Pogo Cartoon Sketch Signed 3X5 Card Rare Doyle Sternecky Autograph Scarce

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Seller: memorabilia111 ✉️ (807) 100%, Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 176277808801 POGO CARTOON SKETCH SIGNED 3X5 CARD RARE DOYLE STERNECKY AUTOGRAPH SCARCE. Fast Facts. "Sleeper Camp" (August 9, 2010). "Is There a Problem Here?". (December 15, 2008). "Bad Dog" (May 12, 2008). "Why We Strike" (November 19, 2007). "Portrait in Evil: My Story" (September 17, 2007). LARRY DOYLE NEAL STERNECKY SIGNED ORIIGNL PGO SKETCH ON A 3X5 CARD IN BLACK INK Pogo was a daily comic strip that was created by cartoonist Walt Kelly and syndicated to American newspapers from 1948 until 1975. Set in the Okefenokee Swamp in the Southeastern United States, Pogo followed the adventures of its anthropomorphic animal characters, including the title character, an opossum. The strip was written for both children and adults, with layers of social and political satire targeted to the latter. Pogo was distributed by the Post-Hall Syndicate. The strip earned Kelly a Reuben Award in 1951. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Pogo was a daily comic strip that was created by cartoonist Walt Kelly and syndicated to American newspapers from 1948 until 1975. Set in the Okefenokee Swamp in the Southeastern United States, Pogo followed the adventures of its anthropomorphic animal characters, including the title character, an opossum. The strip was written for both children and adults, with layers of social and political satire targeted to the latter. Pogo was distributed by the Post-Hall Syndicate. The strip earned Kelly a Reuben Award in 1951. History Walter Crawford Kelly Jr. was born in Philadelphia on August 25, 1913. His family moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, when he was only two. He went to California at age 22 to work on Donald Duck cartoons at Walt Disney Studios in 1935. He stayed until the animators' strike in 1941 as an animator on The Nifty Nineties, The Little Whirlwind, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and The Reluctant Dragon. Kelly then worked for Dell Comics, a division of Western Publishing of Racine, Wisconsin. Dell Comics Kelly created the characters of Pogo the possum and Albert the alligator in 1941 for issue No. 1 of Dell's Animal Comics in the story "Albert Takes the Cake".[1] Both were comic foils for a young black character named Bumbazine (a corruption of bombazine, a fabric that was usually dyed black and used largely for mourning wear), who lived in the swamp. Bumbazine was retired early, since Kelly found it hard to write for a human child. He eventually phased humans out of the comics entirely, preferring to use the animal characters for their comic potential. Kelly said he used animals—nature's creatures, or "nature's screechers" as he called them—"largely because you can do more with animals. They don't hurt as easily, and it's possible to make them more believable in an exaggerated pose." Pogo, formerly a "spear carrier" according to Kelly, quickly took center stage, assuming the straight man role that Bumbazine had occupied.[2] New York Star In his 1954 autobiography for the Hall Syndicate, Kelly said he "fooled around with the Foreign Language Unit of the Army during World War II, illustrating grunts and groans, and made friends in the newspaper and publishing business." In 1948 he was hired to draw political cartoons for the editorial page of the short-lived New York Star; he decided to do a daily comic strip featuring the characters from Animal Comics. The first comic series to make the permanent transition to newspapers, Pogo debuted on October 4, 1948, and ran continuously until the paper folded on January 28, 1949.[3] Syndication On May 16, 1949, Pogo was picked up for national distribution by the Post-Hall Syndicate. George Ward and Henry Shikuma were among Kelly's assistants on the strip. It ran continuously until (and past) Kelly's death from complications of diabetes on October 18, 1973. According to Walt Kelly's widow Selby Kelly,[4] Walt Kelly fell ill in 1972 and was unable to continue the strip. At first, reprints, mostly with minor rewording in the word balloons, from the 1950s and 1960s were used, starting Sunday, June 4, 1972. Kelly returned for just eight Sunday pages, from October 8 to November 26, 1972, but according to Selby was unable to draw the characters as large as he customarily did. The reprints with minor rewording returned, continuing until Kelly's death. Other artists, notably Don Morgan, worked on the strip. Selby Kelly began to draw the strip with the Christmas strip from 1973 from scripts by Walt's son Stephen. The strip ended July 20, 1975. Selby Kelly said in a 1982 interview that she decided to discontinue the strip because newspapers had shrunk the size of strips to the point where people could not easily read it.[5] 1989–1993 revival Starting on January 8, 1989, the Los Angeles Times Syndicate revived the strip under the title Walt Kelly's Pogo, written by Larry Doyle and drawn by Neal Sternecky. Doyle left the strip as of February 24, 1991, and Sternecky took over as both writer and artist until March 22, 1992. After Sternecky left, Kelly's son Peter and daughter Carolyn continued to produce the daily strip until October 2, 1993. The strip continued to run for a couple months with reprints of Doyle and Sternecky's work, and came to an end on November 28, 1993.[6] Setting Pogo is set in the Georgia section of the Okefenokee Swamp; Fort Mudge and Waycross are occasionally mentioned. The characters live, for the most part, in hollow trees amidst lushly rendered backdrops of North American wetlands, bayous, lagoons and backwoods. Fictitious local landmarks—such as "Miggle's General Store and Emporium" (a.k.a. "Miggle's Miracle Mart") and the "Fort Mudge Memorial Dump", etc.—are occasionally featured. The landscape is fluid and vividly detailed, with a dense variety of (often caricatured) flora and fauna. The richly textured trees and marshlands frequently change from panel to panel within the same strip. Like the Coconino County depicted in Krazy Kat and the Dogpatch of Li'l Abner, the distinctive cartoon landscape of Kelly's Okefenokee Swamp became as strongly identified with the strip as any of its characters. There are occasional forays into exotic locations as well, including at least two visits to Australia (during the Melbourne Olympics in 1956, and again in 1961). The Aussie natives include a bandicoot, a lady wallaby, and a mustachioed, aviator kangaroo named "Basher". In 1967, Pogo, Albert and Churchy visit primeval "Pandemonia"—a vivid, "prehysterical" place of Kelly's imagination, complete with mythical beasts (including dragons and a zebra-striped unicorn), primitive humans, arks, volcanoes, saber-toothed cats, pterodactyls and dinosaurs. Kelly also frequently parodied Mother Goose nursery rhymes and fairy tales featuring the characters in period costume: "Cinderola", "Goldie Lox and the Fore-bears", "Handle and Gristle", etc. These offbeat sequences, usually presented as a staged play or a story within a story related by one of the characters, seem to take place in the fairy tale dreamscapes of children's literature, with European storybook-style cottages and forests, etc.—rather than in the swamp, per se. Cast of characters Permanent residents Pogo Possum: An amiable, humble, philosophical, personable, everyman opossum. Kelly described Pogo as "the reasonable, patient, softhearted, naive, friendly person we all think we are" in a 1969 TV Guide interview.[7] The wisest (and probably sanest) resident of the swamp, he is one of the few major characters with sense enough to avoid trouble. Though he prefers to spend his time fishing or picnicking, his kind nature often gets him reluctantly entangled in his neighbors' escapades. He is often the unwitting target of matchmaking by Miz Beaver (to the coquettish Ma'm'selle Hepzibah), and has repeatedly been forced by the swamp's residents to run for president, always against his will. He wears a simple red and black striped shirt and (sometimes) a crushed yellow fishing hat. His kitchen is well known around the swamp for being fully stocked, and many characters impose upon him for meals, taking advantage of his generous nature. Albert Alligator: Exuberant, dimwitted, irascible, and egotistical, Albert is often the comic foil for Pogo, the rival of Beauregard and Barnstable, or the fall guy for Howland and Churchy. The cigar-chomping Albert is as extroverted and garrulous as Pogo is modest and unassuming, and their many sequences together tend to underscore their balanced, contrasting chemistry—like a seasoned comedy team. Albert's creation actually preceded Pogo's, and his brash, bombastic personality sometimes seems in danger of taking over the strip, as he once dominated the comic books. Having an alligator's voracious appetite, Albert often eats things indiscriminately, and is accused on more than one occasion of having eaten another character. Albert is the troop leader of Camp Siberia, the local den of the "Cheerful Charlies" (Kelly's version of the Boy Scouts), whose motto is "Cheerful to the Death!" Even though Albert has been known to take advantage of Pogo's generosity, he is ferociously loyal to Pogo and can, in quieter moments, be found scrubbing him in the tub or cutting his hair. Like all Kelly's characters, Albert looks great in costume. This sometimes leads to a classic Albert line (while admiring himself in a mirror): "Funny how a good-lookin' fella look handsome in anything he throw on!" Howland Owl: The swamp's self-appointed leading authority, a self-proclaimed "expert" scientist, "perfessor", physician, explorer, astronomer, witch doctor, and anything else he thinks will generate respect for his knowledge. He wears horn-rimmed eyeglasses and, in his earliest appearances, a pointed wizard's cap festooned with stars and crescent moons (which also, fittingly, looks like a dunce cap in silhouette.) Thinking himself the most learned creature in the swamp, he once tried to open a school but had to close it for lack of interest. Actually, he is unable to tell the difference between learning, old wives' tales, and the use of big words. Most of the harebrained ideas characteristically come from the mind of Owl. His best pal is Churchy, although their friendship can be rocky at times, often given to whims and frequently volatile. Churchill "Churchy" LaFemme: A mud turtle by trade; he enjoys composing songs and poems, often with ridiculous and abrasive lyrics and nonsense rhymes. His name is a play on the French phrase Cherchez la femme, ("Look for the woman"). Perhaps the least sensible of the major players, Churchy is superstitious to a fault, for example, panicking when he discovers that Friday the 13th falls on a Wednesday that month. Churchy is usually an active partner in Howland's outlandish schemes, and prone to (sometimes physical) confrontation with him when they (inevitably) run afoul. Churchy first appeared as buccaneer in Animal Comics #13 (Feb 1945), with a pirate's hat. He was sometimes referred to as "Cap'n LaFemme". This seems incongruous for the guileless Churchy, however, who is far more likely to play-act with Owl at being a pantomime pirate than the genuine article. Beauregard Bugleboy: A hound dog of undetermined breed; scion of the Cat Bait fortune and occasional Keystone Cops-attired constable and Fire Brigade chief. He sees himself as a noble, romantic figure, often given to flights of oratory while narrating his own heroic deeds (in the third person). He periodically appears with "blunked out" eyes playing "Sandy"—alongside Pogo or Albert when they don a curly wig, impersonating "Li'l Arf an' Nonny", (a.k.a. "Lulu Arfin' Nanny", Kelly's recurring parody of Little Orphan Annie). Beauregard also occasionally dons a trench coat and fedora, and squints his eyes and juts out his jaw when impersonating a detective in the style of Dick Tracy. However, his more familiar attire is a simple dog collar—or in later strips, a striped turtleneck sweater and fez. His canine revision of Kelly's annual Christmas burlesque, Deck Us All with Boston Charlie, emerges as "Bark Us All Bow-wows of Folly",[8] although he can't get anyone else to sing it that way. Usually just called "Beauregard" or "ol' Houn' Dog", his full name is Beauregard Chaulmoogra Frontenac de Montmingle Bugleboy. Porky Pine: A porcupine, a misanthrope and cynic—prickly on the outside but with a heart of gold. The deadpan Porky never smiles in the strip (except once, allegedly, when the lights were out). Pogo's best friend, equally honest, reflective and introverted, and with a keen eye both for goodness and for human foibles. The swamp's version of Eeyore, Porkypine is grumpy and melancholy by nature, and sometimes speaks of his "annual suicide attempt". He wears an undersized, plaid Pinky Lee-type hat (with an incongruously tall crown and upturned brim) and a perpetual frown, and is rarely seen without both. Porky has two weaknesses: his infatuation for Miz Ma'm'selle Hepzibah and a complete inability to tell a joke. He unfailingly arrives on Pogo's doorstep with a flower every Christmas morning, although he's always as embarrassed by the sentiment as Pogo is touched. He has a nephew named Tacky and a look-alike relation (see Frequent visitors) named Uncle Baldwin. Miz Mam'selle Hepzibah: A beautiful, coy French skunk modeled after a woman who later became Kelly's second wife. Hepzibah has long been courted by Porky, Beauregard and others but rarely seems to notice. Sometimes she pines for Pogo, and isn't too shy about it. She speaks with a heavy burlesque French dialect and tends to be overdramatic. The unattached Hepzibah has a married sister with 35 youngsters, including a nephew named Humperdunk. She is captivatingly sweet, frequently baking pies or preparing picnic baskets for her many admirers, and has every fellow in the swamp in love with her at one time or another. She is usually attired in a dainty floral skirt and parasol, is flirty but proper, and enjoys attention. Miz Beaver: A no-nonsense, corncob pipe-smoking washerwoman; a traditional mother (she is frequently seen minding a perambulator, her pet fish, or a tadpole in a jar) and "widder" (she occasionally speaks of "the Mister", always in the past tense), clad in a country bonnet and apron. Uneducated but with homespun good sense, she "takes nothin' from nobody", and can be daunting when riled. She is Hepzibah's best friend and occasional matchmaker, although she disapproves of menfolk as a general rule. Her trademark line is: "Why is all you mens such critturs of dee-ceit?" Deacon Mushrat: A muskrat and the local man of the cloth, the Deacon speaks in ancient blackletter text or Gothic script, and his views are just as modern. He is typically seen haranguing others for their undisciplined ways, attempting to lead the Bats in some wholesome activity (which they inevitably subvert), or reluctantly entangled in the crusades of Mole and his even shadier allies—in either role he is the straight man and often winds up on the receiving end of whatever scheme he is involved in. Kelly described him as the closest thing to an evil character in the strip, calling him "about as far as I can go in showing what I think evil to be".