Monday, October 23, 2017
Obscurity of the Day: The Meadowlarks
I don't know if the 1920s were particularly notable in the popularity of golf, but they sure were in the popularity of golf comics. Two from that decade that we've covered here at Stripper's Guide are In The Rough and Divot Diggers. Here's another to add to the list, The Meadowlarks by Chuck Wells. This one really didn't catch on at all. It debuted on October 22 1928 through the auspices of the Central Press Association based out of Cleveland and found few takers.
The art is delightful on this strip, but I find the use of jargon and colloquialisms to be so dense as to make the strip all but unintelligible. It sort of feels like trying to hack your way through a jungle of words looking for a gag as if it were Dr. Livingstone -- you know it's got to be there somewhere but it's a mighty unpleasant trek to get there.
Evidently Wells and the syndicate tried to find a formula that worked better. On April 1 1929 the strip was reintroduced as a 1-column vertical strip, which succeeded only in eliminating the best aspect of it -- the delightful art which was now reduced to little more than stick figures.
The Meadowlarks seems not to have managed to make through a full year. The latest I can find it places the end date at September 28 1929.
Labels: Obscurities
Comments:
The 1920's was in fact a time where Golf became more popular. The phrase " an old man's game" was often comically refuted in popular media by showing the healthy, outdoorsy types that were the stars of the pro games, or even figures like President Harding, or, chorus girls. there were a bunch of golf strips, ones you might scare up some examples of ae LAYON McDUFFER, a 1924 Feg Murray strip for Associated Editors and Wally Bishop's 1928 Premier syndicate series THE GOLF BUG.
# posted by 
: 10/23/2017 9:52 PM
: 10/23/2017 9:52 PM
Reading a book on miniature golf, which was suddenly (and briefly) huge about this time. References cropped up -- little Skeezix set up a backyard "course" -- but did it ever get major play in a strip?
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