Friday, January 29, 2021
Obscurity of the Day: It All Depends
You've got to give Bill Sakren points for sticking with it. After George Matthew Adams syndicated his pantomime strip Mortimer Mum in the 1930s, you'd figure Sakren would strike out in a different direction. Well, he didn't, but he did wait over a decade and a half before dipping his toe in a second time.
It All Depends, Sakren's second pass on a pantomime feature for George Matthew Adams, is a very cute idea. The panel shows a pair of characters in a situation and the thoughts going through their heads. Of course each character sees the situation in very different ways. Writing gags for pantomime features can be a real struggle, but this one, it seems to me, offers an unending well of good gags.
Unfortunately we'll never know how deep Sakren's well was, because the feature did not last long. I can trace it from January 7 1952* to September 26 1953**. It was as fresh and funny on the end date as it was at the beginning, but the Adams syndicate just couldn't seem to get it in many papers. Sakren would get a few more features syndicated, but none that met with anything more than modest success.
* Source: Troy Times-Record
** Source: Allentown Call
Labels: Obscurities
This feature reminds me of the Bob Barnes two-panel Register & Tribune series "Double Take" that ran from 1951-57. Another was the less successful 1950-52 Dille panel, "Viewpoint/It's All In The Point of View" by Dave Gerard that you covered back in 2006.
: 1/29/2021 10:45 AM 