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[Robb_K]

I always thought the Katzenjammer Kids were Dutch.
Only German I knew personally was a tall slender red haired knockout who looked a bit like Verushka. She had the most sexy voice you can imagine. Unfortunately she passed away at an early age due to cancer.

What made you think the Katzenjammer Kids were Dutch?  Being Dutch, myself, I'm very curious, especially because I've noticed that a big portion of Americans that I've seen, don't seem to know the difference between the two languages, and way of dress, and cultures, etc.  I marvel at their invariable use of German actors to play Dutchmen in feature films.

[crashryan]

I never gave much thought to the Katzies' ethnicity, but I can understand why one (an American one, at least) might think they're Dutch. Stereotype "Dutchmen" were everywhere in turn-of-the-century American culture. As Robb suggests, part of that was conflating the Dutch with Germans. But having read a lot of pop culture from the period, it was the Dutch, not the Germans, who were the more common figure of ridicule, and the Katzies' bogus accent is very similar to the one used to render a Dutch accent. Which is kind of strange. I've heard both Dutch and German people speak heavily accented English and the accents don't sound that similar.

[Robb_K]

I never gave much thought to the Katzies' ethnicity, but I can understand why one (an American one, at least) might think they're Dutch. Stereotype "Dutchmen" were everywhere in turn-of-the-century American culture. As Robb suggests, part of that was conflating the Dutch with Germans. But having read a lot of pop culture from the period, it was the Dutch, not the Germans, who were the more common figure of ridicule, and the Katzies' bogus accent is very similar to the one used to render a Dutch accent. Which is kind of strange. I've heard both Dutch and German people speak heavily accented English and the accents don't sound that similar.

Exactly!  Check out the American 1939 film, "Foreign Correspondent", directed by Alfred Hitchcock (one of his first US films).  The so-called "Dutch" diplomat, who was kidnapped in London by Nazi agents had a thick Austrian (Viennese) German accent (he was a well-known German character actor).  When asked why he didn't insist on getting a Dutch-American to play the part, Hitchcock said something to the effect of: "No one would notice the difference.  Details don't matter.  It's only the plot and the mood that matter."  That film also had several bit players trying to speak lines in Dutch language, who never heard a Dutch word in their lives before getting that part, and the viewer could see that their eyes apparently looking up at dialogue cards with their lines written phonetically, and they stuttered all the way through.  It was ridiculous.  But, I guess everyone knew no one would know the difference.  I've seen several other US films depicting Dutch people, all played by German actors who had no knowledge of how a Dutch person sounds.

What time period were The Dutch people a figure of ridicule in USA?  And for what reason? Most of The Dutch immigration to USA occurred during the 1600s, when New York and northern New Jersey were New Netherland, a Dutch Colony.  And a fair amount immigrated to USA during the 1800s coming to The Midwest, mainly to Michigan.  But, I can't imagine a reason a Dutch person would be an object of ridicule from Americans (unless later immigrants of English, Scottish, and Irish immigrants to the Hudson River Valley of Upstate New York were jealous of the rich Dutch landowners, whose families were still there from colonial times.  All I can think of is "going Dutch" on a date, or a business meeting in situations where only one person usually pays (implying that Dutch people are "careful with their money (cheap, stingy?) like The Scottish.  And "Dutch Uncle" - someone who warns, or admonishes, or lectures someone in a stern manner, especially when the issue is none of his business.

[bowers]

 Nice choices, Panther! I went for Comics on Parade 27, as comics featuring newspaper strips are a personal favorite. Lotsa great stuff in this issue! I know it's hard to follow story arcs in multiple issues but many of the strips were complete in each book. If I'm trying to read an arc, I usually just make a mini-compilation of the strip and go for it.
Ah, yes, the Katzenjammer Kids- German or Dutch? I noticed they were dropped from this title about 1940- because they were too German? But another United Feature title, Sparkler, kept them  during the war years- because they were Dutch? They appeared to live in a tropical setting which could have been based on the former Dutch East Indies. Who knows?
My favorite strips in this one are Tailspin Tommy and Abbie n' Slats. I was introduced to Tailspin through Big Little Books and some movie serials. The strips in this title were among the first I'd read. I've always enjoyed Van Buren's artwork in Abbie n' Slats- that man could render some of the most beautiful women in comics. Heck, as a kid, I was in love with Becky for years! I used to like Lil' Abner as well but no so much anymore. Some good fillers and a few lackluster strips, but all-in-all, a pretty good read! Cheers, Bowers

[Robb_K]