[9] Bewitched, Bothered, and Bemildred: A trio of grubby, unshaven bats—hobos, gamblers, good-natured but innocent of any temptation to honesty. They admit nothing. Soon after arriving in the swamp they are recruited by Deacon Mushrat into the "Audible Boy Bird Watchers Society", (a seemingly innocent play on the Audubon Society, but really a front for Mole's covert surveillance syndicate.) They wear identical black derby hats and perpetual 5 o'clock shadows. Their names, a play on the song title "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", are rarely mentioned. Often even they cannot say for sure which brother is which. They tell each other apart, if at all, by the patterns of their trousers—striped, checkered or plaid. (According to one of the bats, "Whichever pair of trousers you puts on in the morning, that's who you are for that partic'lar day.") Barnstable Bear: A simple-minded, henpecked "grizzle bear" who often plays second-fiddle to many of Albert's plots. He wears a pair of pants held up with a single suspender, and often a checkered cloth cap. Frequently short-tempered (and married to an even shorter-tempered "missus", the formidable Miz Bear), he bellows "Rowrbazzle!" when his anger comes to a boil. Barnstable even tried to start his own rival comic strip in 1958, which he entitled "Little Orphan Abner" (with a wink to Kelly's pal, fellow cartoonist Al Capp), just to spite Albert. Curiously, he can write but he can't read. Mister Miggle: A bespectacled stork or crane, and proprietor of the local general store, a frequent swamp hangout. He dresses like an old-fashioned "country" clerk—with apron, starched collar, suspenders, sleeve garters, and a straw boater or a bookkeeping visor. Miggle's carries just about every undesirable product imaginable, such as "salt fish in chocolate sauce" and "day-old ice, 25¢ per gallon", along with "Aunt Granny's Bitter Brittle Root"—a local favorite beverage (after sassafras tea), and cure-all for the "cold robbies" and the "whim-whams". Bun Rab: An enthusiastic white rabbit with a drum and drum-major hat who often accompanies P. T. Bridgeport and likes to broadcast news in the manner of a town crier. He lives in a grandfather clock, and frequently appears as a fireman in the swamp's clownish Fire Brigade—where he serves as official hose carrier. Rackety Coon Chile: One of the swamp "sprats"—a group of youngsters who seem to be the only rational creatures present, other than Pogo and Porky. A talkative, precocious raccoon, he mainly pesters his "uncle" Pogo, along with his pal Alabaster. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Rackety Coon, are a bickering couple occasionally featured. The father ("Pa") owns a still, and is generally suspicious of Ma's going through his overalls pockets while he sleeps. Alabaster Alligator: Not much is known about Alabaster except that he is considerably brighter than his Uncle Albert. Genial, inquisitive and only occasionally mischievous, he follows the cartoon tradition of the look-alike nephew (see Huey, Dewey, and Louie) whose mysterious parental lineage is never made specific. Grundoon: A diapered baby groundhog (or "woodchunk" in swamp-speak). An infant toddler, Grundoon speaks only gibberish, represented by strings of random consonants like "Bzfgt", "ktpv", "mnpx", "gpss", "twzkd", or "znp". ("Grs" appears to attract fish.) Eventually, Grundoon learns to say two things: "Bye" and "Bye-bye". He also has a baby sister called Honey Bunny Ducky Downy Sweetie Chicken Pie Li'l Everlovin' Jelly Bean. Pup Dog: An innocent "li'l dog chile" puppy. One of the very few characters who walks on all fours, he frequently wanders off and gets lost. Being, as Pogo puts it, "'jus' a li'l ol' shirt-tail baby-size dog what don't talk good yet", he says only "Wurf!" and "Wurf wurf!", although for a time he repeats the non-sequitur phrase "Poltergeists make up the principal type of spontaneous material manifestation." Frequent visitors P. T. Bridgeport: A bear; a flamboyant impresario and traveling circus operator named after P. T. Barnum, the most famous resident of Kelly's boyhood home, Bridgeport, Connecticut. One of Kelly's most colorful characters, P. T. wears a straw boater, spats, vest, ascot tie with stickpin and outlandish, fur-lined plaid overcoat reminiscent of W. C. Fields. There is also sometimes a marked physical resemblance to the Dutch cartoon character Oliver B. Bumble. An amiable blowhard and charlatan, his speech balloons resemble 19th-century circus posters, symbolizing both his theatrical speech pattern and his customary carnival barker's sales spiel. He usually visits the swamp during presidential election years, satirizing the media circus atmosphere of American political campaigns. During the storyline in which Pogo was nominated as a presidential candidate, Bridgeport was his most vocal and enthusiastic supporter. Tammananny Tiger: A political operator, named in allusion to Tammany Hall, which was represented as a tiger in 19th-century editorial cartoons by Thomas Nast. He typically appears in election years to offer strategic advice to the reluctant candidate, Pogo. He first appears as a companion to P. T. Bridgeport, although more cynical and less self-aggrandizing than the latter, and is one of only a handful of animals not native to North America to frequent the swamp. Mole (in his original appearance in 1952 named Mole MacCarony, in later years sometimes called Molester Mole, his name pronounced not "molester" but, in keeping with his political aspirations, to rhyme with "pollster"): A nearsighted and xenophobic grifter. Considers himself an astute observer, but walks into trees without seeing them. Obsessed with contagion both literal and figurative, he is a prime mover in numerous campaigns against "subversion", and in his first appearances has a paranoid habit of spraying everything and everyone with a disinfectant that may have been liberally laced with tar. Modeled somewhat after Senator Pat McCarran of the McCarran–Walter Act.[10] Seminole Sam: A mercenary, carpetbagging fox and traveling huckster of the snake oil salesman variety. He often attempts to swindle Albert and others, for example by selling bottles of the "miracle fluid" H-two-and-O. Sam isn't really an out-and-out villain—more of an amoral opportunist, even though he occasionally allies with darker characters such as Mole and Wiley. Sam's Seminole moniker probably refers, not to any native blood ties, but more likely to a presumed history of selling bogus patent medicine ("snake oil"). These "salesmen" hucksters often pretended their products were tested and proven, ancient Indian remedies. The Seminoles are an Indian tribe in the neighborhood of Okefenokee Swamp. Sarcophagus MacAbre: A buzzard and the local mortician. He lives in a creepy, ruined mausoleum, and always wears a tall undertaker's stove pipe hat with a black veil hung from its side. Early strips show him speaking in square, black bordered speech balloons with ornate script lettering, in the style of Victorian funeral announcements. MacAbre begins as a stock villain, but in later years gradually softens into a somewhat befuddled comic foil. The Cowbirds: Two beatnik freeloaders, their gender(s) uncertain, who speak in communist cant (albeit often in typical Okefenokee patois) and grift any food and valuables that cross their path. They associate with a pirate pig who resembles Nikita Khrushchev. Later they loudly renounce their former beliefs—without changing their behavior much. They typically address each other as Compeer and Confrere. It's unclear whether these are proper names or titles (synonyms of Comrade). Wiley Catt: A wild-eyed, menacing, hillbilly bobcat who smokes a corncob pipe, carries a shotgun, and lives alone in a dilapidated, Tobacco Road-type shanty on the outskirts of the swamp. He frequently hangs out with Sarcophagus MacAbre, Mole and Seminole Sam, although none of them trusts him. All the swamp critters are rightly wary of him, and generally give him a wide path. During the "Red scare" era of the 1950s, he temporarily morphed into his "cousin" Simple J. Malarkey, a parody and caricature of Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy (see Satire and politics). Miss Sis Boombah: A matronly, cheerleading Rhode Island Red hen, who is a gym coach and fitness enthusiast—as well as a close friend of Miz Beaver—usually attired in tennis shoes and a pullover. Boombah arrives at the swamp to conduct a survey for "Dr. Whimsy" on "the sectional habits of U.S. mailmen", a neat parody of The Kinsey Reports. She also runs a Feminist organization (with Miz Beaver) called "F.O.O.F." (Female Order Of Freedom), to un-subjugate the swamp womenfolk. Ol' Mouse: An otherwise unnamed, long-winded, worldly mouse with a bowler hat, cane and cigar who frequently pals around with Snavely, the Flea, Albert, or Pup Dog, the last of whom he was briefly imprisoned with in a cupboard and with whom he forged a bond as a fellow prisoner. He has a long and storied career as a rogue, in which he takes some pride, noting that the crimes he has been falsely accused of are far less interesting than the crimes he has actually committed. He is more often an observer and commentator than an actual participant in storylines. Something of a dandy, he sometimes takes the name "F. Olding Munny"—but only when Albert is posing as swami "El Fakir", (a take-off on Daddy Warbucks and his Indian manservant Punjab from Little Orphan Annie). Snavely: A chatty, inebriated snake (he is prone to biting himself, then dipping into a bottle of "snake bite remedy"). Snavely usually wears a battered top hat, and pals around with Ol' Mouse or a group of angleworms that he is training to be cobras or rattlesnakes. In classic cartoon tradition, his intoxicated state is portrayed by a prominent red nose surrounded by tiny, fizzing bubbles. Although limbless, he is able to salute. Pogo saw this and was amazed. Unfortunately this act was accomplished behind the log Pogo was looking over, and the reader's view was blocked. Choo Choo Curtis (a.k.a. Chug Chug Curtis): A natural-born mail carrier duck. Uncle Baldwin: Porky's doppelgänger and compulsive "kissing cousin", he wears a trenchcoat to hide his telltale bald backside. Uncle Baldwin usually tries to grab and kiss any female in the panel with him. Most of the females (and more than a few of the male characters) flee from the scene when Uncle Baldwin arrives. When assaulted by him, Hepzibah has hit him back. Reggie and Alf: Two Cockney insects that wander around bickering and looking for cricket matches. Kelly loved definite personality types, and had these two show up occasionally, even though they had nothing to do with anything else. Kelly stated the aim of their appearance, "was to please nobody but me". Flea (a.k.a. Miz Flea): An unnamed female flea, so small she is usually only drawn in black silhouette. She falls in love with Beauregard, calls him "doll" and "sugar", and frequently gives him love nips on the nose or knee—much to his indignant irritation. (Flea: "Two can live as cheap as one, sugar." Beauregard: "Not on me, they can't!") Her gender was vaguely indeterminate for much of the run of the strip, but in a 1970 sequence with ex-husband Sam the spider, the Flea is finally and definitively established as a "girl". Thereafter, she is occasionally addressed as "Miz". In The Pogopedia (2001), this character is identified as "Ol' Flea". Fremount the Boy Bug: The swamp's dark horse candidate, whose limited vocabulary (all he can say is "Jes' fine") makes him suitable presidential timber, according to P. T. Bridgeport. Bug Daddy and Chile: Daddy's indignant tag-line ("Destroy a son's faith in his father, will you?") invariably follows his being corrected by another character for an (inevitable) misunderstanding or erroneous explanation on his part. He wears a stove pipe hat and carries an umbrella, which he shakes threateningly at the slightest provocation. His child's name is ever-changing, even from panel to panel within the same strip: Hogblemish, Nortleberg, Flimplock, Osbert, Jerome, Merphant, Babnoggle, Custard, Lorenzo, etc. (The Pogopedia identifies these characters as "Bug Daddy" and "Bug Child".) Congersman Frog: An elected official, usually accompanied by his look-alike male secretary, with whose pay he lights his "seegars". He practices disavowing his candidature for the presidency—not very convincingly. His seldom-used first name is Jumphrey, and his secretary/sidekick was occasionally referred to by name: Fenster Moop. (Fenster apparently rose to Congress himself. In later years he's addressed as "Congersman", and attended by his own look-alike secretary, Feeble E. Merely.) Solid MacHogany: A New Orleans-bound, clarinet-playing pig in a polka dot cap and striped necktie, headed to a paying gig in a "sho' nuff" jazz band on Bourbon Street. Horrors Greeley: A freckled, westward-traveling cow (hence the reference to Horace Greeley), who was sweet on Albert. (To Horrors, "west" being Milwaukee.) Uncle Antler: A disagreeable bullmoose, whom Albert insultingly addresses as "Hatrack". Butch: A brick-throwing housecat. Like Tammananny, Butch is a direct homage to another cartoonist—George Herriman, whose Krazy Kat comic strip was greatly admired by Kelly. Butch feels compelled to hurl bricks at Beauregard, in honor of the traditional animus between dogs and cats. He always deliberately misses, however—and after his initial appearance as an antagonistic rival, proves to be something of a pussycat. Basil MacTabolism: A door-to-door political pollster polecat and self-described "taker of the public pulse". Roogey Batoon: A part-time snake oil salesman pelican in a flat cap, who claims to have made the careers of the "Lou'siana Perches", (an underwater songstress trio named Flim, Flam and Flo). His name is a play on Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Picayune: A talkative frog that is a "free han' pree-dicter of all kinds weather an' other social events—sun, hail, moonshine or ty-phoonery". (An identical frog known as Moonshine Sonata also appears on occasion; it is unclear if these were intended to be the same character.) Dialogue and "swamp-speak" The strip was notable for its distinctive and whimsical use of language. Kelly, a native northeasterner, had a sharply perceptive ear for language and used it to great humorous effect. The predominant vernacular in Pogo, sometimes referred to as "swamp-speak", is essentially a rural southern U.S. dialect laced with nonstop malapropisms, fractured grammar, "creative" spelling and mangled polysyllables such as "incredibobble," "hysteriwockle", and "redickledockle," plus invented words such as the exasperated exclamations "Bazz Fazz!", "Rowrbazzle!" and "Moomph!"