/weekly strip

Labels: Mystery Strips

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 features running 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 a 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 -- that is, an actual clipping from a newspaper or a copy thereof -- is proper proof) and qualifies for listing in the Stripper's Guide index, you will be the recipient of a goodie box chock full of all manner of comic strip ephemera -- reprint books, old tearsheets, magazines, even original art find their way into my goodie boxes. 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 are the mystery features starting with letter "Q". 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:

Quazar the Warrior, 1979, Tom Delevett, Trans World News Service, daily
Querubin, 1996, Grosso and Quir, Creative Syndication Services, daily/Sunday strip
Quibbles, 1988, Mae Sue Leslie,United Cartoonist Syndicate, daily
Quiet Quincy, 1938, Frank Ross, Ray Gross Features, daily panel
Quizoons and Quoteoons, 1966-70, Bonnie Woolsey, self-syndicated, daily panel

Labels: Mystery Strips

Flashback to be continued next Sunday ...

Labels: Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics