November 18th, 2017

Timeline – 1970 Part 3

by Brian Walker, Greg Walker and Chance Browne

Hi and Lois Sunday page color proof, April 5, 1970.

Four years after the debut of Hi and Lois, Mort Walker came up with the idea to share Trixie’s thoughts with readers and introduced the innovation in November 1958. To see these historic strips go to: http://hiandlois.com/2014/05/16/the-thinking-baby/

In the next decade, Trixie’s personality continued to evolve. Most of the time she was sweet and innocent but occasionally she could be feisty and combative, as in the episode above. After feeling neglected by her friend the sunbeam, Trixie decides to play hard to get but sunbeam is persistent. Their relationship was not always sunny and bright. After these spats, they inevitably patched things up.

Although Trixie’s sunbeam never speaks or thinks, it is one of the most popular features of the strip. “I got the idea from observing my own children,” Mort remembered.  “It looked so cute, seeing a baby sitting in the sunlight, luxuriating in the warmth and brightness, with sparkly dust flying around, glistening in the sun’s rays.”

Hi and Lois daily strip, January 25, 1972.

It’s hard to keep coming up with new angles for the sunbeam. Keyholes, blinds and clouds have been put to use. Hopefully, for the sake of our readers, the variations are endless.

– Brian Walker