[11] Here is an example:[12] Pogo has been engaged in his favorite pastime, fishing in the swamp from a flat-bottomed boat, and has hooked a small catfish. "Ha!" he exclaims, "A small fry!" At this point Hoss-Head the Champeen Catfish, bigger than Pogo himself, rears out of the swamp and the following dialogue ensues: Hoss-Head [with fins on hips and an angry scowl]: Chonk back that catfish chile, Pogo, afore I whops you! Pogo: Yassuree, Champeen Hoss-Head, yassuh yassuh yassuh yassuh yassuh ... [tosses infant catfish back in water] Pogo [walks away, muttering discontentedly]: Things gettin' so humane 'round this swamp, us folks will have to take up eatin' MUD TURKLES! Churchy (a turtle) [eavesdropping from behind a tree with Howland Owl]: Horroars! A cannibobble! [passes out] Howland [holding the unconscious Churchy]: You say you gone eat mud turkles! Ol' Churchy is done overcame! Pogo: It was a finger of speech—I apologize! Why, I LOVES yo', Churchy LaFemme! Churchy [suddenly recovered from his swoon]: With pot licker an' black-eye peas, you loves me, sir—HA! Us is through, Pogo! Satire and politics Kelly used Pogo to comment on the human condition, and from time to time, this drifted into politics. "I finally came to understand that if I were looking for comic material, I would never have to look long," Kelly wrote. "The news of the day would be enough. Perhaps the complexion of the strip changed a little in that direction after 1951. After all, it is pretty hard to walk past an unguarded gold mine and remain empty-handed."[13] Pogo was a reluctant "candidate" for President (although he never campaigned) in 1952 and 1956. (The phrase "I Go Pogo", originally a parody of Dwight D. Eisenhower's iconic campaign slogan "I Like Ike", appeared on giveaway promotional lapel pins featuring Pogo, and was also used by Kelly as a book title.) A 1952 campaign rally at Harvard degenerated into chaos sufficient to be officially termed a riot, and police responded. The Pogo Riot was a significant event for the class of '52; for its 25th reunion, Pogo was the official mascot.[14] Kelly's interest in keeping the strip topical meant that he sometimes worked closer to the deadline than the syndicate wanted. "The syndicates and the newspapers always like to stay about eight weeks in advance," Kelly said in a 1959 interview, "but because I like to stay as topical as I can and because I'm sure something will always come up that I'd like to comment on, I try to keep it somewhere between four and six weeks. Even then it gets rather difficult to forecast what is going to happen six weeks, four weeks, ahead of time. For example, I have a sequence coming on this moonshot that the Russians made. I was able to file it just by a month, but I wish I had known about it a little in advance because I could have hit it right on the nose."[15] Simple J. Malarkey Perhaps the most famous example of the strip's satirical edge came into being on May 1, 1953, when Kelly introduced a friend of Mole's: a wildcat named "Simple J. Malarkey", an obvious caricature of Senator Joseph McCarthy. This showed significant courage on Kelly's part, considering the influence the politician wielded at the time and the possibility of scaring away subscribing newspapers.[16] When The Providence Bulletin issued an ultimatum in 1954, threatening to drop the strip if Malarkey's face appeared in the strip again, Kelly had Malarkey throw a bag over his head as Miss "Sis" Boombah (a Rhode Island Red hen) approached, explaining "no one from Providence should see me!" Kelly thought Malarkey's new look was especially appropriate because the bag over his head resembled a Klansman's hood.[17] (Kelly later attacked the Klan directly, in a comic nightmare parable called "The Kluck Klams", included in The Pogo Poop Book, 1966.)[18] Malarkey appeared in the strip only once after that sequence ended, during Kelly's tenure, on October 15, 1955. Again his face was covered, this time by his speech balloons as he stood on a soapbox shouting to general uninterest. Kelly had planned to defy the threats made by the Bulletin and show Malarkey's face, but decided it was more fun to see how many people recognized the character and the man he lampooned by speech patterns alone. When Kelly got letters of complaint about kicking the senator when he was down (McCarthy had been censured by that time, and had lost most of his influence), Kelly responded, "They identified him, I didn't."[19] Malarkey reappeared on April 1, 1989, when the strip had been resurrected by Larry Doyle and Neal Sternecky. It was hinted that he was a ghost. (A gag used several times in the original strip, for both Wiley Catt and Simple J Malarkey, was his unexpected reappearance to the Swamp with a frightened regular saying "I didn't know you was alive" - responded to with "Would you stop shakin' if I tole you...I AIN'T?!" Later politics As the 1960s loomed, even foreign "gummint" figures found themselves caricatured in the pages of Pogo, including in 1962 communist leaders Fidel Castro, who appeared as an agitator goat named Fido, and Nikita Khrushchev, who emerged as both an unnamed Russian bear and a pig. Other Soviet characters include a pair of cosmonaut seals who arrive at the swamp in 1959 via Sputnik, initiating a topical spoof of the Space Race.[20] In 1964, the strip spoofed the presidential election with P.T. Bridgeport providing wind-up dolls that looked like Richard Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller and George W. Romney.[21] The wind-up caricatures of Richard Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller, George W. Romney, Ronald Reagan, Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy appeared in 1968, during the presidential election. [22] Lyndon B. Johnson appeared in two caricatures in the strip. In 1966, he appeared as "The Loan Arranger," a character that Pogo, Albert, and Churchy La Femme met in Pandamonia. In a reference to Johnson's Texas heritage, the Loan Arranger was a centaur, half-human, half-horse, wearing a cowboy hat that was pulled down over his eyes, with Johnson's famous chin visible beneath it. He also wore a cowboy shirt and a bandolero of bullets around his waist. Kelly satirized the Vietnam War by having the Loan Arranger compete against Gwhan Shi Foah (a Buddha-like caricature of Mao Zedong) in a hand-shaking contest, for the right to "protect" a young Asian girl named Sha-Lan (representing South Vietnam). Later, during the 1968 presidential election, Johnson reappeared in the strip as an aging, bespectacled Texas longhorn who knew his time was fading, and was trying to make a graceful exit. Because some newspapers were wary of printing political satire on the comics page, Kelly sometimes drew two strips for the same day — the regular satirical Pogo strip, and a less-pointed version that he called the "Bunny Rabbit" strips. The 1982 book The Best of Pogo reprinted some of the alternate strips from the presidential election years of 1964 and 1968.[23] In the early 1970s, Kelly used a collection of characters he called "the Bulldogs" to mock the secrecy and paranoia of the Nixon administration. The Bulldogs included caricatures of J. Edgar Hoover (dressed in an overcoat and fedora, and directing a covert bureau of identical frog operatives), Spiro Agnew (portrayed as an unnamed hyena festooned in ornate military regalia, a parody of the ridiculous uniforms supplied to the White House guards[24]), and John Mitchell (portrayed as a pipe-smoking eaglet wearing high-top sneakers.)[25] Nonsense verse and song parodies Kelly was an accomplished poet and frequently added pages of original comic verse to his Pogo reprint books, complete with cartoon illustrations. The odd song parody or nonsense poem also occasionally appeared in the newspaper strip. In 1956, Kelly published Songs of the Pogo, an illustrated collection of his original songs, with lyrics by Kelly and music by Kelly and Norman Monath. The tunes were also issued on a vinyl LP, with Kelly himself contributing to the vocals.[26] The most well-known of Kelly's nonsense verses is "Deck Us All with Boston Charlie", the swamp creatures' interpretation of the Christmas carol "Deck the Halls". Each year at Christmas time, it was traditional for the strip to publish at least the first stanza: Deck us all with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla Wash., and Kalamazoo! Nora's freezin' on the trolley Swaller dollar cauliflower alleygaroo Don't we know archaic barrel Lullaby, lilla boy, Louisville Lou Trolley Molly don't love Harold Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo Some years also included other verses and versions: for example, the dog Beauregard knew it as "Bark us all bow-wows of folly, Polly wolly cracker 'n' too-da-loo!"[27] "Deck Us All with Boston Charlie" was recorded in 1961 by Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross for the album ""Jingle Bell Rock".[28] Personal references Walt Kelly frequently had his characters poling around the swamp in a flat-bottomed skiff. Invariably, it had a name on the side that was a personal reference of Kelly's: the name of a friend, a political figure, a fellow cartoonist, or the name of a newspaper, its editor or publisher. The name changed from one day to the next, and even from panel to panel in the same strip, but it was usually a tribute to a real-life person Kelly wished to salute in print.[29] Awards and recognition Long before I could grasp the satirical significance of his stuff, I was enchanted by Kelly's magnificent artwork ... We'll never see anything like Pogo again in the funnies, I'm afraid. — Jeff MacNelly, from Pogo Even Better, 1984 A good many of us used hoopla and hype to sell our wares, but Kelly didn't need that. It seemed he simply emerged, was there, and was recognized for what he was, a true natural genius of comic art ... Hell, he could draw a tree that would send God and Joyce Kilmer back to the drawing board. — Mort Walker, from Outrageously Pogo, 1985 The creator and series have received a great deal of recognition over the years. Walt Kelly has been compared to everyone from James Joyce and Lewis Carroll, to Aesop and Joel Chandler Harris (Uncle Remus).[30][31] His skills as a humorous illustrator of animals have been celebrated alongside those of John Tenniel, A. B. Frost, T. S. Sullivant, Heinrich Kley and Lawson Wood. In his essay "The Decline of the Comics" (Canadian Forum, January 1954), literary critic Hugh MacLean classified American comic strips into four types: daily gag, adventure, soap opera and "an almost lost comic ideal: the disinterested comment on life's pattern and meaning." In the fourth type, according to MacLean, there were only two: Pogo and Li'l Abner. When the first Pogo collection was published in 1951, Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas declared that "nothing comparable has happened in the history of the comic strip since George Herriman's Krazy Kat."[32] "Carl Sandburg said that many comics were too sad, but, 'I Go Pogo.' Francis Taylor, Director of the Metropolitan Museum, said before the Herald Tribune Forum: 'Pogo has not yet supplanted Shakespeare or the King James Version of the Bible in our schools.' "[33] Kelly was elected president of the National Cartoonists Society in 1954, serving until 1956. He was the first strip cartoonist invited to contribute originals to the Library of Congress.[citation needed] Kelly received the National Cartoonists Society's Billy DeBeck Memorial Award for Cartoonist of the Year in 1951. (When the award name was changed in 1954, Kelly also retroactively received a Reuben statuette.) The prestigious Silver T-Square is awarded, by unanimous vote of the NCS board of directors, to persons who have demonstrated outstanding dedication or service to the Society or the profession; Kelly received one in 1972. The Comic-Con International Inkpot Award was given to Kelly posthumously in 1989. Kelly is one of only 31 artists elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Cartoon Museum (formerly the International Museum of Cartoon Art). Kelly was also inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1995. The Fantagraphics Pogo collections were a top vote-getter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Reprint Graphic Album for 1998. Influence and legacy Walt Kelly's work has influenced a number of prominent comic artists: From 1951 to 1954, Famous Studios animator Irv Spector drew the syndicated Coogy strip, which was heavily influenced by Kelly's work, for the New York Herald-Tribune. In the Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, cartoonist Bill Watterson listed Pogo as one of the three greatest influences on Calvin and Hobbes, along with Peanuts and Krazy Kat. Pogo has been cited as an influence by Jeff MacNelly (Shoe), Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury), Bill Holbrook (Kevin and Kell ) and Mark O'Hare (Citizen Dog), among others. MacNelly also gave a speech praising the strip and all of Walt Kelly's work that was published in the book Outrageously Pogo, which was a collection of praise of the strip. René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo were both admirers of Pogo, and many of Walt Kelly's visual devices resurfaced in Astérix. For example, the Goths speak in Olde English blackletter text, and a Roman tax-collector speaks in bureaucratic forms. Jim Henson acknowledged Kelly as a major influence on his sense of humor, and based some early Muppet designs on Kelly drawings. One episode of The Muppet Show's first season included a performance of "Don't Sugar Me" from Songs of the Pogo. Robert Crumb cites Pogo as an influence on Animal Town, an early series of comic strips he drew with his brother Charles that later formed the basis for R. Crumb's Fritz the Cat.