So Long Mabel
H
Here, as an early Christmas present, are the remaining “Now Listen Mabel” strips by George Herriman from 19191222 to 19200110. The parallels with “Krazy Kat” are even more prominent here, as Jimmie Doozinberry pursues the lovely Mabel, as hopeless a lover as Offissa Pupp with Krazy Kat. Jimmie has to constantly compete with large groups of men in these strips, such as the Police and Fire departments. Mabel just doesn’t feel comfortable with Jimmie by himself, she feels safer, and more romantic, in a crowd of guys. I wonder if “Now Listen Mabel” continued beyond 19200110 in any other papers? Allan Holtz gives the final publication date as 19191218, so now that goes down as another mistake in Allan’s wonderful “American Newspaper Comics” reference book. I can’t help but be curious about Garge’s wife, Mabel herself. Did her husband base any of the comic strip character Mabel on his wife or his daughter (both named Mabel)? Were they as big mercurial flirts and two-timers as they appear in the comics? I guess we’ll never know. So this is “so long” to the “complete” reprint of “Now Listen Mabel”, which I started back in 2021 in a post called “An End and A Beginning”. The date was 20210227. My Krazy Kat reprints stopped then, and also my blog was hacked again around that time. I hope you have enjoyed the Mabels. If any of you readers and great “strippers” find any of the early “Now Listen Mabels” that the San Francisco Examiner didn’t use, from 19190423 to 19190728, please let me know! I would love to post the missing three months. If you want to see them larger, just right-click them and open them in a new window, then enlarge them to your heart’s content. If I can’t do another post soon, then Happy Christmas to all! from Mark Kausler.
D.D.Degg says:
The Buffalo Enquirer carried Mabel starting June 9, 1919
which would cut the number of “lost” Mabels in half.
Mark says:
Hi D.D. Degg!
Thanks so much for your comment. I will post the Buffalo Enquirer’s Mabels as soon as practicable. I thank you for telling me about them. It seems that most of the old newspapers with “Enquirer” on the masthead are Hearst papers. Is that true for you as well? Not the NATIONAL Enquirer, of course.
Mark
Cameron McCaffrey says:
Thank you for your archival efforts!
It has been and still is a genuine thrill to look back at all of this amazing art.
The artists themselves are just as cool.
Hoping you will have a great weekend!
(I hope you had a good time at the LA Breakfast Club event too!)
All the best to you & yours, Mr. Kausler!