[JVJ]

It's La Salle, and the Lena artist signs later in the book: Erich F. T. Schenk. All this art is through the Sangor Studio run by Richard Hughes that hired moonlighting animators to do comic book work.

Link to the book: *** Link No Longer Exists: Merry-Go-Round (nn) ***

[narfstar]

The GCD does not have any other works listed by Schenk. Lena has a very cool look.

[JVJ]

I'm thinking maybe he's doing "Blowaway" in that issue of Merry Go Round, too. It's not signed, but it has that feel to it. I've not seen his work anywhere else, narf. Also, the connection between La Salle and ACG is Richard Hughes, but they are still different companies.

[narfstar]

I was thinking the same thing about Blowaway. I guess it is just easier to keep the book with ACG. I will put a note indicating that it is LaS. Overall the art in the book is pretty good quality. Too bad Schenk did not do more comics. To me his work almost looks like something drawn by a 60's hippy. He might have done well in the under ground scene.

[JVJ]

I certainly agree with you in wishing that Schrenk did more comics, Narf. Now I'm going to have to pore through my La Salle and other early Sangor Shop comics when I get home to see if I can find any more of his stuff. And I do have a complete Merry Go Round, so maybe I can find a way to get some scanner to fill in the missing pages.

What's difficult about moving this to where it belongs? La Salle isn't ACG and we shouldn't imply that it is. IMHO.

[narfstar]

GCD has it listed as ACG. They do not have La Salle as a separate publisher. If you can give me more info on them I can set it up at GCD and move the book there and here. What else did they publish? Would love to have the missing pages. Maybe you can through it in with a batch and someone could put them together and edit all the pages.

[MarkWarner]

Jim is right (times two)

Throws a minor spanner in the works by not following what GCD says ... BUT obviously the truth must out!

Searching through things all I can find is Wikipedia including them as an ACG imprint (so what??) and Jim (JVJ) including Lasalle on a list of GA publishers with 3 books recorded. With a note at the bottom saying

"All the hard work was done by Dan Stevenson about 25 years ago and I've just transcribed some old notes of his. He probably has a MUCH more accurate count by now"

So I guess the question is what are the two other books. Hopefully we have them as well. Just need to know if the 3 books were all one shots or if there was a 2 issue run with the other couple of books (believe it or not makes a difference where we put La Salle)

[JVJ]

Who's Who shows:
FUNNYBONE nn 1944 [Imprint: LA SALLE]
HI-JINX (1st series) nn 1945 [Imprint: LA SALLE]
There may be others. CB+ has Hi-Jinx which WAS continued as an ACG title. La Salle was a unique publisher who preceded ACG. It was, I believe, run by Bud Sangor (Richard Hughes father in law) who ran the studio that funneled all of the animation art into comic books for ACG and DC comics. It was the prolificness of these artists that prompted Hughes to spin the extra work into his own company, ACG, and to leverage off of his connections as editor at Pines/Better/Standard to get talent to fill his non-hero venues like Adventures Into The Unknown in 1947.

[MarkWarner]

Ok I found Hi-Jinx .... have just got to walk the dogs (in the pouring rain) then I'll sort out the CB+ side

[MarkWarner]

All done https://comicbookplus.com/?cid=2675 Hopefully it means the world is now a slightly better and more ordered place

[JVJ]

Merci buckets, Mark.

Every little step toward precision is helpful.

Peace, Jim (|:{>

[narfstar]

I posted this to gcd-main and it is being discussed there. Please join in the discussion there. Frank mentions Chuckle by Leffingwell as being very similar. I would consider these to be ACG publication being printed illegally by LaSalle and Leffingwell.

[JVJ]

Does this really require 'discussing' again? I'm not positive when ACG officially began, but I went to Fairleigh-Dickensen Univ. in New Jersey and pored through Hughes notebooks and diaries in which, in 1947, while still working for Nedor, he ponders over names for the publishing company he is going to start - settling on American Comics Group. I still have the notes I took from this visit. This whole Hughes split with Nedor was well documented in an issue of Alter Ego that reprinted a book that was written about ACG and Richard Hughes by Michael Vance. He probably has much more details than I and can correct the mistakes I'm perpetrating by doing this off the top of my head late at night.

Here's what I wrote in a sidebar in my 2005 book on Everett Raymond Kinstler:

Cinema Comics

   In 1941, Ben Sangor published Cinema Comics Herald. It was a magazine for promoting the animated cartoons and films of the Max Fleischer Studios, creators of the famous Superman, Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons. It was distributed to theaters showing Fleischer features.
   A year later, Fleischer animators were moonlighting for Sangor doing comic features. He brokered these finished stories to his father-in-law Ned Pines

[JVJ]

I posted this to gcd-main and it is being discussed there. Please join in the discussion there.

I know this displays my abysmal ignorance once more, but what is 'gcd-main' and where on GCD does one go to join such a discussion? Ever feel like the world passed you by while you had your head stuck in a comic book?

(|:{>

[narfstar]

GCD site at comics.org has a link to the mailing lists on the left. The main list is open to comics discussion.  BTW my reference to illegal was in reference to surrogate publishing to get by paper rationing. Giggle and Ha Ha came before Merry Go Round.

[JVJ]

Thanks, Narf, I understand how to get on the GCD list now. I'm just not sure I need to have one more mail group angling for my attention regularly in my mailbox. And now I'm clear on your intended use of "illegal". I think, in that vein, you're right. Leffingwell may very we'll have been cited for paper violations during the war. Has there been any proof to connect them positively to Sangor?

I hate being away from home, but I'm very weak on early Creston funny animal titles anyway. Who are the publishers? I don't believe it's ACG, is it? Just like Charlton used Carlton and other names as it was forming an identity in the '40s, it's not logical to define a company by a name it hasn't invented yet. So I don't think it's permissible for us to call Sangor and Hughes's company ACG until THEY call it that. Creston, B&I, or Michel Publications - Sangor as an umbrella designation? When is the American Comics Group created?

My 2 cents.

(|:{>

[narfstar]

Checking GCD shows that American was never the indicia publisher. Creston appears first in 1943. I am looking through Ha Ha to see the first mention of American. In the process I saw a story that looked like Schenk. It was signed at the end E.F.T.S. which would be Erich F. T. Schenk. Very proud of my art spotting so I will look for more. Jim you had it as possibly Nelle Farnham. You may want to look as some others that might be Schenk. I have enjoyed looking through these and have gained an appreciating for the anthropomorphic artists. I am also thinking I may be able to recognize styles more than in other art. After all you can't miss VEP.

[narfstar]

First mention of ACG appears to be April 1949 issues on the ifc then on the cover next month. Seems like an editorial decision to promote the company. Creston remains in indicia while concurrent with BI and Best in others same staff and address.