April 1st, 2018

Timeline – 1974 Part 4

by Brian Walker, Greg Walker and Chance Browne

Hi and Lois Sunday page color proof, December 22, 1974.

Christmas is a favorite holiday in the Flagston, Browne and Walker families. We always like to do something special at this time of the year.

The Sunday page above is one of my favorite seasonal episodes. Dot and Ditto can’t wait to give Hi his Christmas present. They make him guess what the gift is before he opens it. Their glee when he starts making preposterous suggestions has wonderful naïve innocence. When he finally makes the correct identification, Trixie’s look of surprise is priceless.

Many cartoonists have a tradition of drawing and sending custom Christmas cards. Dik Browne created some gorgeous art for his. This illustration of the Browne family home in Wilton, Connecticut appeared on one of the family’s early greeting cards.

Both Dik and his son Chance also liked to add a little holiday charm to the Hi and Lois seasonal Sunday pages. The second panel in the page above is a particularly evocative scene by Dik. The drop panel below was done by Chance about 30 years later.

Next week we will be moving on to 1975 in our Timeline series, so be sure and return to see more classic examples from our archives.

– Brian Walker