Wednesday, December 11, 2019

 

Jeffrey Lindenblatt's Paper Trends: The Three Hundred for 1978 -- The Rankings

After going through 300 daily papers we have our finger on the pulse of the daily comic strip back in January 1978. First, of the many papers most only had one page of comics plus a few running on the op-ed pages (most popularly, Doonesbury, Dunagin's People, Small Society and Berry’s World). Quite a few papers also ran a few features in the their classified sections (most popular being panels like They’ll Do It Every Time).

There were a total of 220 different strips and panels that ran in the 300 papers. The popularity of these features ranged from 35 that ran in only a single paper (a few were locally produced) to three strips that ran in over 150 papers.

First let’s give the crown to the most popular single panel feature running in 1978. It came down to three contenders. Coming in third was Berry’s World with 60 papers, second was Family Circus with 63 papers and the winner was Dennis the Menace with 80 papers.

Three fairly new strips (debuting in the 1970s) did very well. Hagar the Horrible (1973) had at this time 76 papers putting it in 16th place overall. Frank and Ernest (1972) had 86 papers putting it in 7th place and Doonesbury (1970) had 91 papers putting it in 5th place. Other strips debuting in the 1970’s had a slower start but grew greatly in popularity later. For example, Cathy (1976) only had 19 papers at this time.

A second notable race is for the most popular story strip running in 1978. Before I get to the result one thing has to made clear: if we counted Sunday sections, Prince Valiant would have been either number one or two on this list. The top 6 daily story strips at this time are as follows: coming in at number 6 is a new entry, The Amazing Spider-Man which had 50 papers putting it in 27th place. That’s a pretty phenomenal start. In fifth place is Dick Tracy with 55 papers; this was Chester Gould’s last year on the strip before passing it over to Max Collins and Rick Fletcher placing this strip in 23rd place. It will be interesting when we look back at the 40’s and 50’s to see how much higher this strip will rank. Third and fourth place is a tie between Steve Canyon, the highest rated adventure strip, and Rex Morgan MD, both with 62 papers. Edging out those two with 63 papers is the adventure/comedy strip Alley Oop, which is also the third highest circulation for the NEA syndicate. Number one with 80 papers is the soap opera strip Mary Worth.

Another crown to bestow is for most successful syndicate. This can be determined by counting up the total number of papers that run their combined feature output; in other words, how many 'slots' did their features take up in total for the 300 papers. Here are the top ten, which accounts for all the major syndicates. The second number shows the average papers per feature for the syndicate. You can look at it as a gauge of the syndicate's sales ability, the quality of their features or perhaps as an indication of how many papers had to take a feature for the syndicate to continue offering it :

Syndicate Total ‘Slots’ Avg Slots per Feature
King Features 1154 22.1
Field Enterprises 947 27.8
NEA 766 45.0
United Feature 442 19.2
Chicago Tribune 325 14.1
Universal Press 257 17.1
Register & Tribune 160 17.7
McNaught 114 14.2
Los Angeles Times 67 5.1
Washington Star  35 17.5

The Washington Star Syndicate, the least successful of the major syndicates, would disappear very soon, selling off their last remaining assets to Universal in early 1979. Also, although King Features shows an apparently commanding lead in slots, if we consider that United Feature and NEA are both run through the same parent company by this time, the combination of the two actually hold the crown with 1208 points. Also, NEA's average for slots is a huge outlier because they offered their features under a blanket service (one price gets you everything offered by the syndicate) -- at smaller papers, if they have all those features available the tendency is to run most if not all of them.


The top three strips overall are interesting in that they all came very close to being cancelled by their syndicates early on for having low sales. Coming in at number 3 with 169 papers is a strip that only became successful after the creator had his star inducted into the army, Beetle Bailey. Coming in at number 2 with 191 papers is a strip that had to change from a flapper strip to a family sitcom to become successful, Blondie. The number one strip started as a kind of filler strip but grew in popularity over the years to become the most successful comic strip of all time, Peanuts at this time had 194 papers. That’s almost 2/3 of the newspapers surveyed!

Here is the complete list, ranking the features from most to least papers. If you would like the giant whopper version of this in which each feature is listed with the specific papers in which I found it, send an email to Allan (strippersguide@gmail.com) with subject line "1978 Paper Trends List" and he'll send you a PDF:


Title

Number of Papers

Syndicate

Debut Year

Peanuts

194

United

1950

Blondie

191

King

1930

Beetle Bailey

169

King

1950

Andy Capp

95

Field

1963

Doonesbury

91

Universal

1970

Born Loser

90

NEA

1965

Frank and Ernest

86

NEA

1972

Wizard of Id

85

Field

1964

B.C.