Nice choices, Panther! I went for Comics on Parade 27, as comics featuring newspaper strips are a personal favorite. Lotsa great stuff in this issue! I know it's hard to follow story arcs in multiple issues but many of the strips were complete in each book. If I'm trying to read an arc, I usually just make a mini-compilation of the strip and go for it.
Ah, yes, The Katzenjammer Kids- German or Dutch? I noticed they were dropped from this title about 1940- because they were too German? But another United Feature title, Sparkler, kept them  during the war years- because they were Dutch? They appeared to live in a tropical setting which could have been based on the former Dutch East Indies. Who knows?
My favorite strips in this one are Tailspin Tommy and Abbie n' Slats. I was introduced to Tailspin through Big Little Books and some movie serials. The strips in this title were among the first I'd read. I've always enjoyed Van Buren's artwork in Abbie n' Slats- that man could render some of the most beautiful women in comics. Heck, as a kid, I was in love with Becky for years! I used to like Lil' Abner as well but no so much anymore. Some good fillers and a few lackluster strips, but all-in-all, a pretty good read! Cheers, Bowers.

The Katzenjammer Kids (Hans und Fritz) were clearly German (or should I say, Cherman?)  They were created in 1897, by German born and raised, Rudolph Dirks, who based them on German cartoonist, Wilhelm Busch's "Max und Moritz".  The accent they, their Mama, and The Captain use in their dialogue balloons is clearly written to mimic the sounds of Hochdeutsch or Standard German, as opposed to Nederlands, or Standard Dutch.  The natives on the island where they lived for some time were clearly meant to be Melanesians or Africans, rather than Indonesians.

[Captain Audio]

According to Wikipedia

when the United States was at war with Germany, the Katzenjammer family were temporarily presented as Dutch.

[Robb_K]

According to Wikipedia

when the United States was at war with Germany, the Katzenjammer family were temporarily presented as Dutch.

Was that during World War I, World War II, or both wars?

I wonder if many people really believed that, as they should have been known to be German before that, and although "Jammer" (loud, disturbing noise (talking noise)) has the same meaning in both German and Dutch language, "Katzen" is a German word, while the Dutch equivalent would be "Katten" (e.g. the word would be "Kattenjammer" (English: Caterwauling). So, it implies that even if the family is "Dutch" now, they were German previously, and for much longer.

By the way, in German, Katzenjammer's literal translation to English would be Caterwauling, but that word's slang meaning in colloquial Plattdeutsch dialects was "hangover" and sorrowful feeling about making the mistake of excess drinking last night, and having the resulting morning sickness of the vomiting and headache.

[crashryan]

Robb, In my earlier days I read a shipload of late-19th and early-20th-century American junk literature: dime novels, comic weeklies, and especially cheap adventure novels aimed at boys. Most of this stuff dated from the 1880s to the early 1910s, before the War. Comical "Dutchmen" popped up constantly. They were usually portrayed as opinionated, often pushy men--always men--with a high opinion of themselves. In cartoons they  were usually portly, middle-aged, smoking a pipe and almost invariably wearing wooden shoes. In stories Dutch characters were always incidental personalities. For example, I never found one serving as the hero's comic-relief sidekick. These were usually Irishmen or African Americans.

Your bringing up "Dutch treat" reminded me of other expressions I used to hear in which "Dutch" was used in a pejorative sense. You covered "Dutch uncle." There were also "to get in Dutch with someone" (to anger someone because of something you did), "Dutch courage" (false courage from drinking too much booze), "Dutch comfort" (being glad that a situation isn't even worse), and in cinematography a "Dutch angle" (tilting the camera to one side or the other so the horizon isn't level).

I found this fascinating so I searched online for explanations of how these terms came to be. In the process I encountered one that was new to me: "Dutch metal," a cheap copper-zinc alloy resembling gold. As for the origins, most sources say they're fallout from the wars between England and the Netherlands in the 17th century! I'd always imagined they were Americanisms, but, no, the English have used them to disparage foreigners for over three centuries. Those guys really know how to nurse a grudge.

I haven't heard anyone use these expressions for many years, with the occasional exception of "dutch treat," which seems to have lost its capital "D." I associated them with my father's generation, or maybe his father's. The Wikipedia entry on "going Dutch" has an amusing list of how different cultures describe the practice of everyone paying their own way. The Spanish call it "paying Catalan-style," the Turks call it "paying German-style." The Egyptians complete the circle by calling it "English-style."

[Robb_K]

Robb, In my earlier days I read a shipload of late-19th and early-20th-century American junk literature: dime novels, comic weeklies, and especially cheap adventure novels aimed at boys. Most of this stuff dated from the 1880s to the early 1910s, before the War. Comical "Dutchmen" popped up constantly. They were usually portrayed as opinionated, often pushy men--always men--with a high opinion of themselves. In cartoons they  were usually portly, middle-aged, smoking a pipe and almost invariably wearing wooden shoes. In stories Dutch characters were always incidental personalities. For example, I never found one serving as the hero's comic-relief sidekick. These were usually Irishmen or African Americans.

Your bringing up "Dutch treat" reminded me of other expressions I used to hear in which "Dutch" was used in a pejorative sense. You covered "Dutch uncle." There were also "to get in Dutch with someone" (to anger someone because of something you did), "Dutch courage" (false courage from drinking too much booze), "Dutch comfort" (being glad that a situation isn't even worse), and in cinematography a "Dutch angle" (tilting the camera to one side or the other so the horizon isn't level).

I found this fascinating so I searched online for explanations of how these terms came to be. In the process I encountered one that was new to me: "Dutch metal," a cheap copper-zinc alloy resembling gold. As for the origins, most sources say they're fallout from the wars between England and the Netherlands in the 17th century! I'd always imagined they were Americanisms, but, no, the English have used them to disparage foreigners for over three centuries. Those guys really know how to nurse a grudge.

I haven't heard anyone use these expressions for many years, with the occasional exception of "dutch treat," which seems to have lost its capital "D." I associated them with my father's generation, or maybe his father's. The Wikipedia entry on "going Dutch" has an amusing list of how different cultures describe the practice of everyone paying their own way. The Spanish call it "paying Catalan-style," the Turks call it "paying German-style." The Egyptians complete the circle by calling it "English-style."

Thanks for filling us in on this question.  I'm glad to hear that The Americans have no current grudge against The Dutch people, and that these sayings come from wars occurring roughly 250 to 300 years ago (especially when The Dutch were on the side of Napoleon's French Empire, when his younger brother was the leader of their "puppet state" during The Napoleonic Wars.  That's a long time to hold a grudge.  But, I guess people from India still hold a grudge against The British for at least that long, if not more.  I wonder if they also have a grudge against The Portuguese from 500 years ago???  In any case, I doubt that these newspaper and comic book company advertisements declaring that The Katzenjammer Kids were Dutch fooled any appreciable amount of people, and saved many sales from being lost.  On the other hand, I doubt that very many American parents forbade their parents from reading The Katzenjammer Kids because they were developed out of a German tradition.  And I doubt that many parents stopped their subscriptions to newspapers because they carried that comic strip.  Perhaps sales of The Katzenjammer Kids King Features Feature Books from The World War II years declined some in sales.  But The United Features' Captain and The Kids' war years comics Comics on Parade and Sparkler Comics probably didn't lose much income, especially after the move to the different titled series.

[Captain Audio]

According to Wikipedia

when the United States was at war with Germany, the Katzenjammer family were temporarily presented as Dutch.

Was that during World War I, World War II, or both wars?

I expect WW2.

By the way, in German, Katzenjammer's literal translation to English would be Caterwauling, but that word's slang meaning in colloquial Plattdeutsch dialects was "hangover" and sorrowful feeling about making the mistake of excess drinking last night, and having the resulting morning sickness of the vomiting and headache.

I would hazard a guess that the association with a hangover would be the old saying "sick as a cat" since the vomiting, often long after there is nothing left to throw up with accompanying moaning and such, would remind one of a cat trying to dislodge a hair ball. I gave up alcohol 30 years ago but well remember my more epic over indulgences.
Also I have five cats.

[Robb_K]

According to Wikipedia

when the United States was at war with Germany, the Katzenjammer family were temporarily presented as Dutch.

Was that during World War I, World War II, or both wars?

I expect WW2.

By the way, in German, Katzenjammer's literal translation to English would be Caterwauling, but that word's slang meaning in colloquial Plattdeutsch dialects was "hangover" and sorrowful feeling about making the mistake of excess drinking last night, and having the resulting morning sickness of the vomiting and headache.

I would hazard a guess that the association with a hangover would be the old saying "sick as a cat" since the vomiting, often long after there is nothing left to throw up with accompanying moaning and such, would remind one of a cat trying to dislodge a hair ball. I gave up alcohol 30 years ago but well remember my more epic over indulgences.
Also I have five cats.

A very plausible theory! I hadn't thought of that.

[gregjh]

I read Coo Coo Comics #13 and immediately assumed Super Mouse was related to Mighty Mouse. A quick search appeared to confirm this but then I read Robb's post (I always read other people's thoughts after reading the stories myself to try and reach my own conclusion) and now, as far as I can tell, the two are separate and Mighty Mouse of TV cartoon fame changed his name from Super Mouse, to avoid having two characters with the same name, which would cause confusion and copyright violation, am I correct?

In any case, the story was funny, I have a soft-spot for the "gosh! golly! blimey!" type of comic book humour as that is what I grew up with and this one delivers in spades. The colours are rich and vivid and the artwork - exaggerated expressions and features - matches well with the tone. The story itself is silly and cheesy by design. Forgettable, but fun.

Now it's time for me to find two comics to introduce for the next reading corner.

[Robb_K]

I read Coo Coo Comics #13 and immediately assumed Super Mouse was related to Mighty Mouse. A quick search appeared to confirm this but then I read Robb's post (I always read other people's thoughts after reading the stories myself to try and reach my own conclusion) and now, as far as I can tell, the two are separate and Mighty Mouse of TV cartoon fame changed his name from Super Mouse, to avoid having two characters with the same name, which would cause confusion and copyright violation, am I correct?

In any case, the story was funny, I have a soft-spot for the "gosh! golly! blimey!" type of comic book humour as that is what I grew up with and this one delivers in spades. The colours are rich and vivid and the artwork - exaggerated expressions and features - matches well with the tone. The story itself is silly and cheesy by design. Forgettable, but fun.

Now it's time for me to find two comics to introduce for the next reading corner.

Yes, you are correct, and we all look forward to seeing which book or books you will choose.

[The Australian Panther]

Looking forward to Monday!

[crashryan]

Having already joined in the discussion about the Katzies, I suppose I ought to post my reactions to the Reading Group selections.

While I usually like Comics on Parade-style newspaper strip collections the selections in this issue were second-rate.

I'm no expert on the history of the Katzenjammer Kids, but I was surprised to find Hans und Fritz in a story continuity, without their supporting cast and far from their usual locale. How long were they a [sort of] adventure strip? What's with the lipstick-wearing acrobat? Not knowing the storyline I assumed he was supposed to be effeminate. In fact his pectorals look like breasts. When he gets the girl, though, he's played as All Man. Maybe the bow lips and wavy hair are just supposed to represent matinee-idol handsomeness. Anyway there aren't a lot of laughs here.

I'm not familiar with Looy Dot Dope. Since our page 15 identifies the young man with oiled hair as Looy, I presume he's also the fellow with a hat on page 17. So who are the people on page 16? Is George Dilbury an ongoing character we're expected to recognize?

At least I've heard of Ella Cinders. I haven't paid much attention to it, though. Apparently "Ma" is Ella's wicked stepmother. It's ethically questionable for Ella to help her stepfather to run away from his wife taking a  newfound fortune with him. After seeing "Ma" in action I can't blame him.

Dynamite Dunn offers one of the dumbest gimmicks to come down the pike. Switching boxers when the stadium lights go out? Gimme a break! Interesting to see Jack Dempsey as a supporting character. According to Don Markstein's Toonopedia, this strip had a checkered history beginning in 1918 as Joe's Car. The strip was retitled Joe Jinks when cars became passe. Joe flirted with aviation before entering the fight game. There he met Dynamite Dunn (who came before Joe Palooka, by the way). We see Joe in these reprints--he's Dunn's manager. Eventually Dunn took over the whole strip and Joe retired.

After a while even Dunn was phased out to be replaced by another boxer, Curly Kayoe. But that wasn't all! Curly was kicked out of the strip by aquatic adventurer Davy Jones. By that time the feature was drawn in a straight realistic style, first by Wayne Boring then by Alden McWilliams. I don't know when Davy Jones ended, but I found several 1966 originals signed with the name of Sam Leff, who had both drawn and written the strip in the Dunn-Kayoe days. However these strips are unquestionably the work of (wait for it) Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico!

Unbelievable but True! "by Frank N. Ernest"? Right...

The Young Idear: What the ---- is this? Bizarre drawings of what I think are supposed to be young kids enacting vaguely adult, generally unfunny situations. The artist seems obsessed with showing the girls' underwear. I realize it used to be considered cute for little girls in cartoons to flash their knickers but somehow the drawing style makes it seem especially unsavory.

I can make neither head nor tail of The Boomers.

Little Mary Mixup looks pleasant enough but there's too little of the continuity to judge the story. Mary is involving herself in fraud, at any rate. At least she doesn't show her undies.

Though misogyny was common in old-school domestic strips, Danny Dingle takes woman-bashing to a higher degree than usual. These pages seem to be daily strips strung together. I gather that the guy with the cigar is married to the woman in red. So Danny is their son? I'm with Ma in this fight. The men seem to do nothing but lie around literally twiddling their thumbs.

Broncho Bill is a typical western with the twist being that the heroes are kids. Harry O'Neill always puts the camera just a little too far back. You feel you have to squint to see the characters. The kids also stand in an odd s-shaped manner that makes them appear stooped. Nevertheless O'Neill's drawings appeal to me. I don't know why.

Cynical Susie doesn't strike me as especially cynical. The last page reads like the setup for a continuity. Does Susie go to Mars?

Abbie and Slats was always a great-looking strip. Raeburn van Buren had a good career as a magazine illustrator before entering comics, and his work shows it. We don't see it here, but he drew some of the prettiest women on the comic pages. The hectic story may have been clearer in its original daily-strip format. They seem to have edited the continuity aggressively to fit into the comic. I can't tell if the scientists are all supposed to be good men with bad judgement or if the guy with the mustache--great character design, by the way--has ulterior motives.

