Continued from last week.
There was a time when syndicate salesmen (who sold the comic strips) would be met at trains by competing editors in their quest for new comics and features.
The Chicago Tribune occasionally published a page of gag cartoons in 1895, but it wasn't until December 1901 that it printed its first Sunday "comics supplement," with multipanel color strips and characters who appeared weekly, including "Animal Land" and "Mr. Boggs."
On Nov. 24, 1918 "Gasoline Alley." This was a strip populated by guys working on their automobiles, but it was decided that it needed something to appeal to female readers. The main character, Walt Wallet was unmarried, but problem solved when an abandoned baby was left on his doorstep.
He was named Skeezix, who grew up on the strip and fought in World War II, became a grandfather and had a mid-life crisis in the 1960s. (I used to read this strip everyday in the Tribune, but it is no longer carried.)
--Cooter
No comments:
Post a Comment