[34] Harvey Kurtzman parodied Pogo as "Gopo Gossum" for the comic book Mad No. 23, published by EC Comics in 1955. It was the first of many Mad references to Pogo, most of them drawn by Wally Wood. According to The Best of Pogo (1982), "Walt Kelly was well aware of the Mad parodies, and loved them." Kelly directly acknowledged Wally Wood, and even had Albert spell out his name in Pogo Extra: Election Special (1960). Writer Alan Moore and artist Shawn McManus made the January 1985 issue (#32) of Saga of the Swamp Thing a tribute to Pogo (titled "Pog"), with Kellyesque wordplay and artwork. Jeff Smith acknowledged that his Bone comic book series was strongly influenced by Walt Kelly's work. Smith and Peter Kelly contributed artwork of the cast of Bone meeting Pogo and Albert for the 1998 "Pogofest" celebration. Jonathan Lemon cites Pogo as an inspiration or more as a "hero" for his comic strip "Rabbits Against Magic"[35] American rock band Kaleidoscope released a song named "Lulu Arfin Nanny" on their 1970 album "Bernice".[36] The protagonist of the film Simon (1980) is brainwashed to think he is an alien living on Earth and pirates the TV broadcast airwaves to talk to the people. In a field with his girlfriend he muses "I give em my best stuff too. Shakespeare, Pogo, the prophets." Pogo in other media At its peak, Walt Kelly's possum appeared in nearly 500 newspapers in 14 countries. Pogo's exploits were collected into more than four dozen books, which collectively sold close to 30 million copies. Pogo already had had a successful life in comic books, previous to syndication. The increased visibility of the newspaper strip and popular trade paperback titles allowed Kelly's characters to branch into other media, such as television, children's records, and even a theatrical film. In addition, Walt Kelly appeared as himself on television at least twice. He was interviewed live by Edward R. Murrow for the CBS program Person to Person, in an episode originally broadcast on January 14, 1954. Kelly can also be seen briefly in the 1970 NBC special This Is Al Capp talking candidly about his friend, the creator of Li'l Abner. Comic books and periodicals All comic book titles are published by Dell Publishing Company, unless otherwise noted: Albert the Alligator and Pogo Possum (1945–1946) Dell Four Color issues #105 and 148 Animal Comics (1947) issues #17, 23–25 Pogo Possum (1949–1954) issues #1–16 "Pogo's Papa" by Murray Robinson, from Collier's Weekly (March 8, 1952) Pogo Parade (1953), a compilation of previously published Dell Pogo stories Pogo Coloring Book (1953) Whitman Publishing "Pogo: The Funnies are Getting Funny" from Newsweek (June 21, 1954) Pogo cover painting by Kelly "Pogo Meets a Possum" by Walt Kelly, from Collier's Weekly (April 29, 1955) "Bright Christmas Land" from Newsweek (December 26, 1955) Pogo cover painting by Kelly "Pogo Looks at the Abominable Snowman", from Saturday Review (August 30, 1958) Pogo cover illustration by Kelly Pogo Primer for Parents: TV Division (1961), a public services giveaway booklet distributed by the US HEW Pogo Coloring Book (1964) Treasure Books (different from the 1953 book of the same name) Pogo: Welcome to the Beginning (1965), a public services giveaway pamphlet distributed by the Neighborhood Youth Corps Pogo: Bienvenidos al Comienzo (1965), Spanish-language version of the above title "The Pogofenokee Swamp" from Jack and Jill (May 1969) The Okefenokee Star (1977–1982), a privately published fanzine devoted to Walt Kelly and Pogo The Comics Journal No. 140 (Feb. 1991) Special Walt Kelly Issue "Al Capp and Walt Kelly: Pioneers of Political and Social Satire in the Comics" by Kalman Goldstein, from The Journal of Popular Culture; Vol. 25, Issue 4 (Spring 1992) Music and recordings Songs of the Pogo (1956): A vinyl LP collecting 18 of Kelly's verses (most of which had previously appeared in Pogo books) set to music by both Kelly and orchestra leader Norman Monath. While professional singers (including Bob McGrath, later famous as "Bob" on the children's television show Sesame Street) provided most of the vocals on the album, Kelly himself contributed lead vocals on "Go Go Pogo" (for which he also composed the music) and "Lines Upon a Tranquil Brow", as well as a spoken portion for "Man's Best Friend". Mike Stewart, who was later known for singing the theme song of Bat Masterson, sang "Whence that Wince", "Evidence" and "Whither the Starling". A "sampler" from Songs of the Pogo was issued on vinyl 45 at the same time. The three-track record included "Go Go Pogo" and "Lines Upon a Tranquil Brow" sung by Walt Kelly, and "Don't Sugar Me" sung by Fia Karin with "orchestra and chorus under the direction of Jimmy Carroll". The recording was issued by Simon and Schuster, with only ASCAP 100A and B as recording numbers. The Firehouse Five Plus 2 Goes South (1956): LP, with liner notes and back album sleeve illustration by Walt Kelly. (Good Time Jazz) Jingle Bell Jazz, (Columbia LP CS 8693, issued October 17, 1962, reissued as Harmony KH-32529 on September 28, 1973, with one substitution; The Harmony issue was reissued as Columbia Jazz Odyssey Stereo LP PC 36803), a collection of a dozen jazz Christmas songs by different performers, includes "Deck Us All with Boston Charlie" recorded on May 4, 1961, by Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross with the Ike Isaacs Trio. The recording features a center section of Jon Hendricks scatting to the melody, with Kelly's lyrics sung as introduction and close. NO! with Pogo (1969): 45 rpm record for children, narrated and sung by "P. T. Bridgeport" (Kelly) with The Carillon Singers; came with a color storybook illustrated by Kelly. (Columbia Book & Record Library/Lancelot Press) CAN'T! with Pogo (1969): 45 rpm record for children, same credits as above. The Comics Journal Interview CD (2002): Contains 15–20-minute excerpts with five of the most influential cartoonists in the American comics industry: Charles Schulz, Jack Kirby, Walt Kelly (interviewed by Gil Kane in 1969) and R. Crumb. From the liner notes: "Hear these cartoonists in their own words, discussing the craft that made them famous" (Fantagraphics). Songs of the Pogo was released on CD in 2004 by Reaction Records (Urbana, Illinois), including previously unreleased material. Animation and puppetry Three animated cartoons were created to date based on Pogo: The Pogo Special Birthday Special[37] was produced and directed by animator Chuck Jones in honor of the strip's 20th anniversary in 1969. It starred June Foray as the voice of both Pogo and Hepzibah, with Kelly and Jones contributing voice work as well.[38] The critical consensus is that the special, which first aired on NBC-TV on May 18, 1969, failed to capture the charm of the comic strip. Kelly was not pleased with the results, and it was generally disliked by critics and fans of the comic strip.[1] Walt and Selby Kelly themselves wrote and animated We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us in 1970, largely due to Kelly's dissatisfaction with the Birthday Special. The short, with its anti-pollution message, was animated and colored by hand. While the project went unfinished due to Kelly's ill health, the storyboards for the cartoon helped form the first half of the book of the same title. The theatrical, feature-length motion picture I Go Pogo (a.k.a. Pogo for President[39]) was released in late August 1980. Directed by Marc Paul Chinoy, this stop motion animated feature starred the voices of Skip Hinnant as Pogo; Ruth Buzzi as Miz Beaver and Hepzibah; Stan Freberg as Albert; Arnold Stang as Churchy; Jonathan Winters as Porky, Mole, and Wiley Catt; Kelly's friend, New York journalist Jimmy Breslin as P. T. Bridgeport; and Vincent Price as the Deacon.[40] The Birthday Special and I Go Pogo were released on home video throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The Birthday Special was released on VHS by MGM/UA Home Video in 1986 and they alongside Turner Entertainment released it on VHS again on August 1, 1992. I Go Pogo was handled by Fotomat for its original VHS and Betamax release in September 1980. HBO premiered a re-cut version of the film in October 1982, with added narration by Len Maxwell; this version would continue to air on HBO for some time, and then on other cable movie stations like Cinemax, TMC, and Showtime, until around February 1991. Walt Disney Home Video released a similar cut of the film in 1984, with some deleted scenes added/restored. This version of the film was released on VHS again on December 4, 1989, by Walt Disney Home Video and United American Video to the "sell through" home video market. As of 2019, there's still no word of Warner Archive planning to release Birthday Special on DVD. That special (along with I Go Pogo) have never officially been made available on DVD. Selby Kelly had been selling specially packaged DVDs of We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us prior to her death, but it is unknown whether or not further copies will be available. Licensing and promotion Pogo also branched out from the comic pages into consumer products—including TV sponsor tie-ins to the Birthday Special—although not nearly to the degree of other contemporary comic strips, such as Peanuts. Selby Kelly has attributed the comparative paucity of licensed material to Kelly's pickiness about the quality of merchandise attached to his characters. 1951: Special Delivery Pogo, a 16-page promotional mailer from the Post-Hall Syndicate, designed to spark interest and boost circulation of the new strip. 1952: "I Go Pogo" tin litho lapel pinback. Approx. 1 inch in diameter, with Pogo's face on a yellow background; issued as a promotional giveaway during the 1952 presidential election. 1954: Walt Kelly's Pogo Mobile (issued by Simon and Schuster) was a 22-piece hanging mobile, die-cut from heavy cardboard in bright colors. Came unassembled, and included Pogo on a cow jumping over a crescent-shaped Swiss cheese moon, with Okefenokee characters sitting on the moon or in a filigreed frame. 1959: Rare porcelain figurine of a sitting Pogo, with a bird in a nest atop his head; made in Ireland by Wade Ceramics Ltd. 1968: Set of 30 celluloid pinback buttons, quite rare. Approx. 1.75 inches in diameter, issued during the 1968 presidential elections. 1968: Set of 10 color character decals, very rare; coincided with the set of election pinbacks 1968: Poynter Products of Ohio issued a set of six plastic figures (now very rare) with glued-on artificial fur: Pogo, Albert, Beauregard, Churchy, Howland and Hepzibah. The figures displeased Kelly, but are highly sought-after by fans. 1969: Six vinyl giveaway figures of Pogo, Albert, Beauregard, Churchy, Howland and Porkypine, packaged with Procter & Gamble soap products (Spic and Span, Top Job, etc.) as a tie-in with the Pogo animated TV special. Also known as the Oxydol figures, they are fairly common and easy to find. Walt Kelly was not satisfied with the initial sculpting, and—using plasticine clay—resculpted them himself.[41] 1969: Six plastic giveaway cups with full-color character decals of Pogo, Albert, Beauregard, Churchy, Howland and Porkypine, coincided with the Oxydol figures. 1969: Pogo Halloween costume, manufactured by Ben Cooper. 1980: View-Master I Go Pogo set, 3 reels & booklet, GAF 2002: Dark Horse Comics issued two limited edition figures of Pogo and Albert as part of their line of Classic Comic Characters—statues No. 24 and No. 25, respectively. Book collections and reprints Simon & Schuster Pogo books Simon & Schuster published a long series of Pogo books beginning in 1951. S&S editor Peter Schwed writes, "The first collection of Pogo comic strips burst upon the world in 1951 as the result of [editor] Jack Goodman's insistence that there should be such a book for those who could not afford a daily newspaper, particularly since it was the only thing in the newspapers worth reading... Pogo was the comic strip of the nation and the many books that were published before Walt died each sold in the hundreds of thousands of copies."[29] Simon & Schuster published 33 Pogo books between 1951 and 1972, often publishing two or three books a year. In addition to strip reprints, Kelly also published books of original material, including Uncle Pogo So-So Stories, The Pogo Stepmother Goose and Songs of the Pogo.