Billy Make-Believe: Meh. The bear is cute.

[crashryan]

Yeah, it's me again. Forgot to mention Coo Coo Comics. I also forgot to mention Tailspin Tommy in the last post, but everyone has covered the tiger-in-the-cabin story by now. I still wonder why they didn't have any raw meat on board after having been told...but enough.

Before CB+ I always figured that funny animal comics below the top tier (the top tier being Barks and Kelly) were all the same: bad. I've come to appreciate that FA comics have the same mix of good, bad, and indifferent stuff as every other genre. It's usually the art that attracts me. Ken Hultgren, Jack Bradbury, Howie Post, and Al Hubbard are among the artists CB+ has helped me get to know. Even some of the stories, for example some of the Sniffy the Pup adventures, aren't bad.

Unfortunately this issue of Coo Coo Comics falls into the indifferent-to-bad category.

Milt Stein's art on Supermouse has its charms but the story is all over the place! The plot lurches from one situation to another at a manic pace. Half the time the dialogue is comic book standard, but the other half of the time the characters speak in an elevated mock-heroic style. Frankly, Richard Hughes writes like a guy who doesn't know how to write funny animals, so writes like he imagines people write funny animals.

Archie Pelican isn't a pelican and this story isn't a good story. As drawn by Carl Wessler, what I presume is supposed to be a baby looks more like the wizened stereotyped Irishmen in 1890s Life cartoons.

Baseball Benny is the same gag over and over. Art isn't great, but better than Wessler's.

I nominate Squeaks McCarthy as the book's most interesting story for one reason only. An anthropomorphic squeaking sound is a truly unique concept. However the story is choppy and inconsistent while the art is mediocre. Who the heck is "Big Shorty?"

Snubby Squirrel barely looks like a squirrel. He's pink and he has no tail. But he fits right into this story, which makes no sense even after we learn it's all a dream (yawn). Granted, it's uncommon for a FA hero to be shot to death in a story, even if it is a dream.

The Daffy Brothers is a first-class mess. I'm sure Tony Loeb (something tells me this is a one-man job) saw this in his head as a film cartoon. All the singing and throwaways like the talking gargoyle on page 38 might have worked onscreen. On paper these gags fall flat. The art requires a strong sense of continuity so we understand where the brothers are as they swing from window to window, but Loeb isn't up to the job. One last point. Even in the alternate universe of funny animal comics I expect basic logic to function. Would someone living in a four-story apartment building call in piano movers without being present when they arrive? For that matter, without even telling the movers which apartment the piano is in? Sloppy.

That leaves us with Gran'Pa Scotty. Rube Grossman's art isn't half bad but the story is kinda silly. Also, given that Gran'Pa is a stereotypical money-centered Scotsman (the only reason he climbs the mountain is because climbers win a "money prize"), wouldn't he be overjoyed to receive even a five-cent piece?

Sorry, Mr Hughes, stick to unexplored worlds.

[The Australian Panther]

