April 9th, 2017

Timeline – 1962 Part 4

by Brian Walker, Greg Walker and Chance Browne

Hi and Lois Sunday page color proof, December 30, 1962.

Mort Walker made some conscious decisions when establishing the themes of Hi and Lois. “Most strips of the time depicted the parents bickering and the kids being mean,” Mort remembered in a 1986 interview. “I thought we would show the positive side of a family. The kids are cute. The parents love each other. It’s a nuclear family against the world rather than against each other. They’re against crabgrass and traffic and taxes. We took the meanness out of it.” The Flagstons are a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Appoval” family.

In the episode above, Hi contemplates what might have happened if the great men of history had to deal with the daily responsibilities he faced every day as a father. In the end he accepts his lot in life as an average husband who, instead of doing great things, helps his wife with the dishes.

Next week, we are moving on to the year 1963, so stay tooned for more classic Sunday pages from our archives.

– Brian Walker