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[Andrew999]

There are many points of origin that led to the creation of the first comic books - some are widely applauded and some almost forgotten.

It's difficult for us now to imagine the phenomenon Ella Cinders became in the late twenties - but the story is a universal one - a poor girl struggling against the odds to achieve success, no coincidence that the name stems from Cinderella. Other influences came from popular actresses such as Louise Marsh and Clara Bow - that twenties 'It' look.

You can read more here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Cinders

The character was helped along by the charismatic, beautiful gifted comedy actress Colleen Moore in a movie of the same name. Those wishing to take the extended course might want to see the movie here - it's well worth the time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a4UgYorLog&t=929s

As an aside, Colleen Moore's interest in dolls and dollhouses led to the creation of one of the world's finest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ4xNzewzmQ

Not surprising that you could buy an Ella Cinders doll if you wanted one - was this the world's first action figure?

So, let's take a trip back in our time bubble to January 14th, 1925. We purchase a copy of the LA Times at a newstand and open it at once to the funnies page. There she is, in a rather fetching outfit with raffish short hair, the delightful Ella - what's she up to today?

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=52466

[The Australian Panther]

Nice Choice Andrew,
Good to see a strip chosen for a change.

Cheers!

[Robb_K]

Nice Choice Andrew,
Good to see a strip chosen for a change. Cheers! 

There were Ella Cinders Comic books, too - published by United features' Single Series and St. John (but they were just reformatted reprints of the newspaper strip). 






However, I understand that we are reviewing the strip, itself.

[Adamanto]

Surely these are misdated. The wikipedia article says the strip started in JUNE 1925, so these can't be from January.

EDIT: Found it. These are misdated strips from 1929.01.14 - 1929.03.06, so a few years into the strip's run.
Here's one of the original newspaper publications of the first one:
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/508248788/

Guess it would make more sense to review this batch of strips instead since that's the actual beginning of the strip?
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=27105

[crashryan]

In my opinion, Adamanto, it's best to review a strip after it has been going for a while. Almost all strips go through significant changes in the first couple of years. Here, for instance, the Cinderella tie-in faded away and Ella became a chorus-girl strip. What bugs me about "complete run" libraries of famous strips is that often it means a couple of volumes of second-rate floundering around before you get to the good stuff. Dick Tracy was one of these. Luckily I got comp copies, because at $50 a pop the early Tracy's weren't worth it. Ditto the early Terry and the Pirates. Caniff started with a cartoony style and juvenile stories. It took something like year and a half before he found his voice. Even Flash Gordon went through a period of weak artwork before Alex Raymond hit his stride (the stories never got any better).

[Robb_K]

In my opinion, Adamanto, it's best to review a strip after it has been going for a while. Almost all strips go through significant changes in the first couple of years. Here, for instance, the Cinderella tie-in faded away and Ella became a chorus-girl strip. What bugs me about "complete run" libraries of famous strips is that often it means a couple of volumes of second-rate floundering around before you get to the good stuff. Dick Tracy was one of these. Luckily I got comp copies, because at $50 a pop the early Tracy's weren't worth it. Ditto the early Terry and the Pirates. Caniff started with a cartoony style and juvenile stories. It took something like year and a half before he found his voice. Even Flash Gordon went through a period of weak artwork before Alex Raymond hit his stride (the stories never got any better).

Thimble Theatre evolving into Popeye is a great example of that.

[crashryan]

I remember seeing Ella Cinders in the newspapers when I was a kid. Markstein's entry says the strip ended in 1961 so I guess I was watching Ella's last gasps. All I remember is that I thought the strip was boring and I couldn't figure out what looked like painted-on eyelashes above Ella's saucer-shaped eyes. I was surprised to learn that the strip had been popular in the 20s. I'd always imagined it was one of those middle-tier space fillers that, like so many strips from the 20s and 30s, lingered on decades after people stopped reading it.

For now we'll look at Ella Cinders in her salad days. Plumb's art has definitely improved since the earliest strips. I like his characters and backgrounds, but his layouts tend to be monotonous. But then, the eye-level medium-shot-of-two-figures-in-profile cliche was very common in 20s strips. The supporting cast of chorus girls is my favorite part of the art. Ella herself is the one who sticks out. Her cartoony face clashes with the other characters, who are drawn more realistically.