Time for my contribution.
Clearly, I didn't go out of my way to select a couple of books that were excellent.
That seems to be something of a consensus in the responses. 
I usually go through the posts in detail and respond to various points. In this instance I am just going to respond to what I read and respond to points already made, from memory.     
Comics on Parade 027
While its unfortunate that we can't have the whole book, owing to Abner and Tarzan still being under copyright, Freddy does CB+ a worthy service by posting these.These books of compilations of already published newspaper strips represent the first actual comic 'books' published on a regular monthly schedule.
And much of this content is no longer easy to find elsewhere.
Well, we do get Abner and Mammy on the cover. Was Mammy a proto-feminist? And what was it with Al Capp and pigs?
Tailspin Tommy
Its hard to realize now just how popular strips about Planes and 'Flyers' were back then. Only went down in popularity when the 'Space Race' took over imaginations in the 60's. And I'm sure that this kind of strip and movies were responsible for many young guys becoming commercial Pilots.
This strip is a bit too heavy on the word balloons for me to concentrate on it here, but had I read it in a newspaper I would have been gripped.
Twice Told Tales. Also originally a newspaper strip. I';m guessing some Newspaper proprietors [or their readers] thought there should some non-fictional strips in their colour supplements, hence the existence of these strips. Also, they might have been trying to emulate the success of 'Believe it or not'.
This strip is just average in its content.
The Captain and the Kids.
Yes, this is unusual, the first time I've seen the strip done as a continuing narrative. Also, please correct me if I'm wrong, but the art doesn't look like what I remember of Dirks.  Not only that, but the boys are on the side of good here! No pratfalls or schemes against the Captain and the Inspector.
Loopy dot Dope. [first One pager]
There were also a number of strips that were all visual gags and no world baloons or sound effects. I've always admired the creators of these strips as I think they would be harder to do. Some quite varied visual things going on here.
The other two strips are quite clever,but rely as much on the dialogue as the visuals.
Ella Cinders.
Again, there is not much going on visually here, its all baloons and dialogue. This was a very popular strip, I think, but if you were following it regularly in the newspaper or the monthly comic you might get hooked.
Dynamite Dunn.
As Crash has pointed out, the premise might work on paper in the strip, but is really unbelievable, if not impossible. This strip is visually more interesting tho.
Unbelievable but true.
I often wonder what sources they used for this information. Must have had to do a lot of reading.   
The young IDEAR. [very bad pun]
These are adult situations. Putting this dialogue in the mouths of Tots may have been considered clever, but today it just comes off as sleazy.         
The Boomers.
Sometimes these narrative episodes make sense out of context. This one is great visually, Much action. But it makes no sense at all if you are unfamiliar with what went before. That's what makes the masters,like Chester Gould and Lee Falk - so good. They knew how to grab and keep the readers attention.   
Little Mary Mix-up.
This is a visual situation and it works well as an illustrated story. Not bad art. I would be interested in coming back next week to see what happens.     
Danny Dingle. Not bad, although in places it reads like a radio script or a vaudeville routine. In other words, not primarily visual. 
Bronco Bill.
I'll simply say that the clothes and hats depicted back then, both in comics and in the movies, were quite different to the standard depictions from the mid-50s to today.
Cynical Suzie. Very visual work.
If Bernard Dibble did all three strips ["Looy Dot Dope," "Danny Dingle," and "Cynical Susie."]  in any kind of regular basis, and to this standard, then he was prolific indeed and deserves to be much better known. And I do want to know what happens next!
Abbie n Slats
Also a highly popular strip, Excellent art. Great Narrative. Well paced. I can see why it was popular.
For someone creating comic books there are so many lessons to be learned from these old strips!
If and when CB+ gets a full run of these, it would be good if someone archived some of these serials.
Thanks to Freddy, and also to Yoc who scanned this one.
I will look at Coo Coo comics later.
Cheers!       

         

     
 

[paw broon]

I'm going to display my ignorance.  Can anyone explain what Loopy dot Dope means? Tailspin Tommy was daft and boring.
Now that that's off my chest, I can't thank Freddy and Yoc enough for their great work.  Just because I don't particularly enjoy something isn't that important.  I enjoy being led to stuff outside my experience.  There's a lot to be learned.

[Robb_K]

I'm going to display my ignorance.  Can anyone explain what Loopy dot Dope means? Tailspin Tommy was daft and boring.
Now that that's off my chest, I can't thank Freddy and Yoc enough for their great work.  Just because I don't particularly enjoy something isn't that important.  I enjoy being led to stuff outside my experience.  There's a lot to be learned.

Well, "loopy" meant "crazy" during the 1930s and 1940s, and was still used by older people during the 1950s.  It was a milder term not meaning certifiably clinically insane, but more like highly eccentric or acting crazily a lot of the time.  And 'Dope", of course, meant stupid.  "The use of "dot" rather than the English word, "that", implied that the strip was written by a German-American, for readers that wanted to take a light-hearted, humourous laugh at the German-Americans (similar to that aspect of "The Katzenjammer Kids").  So "Loopy dot Dope" was chuckling at the madcap antics of the eccentric, silly, and often stupid, bumbling, German-American character (who I think was named Louis, (Louie) for short, for which the nickname, "Loopy" could be appropriately substituted.

But, now that I think about it, I don't ever remember "Loopy" in that strip's title.  It was always "Looy", to my recollection.  And, as I explained above, that would be the spelling that Americans used to indicate the Heavy German accent in English, attempting to pronounce the familiar, diminutive form of Louis, "Louie".  So, Looy was a silly, stupid, German-American bumbler, whose antics were supposed to be funny.

We did have a Canadian World War II period strip about a professional airplane flyer, who came from the barnstorming flying ace tradition of the 1920s and 1930s, titled, "Loopy De Loop", nicknamed after the loops he made with his plane in daredevil flyer shows, like daredevil ace pilots did in the barnstorming exhibitions.  But, actually, I think that was a reprinted US strip, started in late 1945, when the ban on US comics and magazine imports was first lifted.

[crashryan]

So here's the dope on "Looy dot Dope." Information from research, not stuff I already knew. It turns out that the strip derived from a strip created in the mid-1920s by prolific and popoular cartoonist-writer Milt Gross. Its original title was Banana Oil and it featured the Feitlebaum family, who appeared in several of Gross's strips and text stories. In 1926 Banana Oil, after briefly being known as Gross Exaggerations, became The Feitlebaum Family. Finally, in 1927, the title was changed to Looy Dot Dope

Gross liked to tell his stories in a Yiddish-inspired New Yorkese of his own invention. Looy was the son of the Feitlebaum family and had a high opinion of himself. The others in the family didn't and referred to him as "dot Dope," that is, "that idiot." Gross didn't have much to do with the strip after its launch and by '27 Johnny Devlin was drawing (and perhaps writing) it. Devlin and later creators ditched the ethnic angle and the strip became a simple gag strip with a weird title. Some papers even shortened the title to just Looy.

