Dressmaker's Dummy Leads Teenage Pals Into Hitchcockian Screwball Nightmare: 31-page story from Henry Aldrich 4, 1951

Given how poorly my 1960s John Stanley Bibliography has sold, I'm feeling rather discouraged about the hard work it will take to put together the 1950s volume. In the work I've done so far, if only to satisfy my own curiosity, I've made some pleasant discoveries and done some re-evaluations.

The richest vein I've struck is in the early 1950s title Henry Aldrich, which Stanley wrote for his most talented collaborator, the cartoonist Bill Williams.

As Stanley entered his most beloved period on the best-selling Marge's Little Lulu title, and just before he took up cartooning again for the eclectic Marge's Tubby spinoff, he wrote several issues of this teenage analog to Lulu and Tubby.

Stanley's Aldrich material is often surprisingly sophisticated, and the book's unusual format allowed him to experiment with story lengths. Today's offering is one of Stanley's longest regular-issue narratives: 31 pages of unfolding comedic mayhem, tinged with black humor and featuring two protagonists who never quite understand why their actions have such a strong effect on the world around them.

"Homer"-- A Fascinating Forecast of John Stanley's 1960s Work, One Decade Early

I have posted examples of John Stanley's work on the early 1950s series Henry Aldrich here in the past.

As time has gone by, my study of this series' early issues has gradually revealed much more of Stanley's input than I first realized.

Stanley wrote the entirety of the first two issues of Henry, skipped the third, and returned with the fourth. The skipped third issue threw me off for a few years. I finally sat down and carefully read these comics.

To my pleasant surprise, Stanley's work appears through at least the 11th issue. I'm still going over the last half of the 22-issue run.

These stories, which are often quite long and detailed, are a fascinating precursor of Stanley's 1960s work on the series Dunc 'n Loo (also with Bill Williams) and 13 Going on 18. They show that these concepts did not appear out of the blue, for their creator, in the early 1960s.

The dawn of the 1950s saw an uneasy transition in John Stanley's writing. He repressed, consciously or not, the wilder extremes of his comedic sensibility. The frantic, everywhere-at-once affect of his 1940s work was suddenly muted.

I think this is Stanley's work: from Henry Aldrich 7, 1951

As I dig deeper in the largely un-documented history of John Stanley's comics writing, I find a fair share of near-misses and wanna-bes.
Here and there I get clues. In an interview published in one of the Little Lulu Library sets, artist Irving Tripp mentions one Charlie Hedinger, who he credits with penciling the early issues of Little Lulu that Tripp worked on.
Tripp guesstimates that he came on board in "possibly the late 1940s." Furthermore, he states that Hedinger transitioned to a writer position in "I would say mid- or late 1950s."
Tripp provides no hard facts and no exact dates. He stayed with Little Lulu long after John Stanley's departure in 1959 (which he remembers as "what must have been the middle 1950s").
Long before Stanley's exit, Tripp took on the entire art workload for Lulu. This leaves Charlie Hedinger as a possible suspect for the mysterious "near-Stanley" stories that I've discussed and occasionally presented on this blog. Tripp also mentions the writer Carl Hubbel, who co-wrote stories with his wife, Virginia.
Thanks to information from comics history scholar Steven Rowe, I've learned that Hedinger's name is mis-spelled throughout the published interview as "Heddinger."  The Grand Comic Book Database offers THIS information on Charles Hedinger. They list only 10 credits, including one story apiece for Popular Comics, New Funnies and Our Gang Comics. (These, certainly, cannot be his only published works!) He is not named in this one-time listing of the Little Lulu personnel.
For today, let's enjoy the stylish, accomplished and truly comic artwork of Bill Williams--the single best cartoonist who ever worked with John Stanley. This story, the lead strip in the 7th Henry Aldrich comic book, smacks of John Stanley's touch. It strongly resembles one of Stanley's early 1960s Dunc 'n' Loo stories--and not just for Williams' essential input. The basic situation (hero is saddled with extremely difficult un-socialized wild-card; squirms in discomfort as oddball is too stubborn to be placated; chaos ensues) is a time-tested Stanley Scenario.
Other tells include sound effects in speech balloons, "fixed camera" sequences, silent sequences, wild physical action, crowd scenes and graphically playful/aggressive sound effects.
Read it and draw your own conclusions:

This is a funny, vivid story, with most of the humor rooted in each character's distinct personality, and its attendant quirks. The staging seems akin to Stanley's approach, as does the lack of chemistry between Henry and Jessica. They are two unlike beings forced upon each other, as with Little Lulu's Tubby and his mini-me relation, Chubby.
The story's circular ending, complete with a the-end that happens on an off-beat, further seem to point in Stanley's direction.
As ever, your two cents are quite valuable to me. Drop me a note and let me know what you think.