As for the story, I admit I didn't see the surprise ending coming. It didn't come completely out of left field. Counselman laid the groundwork for it during Mr X's life story. It still didn't satisfy completely. Mr X seemed genuinely to love Ella. But his sudden revelation that Ella will be wife #21 reads as if X had been deliberately stringing her along all the time. It makes him look like a predator. I wonder if Mr X "loved" his 20 other wives when he married them. Overthinking it, as usual.

Counselman can't settle on a voice for Ella. Part of the time she's all goshgeewhiz and the rest of the time she's a wisecracking Broadway cookie. Again I like her fellow chorines better than Ella herself. Their snappy patter about seeking a sugar daddy sounds like it came right out of a 30s backstage musical. Ella needs to widen her stock of metaphors. She repeats variations on the make up your face / make up your mind pun several times.

And I hate those "What's going to happen tomorrow?" captions ending each daily. But again, it's not unusual for 20s continuity strips.

All told this was a pleasant way to pass the time and better than I thought it'd be.

[SuperScrounge]

I decided to write down my thoughts as I was reading, so there will be some assumptions of what's going to happen that might turn out to be wrong.

Is it just that times have changed or did people of the time think that mysterious obsessed person might be dangerous?

Performing to an audience of three must be a bit disheartening for the performers. When most of a theatre is reacting to the performers it can be quite energizing to the performers, but three people reacting would sound so lonely in a cavernous theater space.

Not giving her his name... so is he married or secretly her father?

Is Mr. X bragging about causing a species to go extinct???

Oh, the misery of being fabulously wealthy. Who among us hasn't experienced that horrible condition. 

LOL! He has a harem. 

If I had tried reading this without it being a reading group selection I probably would have given up on it, the whole mysterious, wealthy suitor just felt like overkill and I probably wouldn't have gotten to the resolution which did get a big laugh out of me.

Artistically Ella is kind of an odd design, not designed to look like your typical pretty girl, but manages to be cute regardless.

As an aside, Colleen Moore's interest in dolls and dollhouses led to the creation of one of the world's finest:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ4xNzewzmQ

Very interesting.

Not surprising that you could buy an Ella Cinders doll if you wanted one - was this the world's first action figure?

Nope. There were Yellow Kid dolls in the 1890s.

[Adamanto]

In my opinion, Adamanto, it's best to review a strip after it has been going for a while. Almost all strips go through significant changes in the first couple of years. Here, for instance, the Cinderella tie-in faded away and Ella became a chorus-girl strip.

Fair enough, makes sense.

Thimble Theatre evolving into Popeye is a great example of that.

Man, I WISH there were collections of early Thimble Theater out there, the early years of that have always been high on my list of things I really want to read.

I remember seeing Ella Cinders in the newspapers when I was a kid. Markstein's entry says the strip ended in 1961 so I guess I was watching Ella's last gasps. All I remember is that I thought the strip was boring and I couldn't figure out what looked like painted-on eyelashes above Ella's saucer-shaped eyes. I was surprised to learn that the strip had been popular in the 20s. I'd always imagined it was one of those middle-tier space fillers that, like so many strips from the 20s and 30s, lingered on decades after people stopped reading it.

Seems like it. I found this quote about the strip while digging around for the actual dates of this batch:
"The high-water mark for the strip came when Children's Book novelist Hardie Gramatky ghosted a long run of great sundays.  Through the mid-1930's,  these sundays were big and colorful with grand layouts and lettering.  Gags gave way to high-adventure continuities which expanded the coverage of the strip.  Unfortunately, the strip took an unimaginative turn as Gramatky moved on to other endeavors and finally the strip died in 1961."
Seems like it suffered the same fate as so many other old greats; the original creator leaves or dies and the strip is passed on to someone new who fails to deliver, but the established audience ensure it sticks around anyway no matter how low quality it gets.

[Andrew999]

Thanks for sorting out the dates, Adamanto - much appreciated.

I did wonder what was going on but I read somewhere that the first strips were actually written the year before the launch - so I guessed that's where the dates on CB+ came from - but you are correct.

