Hello All,
Today, I will follow up on the topic of censorship and self-censorship. It features our point of view on what comics are about. I thought you might like to peruse this excerpt from a 1946 short essay written by Bradley Kelly (1894-1969), who was King Features’ vice president and top comics editor.
“At King Features, we have a ‘Code of the Comics.’ No blood, no torture, no horror, no controversial subjects such as religion, politics and race. Above all is the important matter of good taste. The comics must be clean. No suggestive posturing and no indecent costumes. The figures must be natural and lifelike. In other words, BLONDIE is the daily doings in humorous form of a normal American family.
“This is the perfect comic, appealing to all ‘children’ 8 to 80. But the term ‘Comics’ is now used to include adventure features as well as the ‘funnies.’ The adventure comic is a comparative newcomer to the field of newspaper-illustrated strips.
“The growth of adventure features and so-called comic books has been phenomenal. Obviously with such a big output, there is bound to be some bad with the good, as is true in every realm of entertainment. Parents can be a factor in developing good taste and sound judgment. In the main, newspaper adventure strips have constructive messages. There is punishment for violation of the moral code.
“While these adventure features are thoroughly realistic, none of them can equal the violence and ruthlessness of true life. Can you imagine a daily strip portraying the news stories on the front pages of the newspapers?
“Recently, for example, an atom bomb was dropped in Bikini. Thousands of live animals were used as guinea pigs in this death-dealing experiment. It is a violation of our ‘Code of the Comics’ even to depict a child twisting a cat’s tail. Today, every child in the country knows about Bikini. If news of real life is not detrimental, certainly wholesome comics which extol the common virtues, which represent real American folklore—which are our chief American contribution to world culture—certainly the comics must be definitely helpful to the development of children.”
Source: “Comics Teach Kids to Laugh, Build Yank Sense of Humor” Evening News (Tonawanda, NY) 15 July 1946
Standards, of course, change through the years, but comics have more or less stayed as squeaky clean as possible, because offending newspaper consumers is hardly good business practice.
I enclose an example of how a syndicate, in this case the defunct Field Newspaper Syndicate, will bend over backward to avoid ruffling the feathers of readers by giving the client paper a choice. I’m showing the original offering from the proof sheet of this DENNIS THE MENACE from 1982 and the replacement, which was sent out separately for more sensitive editors.
There have been times when events forced a hasty change. In 1978, a PEANUTS strip included a TV with the words “Ah, Colonel Hogan” emanating from it. But when Bob Crane was suddenly killed, they scrambled to provide a replacement word balloon, reading “Ah, Mister Spock,” but some papers, like the New York Daily News, couldn’t change it in time.
To summarize, the newspaper comics industry has always strived to give out family entertainment. Our offerings have to be moral but still clever enough to compliment the reader and not insult his or her intellect. Well, we don’t always achieve that but we try.
Yours,
The Archivist
Whatever happened to “Jackys Diary” in the Vintage section of DAILY INK? I really love that strip and would like to see it restored to the line-up. Thank you!
I was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. Our evening paper was the “Buffalo Evening News” for which I worked for for severeal years and a nearby village was known as “Tonawanda”.
Never heard of “Towanda”, NY.
Is this a typo?
Censorship has always plagued daily comic strips. If all strips mirrored “Blondi” I would have given up on comics.
Cartoonist Gladys Parker (1910-1966), the creator of “Mopsy”, was from North Tonawanda, New York, also famed as the home of Wurlitzer organs and jukeboxes.
Don Markstein on “Mopsy”: http://www.toonopedia.com/mopsy.htm
Markstein died March 10, btw, but his Toonopedia is still up and running. Here’s hoping it stays there.
In response to Mark and several other readers who have inquired about Jackys Diary, unfortunately we no longer have the rights to publish the strip.
Thanks for the follow-up. I thought it was really nice of you to take extra time on the subject.
Today, I’d like to ask you about something a little different than the usual subjects. I recently saw a VERY nice cartoon panel shared by the Andy Griffith Museum’s Facebook page showing George Lindsey (Actor, Goober on TAGS, died 2012) at the Pearly Gates, wearing his Goober hat, and St Peter saying “Boss, Goober says hey!” From the clouds comes the response “Hey to Goober!” The artist credited is John R. Rose. Is this the same John Rose who writes Barney Google and Snuffy Smith? If so, I’d love to tell him how awesome and respectful that strip was! If it wasn’t the same man, then there’s at least one more John Rose out there who is, in my opinion, worthy of being in the King Features family!
Would love to see vintage They’ll Do It Every Time by Jimmy Hatlo. I would especially enjoy the ones from 1953-1958 which included The Hatlo Inferno. That was one of my favorites when I was a kid.
Would a Rose by any other name smell as sweet? The answer is: yes, same John Rose. Here’s a profile: http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoonist/profile.cfm/Rose,J/
Awesome. Thanks, Bhob!
A big bodacious thank you to all of you for your kind comments regarding my Goober editorial cartoon. I was and continue to be a big fan of that show. I like to think that perhaps growing up watching Andy Griffith and Hee Haw and tv shows of that nature really helped influence my career path with being the cartoonist for King Features’ Snuffy Smith comic strip. My condolences to George Lindsey and his family, friends and fans.
I’ve gotta say, this is an great setup. Not only does The Archivist listen to us, answer us, and give us treats from the archives from time to time, not only are the fans willing to help each other out, but now even the artists are getting involved! Awesome!
Awesome, indeed. Hopefully, John R. will stick around to answer a few questions. Such as: What was your progression with Fred Lasswell? Did you begin with partial inking or immediately go to full inking? Did you work closely with him or receive pages electronically or what?
HOW DO YOU SEND COND0LENCES 2 A DEAD PERSON