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Ask the Archivist: December 8, 1941

December 8, 2016By Tea Fougner

It’s been seventy-five years since we were thrust into World War Two by way of the Japanese strike on our armed forces in Hawaii. Five years ago we looked at the comics that appeared on the actual day of the attack:

http://comicskingdom.com/blog/2011/12/07/ask-the-archivist-december-7-1941

Today we’ll see some of the KFS strips that ran the next day, the Monday following, or, technically the first day of the war with the United States as a combatant. It was the day that Congress authorized President Roosevelt to declare war on Japan with his immortal speech which included the phrase “With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph-So help us God.” And so we did. This is our modest way of making a tribute.

Hearst coverage of the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack: (right) The New York Journal-American reports on the declaration of war on 8 December 1941. (Left) After the outrage of the sneak attack, some panic-stricken fear headlines followed, like this one of 9 December. Others included a sighting of an ominous “Black Fleet” of mystery planes headed toward New York. Didn’t happen. Thankfully, there were no enemy actions over Manhattan or Frisco throughout the war.

BARNEY GOOGLE AND SNUFFY SMITH by Billy DeBeck
BRICK BRADFORD by Ritt and Gray
ETTA KETT by Paul Robinson
FELIX THE CAT by Otto Mesmer
FLASH GORDON by Austin Briggs
HENRY by Carl Anderson

THE OLD HOME TOWN by Lee W. Stanley
THEY’LL DO IT EVERY TIME By Jimmy Hatlo
KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED by Jim Gary
KRAZY KAT by George Herriman
LITTLE ANNIE ROONEY by Brandon Walsh
MANDRAKE THE MAGICIAN by Falk and Davis
MUGGS AND SKEETER by Wally Bishop
POLLY AND HER PALS by Cliff Sterrett

RIGHT AROUND HOME by Dudley Fisher
SERGEANT PAT OF RADIO PATROL by Sullivan and Schmidt
THIMBLE THEATRE by Bela Zaboly
TILLIE THE TOILER by Russ Westover
TIM TYLER’S LUCK by Lyman Young
TOOTS AND CASPER by Jimmy Murphy

TO John W Kennedy-

Sorry we had a bit of glitch last week; but it was quickly dealt with.

We got on it only a few hours later.

TO Rodrigo Araya-

The strips of the early period, say 1900-15, usually concentrate on the male half

of a marriage, where his wife is regarded as one among many sources of his various

problems. Pretty girls in strips are mostly used as love interests for the hero if he’s

single, or temptation on the way to painful reprisal if he’s hitched. The Newlyweds

were a fresh idea because they were a young newlywed couple. Their conspicuous

surname attests to their novelty. As for the characters appearance, most young ladies
are beautiful, and their appeal is universal. And as most cartoonists have

been men, we would like to see that all the young women are lovely. That we

often depict ourselves as goofy-looking reflects a bit of truth, after all, most men are not

all that good looking. Ugly is masculine. Which is fine because it still leaves us attractive

to women. Though I notice in the works of the classic feminine pen-pushers like Nell

Brinkley, Grace Drayton or Fay King, their handsome young men always seem pretty

enough to compete with the girls!

TO Rick Boyer-

As I related to our friend Mumblix back on 3 November, DeBeck loved to make up

catchphrases and slang words. He was at one time quite successful in putting them

over. “Horsefeathers”,

TO John W Kennedy-

Sorry we had a bit of glitch last week; but it was quickly dealt with.

We got on it only a few hours later.

TO Rodrigo Araya-

The strips of the early period, say 1900-15, usually concentrate on the male half

of a marriage, where his wife is regarded as one among many sources of his various

problems. Pretty girls in strips are mostly used as love interests for the hero if he’s

single, or temptation on the way to painful reprisal if he’s hitched. The Newlyweds

were a fresh idea because they were a young newlywed couple. Their conspicuous

surname attests to their novelty. As for the characters appearance- most

young ladies are beautiful, and their appeal is universal. And as most cartoonists have

been men, we would like to see that all the young women are lovely. That we

often depict ourselves as goofy looking reflects a bit of truth, after all, men are not

all that good looking. Ugly is masculine. Which is fine because it still leaves us attractive

to women. Though I notice in the works of the classic feminine pen pushers like Nell

Brinkley, Grace Drayton or Fay King, their handsome young men always seem pretty

enough to compete with the girls!

TO Rick Boyer-

As I related to our friend Mumblix back on 3 November, DeBeck loved to make up

catchphrases and slang words. He was at one time quite successful in putting them

over, “Horsefeathers”, “Heebie-Jeebies” and “Bodacious” being recognizable even

today. His modus operandi is on display in the currently running strips: keep repeating

it, even if you have to stuff it in the background somewhere as a non sequitur. As I said

last month, he really didn’t go anywhere with this “Choseff” catchphrase because I think

DeBeck was getting sicker and Lasswell was taking over more and more in 1942. Then,

Lasswell was in the army and wasn’t able to be working side by side with him, so the

phrase was abandoned.

To Dorila Berraso-

Another way to get a Toots & Casper fix would be to go to the Old Fulton NY Post Cards

site, where you’ll see files of the Mount Vernon Daily Argus from the 1920s, Pelham Sun

from the 1930s, as well as Hearst’s Albany Times-Union and Syracuse Journal. But be

warned, these files can be a real chore to get through, and in the last two mentioned,

the source materials used look like lab seconds or even highly deteriorated microfilm.

Yours,

The King Features Archivist.