[Robb_K]

There are many points of origin that led to the creation of the first comic books - some are widely applauded and some almost forgotten.

It's difficult for us now to imagine the phenomenon Ella Cinders became in the late twenties - but the story is a universal one - a poor girl struggling against the odds to achieve success, no coincidence that the name stems from Cinderella. Other influences came from popular actresses such as Louise Marsh and Clara Bow - that twenties 'It' look.

So, let's take a trip back in our time bubble to January 14th, 1929. We purchase a copy of the LA Times at a newstand and open it at once to the funnies page. There she is, in a rather fetching outfit with raffish short hair, the delightful Ella - what's she up to today?

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=52466 

I didn't like this strip story because it was very dragged out, and I thought it dull.  That' just how I experienced it at the end of the 1940s and throughout the 1950s, when I saw it as a child and teenager.  To me, it was, basically, a psychological dilemma that many young women go through when looking for a mate/marriage candidate.  And, in that regard, it's also a mystery as to who this rich, secretive person really is.  But, to me, it isn't interesting enough to keep me interested for 44 pages, 130+ panels, and 44 Days.  She knew (and I, as the reader), also knew fairly early, that she was NOT going to marry him just to get access to all that money and financial security.  When the rich man told her he was a Turk and had a harim with 20 wives, we all knew the exact path of the rest of the story, and that there was no other path possible.  So, the last 40% of the story was dreadfully dull and boring, and a waste of time.  This story needed a twist ending. 

All through the 1950s I was exposed to this strip, and never once saw anything that piqued my interest.

[Robb_K]

I decided to write down my thoughts as I was reading, so there will be some assumptions of what's going to happen that might turn out to be wrong.

Is it just that times have changed or did people of the time think that mysterious obsessed person might be dangerous?

Performing to an audience of three must be a bit disheartening for the performers. When most of a theatre is reacting to the performers it can be quite energizing to the performers, but three people reacting would sound so lonely in a cavernous theater space.

Not giving her his name... so is he married or secretly her father?

LOL! He has a harem. 

If I had tried reading this without it being a reading group selection I probably would have given up on it, the whole mysterious, wealthy suitor just felt like overkill and I probably wouldn't have gotten to the resolution which did get a big laugh out of me.

Artistically Ella is kind of an odd design, not designed to look like your typical pretty girl, but manages to be cute regardless.

I am only one generation from having been able to read this strip in the newspaper in 1929.  My parents could have read it, had they been in USA.  Based on my perception of society in the 1940s, and how my parents and grandparents thought about things, I would guess that adults and teenagers in 1929 WOULD have thought that the mystery man might well be a danger to Ella (just as Ella's own parents would have).  The guy professes "Love" for her when they hardly are more than strangers.  And he doesn't even tell her his name or where he lives, or even where he is from or what he does for a living until the story (for all intents and purposes) is over(at least in the minds of most readers).  Those facts would raise big questions.

Back in 1929, before much commercial overseas air travel, not many North Americans knew what a Turkish accent of someone speaking English would sound like.  But, Ella should have been able to know he was a foreigner, probably from an exotic land.  Had Ella had the opportunity to marry a prince of Monaco (like Grace Kelly later did), or a prince of The British Royal Family, things might have been different.  But a Heretic Moslem, with 20 wives (only a maximum of 4 wives was ever allowed in Islam), has GOT to be suspect.  But, his secrecy was enough to have her a bit scared, and very wary, long before he revealed himself.

[Adamanto]

I started reading the strip from the start, so I'll comment on this 1929 story arc when I get there. From what I've read so far, though (the first year - June '25 through June '26), I really enjoy the strip and absolutely see how it got as popular as it did. The main protagonist is very likable and witty, the dialogue with all its constant humorous analogies is often really funny, and the storyline is dramatic and exciting, often having short vignettes that plant minor plot points that get brought back and become important several months later, making for a lot of unpredictable twists.

I take it the entire strip is in public domain, I might see about uploading more of it. It's out there in various digital newspaper archives.

[gregjh]

I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did, well the first half or so of it anyway. It's always interesting to read a story from a very different time when people looked at the world differently. Ella's friends/colleagues all appear like shallow gold-diggers but Ella herself seems very likeable. The mystery man story was intriguing but too drawn out. The strip format was a nice change for the reading group too, though.