Devlin left the strip around 1935 and was replaced by Bernard Dibble. Dibble saw it out the door in 1939.

The full story may be found on Allan Holtz' excellent Stripper's Guide blog:

http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2009/02/obscurity-of-day-looy-dot-dope.html

Allan also publishes some samples of Johnny Devlin's run on Looy.

[Robb_K]

So here's the dope on "Looy dot Dope." Information from research, not stuff I already knew. It turns out that the strip derived from a strip created in the mid-1920s by prolific and popoular cartoonist-writer Milt Gross. Its original title was Banana Oil and it featured the Feitlebaum family, who appeared in several of Gross's strips and text stories. In 1926 Banana Oil, after briefly being known as Gross Exaggerations, became The Feitlebaum Family. Finally, in 1927, the title was changed to Looy Dot Dope

Gross liked to tell his stories in a Yiddish-inspired New Yorkese of his own invention. Looy was the son of the Feitlebaum family and had a high opinion of himself. The others in the family didn't and referred to him as "dot Dope," that is, "that idiot." Gross didn't have much to do with the strip after its launch and by '27 Johnny Devlin was drawing (and perhaps writing) it. Devlin and later creators ditched the ethnic angle and the strip became a simple gag strip with a weird title. Some papers even shortened the title to just Looy.

Devlin left the strip around 1935 and was replaced by Bernard Dibble. Dibble saw it out the door in 1939.

The full story may be found on Allan Holtz' excellent Stripper's Guide blog:

http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2009/02/obscurity-of-day-looy-dot-dope.html

Allan also publishes some samples of Johnny Devlin's run on Looy.

Some of "Banana Oil" strip's  gag pages appeared in "Milt Gross Funnies" (comic books), of which both issues published by ACG are available to read on CB+. 

[SuperScrounge]

Coo Coo Comics #13

Supermouse - Ever read something where the writer had seen something funny and tried to duplicate it without a clear understanding of why it was funny? There are elements here that could be funny by other creators, but here it's just... there. I can see why the writer thought this would be funny, but I'm not laughing. How come Supermouse needs his supercheese for all his powers except flight?

Archie Pelican - My sides, they are bursting... not. I guess the publishers didn't have enough ration stamps to buy humor.

Baseball Benny - You'd think if the people believe this guy is Baseball Benny you'd think he would look more like the guy we see at the end who is alluded to be the real Baseball Benny.

Ferdinand's Brain-Teasers - Interesting way to do a combination story and activity page.

Squeaks McCarthy - Well, the concept was interesting although it seems like a very limited premise for future stories.

Snubby Squirrel - Alice In Wonderland called. She wants her ending back.

The Daffy Bros. - Well, that struck a sour note. Was this actually written or did the artist just slap together some scenes he thought were funny and call it a day?

Pete Plays Possum - Eh, okay.

Gran'pa Scotty - Probably the funniest story in the book, not that that's saying much.

[SuperScrounge]

Was that during World War I, World War II, or both wars?

Probably WWI. Brian Cronin's Comic Book Legends Revealed #340 https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-legends-revealed-340/ (third legend) confirmed that The Katzenjammer Kids became The Shenanigan Kids during the war and Dirks' Hans and Fritz changed its name to... The Captain and the Kids (I wonder how long that name change lasted?  )

[Robb_K]

Coo Coo Comics #13

Supermouse - Ever read something where the writer had seen something funny and tried to duplicate it without a clear understanding of why it was funny? 1There are elements here that could be funny by other creators, but here it's just... there. I can see why the writer thought this would be funny, but I'm not laughing. How come Supermouse needs his supercheese for all his powers except flight?

2 Archie Pelican - My sides, they are bursting... not. I guess the publishers didn't have enough ration stamps to buy humor.

Baseball Benny - You'd think if the people believe this guy is Baseball Benny you'd think he would look more like the guy we see at the end who is alluded to be the real Baseball Benny.

Ferdinand's Brain-Teasers - Interesting way to do a combination story and activity page.

3 Squeaks McCarthy - Well, the concept was interesting although it seems like a very limited premise for future stories.

Snubby Squirrel - Alice In Wonderland called. She wants her ending back.

4 The Daffy Bros. - Well, that struck a sour note. Was this actually written or did the artist just slap together some scenes he thought were funny and call it a day?

Pete Plays Possum - Eh, okay.