Is This Stanley's Work? "Homer Brown," from Henry Aldrich 2, 1950

I haven't done one of these "Is This Stanley's Work" posts in awhile. For the sheer sweet sake of variety, here's a return to that occasional berth on Stanley Stories.
A potential problem with focusing on one subject so intently, as I do here, is that, after awhile, it becomes inevitable that I'm going to repeat myself--in story choices, commentary, et al. I strive to keep this blog fresh for you, the reader, and for me, the writer.
As well, as I continue to explore the back-waters of the Dell Comics output from 1942 to 1962--prime years for John Stanley, who remained alarmingly prolific for these two decades--I find a certain amount of pieces I'm not 100% sure about.
This story is in that category. It has some tell-tale Stanley-ian touches, both in characterization and technique. It feels like it could be a Thirteen Going on Eighteen story in many ways.
And, because of Bill Williams' elegant cartooning, there are obvious ties to Stanley's Dunc 'n' Loo.
Still... I dunno...read this story and tell me what you think.
The puzzler is that, according to "official" comics history, John Stanley only wrote some of the first issue of the Henry Aldrich comic book. The very best story from that first issue (and, quite honestly, the only one I feel is truly Stanley's work) was posted here awhile back. It is burned into my memory, as it was the last story I posted on my dearly departed, much missed Mac Mini, which kicked the bucket mere hours after that post, which you can see HERE.
I remain optimistic that this piece, from the second issue of Aldrich, may be Stanley's work. The stories in this series vary greatly in narrative quality, even within a single issue. This suggests, to me, that a number of writers worked on this series.

Anyway, here 'tis. See you afterwards...

The Loo-like qualities of Homer Brown, nebbishly, unconfident sidekick to all-American boy Henry Aldrich, the coarse, aggressive, single-minded vision of the girl's father, the girl, herself, who is accusatory and threatening, yet understanding and assured, the WAZZ and WHIZZ SFX of Homer's jalopy, and the non-sequitur final line of dialogue that manages to fabulously conclude the story...

These elements all suggest John Stanley to me. And, as Bill Williams was a strong enough visual stylist to enforce his own layout concepts on Stanley's writing, the story's slightly offbeat feel mirrors the later Stanley/Williams collaboration on Dunc 'n' Loo and Kookie.

Stanley hadn't yet gotten into the staccato style of writing that would be common in the later 1950s. His Little Lulu stories of 1950 share a similar laid-back vibe to this story.

Well, durnit, I've just about convinced myself that this is John Stanley's work. All the same, I welcome your feedback. What do you think?

Prowl the streets with Henry Aldrich! From Henry Aldrich 1, 1950

Bill Williams was perhaps the best artist who ever worked with John Stanley. The grace and verve of his pen lines, added to his adroit and expressive human figures, was uncommonly fine for humor comics, then or now.

Williams' best-known collaborations with Stanley happened in the early 1960s, with the one-two punch of Kookie and Around the Block with Dunc 'n' Loo.

Their partnership had a prelude, one decade earlier. Stanley wrote the first issue of yet another licensed-property book for Dell Comics.

Henry Aldrich was based on a popular radio program, which also sired a series of low-budget movies (themselves the precursor of TV programming). Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett wrote the first Henry Aldrich movie, 1939's What a Life. Former child star Jackie Cooper was the first to portray Henry in the movies.

Henry was already on TV (The Aldrich Family) by the end of 1949, when this comic book was prepared for publication.

The Dell Aldrich seems based on the later installments of the Paramount series--and/or the TV version. In the hour-long movies, James Lydon portrayed the adenoidal, fumbling teen whose squeaky "Coming, Mother!" catchphrase punctuated both film and airwaves.

As usual, Stanley takes formula material and wrings something unusual and impressive from it. He eschews high-volume, frantic action and exaggeration for a more character-driven, down-to-earth atmosphere.

Compare this story to any of the Stanley/Williams Dunc 'n' Loo material I've posted earlier on this blog. It's much more chilled-out and relaxed.

Stanley had 52 pages to fill in this 1950 comic book. Thus, he could linger over the stock-comedy situations, such as in this untitled story. Insomnia leads to a series of escalating snafus--but, unlike a typical Little Lulu story of the era, there is no screaming, shouting or flailing of limbs.

There is something lovely about the spaciousness and hush of this story. In 15 pages, it can take its time to work through its mildly humorous sitcom events. Again, compare this ambling pace to the compact, frantic tone of the 1960s material.

This slower approach truly conveys the feeling of night, and of being alone in a socially awkward situation.

It also allows Stanley some beautifully timed pantomime. Check out page 5 of this story. John Stanley earned his payment with that one elegant page.

Henry indulges in some "Tubby Talk" throughout the story. As is standard for the Stanley protagonist, Henry navigates the world via his own compass. He is considerably better-adjusted than Tubby Tompkins, Woody Woodpecker or Peterkin Pottle. This does not preclude him from the self-serving delusion that is a Stanley character's cockeyed state of grace.

I've gabbed enough for one lonely Saturday night... enjoy this story!
















Now, for dessert... Williams' handsome cover to this issue!