[42] All titles are by Walt Kelly: Pogo (1951) I Go Pogo (1952) Uncle Pogo So-So Stories (1953) The Pogo Papers (1953) The Pogo Stepmother Goose (1954) The Incompleat Pogo (1954) The Pogo Peek-A-Book (1955) Potluck Pogo (1955) The Pogo Sunday Book (1956) The Pogo Party (1956) Songs of the Pogo (1956) Pogo's Sunday Punch (1957) Positively Pogo (1957) The Pogo Sunday Parade (1958) G.O. Fizzickle Pogo (1958) Ten Ever-Lovin', Blue-Eyed Years with Pogo (1959) The Pogo Sunday Brunch (1959) Pogo Extra (Election Special) (1960) Beau Pogo (1960) Gone Pogo (1961) Pogo à la Sundae (1961) Instant Pogo (1962) The Jack Acid Society Black Book (1962) Pogo Puce Stamp Catalog (1963) Deck Us All with Boston Charlie (1963) The Return of Pogo (1965) The Pogo Poop Book (1966) Prehysterical Pogo (in Pandemonia) (1967) Equal Time for Pogo (1968) Pogo: Prisoner of Love (1969) Impollutable Pogo (1970) Pogo: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us (1972) Ten Ever Lovin' Blue Eyed Years with Pogo 1949-1959 (1972) Pogo Revisited (1974), a compilation of Instant Pogo, The Jack Acid Society Black Book and The Pogo Poop Book Pogo Re-Runs (1974), a compilation of I Go Pogo, The Pogo Party and Pogo Extra (Election Special) Pogo Romances Recaptured (1975), a compilation of Pogo: Prisoner of Love and The Incompleat Pogo Pogo's Bats and the Belles Free (1976) Pogo's Body Politic (1976) A Pogo Panorama (1977), a compilation of The Pogo Stepmother Goose, The Pogo Peek-A-Book and Uncle Pogo So-So Stories Pogo's Double Sundae (1978), a compilation of The Pogo Sunday Parade and The Pogo Sunday Brunch Pogo's Will Be That Was (1979), a compilation of G.O. Fizzickle Pogo and Positively Pogo The Best of Pogo (1982) Pogo Even Better (1984) Outrageously Pogo (1985) Pluperfect Pogo (1987) Phi Beta Pogo (1989) Pogo books released by other publishers All titles are by Walt Kelly unless otherwise noted: Pogo for President: Selections from I Go Pogo (Crest Books, 1964) The Pogo Candidature by Walt Kelly and Selby Kelly (Sheed, Andrews & McMeel, 1976) Ten S&S volumes were reprinted in hardcover (Gregg Press, 1977): Pogo, I Go Pogo, Uncle Pogo So-So Stories, The Pogo Papers, The Pogo Stepmother Goose, The Incompleat Pogo, The Pogo Peek-A-Book, Potluck Pogo, Gone Pogo, and Pogo à la Sundae. Bound in brown cloth, with the individual titles and an "I Go Pogo" logo stamped in gold. The dust jackets are facsimiles of the original Simon & Schuster covers, with an image of Walt Kelly reproduced on the back. The Walt Kelly Collector's Guide by Steve Thompson (Spring Hollow Books, 1988) The Complete Pogo Comics: Pogo & Albert (Eclipse Comics, 1989–1990) 4 volumes (reprints of pre-strip comic book stories, unfinished) Pogo Files for Pogophiles by Selby Daly Kelly and Steve Thompson, eds. (Spring Hollow Books, 1992) Ten more S&S volumes reprinted in hardcover (Jonas/Winter Inc., 1995): The Pogo Sunday Book, Pogo's Sunday Punch, Beau Pogo, Pogo Puce Stamp Catalog, Deck Us All with Boston Charlie, The Return of Pogo, Prehysterical Pogo (in Pandemonia), Equal Time for Pogo, Impollutable Pogo, and Pogo: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us. Bound in navy blue cloth, with the individual titles and a "Pogo Collectors Edition" logo stamped in gold. Issued without dust jackets. Pogo (Fantagraphics Books, 1994–2000) 11 volumes (reprints first 5½ years of daily strips) The Pogopedia by Nik Lauer, et al. (Spring Hollow Books, 2001) We Go Pogo: Walt Kelly, Politics, and American Satire by Kerry D. Soper (University Press of Mississippi, 2012) Much Ado: The POGOfenokee Trivia Book, Mark Burstein, Eclipse Books, 1988, ISBN 1-56060-025-X. Walt Kelly's Pogo: The Complete Dell Comics (Hermes Press, 2013–2018) 6 volumes (reprints of pre-strip comic book stories) Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips In February 2007, Fantagraphics Books announced the publication of a projected 12-volume hardcover series collecting the complete chronological run of daily and full-color Sunday syndicated Pogo strips. The series began in 2011 under the title: Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips. Walter Crawford Kelly Jr. (August 25, 1913 – October 18, 1973), commonly known as Walt Kelly, was an American animator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip Pogo.[2][3] He began his animation career in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, contributing to Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo. In 1941, at the age of 28, Kelly transferred to work at Dell Comics, where he created Pogo, which eventually became his platform for political and philosophical commentary. Early life and career Kelly was born of Irish-American heritage in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Walter Crawford Kelly Sr. and Genevieve Kelly (née MacAnnula). When he was two years old, the family moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut.[4] After graduating from Warren Harding High School in 1930, Kelly worked at odd jobs until he was hired as a crime reporter on the Bridgeport Post. He also took up cartooning and illustrated a biography of another well-known figure from Bridgeport, P. T. Barnum. Kelly was extremely proud of his journalism pedigree and considered himself a newspaper man as well as a cartoonist.[5] Kelly became close friends with fellow cartoonists Milton Caniff and Al Capp, and the three occasionally referred to each other in their strips. Personal life In 1930, Kelly graduated from high school and met Helen DeLacy at choir practice. DeLacy was a few years older than Kelly. DeLacy left her southern California position as a Girl Scout executive in 1935, hoping to leave Kelly behind. Kelly gave up his job at Bridgeport General Electric and followed DeLacy to Los Angeles, where he took a job at Walt Disney. Kelly and DeLacy then married in September 1937.[6][7] In 1951, Kelly divorced DeLacy and married Stephanie Waggony; the two remained married until Waggony died of cancer in 1970.[8] Kelly met Selby Daley in the late 1960s while working on The Pogo Special Birthday Special, a television special based on the Pogo comic strip. Kelly and Daley continued to collaborate professionally, and got married in late 1972.[5][8] Kelly and DeLacy had three children: Kathleen, Carolyn, and Peter. He and Waggony had three children who survived infancy: Stephen, Andrew, and John.[9] A fourth child, Kathryn Barbara, died before her first birthday, an event he commemorated in the Pogo strip for several years thereafter with a bug character and a cake with one candle.[10] Disney Studios This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) After relocated to Southern California, Kelly found a job at Walt Disney Productions as a storyboard artist and gag man on Donald Duck cartoons and other shorts. In 1939, he requested a transfer to the animation department. Kelly became an assistant to noted Walt Disney animator Fred Moore and became close friends with Moore and Ward Kimball, one of Disney's Nine Old Men. Kelly and Kimball were so close that Kimball named his daughter Kelly Kimball in tribute. Kelly worked for Disney from January 6, 1936, to September 12, 1941, contributing to Pinocchio, Fantasia, The Reluctant Dragon, and Dumbo. Kelly once stated that his salary at Disney averaged about $100 a week. During 1935 and 1936, his work also appeared in early comic books for what later became DC Comics. Kelly's animation can be seen in Pinocchio when Mastro Geppetto is first seen inside Monstro the whale, fishing; in Fantasia when Bacchus is seen drunkenly riding a donkey during the Beethoven/"Pastoral Symphony" sequence; and in Dumbo of the ringmaster and during bits of the crows' sequence. His drawings are especially recognizable in The Reluctant Dragon of the little boy, and in the Mickey Mouse short The Little Whirlwind, when Mickey is running from the larger tornado (the tornado even blows a copy of the Bridgeport Post into Mickey's face). During the 1941 animators' strike Kelly did not picket the studio, as has often been reported, but took a leave of absence, pleading "family illness", to avoid choosing sides. Surviving correspondence between Kelly and his close friend and fellow animator Ward Kimball chronicles his ambivalence towards the highly charged dispute. Kimball stated in an interview years later that Kelly felt creatively constricted in animation, a collective art form, and possibly over-challenged by the technical demands of the form, and had been looking for a way out when the strike occurred. Kelly never returned to the studio as an animator, but jobs adapting the studio's films Pinocchio and The Three Caballeros for Dell Comics, apparently the result of a recommendation from Walt Disney himself, led to a new and ultimately transitional career. On May 25, 1960, Kelly wrote a letter to Walt Disney regarding his time at the studio: Just in case I ever forgot to thank you, I'd like you to know that I, for one, have long appreciated the sort of training and atmosphere that you set up back there in the thirties. There were drawbacks as there are to everything, but it was an astounding experiment and experience as I look back on it. Certainly it was the only education I ever received and I hope I'm living up to a few of your hopes for other people.[11] Dell Comics Kelly began a series of comic books based on fairy tales and nursery rhymes along with annuals celebrating Christmas and Easter for Dell Comics. Kelly seems to have written or co-written much of the material he drew for the comics; his unique touches are easily discernible. He also produced a series of stories based on the Our Gang film series, provided covers for Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, illustrated the aforementioned adaptations of two Disney animated features, drew stories featuring Raggedy Ann and Andy and Uncle Wiggily, wrote and drew a lengthy series of comic books promoting a bread company and featuring a character called "Peter Wheat",[12] and did a series of pantomime (without dialogue) two-page stories featuring Roald Dahl's Gremlins for Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #34–41.[13] Kelly also then wrote, drew, and performed on children's records, children's books, and cereal boxes. So highly regarded was his work that the introduction, likely written by Dell editor Oskar Lebeck, to Fairy Tale Parade #1 spoke of him as "the artist who drew all the wonderful pictures in this book."[14] Although his health would not allow him to serve in the military,[15] during World War II, Kelly also worked in the Army's Foreign Language Unit illustrating manuals, including several on languages, one of his favorite topics. One manual depicted his friend Ward Kimball as a caveman. This period saw the creation of Kelly's most famous character, Pogo, who first saw print in 1943 in Dell's Animal Comics. Pogo was almost unrecognizable in his initial appearance, resembling a real possum more closely than in his classic form. Kelly's work with Dell continued well into the successful run of the newspaper strip in the early 1950s, ending after 16 issues of Pogo Possum (each with all-new material) in a dispute over the republication of Kelly's early Pogo and Albert stories in a comic book titled The Pogo Parade. New York Star He returned to journalism as a political cartoonist after the war. In 1948, while serving as art director of the short-lived New York Star (successor to the afternoon liberal tabloid PM), Kelly began to produce a pen-and-ink daily comic strip featuring anthropomorphic animal characters that inhabited the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. The first Pogo strip appeared on October 4, 1948. After the New York Star folded on January 28, 1949, Kelly arranged for syndication through the Hall Syndicate, which relaunched the strip in May 1949. Kelly eventually arranged to acquire the copyright and ownership of the strip, which was then uncommon. Pogo Main article: Pogo (comic strip) The Pogo comic strip was syndicated to newspapers for 26 years. The individual strips were collected into at least 20 books edited by Kelly. He received the Reuben Award for the series in 1951. The principal characters were Pogo the Possum, Albert the Alligator, Churchy LaFemme (a turtle; cf. Cherchez la femme), Howland Owl, Beauregard Bugleboy (a hound dog), Porkypine, and Miss Mam'selle Hepzibah (or Miz Mamzelle Hepzibah, a French skunk). Kelly used the strip in part as a vehicle for his liberal and humanistic political and social views, and satirized, among other things, Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-Communist demagogy (in the form of a shotgun-wielding bobcat named "Simple J. Malarkey") and the sectarian and dogmatic behavior of communists (in the form of two comically doctrinaire cowbirds).[16] The setting for Pogo and his friends was the Okefenokee Swamp. The Okefenokee Swamp Park near Waycross, Georgia, now has a building housing Kelly's relocated studio and various Pogo memorabilia. Additionally, Kelly illustrated The Glob, a children's book about the evolution of man written by John O'Reilly and published in 1952. Death Kelly died on October 18, 1973 in Woodland Hills, California, from diabetes complications, following a long and debilitating illness that had cost him a leg. During his final illness, work on the strip had fallen to various assistants and occasionally reprints, and Kelly characteristically joked about returning to work as soon as he regrew the leg. He is sometimes listed as having been interred in the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn, New York, but there is no grave for him there. He is believed to have been cremated.[17][18] Influences This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Walt Kelly's Pogo (April 3, 1966) His influences included cartoonists George Kerr, Frederick Opper, E. W. Kemble, A. B. Frost, John Tenniel, George Herriman, and, especially, T. S. Sullivant.[5] Kelly, a great admirer of Lewis Carroll, was also a prolific poet, especially in the "Anguish Languish" form (of which Deck Us All with Boston Charlie is considered one of the prime examples). Kelly's singing voice, a boozy Irish baritone, can be heard on the Songs of the Pogo album, for which he also supplied the lyrics. Legacy Pogo was continued by Kelly's widow, Selby, and various assistants until the summer of 1975. Reprint books continued in a steady stream, including a series reprinting several original books under a single cover according to various themes—romance, elections—that ran into the 1980s. In 1977, Gregg Press reprinted the first ten Pogo books in hardcover editions with dust jackets. In 1995 Jonas/Winter issued another ten Pogo titles in navy blue cloth editions. In 1988 Steve Thompson issued The Walt Kelly Collector's Guide (Spring Hollow Books), an invaluable and comprehensive resource of Pogo and other Walt Kelly-related memorabilia. In 1989 the Los Angeles Times attempted to revive the strip with other artists, including Kelly's two children, Carolyn and Peter, under the title Walt Kelly's Pogo. The new strip ran through the early 1990s. Also in 1989, Eclipse Books began publication of a hardcover series called Walt Kelly's Pogo and Albert collecting the early Dell Pogo comic book stories in color, starting with the characters' first appearance in 1943. The series reached four numbered volumes, with volumes two, three, and four subtitled At the Mercy of Elephants, Diggin' fo' Square Roots and Dreamin' of a Wide Catfish, respectively. In 2003 Reaction Records reissued Kelly's 1956 album Songs of the Pogo on compact disc. The album features Kelly singing his own comic lyrics and nonsense verse to melodies written mostly by Norman Monath. Kelly wrote music to seven of the 30 songs, according to the printed song book. The disc also features the content of Kelly's later recordings, No! with Pogo and Can't! with Pogo, which were issued as children's 45 rpm record sets in 1969, with booklets written and illustrated by Kelly to accompany his recorded performances. In February 2007 Fantagraphics Books announced that it would begin publication of The Complete Pogo, a projected 12‑volume series collecting the complete chronological run of daily and Sunday strips, to be overseen by Jeff Smith and Kelly's daughter Carolyn. The first volume in the series was scheduled to appear in October 2007 but was delayed, reportedly due to difficulty in locating early Sunday strips in complete form. It was finally released in October, 2011.