5 Gran'pa Scotty - Probably the funniest story in the book, not that that's saying much.

(1) Chief editor of Nedor Publishing, Richard Hughes, wrote "SuperMouse".  As Crash stated, Hughes should have avoided writing not only Funny Animal stories, but ANY type of comedy.  It just wasn't his thing.  He was also writing scores of stories each month, as he was the Chief Editor and main story writer not only  at Nedor, but also both at ACG, as well.  He took credits not only as "Richard Hughes" (which wasn't his real name, anyway) but also under several aliases, to make both Nedor and ACG look like bigger operations.

(2) Not only was the prolific, but terrible artist, Carl Wessler, the penciler and inker, but he was probably the so-called writer, as well, as he wrote most of the stories he drew.  During the early days of funny animal comics, most of the stories were "written" by the animation artists who drew them.  This was the same method which was used to "write" the seven minute one-reel cartoon short films.  The animator, or storyboarder would get gag ideas in his head that he thought were funny, and string a bunch of them together, drawing them out in storyboard form.  Most of them never wrote a text script.  That's the way I've written my stories from the start around 1977, until even today, although, starting in 2003 for Danish Disney, and 2004 for Dutch Disney, I had to start by sending a text scenario that had to be approved by my editors, and for Danish Disney, until 2018, when my department was dissolved, I also had to deliver a panel by panel, page by page text description of the artwork, complete with narratives and dialogue, before handing in the storyboards for approval, before the penciling could be started.  But, as always, I just got the ideas for the stories in my head, and worked them out during the storyboarding process, and typed those out from looking at the storyboards with dialogue and narratives added.  THAT is the same way animators and animation storyboarders "wrote" the stories they drew during the early days of Funny Animal and cartoony human figure comedic stories.

(3) You are very correct that it wasn't a good concept for a continuing series.  And, luckily for Coo Coo's readers, it was the only story that used that character.  But, it was a clever and novel idea.  Unfortunately, the author (Not likely to have been the artist (Big Shorty), nor Editor Richard Hughes (not inventive enough to have thought of this), didn't use the clever premise to it's best possibilities.  It was a great letdown to me.  I could have done a LOT better with this great idea.  The story just doesn't make sense.  I would have given it a fairy tale atmosphere and tied the squeaking together with the unexpected need for squeaking that could make the lead character feel like he's doing good in the end, and have the last panel be very funny visually, but also ironic, because the very people that were previously "harmed" by the squeaking, now benefit from it (The Carl Barks style mixture of adventure or mystery, comedy and irony (and whenever possible - poking fun at the silliness of human nature.

(4) Your suspicions were correct!  This story was likely "written" by animator, Tony Loeb.  The scenario, and "script" were probably never written down.  Which is why the premise is so idiotic.  I'm sure that Loeb just thought that the Laurel and Hardy's short film, "Piano Movers" was funny, and The 3 Marx Brothers were funny, and he imagined some funny visual scenes of moving pianos in his head, and just started drawing the scenes and strung them together.  And he never thought about why this so-called "story" wouldn't work, or make ANY sense.  That's the way a large portion of the 1930s and 1940s comic strip and comic book funny animal comics were produced.  By the way, Carl Barks never gave his editors written text scenarios or scripts.  He had carte blanche to do whatever he wanted, and only a handful of stories in his 30 years of writing and over 7,000 pages of comics, were requested by editors to have changes made, or the complete stories were shelved or totally rejected (only 2).  And he went through the entire process through inking, before his editor ever saw anything from them!

(5)  Rube Grossman wrote a large portion of the stories he drew.  So, that's probably why this story is sophysical gag-oriented, and despite the surprise ending, isn't all that interesting or funny. But, yes.  It is far-and-away the best story in this book.

[Robb_K]

Was that during World War I, World War II, or both wars?

Probably WWI. Brian Cronin's Comic Book Legends Revealed #340 https://www.cbr.com/comic-book-legends-revealed-340/ (third legend) confirmed that The Katzenjammer Kids became The Shenanigan Kids during the war and Dirks' Hans and Fritz changed its name to... The Captain and the Kids (I wonder how long that name change lasted?  )

I would guess that BOTH name changes started in 1914, and lasted till The War ended in 1918.  Hans & Fritz started to be used in 1912, when Dirks wanted to take time off from producing the strip, but the owner of The New York Journal wanted to continue the strip, and won the right to keep the strip name in a court battle in which Dirks was allowed to continue to write and draw his characters' stories for a rival newspaper.  So, he started the new strip, "Hans & Fritz" in 1913.  So Hans & Fritz lasted only about a year and a half before being changed tom "The Captain and The Kids", which stayed as Dirks' strips name until the end of the strip's run in 1979.  Dirks retired in 1955, and his son took over the writing and drawing.  So, "The Captain and The Kids" had a run of 65 years (or 66, IF we add the "Hans & Fritz" time to it.  "The Shenanigan Kids" changed its name back to "The Katzenjammer Kids" in 1920, so it ran for about 6 years under the changed name.