Stripper's Guide

February 18 1910 -- Jim Jeffries, on a long theatrical tour to capitalize on his upcoming fight with Jack Johnson, is on his way back to California finally, presumably to begin training in earnest for the big bout. 

In panel 4 is Jack Kipper, who was a business partner of Jeffries, and a fight promoter himself.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

I know that paper doll features don't really qualify for listing under my self-imposed rules, but since there is a whole collector community for them, I generally look the other way and track them as long as they are credited and by known cartoonists. 

This particular paper doll feature is worth remembering if only because it represents some of the best work I know of to come from the pen of Larry Semon. Semon, of course, was a silent film comedy star, but he was also a cartoonist with a goodly number of credits under his belt. I've never been exactly overwhelmed by Semon's ink-slinging abilities, but on this lowly paper doll feature he really outdid himself. I've never seen the point of paper dolls, but even I (as a kid) might have been convinced to go through the motions in order to have my very own Punch and Judy show.

The feature I index as Cut-Outs seldom had that name except as a descriptive part of a larger title. It ran in the Philadelphia North American's comic section from July 4 1909 to November 9 1913, but there were many gaps in the series along the way. After the initial stint by Larry Semon it often got bumped from the section for very long periods, and the artists responsible were all over the map. Here's a rundown of the running dates and creators:

 I've never heard of Marjorie P. Edwards or Janet G. Edwards, and J.P. Collins is not known to have done anything else for the North American, so his appearance is a bit of a mystery. The rest of the Cut-Outs cast members were regulars in the North American at this time. 

The fact that the feature appeared very rarely after April 1910 could just indicate that after Semon left it was considered a filler item from then on, something to stash in a drawer until someone missed a deadline. An alternative scenario that I've toyed with, though, is that maybe there was an extra North American page available to those who were not willing to pay for The Turr'ble Tales of Kaptin Kiddo, a full page marquee item. I've seen a few inklings that that could be the case, but I've not yet found a paper that took a full section from the North American in these years on a consistent basis and substituted a page of second-raters.

Labels: Obscurities

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

Central Press Association offered up quite a few closed-end news-oriented strips in the 1930s, some of which undoubtedly remain unfound by me. These not particularly popular short run items are quite elusive. 

The Story of James J. Braddock, the "Cinderella Man" fighter who won the heavyweight boxing crown long after he was counted out as a has-been, was front burner news in June 1935 in the days after his title bout with Max Baer. Central Press threw together a strip written by Bill Braucher with art by Clifton H. Crittenden that hit the high points of his career. The strip was ready for running on June 17, just three days after the fight, and ended on June 22*, though many papers ran it late, as the Philadelphia Daily News above. 

* Source: Palestine (TX) Herald.

Labels: Obscurities

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 5 comments

Yet another in a long string of Russell Patterson Hearst magazine cover series, Get-Your-Man Gloria ran under the King Features imprint from March 27 to May 29 1932. 

This series throws a lazily-breaking curveball into the standard romance formula. Gloria Glayde is a reporter for the Clarion newspaper, and she'll do just about anything to get the dirt on high society folks, even if she has to inject herself to manufacture a headline. Her favorite target is Derek Denbeigh, heir to a ketchup fortune -- he's a hunk, he's rich, he's single and he falls for just about every trap Gloria lays for him. Poor Derek can't decide if he loves or hates Gloria for all her shenanigans, but I'll leave it to your imagination which of those emotions wins over in the end. Gloria, on the other hand, still seems to prefer playing him for the fool even come the end of the series, a bit of a surprise change to the formula.

Labels: Magazine Cover Comics

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

A lovely Buster Brown Valentine's Day card published by Raphael Tuck. This comes from a series that bears a 1903 copyright, but based on the mailing dates I see on these, I'm guessing they were published a few years later than that, but before 1907, since they are undivided backs.

Labels: Wish You Were Here

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 1 comments