[19] Volume two was released in November, 2012, and three was released in November 2014. Four was released in January 2018 and five was released in October 2018. Volume six was planned for release in November 2019 but was delayed until January 2020. Volume seven was released in November 2020. In 2013 Hermes Press began reprinting the comic book series of Pogo that predated the comic strip, originally published by Dell Comics.[20][21] The first two volumes were nominated for the 2015 Eisner Awards, and the third volume came out in late 2015; followed in 2016 by the fourth volume.[22] The fifth volume was released in 2017, with the sixth and final volume appearing in 2018. Carolyn Kelly, having worked extensively on The Complete Pogo, died on April 9, 2017.[23] In Nickelodeon's animated series The Loud House, the Loud Family's canary was named after Walt Kelly. Awards and recognition Kelly has been compared to everyone from James Joyce and Lewis Carroll, to Aesop and Uncle Remus.[5] He was elected president of the National Cartoonists Society in 1954, serving until 1956, and was also the first strip cartoonist to be invited to contribute originals to the Library of Congress. 1951: National Cartoonists Society, Reuben Award, Cartoonist of the Year[24] 1972: National Cartoonists Society, Silver T-Square Extraordinary Service Award[24] for "outstanding dedication or service to the Society or the profession". 1989: The Comic-Con International Inkpot Award (posthumous) Walt Kelly, an inductee into the National Cartoon Museum, (formerly the International Museum of Cartoon Art) is one of only 31 artists selected to their Hall of Fame. Kelly was also inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1995. The Okefenokee Swamp is a shallow, 438,000-acre (177,000 ha), peat-filled wetland straddling the Georgia–Florida line in the United States. A majority of the swamp is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness. The Okefenokee Swamp is considered to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia and is the largest "blackwater" swamp in North America. The Okefenokee Swamp was named after the Choctaw phrase, "Land of the Trembling Earth".[1] The swamp was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1974.[2] Etymology Aerial view of wetlands in Okefenokee The name Okefenokee is attested with more than a dozen variant spellings of the word in historical literature. Though often translated as "land of trembling earth", the name is likely derived from Hitchiti oki fanôːki "bubbling water".[3] Origin The Okefenokee was formed over the past 6,500 years by the accumulation of peat in a shallow basin on the edge of an ancient Atlantic coastal terrace, the geological relic of a Pleistocene estuary. The swamp is bordered by Trail Ridge, a strip of elevated land believed to have formed as coastal dunes or an offshore barrier island. The St. Marys River and the Suwannee River both originate in the swamp. The Suwannee River originates as stream channels in the heart of the Okefenokee Swamp and drains at least 90 percent of the swamp's watershed southwest toward the Gulf of Mexico. The St. Marys River, which drains only 5 to 10 percent of the swamp's southeastern corner, flows south along the western side of Trail Ridge, through the ridge at St. Marys River Shoals, and north again along the eastern side of Trail Ridge before turning east to the Atlantic. History One of the canals in the Okefenokee Swamp The earliest known inhabitants of the Okefenokee Swamp were the Timucua-speaking Oconi, who dwelt on the eastern side of the swamp. The Spanish friars built the mission of Santiago de Oconi nearby in order to convert them to Christianity. The Oconi's boating skills, developed in the hazardous swamps, likely contributed to their later employment by the Spanish as ferrymen across the St. Johns River, near the riverside terminus of North Florida's camino real.[4] Modern-day longtime residents of the Okefenokee Swamp, referred to as "Swampers", are of overwhelmingly English ancestry. Due to relative isolation, the inhabitants of the Okefenokee used Elizabethan phrases and syntax, preserved since the early colonial period when such speech was common in England, well into the 20th century.[5] The Suwannee Canal was dug across the swamp in the late 19th century in a failed attempt to drain the Okefenokee. After the Suwannee Canal Company's bankruptcy, most of the swamp was purchased by the Hebard family of Philadelphia, who conducted extensive cypress logging operations from 1909 to 1927. Several other logging companies ran railroad lines into the swamp until 1942; some remnants remain visible crossing swamp waterways. On the west side of the swamp, at Billy's Island, logging equipment and other artifacts remain of a 1920s logging town of 600 residents. Most of the Okefenokee Swamp is included in the 403,000-acre (163,000 ha) Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. The largest wildfire in the swamp’s history began with a lightning strike near the center of the refuge on May 5, 2007, eventually merging with another wildfire that began near Waycross, Georgia, on April 16 when a tree fell on a power line. Named the Bugaboo Scrub Fire, by May 31, it had burned more than 600,000 acres (240,000 ha), or more than 935 square miles, and remains the largest wildfire in both Georgia and Florida history.[6][7] In 2011, the Honey Prairie Fire consumed 309,200 acres (125,100 ha) of land in the swamp.[8] Access Map of Okefenokee Swamp There are four public entrances: Suwannee Canal Recreation Area at Folkston, Georgia Kingfisher Landing at Race Pond, Georgia Stephen C. Foster State Park at Fargo, Georgia Suwannee Sill Recreation Area at Fargo, Georgia In addition, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, Okefenokee Swamp Park, provides the northernmost access into the Okefenokee Swamp near Waycross, Georgia. State Road 2 passes through the Florida portion between the Georgia cities of Council and Moniac. The graded Swamp Perimeter Road encircles Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Gated and closed to public use, it provides access for fire management of the interface between the federal refuge and the surrounding industrial tree farms. Tourism Many visitors enter the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge each year. The swamp provides an important economic resource to southeast Georgia and northeast Florida. More than 600,000 visitors from as many as 46 countries travel to the Okefenokee refuge each year to enjoy its unmatched wilderness. This tourism supports over 750 local jobs and contributes over $64 million to local economies.[citation needed] Titanium mining operations A 50-year titanium mining operation by DuPont was set to begin in 1997, but protests and public–government opposition over possibly disastrous environmental effects from 1996 to 2000 forced the company to abandon the project in 2000 and retire their mineral rights forever. In 2003, DuPont donated the 16,000 acres (6,500 ha) it had purchased for mining to The Conservation Fund, and in 2005, nearly 7,000 acres (2,800 ha) of the donated land was transferred to Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.[9] In 2018, Twin Pines Minerals LLC proposed another titanium mining operation near the Okefenokee Swamp. Over 60,000 people sent comments opposing the operation.[10] Later, in 2020, a new rule by the Trump Administration reduced what was protected under the Clean Water Act, removing about 400 acres (160 ha) in the proposed mining site from federal protections.[11] The updated plan would include mining 577.4 acres (233.7 ha) for titanium and zirconium, 2.9 miles (4.7 km) southeast of the Okefenokee Refuge.[12] However, in 2022, U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff blocked the proposed titanium mine after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service warned of severe potential damage to the wildlife refuge.[13] Environment The Okefenokee Swamp is part of the Southeastern conifer forests ecoregion. Much of the Okefenokee is a southern coastal plain nonriverine basin swamp, forested by bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) and swamp tupelo (Nyssa biflora) trees. Upland areas support southern coastal plain oak domes and hammocks, thick stands of evergreen oaks. Drier and more frequently burned areas support Atlantic coastal plain upland longleaf pine woodlands of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris).[14] The swamp has many species of carnivorous plants, including many species of Utricularia, Sarracenia psittacina, and the giant Sarracenia minor var. okefenokeensis. A species of mushroom-like fungus Rogersiomyces okefenokeensis J.L. Crane & Schokn. 1978 is found in the swamp. An American alligator lounges on a log in the Okefenokee Swamp. The Okefenokee Swamp is home to many wading birds, including herons, egrets, ibises, cranes, and bitterns, though populations fluctuate with seasons and water levels. The swamp also hosts numerous woodpecker and songbird species.[15] Okefenokee is famous for its amphibians and reptiles such as toads, frogs, turtles, lizards, snakes, and an abundance of American alligators. The oldest known alligator, named "Okefenokee Joe" after environmentalist Okefenokee Joe, died in September 2021, at almost 80 years of age.[1][16] The Okefenokee Swamp is also a critical habitat for the Florida black bear. In 1974, two LP recordings of the sounds of the swamp were released as disk 6 of the Environments series. Recent events Main article: Bugaboo Scrub Fire More than 600,000 acres (240,000 ha) of the Okefenokee region burned from April to July 2007. Essentially the entire swamp burned, but the degrees of impact are widely varied. Smoke from the fires was reported as far away as Atlanta and Orlando. Four years later, in April 2011, the Honey Prairie wildfire began when the swamp was left much drier than usual by an extreme drought. As of January 2012, the Honey Prairie fire had already scorched more than 315,000 acres (127,000 ha) of the 438,000-acre (177,000 ha) Okefenokee, sending volumes of smoke across the southern Atlantic seaboard and with an unknown impact on wildlife. With the drought still continuing, the massive Honey Prairie fire continued to burn at only 75% containment.[17] On April 17, 2012, the Honey Prairie Fire was finally declared out. Thousands of firefighters, refuge neighbors, and businesses contributed to the safe suppression of this fire. At the peak of fire activity on June 27, 2011, the Honey Prairie Complex had grown to 283,673 acres (114,798 ha) and had 202 engines, 112 dozers, 20 water tenders, 12 helicopters, and 6 crews with a total of 1,458 personnel assigned. Over the duration of the fire, there were no fatalities or serious injuries. Firefighters managed to contain the fire within the boundaries of the 402,000 acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Only 18,206 acres (7,368 ha) burned outside the refuge.[18] On April 6, 2017, a lightning strike started the West Mims Fire,[19] which burned about 152,000 acres (62,000 ha).[20] In popular culture The name "Okefenokee" has appeared many times in American pop culture, including Walt Kelly's comic strip Pogo, where the characters made their home in the Okefenokee Swamp, and Scooby-Doo, in which Scooby-Dum comes from the Okefenokee as well. The 1941 movie Swamp Water, directed by Jean Renoir, starring Walter Brennan and Walter Huston, and based on the novel by Vereen Bell, was shot on location in the Okefenokee near Waycross, Georgia. The 1952 movie Lure of the Wilderness, a remake of Swamp Water starring Jeffrey Hunter, Walter Brennan (reprising his Swamp Water role), and Jean Peters, was set in the Okefenokee Swamp.[21] Tales of the Okefenokee was a mill chute ride at Six Flags Over Georgia that ran from 1967 to 1980, with theming inspired by the Uncle Remus stories of Joel Chandler Harris.[22] Larry Doyle is an American novelist, television writer, and producer. Career Doyle got his start in 1989–1991 as an editor at Chicago-based First Comics.[1] He started writing for television, with a 1993 and a 1994 episode of Rugrats, then regularly working on Beavis and Butt-head between 1994 and 1997, when he joined The Simpsons as a writer and producer for seasons nine through twelve (1997–2001). Other television writing credits include one episode for Daria and two episodes for Liquid Television. Doyle wrote the screenplays for the 2003 film releases Duplex and Looney Tunes: Back in Action. He also produced some Looney Tunes shorts that were completed in 2003. However, due to the box-office bomb of Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Warner Bros. decided not to release the shorts theatrically, releasing them direct-to-video instead. Doyle is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker and has also had columns in Esquire magazine, New York Magazine, and the New York Observer. Doyle's first novel, I Love You, Beth Cooper, was published in May 2007. The setting is graduation night at Buffalo Grove High School, Doyle's alma mater. This novel won the 2008 Thurber prize for American Humor. Doyle wrote the screenplay for the film based on his novel, which was released in 2009. Also in 2009, the book I Love You, Beth Cooper was re-released as an extended movie tie-in edition. His second novel, Go Mutants!, was published in 2010. This novel had its film rights acquired by Imagine Entertainment/Universal Studios the same year, with the screenplay written by Doyle.