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!

More from Four Color 1034, Nancy & Sluggo Summer Camp, 1959

Hi gang... well, since I had scans of this entire 36-page funnybook, I thought I'd post some more excerpts. I don't want to take away from the impact of Drawn & Quarterly's upcoming reprint of the Stanley Nancy series, so I'll lay low on this-type material in future...

If you're reading this in Australia, New Zealand, or in neighbouring parts, it's practically summertime where you are. Perhaps these stories will seem more apt.

This "Four Color" issue is an anomaly. It comes well into Stanley's run on the regular NANCY title. Stanley had already created a magnificent 100-page LITTLE LULU summer camp special, two years prior.

In that milestone issue, Stanley pioneered a lovely longform style of storytelling, in which a score (or so) of short stories all weave into a cohesive, flowing book-length narrative.

When reading Dan Clowes' Ice Haven, I was reminded of Stanley's summer camp comics. Clowes took the concept one step further, by transmuting the narrative 'pearls' into a variety of genre comics styles. All this flash and dazzle would seem empty, were these devices not driving the story Clowes wished to tell.

This story form would reach its apex with the pair of 84-page Nancy & Sluggo Summer Camp specials published in August 1960 and '61. Stanley would return to it, in a more subtle usage, in the Thirteen Going on Eighteen series a few years later.

Back to this material...my guess is that Dell wanted to test the sales waters and see if the Nancy material would sell when blended with the summer camp genre. The answer, an obvious 'yes,' gave birth to those magnificent twin Dell Giants.

In the first story featured here, "Off To Camp," Stanley introduces one of Nancy & Sluggo's key supporting figures, the suburban Jekyll and Hyde, Mr. McOnion. Note that he's drawn as a bland, button-nosed layabout here.

This is an excerpt from the next NANCY camp giant, in which we see McOnion at his most typical--a deadpan psychopath stalking a terrified Sluggo in a helpless world:
Stanley had yet to develop McOnion's sinister side, although he is as clearly vexed, as Sluggo's neighbor, as he would be in later episodes.

The genuinely creepy relationship between Sluggo and McOnion is of a piece with the more disturbing aspects of Cold War mass media. Gloom and doom figured prominently in popular entertainment, as it had during the two World Wars.

In the shadow of H-bomb armageddon, pop culture got darker than our nostalgia would like it to be. Stanley's comix writing was a prime force in this pitch-black era.

Things are considerably lighter in tone here. These three stories are in sequence, and provide the basic set-up for a summer camp comic book. "Off To Camp" sets up the formula: underprivileged Sluggo can't go to camp...or so he thinks.

In "Camp Fafomama," Sluggo must endure much physical and mental battery to attain his place in the sun.

Finally, for a moment in "The Bank Holdup," stagestruck Sluggo undergoes some sort of self-hypnosis to attain a higher status.

Just think...one day soon, you'll be able to enjoy these stories in a lovely Drawn & Quarterly-published volume! For now, here they are for your computer screen...

Summer fun for November: from Four Color 1034, Nancy & Sluggo Summer Camp, 1959

I've been busy lately, and that means less posts on this blog. Got to keep the home fires burning. Thus, on this prematurely dark, chilly November early evening, here's a trio of stories from the tryout Four Color summer camp special for John Stanley's interpretation of Nancy and Sluggo.

I consider Stanley's brief run on Nancy among the highlights of his comix career. The writing is vivid and sharp throughout. Even though the characters are, as noted prior, highly similar to Little Lulu's cast, something about Planet Bushmiller stimulated John Stanley's creative side.

We start with a brief horror story that's more effective than anything Stanley attempted in his serious scary comics of the early 1960s. This shaggy dog anecdote seems vaguely familiar to me... perhaps Fredric Brown, or another short-short story writer, used this same basic concept.


**********************
Now, here's another episode in the privileged life of Rollo Haveall, and his longsuffering manservant, Crumbly:




**********************
In closing, Oona Goosepimple delivers another mind-fudge to poor Nancy. Not even the rustic pleasures of summer camp can buy Nancy freedom from these psychedelic living nightmares.
I particularly love the bewildering coda to this story. Of course, Nancy just has to rub salt in her psychic wounds by going and checking that damned board...
The Dell pledge to parents, in the last panel, does nothing to dilute the overall effect. In fact, it reinforces the creepy sensation...

