Silly Milly may be an obscurity to the vast majority of humanity, but to the mid-century readers of the New York Post this strip was a real star. Creator Stan MacGovern offered up some deliciously demented material -- he was sort of a Milt Gross minus the Yiddish accent.
The strip began on June 8 1938* as Extra Extra, an addition to the formerly staid New York Post that was in the process of trying to loosen itself up a bit. That spring in its step would be increased greatly in 1939 when the paper was sold to Dorothy Schiff, who transformed it into a liberal-leaning sensational tabloid.
The strip began as a wacky commentary on minor news stories, a theme that would remain popular throughout the run of the strip. But when MacGovern started using the recurring character Milly, a blowsy half-woman, half-doll who (as most of his characters) is missing her feet, she became the star of the show. MacGovern's use of minor newspaper headlines was no great innovation, but his downright deranged commentaries were what really set the strip apart from others of its genre, as did using himself as a thoroughly demented character in his own strip.
The strip was soon renamed Silly Milly, but various comics historians lay claim that the strip went through a period as "Swing On The News" (Maurice Horn), or "Swing With The News" (Don Markstein). Without having reviewed the Post microfilm for myself, I can only offer the samples you see above, some of which clearly show that the strip was sometimes titled Silly Milly Swings Out The News. I will of course post updates on this world-shaking point should anyone care to review the papers themselves.
In the game of musical titles, I'll add another -- in 1946-47 MacGovern produced an adjunct large format strip on Saturdays and titled it The Yuk-Yuk Department.
As wonderful as Silly Milly was, the New York Post had no success in syndicating it, though they tried to for years. I have yet to see it running in a paper other than the Post. And that probably prompted MacGovern to decide that enough was enough after a decade and a half. Silly Milly bade goodbye to her readers on November 2 1951**.
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* Source: Ken Barker in Menomonee Falls Gazette #141. Maurice Horn claims it began on January 8 1938. Neither date is a Monday, so I wonder...
** Source: Jeffrey Lindenblatt based on New York Post. Maurice Horn claimed the strip ran until 1952.
I'd love to see a published collection of those, but I doubt that I will.
ReplyDeleteThis strip is absolutely delightful. I would like a published collection as well. I wonder who would have the rights (News Corporation, the current owners of New York Post? Stan MacGovern's estate? Was the copyright ever renewed at all?)
ReplyDelete"Tobacco Road" was in the middle of what was then a record-breaking run on Broadway, hence the likely reason for the reference.
ReplyDeleteThere are a few strips in Art Out of Time: Unknown Comics Visionaries, 1900-1969… also some other strips the strippers here will surely love to strip.
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