[2] Deliriously Happy (and Other Bad Thoughts), a collection of humor pieces from the New Yorker and elsewhere, was published in 2011. Select bibliography Spoken word "Life Without Leann" on This American Life Novels and collected fiction I Love You, Beth Cooper (May 2007) ISBN 0-06-123617-9 Go Mutants! (June 2010) ISBN 0-06-168655-7 Deliriously Happy (and Other Bad Thoughts) (November 2011) ISBN 0-06-196683-5 Media tie-ins Beavis and Butt-head: This Sucks Change It (1995) Beavis and Butt-head: Huh Huh for Hollywood (1996) I Love You, Beth Cooper (Extended Movie Tie-In Edition) (May 2009) ISBN 0-06-174485-9 Comics Pogo, syndicated comic strip illustrated by Neal Sternecky (1989–1991) Bad Publicity, comic strip in the back of New York Magazine (1994–1997) Magazines United Press International, Medical and Science Reporter (1983–1989) First Comics, Editor in Chief (1989) National Lampoon, Editor (1991) Spy Magazine, Deputy Editor (1992–1993) Eight Days a Week column for the New York Observer, (1993–1994) Front Page column for New York Magazine, and the Deputy Editor (1994–1997) The New Yorker appearances Larry Doyle has written the following articles for The New Yorker: "Life Without Leann" (January 15, 1990) "t.V." (April 2, 1990) "You Won't Have Nixon to Kick Around Anymore, Dirtbag" (December 20, 1993) "Adventures in Experimentation" (March 28, 1994) "Stop Me If You've Heard This One" (March 29, 1999) "Me v. Big Mike" (June 14, 1999) "I Killed Them in New Haven" (December 15, 2003) "Disengagements" (March 28, 2005) "May We Tell You Our Specials This Evening?" (October 3, 2005) "Let's Talk About My New Movie" (January 23, 2006) "How Fred Flintstone Got Home, Got Wild, and Got a Stone Age Life" (May 15, 2006) "I'm Afraid I Have Some Bad News" (June 19, 2006) "Please Read Before Suing" (February 2, 2007) "We Request the Honor of Your Presence at GwynneandDaveShareTheirJoy.com" (May 21, 2007) "My Mega-Millions" (August 27, 2007) "Portrait in Evil: My Story" (September 17, 2007) "Why We Strike" (November 19, 2007) "Bad Dog" (May 12, 2008) "Is There a Problem Here?" (December 15, 2008) "Fun Times!" (April 20, 2009) "Hot Wings: Notes on My New Best Seller" (June 7, 2010) "Sleeper Camp" (August 9, 2010) "Fun Summer" Online only (May 31, 2012) "Reboot Me" (July 23, 2012) Esquire appearances Larry Doyle has written the following articles for Esquire magazine: "The Talk: What Does a Father Owe a Son" (May 1988) "Esky" columnist (1997–1999) "My Heart, My Rules" (February 1998) "Naughty, Awful Boys" (June 1998) "The Weiner" (June 1999) "Freezer Madness" (October 1999) "The Babyproofer" (January 2000) "Me's a Crowd" (September 2000) "Things You Need to Know About Me" (October 2006) Film writing credits Duplex (2003) Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) I Love You, Beth Cooper (2009) Go Mutants! (forthcoming, announced) Television writing credits Instant Mom episodes Larry Doyle has written the following Instant Mom episodes: "Rock Mom" "Ain't Misbehavin' or Else" "Walk Like a Boy" The Simpsons episodes Larry Doyle has written the following The Simpsons episodes: "Girly Edition" (1998) "Treehouse of Horror IX" ("The Terror of Tiny Toon") (1998) "Wild Barts Can't Be Broken" (1999) "Simpsons Bible Stories" (with Tim Long and Matt Selman as co-writers) (1999) "Pygmoelian" (2000) "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Marge" (2000) "Worst Episode Ever" (2001) Beavis and Butt-Head episodes Larry Doyle has written the following Beavis and Butt-Head episodes: "Choke" "Nosebleed" "Bad Dog" "Butt Flambé" "Stewart is Missing" "A Very Special Episode" "Final Judgement of Beavis" "Liar! Liar!" "Safe Driving" "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America" (Consultant) Rugrats episodes Larry Doyle has written the following Rugrats episodes: "Circus Angelicus" "Naked Tommy" Daria episode Larry Doyle has written the following Daria episode: "Too Cute" Pogo Possum: An amiable, humble, philosophical, personable, everyman opossum. Kelly described Pogo as "the reasonable, patient, softhearted, naive, friendly person we all think we are" in a 1969 TV Guide interview.[7] The wisest (and probably sanest) resident of the swamp, he is one of the few major characters with sense enough to avoid trouble. Though he prefers to spend his time fishing or picnicking, his kind nature often gets him reluctantly entangled in his neighbors' escapades. He is often the unwitting target of matchmaking by Miz Beaver (to the coquettish Ma'm'selle Hepzibah), and has repeatedly been forced by the swamp's residents to run for president, always against his will. He wears a simple red and black striped shirt and (sometimes) a crushed yellow fishing hat. His kitchen is well known around the swamp for being fully stocked, and many characters impose upon him for meals, taking advantage of his generous nature. Albert Alligator: Exuberant, dimwitted, irascible, and egotistical, Albert is often the comic foil for Pogo, the rival of Beauregard and Barnstable, or the fall guy for Howland and Churchy. The cigar-chomping Albert is as extroverted and garrulous as Pogo is modest and unassuming, and their many sequences together tend to underscore their balanced, contrasting chemistry—like a seasoned comedy team. Albert's creation actually preceded Pogo's, and his brash, bombastic personality sometimes seems in danger of taking over the strip, as he once dominated the comic books. Having an alligator's voracious appetite, Albert often eats things indiscriminately, and is accused on more than one occasion of having eaten another character. Albert is the troop leader of Camp Siberia, the local den of the "Cheerful Charlies" (Kelly's version of the Boy Scouts), whose motto is "Cheerful to the Death!" Even though Albert has been known to take advantage of Pogo's generosity, he is ferociously loyal to Pogo and can, in quieter moments, be found scrubbing him in the tub or cutting his hair. Like all Kelly's characters, Albert looks great in costume. This sometimes leads to a classic Albert line (while admiring himself in a mirror): "Funny how a good-lookin' fella look handsome in anything he throw on!" Howland Owl: The swamp's self-appointed leading authority, a self-proclaimed "expert" scientist, "perfessor", physician, explorer, astronomer, witch doctor, and anything else he thinks will generate respect for his knowledge. He wears horn-rimmed eyeglasses and, in his earliest appearances, a pointed wizard's cap festooned with stars and crescent moons (which also, fittingly, looks like a dunce cap in silhouette.) Thinking himself the most learned creature in the swamp, he once tried to open a school but had to close it for lack of interest. Actually, he is unable to tell the difference between learning, old wives' tales, and the use of big words. Most of the harebrained ideas characteristically come from the mind of Owl. His best pal is Churchy, although their friendship can be rocky at times, often given to whims and frequently volatile. Churchill "Churchy" LaFemme: A mud turtle by trade; he enjoys composing songs and poems, often with ridiculous and abrasive lyrics and nonsense rhymes. His name is a play on the French phrase Cherchez la femme, ("Look for the woman"). Perhaps the least sensible of the major players, Churchy is superstitious to a fault, for example, panicking when he discovers that Friday the 13th falls on a Wednesday that month. Churchy is usually an active partner in Howland's outlandish schemes, and prone to (sometimes physical) confrontation with him when they (inevitably) run afoul. Churchy first appeared as buccaneer in Animal Comics #13 (Feb 1945), with a pirate's hat. He was sometimes referred to as "Cap'n LaFemme". This seems incongruous for the guileless Churchy, however, who is far more likely to play-act with Owl at being a pantomime pirate than the genuine article. Beauregard Bugleboy: A hound dog of undetermined breed; scion of the Cat Bait fortune and occasional Keystone Cops-attired constable and Fire Brigade chief. He sees himself as a noble, romantic figure, often given to flights of oratory while narrating his own heroic deeds (in the third person). He periodically appears with "blunked out" eyes playing "Sandy"—alongside Pogo or Albert when they don a curly wig, impersonating "Li'l Arf an' Nonny", (a.k.a. "Lulu Arfin' Nanny", Kelly's recurring parody of Little Orphan Annie). Beauregard also occasionally dons a trench coat and fedora, and squints his eyes and juts out his jaw when impersonating a detective in the style of Dick Tracy. However, his more familiar attire is a simple dog collar—or in later strips, a striped turtleneck sweater and fez. His canine revision of Kelly's annual Christmas burlesque, Deck Us All with Boston Charlie, emerges as "Bark Us All Bow-wows of Folly",[8] although he can't get anyone else to sing it that way. Usually just called "Beauregard" or "ol' Houn' Dog", his full name is Beauregard Chaulmoogra Frontenac de Montmingle Bugleboy. Porky Pine: A porcupine, a misanthrope and cynic—prickly on the outside but with a heart of gold. The deadpan Porky never smiles in the strip (except once, allegedly, when the lights were out). Pogo's best friend, equally honest, reflective and introverted, and with a keen eye both for goodness and for human foibles. The swamp's version of Eeyore, Porkypine is grumpy and melancholy by nature, and sometimes speaks of his "annual suicide attempt". He wears an undersized, plaid Pinky Lee-type hat (with an incongruously tall crown and upturned brim) and a perpetual frown, and is rarely seen without both. Porky has two weaknesses: his infatuation for Miz Ma'm'selle Hepzibah and a complete inability to tell a joke. He unfailingly arrives on Pogo's doorstep with a flower every Christmas morning, although he's always as embarrassed by the sentiment as Pogo is touched. He has a nephew named Tacky and a look-alike relation (see Frequent visitors) named Uncle Baldwin. Miz Mam'selle Hepzibah: A beautiful, coy French skunk modeled after a woman who later became Kelly's second wife. Hepzibah has long been courted by Porky, Beauregard and others but rarely seems to notice. Sometimes she pines for Pogo, and isn't too shy about it. She speaks with a heavy burlesque French dialect and tends to be overdramatic. The unattached Hepzibah has a married sister with 35 youngsters, including a nephew named Humperdunk. She is captivatingly sweet, frequently baking pies or preparing picnic baskets for her many admirers, and has every fellow in the swamp in love with her at one time or another. She is usually attired in a dainty floral skirt and parasol, is flirty but proper, and enjoys attention. Miz Beaver: A no-nonsense, corncob pipe-smoking washerwoman; a traditional mother (she is frequently seen minding a perambulator, her pet fish, or a tadpole in a jar) and "widder" (she occasionally speaks of "the Mister", always in the past tense), clad in a country bonnet and apron. Uneducated but with homespun good sense, she "takes nothin' from nobody", and can be daunting when riled. She is Hepzibah's best friend and occasional matchmaker, although she disapproves of menfolk as a general rule. Her trademark line is: "Why is all you mens such critturs of dee-ceit?" Deacon Mushrat: A muskrat and the local man of the cloth, the Deacon speaks in ancient blackletter text or Gothic script, and his views are just as modern. He is typically seen haranguing others for their undisciplined ways, attempting to lead the Bats in some wholesome activity (which they inevitably subvert), or reluctantly entangled in the crusades of Mole and his even shadier allies—in either role he is the straight man and often winds up on the receiving end of whatever scheme he is involved in. Kelly described him as the closest thing to an evil character in the strip, calling him "about as far as I can go in showing what I think evil to be".[9] Bewitched, Bothered, and Bemildred: A trio of grubby, unshaven bats—hobos, gamblers, good-natured but innocent of any temptation to honesty. They admit nothing. Soon after arriving in the swamp they are recruited by Deacon Mushrat into the "Audible Boy Bird Watchers Society", (a seemingly innocent play on the Audubon Society, but really a front for Mole's covert surveillance syndicate.) They wear identical black derby hats and perpetual 5 o'clock shadows. Their names, a play on the song title "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", are rarely mentioned. Often even they cannot say for sure which brother is which. They tell each other apart, if at all, by the patterns of their trousers—striped, checkered or plaid. (According to one of the bats, "Whichever pair of trousers you puts on in the morning, that's who you are for that partic'lar day.") Barnstable Bear: A simple-minded, henpecked "grizzle bear" who often plays second-fiddle to many of Albert's plots. He wears a pair of pants held up with a single suspender, and often a checkered cloth cap. Frequently short-tempered (and married to an even shorter-tempered "missus", the formidable Miz Bear), he bellows "Rowrbazzle!" when his anger comes to a boil. Barnstable even tried to start his own rival comic strip in 1958, which he entitled "Little Orphan Abner" (with a wink to Kelly's pal, fellow cartoonist Al Capp), just to spite Albert. Curiously, he can write but he can't read. Mister Miggle: A bespectacled stork or crane, and proprietor of the local general store, a frequent swamp hangout. He dresses like an old-fashioned "country" clerk—with apron, starched collar, suspenders, sleeve garters, and a straw boater or a bookkeeping visor. Miggle's carries just about every undesirable product imaginable, such as "salt fish in chocolate sauce" and "day-old ice, 25¢ per gallon", along with "Aunt Granny's Bitter Brittle Root"—a local favorite beverage (after sassafras tea), and cure-all for the "cold robbies" and the "whim-whams". Bun Rab: An enthusiastic white rabbit with a drum and drum-major hat who often accompanies P. T. Bridgeport and likes to broadcast news in the manner of a town crier. He lives in a grandfather clock, and frequently appears as a fireman in the swamp's clownish Fire Brigade—where he serves as official hose carrier. Rackety Coon Chile: One of the swamp "sprats"—a group of youngsters who seem to be the only rational creatures present, other than Pogo and Porky. A talkative, precocious raccoon, he mainly pesters his "uncle" Pogo, along with his pal Alabaster. