George Herriman is back at the drawing board, these are some of his last comic strips. The dates are 3-20-1944 to 4-15-1944. The writing harks back to the original Krazy Kat dailies from 1913, not only gag-a-day, but vaudeville style gags, delivered from the Coconino County stage.
Notes on the strips: 3-31-1944: This works as a two-way pun, “sole” and “soul”.
4-1-1944: A World War Two gag: The OPA was the Office of Price Administration which controlled the prices on commodities, here they are rationing bricks, and Offissa Pupp confiscates Ignatz’s masonry.
4-6-44: Garge creates some new characters “Pitter” and “Patter” who really aren’t “twims”, but their feet make sounds like raindrops. They seem to be a small coyote and a cat.
4-7-1944: Garge once again uses Spanish words and phrases for Coconino atmosphere, here a little Spanish dog says: “Poco a Poco, se anda lejos”.
4-8-44: A tribute to Ignatz’s collosal ego: He is certain that the stars look down on Earth because in his words: “I’m here”. Ignatz’s self assurance and quick hand with the brick are the qualities that attract Krazy Kat.
4-12 and 4-13-1944: A two day continuity gag as Krazy and Ignatz explore the concept; “A watched pot never boils”. In the last panel of the 4-13, Ignatz is just starting to reach for his brick, by this time he’s thrown his brick at Krazy’s “bean” so often that we don;t need to see him do it. Garge rarely shows brick tossing in the final years of the strip.
4-15-1944: Garge loved Scottish terriers, and kept a couple of them at his home on Maravilla St. Here, all the regular characters are replaced by one of the Scotties and a new character, “Weenie the worm”. They do a gag elaborating on the old saying, “The early bird gets the worm”.
That’s the notes for this time, my faithful readers. I shall return soon with another month’s worth of 1944 George Herriman. Happy New Year, and I hope your quarantined Christmases were warm and bright.
I’m learning new skills as taught to me by my WordPress advisor. I’m trying to learn how to embed videos. I love this early Charles Mintz Krazy Kat cartoon, and the silent one that follows it. Click on the arrow in the center of the frame. Enjoy!
Bill Shute says:
Many thanks for these late Herriman strips. There is such a large body of KK from GH that sometimes it helps to step back and take a look at the multiple decades of Krazy Kat and see how things develop and change and bring back older themes/images. Keep up the fine work here….it’s very much appreciated!
Mark says:
Hi Bill,
I’m gratified that you enjoy GH’s comics on the Catblog. We’ll call it the Katblog for now. I’m working on a new post as we speak.
Keep reading, Mark
robert alvarez says:
Mark,
I always look forward to your posts. I thought I would give you a heads up about a future interview. My friend Randy Meyers has been doing interviews and posting them on You Tube. I suggested he interview you. Your background in animation as well as your knowledge of the history of our craft makes you as the one of the best future interviewees. Randy agrees with me. So eventually I’m sure you will be contacted by Randy. In the meantime you can go to You Tube and view some of the interviews he has already done. He calls them “An animated conversation”. I look forward to when he completes an interview with you.
Robert
Mark says:
Thanks Robert! I’ll take a look at some of Randy’s interviews. Thanks for the heads up and thanks for glancing at the Catblog,
Your Pal, Mark