Stanley stories hither and yon

Two John Stanley stories of note are posted on two fine blogs, for your reading enjoyment. On Classic Cartoons, you can find a long Oswald the Rabbit story, "The Prehistoric Egg" (one I've meant to scan and post; thank you, Andrea!) Just click HERE!

On Thad K's blog is another of the Stanley/Rube Grossman Hector and Herman stories; just wander over THISAWAY!

more Famous frivolity: "Blackie the Lamb" from Animal Comics 13, 1945

For Kelly, here's a Stanley-written example of the Blackie the Lamb feature.

Some animation history is required here. When the Fleischer Studios metamorphosed into Famous, they were still based in Miami. (Paramount essentially used their ownership of the Miami studio as grounds for evicting the Fleischer family from the business.)

At this time, in the wake of two so-so animated features, the studio had only two series--both licensed properties. Their Superman and Popeye cartoons were popular.

Popeye, still in black-and-white, was by far the better of the two series. We are fortunate to now have the entire run of black-and-white Fleischer/Famous Popeye cartoons released on legit DVDs. Look in your local entertainment store (preferrably a privately-owned one), or get 'em off Amazon.

The remnants of the Miami Fleischer studio were moved back to New York in 1943. Once back home, the heat was on for the studio to create original characters.

Their goal: to compete with the new wave of brassy, self-referential West Coast cartoon stars, such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Woody Woodpecker, Tom & Jerry and the Fox & the Crow.

A new Technicolor series was created to showcase these stars-in-the-making. The early Noveltoons are gorgeously animated, expertly timed cartoons.

None of their early characters had much staying power. They did last long enough to be licensed funnybook fodder. This is where John Stanley, Walt Kelly, and others enter the picture.

It would appear that these stories (at least, those that Stanley wrote) had involvement from actual Famous staffers. Thad K. noted that Fleischer/Famous animator Rube Grossman signed the "Hector the Henpecked Rooster" story I most recently featured here.

Thus, it's highly likely that the art for this "Blackie" story was done by a moonlighting Famous animator. For comparison's sake, here are three frames from the first Blackie cartoon, No Mutton For Nuttin' (1943).



The characters in this story stay completely on-model to these 1943 screenshots. I would like to nominate either Grossman or Bill Hudson for the art credit on this story.

The penmanship in the story's lettering is quite similiar to that of a 1943 Famous model sheet, drawn by Bill Hudson and found on page 308 of Leonard Maltin's animation history Of Mice and Magic. It's known that other Famous staffers worked on comic-book stories in the 1940s, so my guess could be completely wrong.

Transparent a Bugs clone as Blackie was, he and the other early Famous characters did translate well to the funnybook page. This story benefits from wry, amusing dialogue.

Wolfie indulges in some "Tubby Talk" at the story's pathetic start, wherein he tries to eat a mop head, with the aid of some spaghetti sauce.

The story takes one absurd detour after another, and builds its morbid amusement entirely from strong characterizations. Stanley takes these characters much farther than the Famous cartoons ever did.

Of course, he had more dialogue at his disposal, and less expectation to provide the largely visual gags that fuel the animated cartoons. All the chatter in this story would be deadly on the silver screen. It works just fine on the poorly printed page.

Blackie the Lamb actually outlived the Animal Comics series, albeit by a matter of months. The next wave of Famous "stars" would exist outside of Dell's orbit. We are, perhaps, fortunate that there are not Herman and Katnip comics by John Stanley, nor Little Audreys by Walt Kelly.

YOW! GET OUT AN' VOTE!

Today is a crucial day in American history. I urge you to take action and be part of this important moment.

Election 2008 Voting Information

Today, November 4th, is Election Day! Remember to vote—not just for Barack Obama, but for Congressional, state, and local candidates as well.

Where and when do I vote?

Find your polling place, voting times, and other important information by checking out these sites and the hotline below. These resources are good, but not perfect. To be doubly sure, you can also contact your local elections office.

Obama's VoteForChange site: voteforchange.com

League of Women Voters' site: vote411.org/pollfinder.php

Obama's voter hotline: 877-US4-OBAMA (877-874-6226)

What should I do before I go?

After you've entered your address on either Vote For Change or Vote411, read the voting instructions and special rules for your state.
Voting ID laws vary from state to state, but if you have ID, bring it.
Check out all the voting myths and misinformation to look out for: http://truth.voteforchange.com/

What if something goes wrong?

Not on the voter list? Make sure you're at the right polling place, then demand a provisional ballot.