[Adamanto]

There are many points of origin that led to the creation of the first comic books - some are widely applauded and some almost forgotten.

One interesting point regarding this. In 1934, the same year Eastern Color finally proved once and for all that you COULD publish a monthly comic book, sell it for money at the newsstand, and actually make a profit, Western Publishing released a series of hardcover comic books titled "A Famous 'Comics' Cartoon Book". These were, from what I understand, sold in book stores for 25c each, with each book containing 72 square pages and a total of 59 daily comic strips reformatted to fit one on each page.

Each of the four books focused on one title each, the four comic strips picked being The Captain and the Kids, Wash Tubbs and Captain Easy, Freckles and His Friends... and Ella Cinders.



So at the same time the newsstand comic book industry in America was getting established, Ella Cinders was popular enough you could walk into a bookstore and buy a collection of her strips. Maybe it's not entirely related to the birth of the comic book, but it at very least shows how popular the strip was. Publishers were very unsure if the public would be willing to spend money on a periodical of just comic strips, but they WERE pretty sure the public would be willing to spend money on a tiny book of Ella Cinders strips.

[Andrew999]

Fascinating post - thanks Adamanto

[narfstar]

The chorus girls won me over. I loved their banter. The story was a decent read. Ella had her moments too. All in all it makes me want to read some more of Ella's adventures.

[Andrew999]

Thanks to all who jumped in and gave this a shot. It felt good to give a boost to a character largely overlooked today but which in its time covered some interesting ground, led to a movie and as Robb said even some comic books and hardbound editions.

Special thanks to Adamanto to sorting out the confusion over dates and to Crash for correctly pointing out that strips mature with time - in many ways, it's best to jump in around year three - so paradoxically, the one I offered was a reasonable choice (phew!)

I'm pleased that most felt it worth sticking with to the end (such as SS, narfstar and gregjh) even though this would not be your normal fare - to some extent, that's the purpose of the Reading Group, to give you the chance to try something new.

Strange to think that early comic strips were given a boost by an enthusiastic William Randolph Hearst who saw them as one means of locking people into buying a newspaper every day as a habit - in turn, comic strips were one reason for the launch of comic books. Where would we be today  without these greedy egomaniacal capitalists - discuss :>

[The Australian Panther]

Question,. Was 'Ella Cinders' the first comic strip character to get her own movie?
That would be an unknown first for women anyway.
Ella Cinders - 1926
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WlowTI6Arc
The other print on Youtube is out of order and has no music.

You can really see how important facial gestures and expressions were to actors in silent movies. And that format interprets a comic strip wonderfully. 
More here.
Movies Silently

Ella Cinders (1926) A Silent Film Review

https://moviessilently.com/2013/02/04/ella-cinders-1926-a-silent-film-review/
That Red and Black Film Poster is a work of genius, I have saved it to my Pictures file.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Cinders_(film)
But that's not all folks.

I wonder, is Ella Cinders PD?  If so, there is an opportunity somewhere for somebody.
The name is already being used.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25956606-ella
Ella: Cinders and Ash
Having a fesity modern female character based on the Cinderella genre = Good.
Not putting that character in the realistic setting of todays world, deeply disappointing. Instead we get this. 

Drawn to Seattle by the pull of black magics, Ella brings her wrath. A trail of blood and violence left in her wake.

By chance, Parker Devareau, meets Ella while rushing home to get behind the safety of her Full Moon Bars on a full moon night. Parker can see, hear and feel things that no ordinary person can.

When Ella saves Parker from a breach of the protective city walls caused by the druids, Parker sees something beyond the impression of a schizophrenic with multiple personalities who is constantly talking to someone who is not there. And the truth breaks her heart.

The women stand together with the Red Hood and Gretta Snow to saver the people of the city who perceive them as monsters.

If we've been reading comics recently, we've seen all this before.

Cheers! 

[SuperScrounge]

She appears to have been the first to have a full length movie, but there were some live actions shorts in 1898 featuring Allie Sloper, and The Katzenjammer Kids. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_comic_strips