Monday, March 20, 2023
Obscurity of the Day: Jennifer
The Christian Science Monitor had sort of a mini-golden age of comics in their staid pages during the 1940s. Well, maybe not quite gold, but at least high end aluminum foil. These were the years when Adventures of Waddles, The Bells, and other fine strips ran regularly there. Amid the many new features that came and went in this dcade was Jennifer, a strip (or sometimes panel) about a pig-tailed little girl who thinks rather grandly of herself. As with most CSM strips, it wasn't a daily, but just ran a few times per week. It first appeared on November 25 1944 and ended July 26 1946.
The strip is bylined to Isabelle Grover. I can find not a peep about her on the 'net. That might just be me not searching well enough, or that old single/married name bugaboo. Another possibility is that the creator used a pseudonym -- some artists who worked for the Christian Science Monitor felt it prudent to keep their real identity a secret rather than to be known for practicing Christian Science.
UPDATE: Paul DiFilippo sends a short article from the Oakland Tribune, January 13 1948 with a mention of Isabelle Grover, so it was apparently not a pseudonym. Oddly it mentions her character Jennifer as if ythe feature is still running. Thanks Paul!
Labels: Obscurities
I tend to think of comic strip characters' names as being more old-fashioned than trendy. For Isabelle Grover to name her character Jennifer in 1944 seems downright futuristic.