If you're voting on an electronic machine with a paper record, verify that the record is accurate.

Need legal help? Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

If you encounter a problem, try to videotape the situation and submit it to VideoTheVote.org

from Animal Comics #9, 1944: a very early Stanley Story

Happy Daylight Savings Time Sunday--that is, if you live in one of the many states that still participate in this cockeyed ritual. And here's a cock with which to feel cockeyed...

Among Stanley's earliest Dell assignments was "Hector, the Henpecked Rooster." This was one of at least three properties Dell licensed from New York animation studio (and wing of Paramount Pictures), Famous Studios.

Famous was the remnants of the staff of Max Fleischer's innovative animation studio. The Fleischers created some of the best animated cartoons of the 1930s. Their sheer energy, imagination and visual verve made Disney's slicker product look prosaic and anemic.

By 1942, the brothers Fleischer had been drummed out of their own studio--they were victims of rather vicious Hollywood business moves. (This blog isn't the place to get into movie-studio politics, etc., but the information on what happened to the Fleischers is out there...)

At first, the newly-christened Famous Studios (named after Paramount's music publishing division) offered high-quality, vivid cartoons, with an energy similar to the harder-edged West Coast efforts of Warner Brothers and MGM.

From the start, Famous trafficked in offbeat characters. Like Dell, they used licensed properties-- E. C. Segar's Popeye and (in an eerie tie-in with John Stanley) Marge's Little Lulu.

At the time these stories were published, Famous Studios still had plenty of promise. Their characters had a brutal, self-preservational bent that became more vicious and more pronounced as the cartoons sank in quality, later in the 1940s.

Famous continued to create interesting cartoons into the 1960s. Their series cartoons became highly repetitious by the early '50s. Famous' one-shot cartoons contain some surprisingly strong ideas and graphics, and are among the most underrated animated shorts of their era.

Dell dropped their Famous-licensed characters by 1946. The early characters featured in Animal Comics--which also included the one-shot cartoon star Cilly Goose and Famous' answer to Bugs Bunny, Blackie Lamb--were phased out of the animated films by 1947.

The Famous characters--Casper the Ghost, Herman and Katnip, Baby Huey, Little (shudder) Audrey--bounced around a few publishers before finding a permanent home at Harvey Comics. Harvey now owns the rights to the Famous characters. They made a lot of money repackaging the Famous films for TV.

That's a lot of non-comics information, but I hope it's interesting all the same.

Three Dell heavyweights worked on these Famous franchises--Stanley, Walt Kelly and Dan Noonan.

Here is the first Hector story, from the June/July 1944 issue. Stanley had already taken on some of the regular features in New Funnies, and the Tom and Jerry feature for Our Gang comics in 1943.

This is an amusing, if troubling, series. Hector is abused and debased by his brutal, overbearing wife. Her behavior towards him gets harsher and harsher in the five stories Stanley wrote for this series.

In Stanley's final Hector story, in issue 13, Hector gets two black eyes from his wife, and fakes his suicide in an attempt to wring a drop of empathy from her. I'll have to run that one here sometime soon. (Stanley also wrote the Blackie and Cilly stories in that issue.)

In the other Stanley-written "Hector" stories, as in the Famous cartoons, the timid rooster's ace in the hole is Herman Mouse, a smart-ass, street-wise rodent who enjoys hassling Hector's vicious "bitter half." She is terrified of mice, you see.

This gentler, more pastoral story features Hector and his family on a picnic. Mice are nowhere to be seen, but opportunistic frogs and gourmet ants are on hand.

Stanley loads this story with amusing and clever touches. The story offers a strong helping of his comedic wordplay, and of some of the character dynamics that would later be seen in Lulu and other better-known features. There's a unique occurence of a hilarious sound effect, when Hector blunders into the water at the end of p.1:

I love that it ends with a period. Alas, a blot on the paper--either a fleck of woodgrain or an engraving flaw--makes it appear as a colon.

Other notes: the mis-spelling of "lox," early occurences of "YOW!" and "Choff! Chompf!", and the spree of "windmill action" that literally winds up the story.

You can also see some pencil-scrawled dialogue in the word balloons. Perhaps Dell was saving rubber for the war effort by not using erasers!

Stanley would return to Animal Comics in its latter days with one of his finest "auteur" features, Jigger and Mooch. You can find three examples of this series in earlier posts on this blog.

I hope you enjoy this story, er, famously...