85

Field

1958

Barney Google and Snuffy Smith

81

King

1919

Dennis the Menace

80

Field

1951

Mary Worth

80

Field

1934

Hi and Lois

79

King

1954

Hagar the Horrible

76

King

1973

Nancy

72

United

1938

Alley Oop

63

NEA

1933

Family Circus

63

Register & Tribune

1960

Rex Morgan MD

62

Field

1948

Steve Canyon

62

Field

1947

Archie

61

King

1946

Berry's World

60

NEA

1963

Bugs Bunny

59

NEA

1943

Dick Tracy

55

Tribune

1931

Priscilla's Pop

55

NEA

1946

Short Ribs

55

NEA

1958

Winthrop

55

NEA

1956

Amazing Spider-Man

50

Register & Tribune

1977

Eek and Meek

49

NEA

1965

Shoe

47

Tribune

1977

Our Boarding House

45

NEA

1921

Tiger

44

King

1965

Buz Sawyer

42

King

1943

Captain Easy

42

NEA

1924

Gasoline Alley

41

Tribune

1918

Marmaduke

41

United

1954

Funky Winkerbean

38

Field

1972

Funny Business

38

NEA

1966

Judge Parker

38

Field

1952

Best Seller Showcase

37

Universal

1977

Side Glances

37

NEA

1928

They'll Do It Every Time

37

King

1929

Heathcliff

36

McNaught

1973

Tumbleweeds

36

United

1965

Tank McNamara

35

Universal

1974

Redeye

33

King

1967

Apartment 3-G

28

Field

1961

Small Society

28

Washington Star/King

1966

Broom Hilda

27

Tribune

1970

Donald Duck

27

King

1938

Grin and Bear It

26

Field

1932

Herman

26

Universal

1974

Steve Roper and Mike Nomad

25

Field

1936

Asterix & Obelix

24

Field

1977

Dunagin's People

24

Field

1969

Mark Trail

24

Field

1946

Heart of Juliet Jones

23

King

1953

Phantom

23

King

1936

Better Half

21

Register & Tribune

1956

Kerry Drake

21

Field

1943

Crock

20

Field

1975

Hazel

20

King

1969

Cathy

19

Universal

1976

Lockhorns

19

King

1968

Miss Peach

19

Field

1957

Graffiti

18

McNaught



Jackson Twins

18

McNaught

1950

Ripley's Believe It or Not

17

King

1918

Jeff Hawke

16

United

1977

Love Is

16

Los Angeles

1970

Zoonies

16

NEA

1977

Dondi

15

Tribune

1955

Fred Basset

15

Field

1965

Laff-A-Day

15

King

1936

Momma

15

Field

1970

Rip Kirby

15

King

1946

Ryatts

14

Field

1954

Sam and Silo

14

King

1977

Henry

14

King

1934

Mr. Tweedy

14

Los Angeles

1954

Ziggy

14

Universal

1971

Inside of Woody Allen

14

King

1976

Flintstones

13

McNaught

1961

Rick O'Shay

13

Tribune

1958

Agatha Crumm

12

King

1977

Brenda Starr

12

Tribune

1940

Charmers

12

Field

1975

Ferd'nand

12

United

1947

Gil Thorp

12

Tribune

1958

Girls

12

Field

1952

Joe Palooka

12

McNaught

1930

Modesty Blaise

12

Los Angeles

1976

Moose Miller

12

King

1965

Winnie Winkle

11

Tribune

1920

Mutt and Jeff

11

McNaught

1907

Sporting Life

11

Tribune

1977

Animal Crackers

10

Tribune

1968

Catfish

10

Tribune

1973

Motley's Crew

10

Tribune

1976

Nubbin

10

King

1958

Ponytail

10

King

1960

Trudy

10

King

1963

Casey

9

Tribune

1977

Little Orphan Annie

9

Tribune

1924

There Outta Be A Law

9

United

1944

Gordo

8

United

1941

Moon Mullins

8

Tribune

1923

Quincy

8

King

1970

Stanley

7

Universal

1977

Mickey Mouse

7

King

1930

Rooftop O' Toole

7

United

1976

Scamp

7

King

1955

Smith Family

7

Washington Star

1950

Wee Pals

7

King/United

1965

Wright Angles

7

NEA

1976

Wordsmith

6

Universal

1975

Captain's Gig

6

Field

1977

Don Q

6

New York Times

1975

Eb and Flo

6

United

1967

Emmy Lou

6

United

1944

Howard the Duck

6

Register & Tribune

1977

Lolly

6

Tribune

1955

Off the Record

6

Register & Tribune

1934

On Stage

6

Tribune

1957

Star Hawks

6

NEA

1977

According to Guinness

5

Universal

1975

A Little Leary

5

LA Times



Amy

5

Register & Tribune

1961

Bringing Up Father

5

King

1913

Citizen Smith

5

