August 15th, 2015

Early Sarge – Part 3

by Mort Walker

It took a while for Mort Walker to decide how many teeth Sarge would have and where they would be located in his mouth. In the months after his debut on March 30, 1951, Sarge had two teeth in his upper jaw. This is what he looked like on December 13, 1951.Thirteen days later, Sarge had two teeth in his lower jaw.Over the course of the next few months, Sarge’s teeth moved around in his mouth. In this strip from February 1952, Sarge has one lower tooth in the first two panels and two upper teeth in the last panel.Finally, by April 1952, Mort settled on a consistent look. Sarge has had a single tooth in his lower jaw ever since.In this strip from 1953, Sarge goes to the dentist for a checkup. By this time, readers knew that Sarge had only one tooth in his mouth.Stay tooned for more on the early history of Beetle Bailey.

– Brian Walker