A Howard Beckerman Comic Strip?
Hello again, readers! I’m a lot better than I was at the last posting, fever is gone, and I’m breathing better. I can walk now, not quite as far, but I’m walking. I’m also doing some household chores like gardening and cleaning floors. Since I took all the antibiotics, I’m not quite as crabby as I was when I was “under the influence”. I’m hoping that my lung will be completely clear very soon. Today’s lead strip is “Willie Woo” by the New York animator, historian and occasional columnist, Howard Beckerman. It was syndicated by NEA in 1961, this episode is from Jan. 22nd. I saved this strip from an out of town paper because I liked the style, it reminds me of Gene Deitch and Bobe Cannon. Howard Beckerman did not compose the music in this episode, but bought it from Marion Abeson. There aren’t too many comic strips that had sheet music printed into them: “Willie Woo” seems to have been an “activity” strip for children, probably had games and puzzles worked in to the strip at times. I have no idea how long NEA syndicated the strip or how successful it was. It’s one of the few strips actually drawn by an animator. Except for Floyd Gottfredson, Walt Scott, Harvey Eisenberg, Hank Ketcham, Walt Kelly, George Baker, Fred Harman, Gus Arriola and Gene Hazelton, it’s hard for me to remember how many cartoonists who started out as animators migrated into the newspaper comics. There are many animators who drew comic BOOKS, and I don’t include Winsor McCay in this, because he started in newspaper comics. So with “Willie Woo”, Howard Beckerman joins a very select few who cracked a difficult market. Howard has his own website at www.howardbeckerman.com , but there is no information on “Willie Woo”. If any readers can add to this story, feel free to comment.
Krazy is from 12-16 to 12-21-1940. The week consists of three two-day continuities, the first has the Kat unable to say “chrysanthemum”, the second has Pupp seeing double Ignatzs after smoking a bad cigar and the third has Pupp trying to grab a fresh hot brick away from Ignatz. I wonder what kind of “tobacco” was IN the Offissa’s stogie?
Felix this time is from 2-4 to 2-10-1935. In the dailies, Felix is continually under attack from the “Bully Sailor”. It’s lucky for Felix that the sailor is so backward in his reasoning powers. In the 2-8, he mistakes an octopus tentacle for Felix’s tail, and in the 2-10, Danny dives to the rescue and ties knots in the octopus’s “feelers”. In the Sunday, Felix pulls a “Little Nemo” and winds up in “Dreamland”. The banquet Felix was going to be served winds up being consumed by the cooks after Felix vanishes from his dream, a McCay story twist if I’ve ever seen one. I love the “Fraidy Cat” and “Smarty Cat” characters in the “Felix Movies” feature at the top of the page. Otto had a real gift for designing cartoon cats. Please remember to click on the thumbnails to see the strips at readable size.
Patrick is from 10-12 to about 10-19-1966 this time. Patrick’s Dad appears in the 10-18, still mad at his son, over TV shows. Patrick’s “right” to watch TV is debated in the 10-13, with the kid finding out he has no rights. You will note that the first three strips in the Patrick section of the post are in black and white. This was the result of a press room strike at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, resulting in a totally black and white newspaper for at least a week. I don’t recall if it affected the Sunday edition, but the daily lost it’s “unique” color comics for awhile. Does anybody reading this blog know of any other daily newspapers that ran their weekday comics in color? They look pretty if they are scanned from original clippings, but the color tends to mess up the microfilm. See you next time, I hope it won’t be too long.
Charles Brubaker says:
Actually alot of newspapers these days run the daily comics in color. There’s a company called Reed Brannon and they provide color dailies as one of its services.
Often times a third party does the coloring (the Sundays are still done by the creators) but starting few years ago, whenever King Features pick up a new strip there’s a clause in the contract that states the creator has to provide color dailies themselves.
And I love Howard’s works. I bought his book on animating a while ago and it’s a very good read. I enjoy running my 16mm prints of “The Plumber” and “A Bridge Grows in Brooklyn” from time to time.
top cat james says:
” Except for Floyd Gottfredson, Walt Scott, Harvey Eisenberg and Gene Hazelton, it’s hard for me to remember how many cartoonists who started out as animators migrated into the newspaper comics”
Hank Ketchum and Walt Kelly are two more I can think of…
James Tim Walker says:
Hey Pal…..Glad to hear your feeling better. Remember when it comes to walking it’s “ONE STEP AT A TIME” I step trip and fall these days it’s more exciting than a day at Disneyland. Well back to the Valley…..
Charlie Judkins says:
Hey Mark!
That comic is really cool! I know Howard a little bit, he’s very nice and makes himself accessable to most young people in NYC who are interested in his work. Allan Holtz on his stripper’s guide blog once posted one of Howard’s daily strips, and I think I remember Howie himself commenting on it and relating a bit of its history. Anyway next time I see him I’ll ask him about “Willie Woo”…. he once told me that he had the amazing first job of inbetweening for Jim Tyer around 1949, and said that he learned alot about funny drawing from it!
Glad to hear you’re feeling better!