Although NEA was undeniably king of the closed-end news strip (gotta come up with a better name for these ... ideas?) other syndicates did follow suit and gave the genre a try. Hearst's Central Press Association, for instance, offered them sporadically in the 1930s. In the mid-1930s they had Clifton H. Crittenden pen at least five of them, including The Saga of Mrs. Simpson. This one was a 6-part series tracing the life of Wallis Simpson, who was about to become the wife of King Edward VIII leading to his abdication from the British throne. The series ran from December 6 to 11 1936* in most papers, though some ran it late.
Crittenden signed the art on these strips, but may well not have been the writer.
Source: Cuero Record
More often, these Central Press closed-end news strips, or CENS, to use a never used before term, were done by R.J. Scott, at least in the 1920-35 era.
ReplyDeleteExcuse it Allan- hope this is allowed-
ReplyDeleteAn article I wrote about Mr. Scott with some samples of his "CENS" can be glimmed at
comicskingdom.com/blog/2015/07/16/ask-the-archivist-r-j-scott
You may, you may! The late lamented "Ask the Archivist" is highly recommended reading. Comic strip fans are urged to get over there.
ReplyDeleteCENS. Hmm. Well, it ain't zactly got a musicality to it.
--Allan
How about "Histericals" as a new name for closed end news features?
ReplyDelete