Register & Tribune

1967

Doodley's World

5

King

1972

Flash Gordon

5

King

1951

Flop Family

5

King

1943

Hubert

5

King

1945

Men and Woman

5

Field

1976

Mr. Abernathy

5

King

1957

Outcasts

5

Toronto Star



Rivets

5

Field

1953

Belvedere

4

Field

1962

Boner's Ark

4

King

1968

Brother Juniper

4

Field

1957

Carmichael

4

Los Angeles

1958

Dr. Kildare

4

King

1962

Dropouts

4

United

1968

Friends and Romans

4

United

1975

Frontiers of Science

4

Los Angeles

1962

Gumdrops

4

United

1977

Henny Youngman

4

Field

1977

Kelly

4

Universal

1972

Laugh Time

4

King

1968

Pixies

4

United

1966

Strictly Business

4

Field

1941

This Funny World

4

McNaught

1945

Time Out

4

Field

1936

Treadwells (aka The Neighbors)

4

Chicago Tribune

1939

Woody's World

4

United

1963

Ms. Augusta

3

Universal

1975

Basil

3

Universal

1974

Ben Wicks

3

LA Times



Big George

3

Field

1960

Boomer

4

United

1972

Channel Chuckles

3

Register and Tribune

1954

Dr. Smock

3

United

1974

Freedy

3

Field

1955

Health Capsules

3

United

1961

Kisses

3

Self-syndicated

1974

Lansky's Look

3

Universal

1974

Little Woman

3

King

1953

P.T. Bimbo

3

NEA

1975

Simpkins

3

Tribune

1971

Soft Focus

3

King

1976

Trim's Arena

3

Universal

1973

Wordplay

3

King

1973

Alex in Wonderland

3

Copley

1976

Big Ben Bolt

2

King

1950

Bi-Focals

2

McNaught

1977

Ching Chow

2

Tribune

1927

Clyde & Homer/Homer's Groaners (activity strip)

2

LA Times



Luther

2

Los Angeles

1969

Mandrake the Magician

2

King

1934

Norbert

2

United

1964

Pot Shots

2

Tribune

1975

Queenie

2

King

1966

Secret Agent Corrigan

2

King

1934

Smart Chart

2

Los Angeles

1970

Stan Smith's Tennis Class

2

King



As You Were

1

Pioneer

1971

Aw, Heck

1

Tampa Times

1976

Beautiful

1

Allied

1977

Benchwarmer's Sports Trivia

1

Copley



Brick Bradford

1

King

1933

Broadsides

1

LA Times

1975

Collector's Corner

1

United



Dewey's Den

1

Elwood Call-Leader

1977

Foster Fenwick

1

Chronicle

1968

Figments

1

Manson

1971

Hocus-Focus (activity panel)

1





Idea Chaser

1

Allied

1948

Lars and June

1

Self-syndicated

1977

Laughs From Europe

1

Register and Tribune

1958

Mark Trail's Outdoor Tips

1

Field



Missing Links

1

Canada-Wide



Now Society

1

Chronicle

1973

Pet Set

1

Self-syndicated

1973

Playing Better Golf With Jack Nicklaus

1

King



Pookas

1

LA Times

1977

Popeye

1

King

1919

Rocket Shots (sports instruction)

1

United



Rudy

1

Copley

1977

Selling Short

1

Universal



Strike Three

1

Chapel Hill Tarheel



Tarzan

1

United

1929

Teaching Pro (sports instruction)

1

LA Times



The Byrds

1

Toronto Star



Thoughts of Man

1

Tribune

1972

Today's World

1

King

1971

Toppix

1

Tribune`

1975

Travels With Farley

1

Chronicle

1975

Winnie Witch & The Giant Potato

1

Canada-Wide



You're Getting Closer

1

King

1976


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Comments:
Without researching all newspapers (an impossible and thankless task) its clear the lower numbers are skewed. Popeye, who would have his own movie in 1980, shows only one newspaper! Flash Gordon is outranked three fold by the British Jeff Hawke! I can tell you I was reading two newspapers in the Boston area back then that carried Brick Bradford (because one didn't publish on holidays). Other than that, this was an enormous task and I suspect accurately reflects the exposure of the top strips.
 
I just want to say that this project is a great idea. Rarely do we see statistics like this about the relative number of newspapers that comic strips run in. So thank you to Jeffrey.
 
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