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. Rackety Coon, are a bickering couple occasionally featured. The father ("Pa") owns a still, and is generally suspicious of Ma's going through his overalls pockets while he sleeps. Alabaster Alligator: Not much is known about Alabaster except that he is considerably brighter than his Uncle Albert. Genial, inquisitive and only occasionally mischievous, he follows the cartoon tradition of the look-alike nephew (see Huey, Dewey, and Louie) whose mysterious parental lineage is never made specific. Grundoon: A diapered baby groundhog (or "woodchunk" in swamp-speak). An infant toddler, Grundoon speaks only gibberish, represented by strings of random consonants like "Bzfgt", "ktpv", "mnpx", "gpss", "twzkd", or "znp". ("Grs" appears to attract fish.) Eventually, Grundoon learns to say two things: "Bye" and "Bye-bye". He also has a baby sister called Honey Bunny Ducky Downy Sweetie Chicken Pie Li'l Everlovin' Jelly Bean. Pup Dog: An innocent "li'l dog chile" puppy. One of the very few characters who walks on all fours, he frequently wanders off and gets lost. Being, as Pogo puts it, "'jus' a li'l ol' shirt-tail baby-size dog what don't talk good yet", he says only "Wurf!" and "Wurf wurf!", although for a time he repeats the non-sequitur phrase "Poltergeists make up the principal type of spontaneous material manifestation." Frequent visitors P. T. Bridgeport: A bear; a flamboyant impresario and traveling circus operator named after P. T. Barnum, the most famous resident of Kelly's boyhood home, Bridgeport, Connecticut. One of Kelly's most colorful characters, P. T. wears a straw boater, spats, vest, ascot tie with stickpin and outlandish, fur-lined plaid overcoat reminiscent of W. C. Fields. There is also sometimes a marked physical resemblance to the Dutch cartoon character Oliver B. Bumble. An amiable blowhard and charlatan, his speech balloons resemble 19th-century circus posters, symbolizing both his theatrical speech pattern and his customary carnival barker's sales spiel. He usually visits the swamp during presidential election years, satirizing the media circus atmosphere of American political campaigns. During the storyline in which Pogo was nominated as a presidential candidate, Bridgeport was his most vocal and enthusiastic supporter. Tammananny Tiger: A political operator, named in allusion to Tammany Hall, which was represented as a tiger in 19th-century editorial cartoons by Thomas Nast. He typically appears in election years to offer strategic advice to the reluctant candidate, Pogo. He first appears as a companion to P. T. Bridgeport, although more cynical and less self-aggrandizing than the latter, and is one of only a handful of animals not native to North America to frequent the swamp. Mole (in his original appearance in 1952 named Mole MacCarony, in later years sometimes called Molester Mole, his name pronounced not "molester" but, in keeping with his political aspirations, to rhyme with "pollster"): A nearsighted and xenophobic grifter. Considers himself an astute observer, but walks into trees without seeing them. Obsessed with contagion both literal and figurative, he is a prime mover in numerous campaigns against "subversion", and in his first appearances has a paranoid habit of spraying everything and everyone with a disinfectant that may have been liberally laced with tar. Modeled somewhat after Senator Pat McCarran of the McCarran–Walter Act.[10] Seminole Sam: A mercenary, carpetbagging fox and traveling huckster of the snake oil salesman variety. He often attempts to swindle Albert and others, for example by selling bottles of the "miracle fluid" H-two-and-O. Sam isn't really an out-and-out villain—more of an amoral opportunist, even though he occasionally allies with darker characters such as Mole and Wiley. Sam's Seminole moniker probably refers, not to any native blood ties, but more likely to a presumed history of selling bogus patent medicine ("snake oil"). These "salesmen" hucksters often pretended their products were tested and proven, ancient Indian remedies. The Seminoles are an Indian tribe in the neighborhood of Okefenokee Swamp. Sarcophagus MacAbre: A buzzard and the local mortician. He lives in a creepy, ruined mausoleum, and always wears a tall undertaker's stove pipe hat with a black veil hung from its side. Early strips show him speaking in square, black bordered speech balloons with ornate script lettering, in the style of Victorian funeral announcements. MacAbre begins as a stock villain, but in later years gradually softens into a somewhat befuddled comic foil. The Cowbirds: Two beatnik freeloaders, their gender(s) uncertain, who speak in communist cant (albeit often in typical Okefenokee patois) and grift any food and valuables that cross their path. They associate with a pirate pig who resembles Nikita Khrushchev. Later they loudly renounce their former beliefs—without changing their behavior much. They typically address each other as Compeer and Confrere. It's unclear whether these are proper names or titles (synonyms of Comrade). Wiley Catt: A wild-eyed, menacing, hillbilly bobcat who smokes a corncob pipe, carries a shotgun, and lives alone in a dilapidated, Tobacco Road-type shanty on the outskirts of the swamp. He frequently hangs out with Sarcophagus MacAbre, Mole and Seminole Sam, although none of them trusts him. All the swamp critters are rightly wary of him, and generally give him a wide path. During the "Red scare" era of the 1950s, he temporarily morphed into his "cousin" Simple J. Malarkey, a parody and caricature of Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy (see Satire and politics). Miss Sis Boombah: A matronly, cheerleading Rhode Island Red hen, who is a gym coach and fitness enthusiast—as well as a close friend of Miz Beaver—usually attired in tennis shoes and a pullover. Boombah arrives at the swamp to conduct a survey for "Dr. Whimsy" on "the sectional habits of U.S. mailmen", a neat parody of The Kinsey Reports. She also runs a Feminist organization (with Miz Beaver) called "F.O.O.F." (Female Order Of Freedom), to un-subjugate the swamp womenfolk. Ol' Mouse: An otherwise unnamed, long-winded, worldly mouse with a bowler hat, cane and cigar who frequently pals around with Snavely, the Flea, Albert, or Pup Dog, the last of whom he was briefly imprisoned with in a cupboard and with whom he forged a bond as a fellow prisoner. He has a long and storied career as a rogue, in which he takes some pride, noting that the crimes he has been falsely accused of are far less interesting than the crimes he has actually committed. He is more often an observer and commentator than an actual participant in storylines. Something of a dandy, he sometimes takes the name "F. Olding Munny"—but only when Albert is posing as swami "El Fakir", (a take-off on Daddy Warbucks and his Indian manservant Punjab from Little Orphan Annie). Snavely: A chatty, inebriated snake (he is prone to biting himself, then dipping into a bottle of "snake bite remedy"). Snavely usually wears a battered top hat, and pals around with Ol' Mouse or a group of angleworms that he is training to be cobras or rattlesnakes. In classic cartoon tradition, his intoxicated state is portrayed by a prominent red nose surrounded by tiny, fizzing bubbles. Although limbless, he is able to salute. Pogo saw this and was amazed. Unfortunately this act was accomplished behind the log Pogo was looking over, and the reader's view was blocked. Choo Choo Curtis (a.k.a. Chug Chug Curtis): A natural-born mail carrier duck. Uncle Baldwin: Porky's doppelgänger and compulsive "kissing cousin", he wears a trenchcoat to hide his telltale bald backside. Uncle Baldwin usually tries to grab and kiss any female in the panel with him. Most of the females (and more than a few of the male characters) flee from the scene when Uncle Baldwin arrives. When assaulted by him, Hepzibah has hit him back. Reggie and Alf: Two Cockney insects that wander around bickering and looking for cricket matches. Kelly loved definite personality types, and had these two show up occasionally, even though they had nothing to do with anything else. Kelly stated the aim of their appearance, "was to please nobody but me". Flea (a.k.a. Miz Flea): An unnamed female flea, so small she is usually only drawn in black silhouette. She falls in love with Beauregard, calls him "doll" and "sugar", and frequently gives him love nips on the nose or knee—much to his indignant irritation. (Flea: "Two can live as cheap as one, sugar." Beauregard: "Not on me, they can't!") Her gender was vaguely indeterminate for much of the run of the strip, but in a 1970 sequence with ex-husband Sam the spider, the Flea is finally and definitively established as a "girl". Thereafter, she is occasionally addressed as "Miz". In The Pogopedia (2001), this character is identified as "Ol' Flea". Fremount the Boy Bug: The swamp's dark horse candidate, whose limited vocabulary (all he can say is "Jes' fine") makes him suitable presidential timber, according to P. T. Bridgeport. Bug Daddy and Chile: Daddy's indignant tag-line ("Destroy a son's faith in his father, will you?") invariably follows his being corrected by another character for an (inevitable) misunderstanding or erroneous explanation on his part. He wears a stove pipe hat and carries an umbrella, which he shakes threateningly at the slightest provocation. His child's name is ever-changing, even from panel to panel within the same strip: Hogblemish, Nortleberg, Flimplock, Osbert, Jerome, Merphant, Babnoggle, Custard, Lorenzo, etc. (The Pogopedia identifies these characters as "Bug Daddy" and "Bug Child".) Congersman Frog: An elected official, usually accompanied by his look-alike male secretary, with whose pay he lights his "seegars". He practices disavowing his candidature for the presidency—not very convincingly. His seldom-used first name is Jumphrey, and his secretary/sidekick was occasionally referred to by name: Fenster Moop. (Fenster apparently rose to Congress himself. In later years he's addressed as "Congersman", and attended by his own look-alike secretary, Feeble E. Merely.) Solid MacHogany: A New Orleans-bound, clarinet-playing pig in a polka dot cap and striped necktie, headed to a paying gig in a "sho' nuff" jazz band on Bourbon Street. Horrors Greeley: A freckled, westward-traveling cow (hence the reference to Horace Greeley), who was sweet on Albert. (To Horrors, "west" being Milwaukee.) Uncle Antler: A disagreeable bullmoose, whom Albert insultingly addresses as "Hatrack". Butch: A brick-throwing housecat. Like Tammananny, Butch is a direct homage to another cartoonist—George Herriman, whose Krazy Kat comic strip was greatly admired by Kelly. Butch feels compelled to hurl bricks at Beauregard, in honor of the traditional animus between dogs and cats. He always deliberately misses, however—and after his initial appearance as an antagonistic rival, proves to be something of a pussycat. Basil MacTabolism: A door-to-door political pollster polecat and self-described "taker of the public pulse". Roogey Batoon: A part-time snake oil salesman pelican in a flat cap, who claims to have made the careers of the "Lou'siana Perches", (an underwater songstress trio named Flim, Flam and Flo). His name is a play on Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Picayune: A talkative frog that is a "free han' pree-dicter of all kinds weather an' other social events—sun, hail, moonshine or ty-phoonery". (An identical frog known as Moonshine Sonata also appears on occasion; it is unclear if these were intended to be the same character.) Dialogue and "swamp-speak" The strip was notable for its distinctive and whimsical use of language. Kelly, a native northeasterner, had a sharply perceptive ear for language and used it to great humorous effect. The predominant vernacular in Pogo, sometimes referred to as "swamp-speak", is essentially a rural southern U.S. dialect laced with nonstop malapropisms, fractured grammar, "creative" spelling and mangled polysyllables such as "incredibobble," "hysteriwockle", and "redickledockle," plus invented words such as the exasperated exclamations "Bazz Fazz!", "Rowrbazzle!" and "Moomph!"[11] Here is an example:[12] Pogo has been engaged in his favorite pastime, fishing in the swamp from a flat-bottomed boat, and has hooked a small catfish. "Ha!" he exclaims, "A small fry!" At this point Hoss-Head the Champeen Catfish, bigger than Pogo himself, rears out of the swamp and the following dialogue ensues: Hoss-Head [with fins on hips and an angry scowl]: Chonk back that catfish chile, Pogo, afore I whops you! Pogo: Yassuree, Champeen Hoss-Head, yassuh yassuh yassuh yassuh yassuh ... [tosses infant catfish back in water] Pogo [walks away, muttering discontentedly]: Things gettin' so humane 'round this swamp, us folks will have to take up eatin' MUD TURKLES! Churchy (a turtle) [eavesdropping from behind a tree with Howland Owl]: Horroars! A cannibobble! [passes out] Howland [holding the unconscious Churchy]: You say you gone eat mud turkles! Ol' Churchy is done overcame! Pogo: It was a finger of speech—I apologize! Why, I LOVES yo', Churchy LaFemme! Churchy [suddenly recovered from his swoon]: With pot licker an' black-eye peas, you loves me, sir—HA! Us is through, Pogo! Satire and politics Kelly used Pogo to comment on the human condition, and from time to time, this drifted into politics. "I finally came to understand that if I were looking for comic material, I would never have to look long," Kelly wrote. "The news of the day would be enough. Perhaps the complexion of the strip changed a little in that direction after 1951. After all, it is pretty hard to walk past an unguarded gold mine and remain empty-handed."[13] Pogo was a reluctant "candidate" for President (although he never campaigned) in 1952 and 1956. (The phrase "I Go Pogo", originally a parody of Dwight D. Eisenhower's iconic campaign slogan "I Like Ike", appeared on giveaway promotional lapel pins featuring Pogo, and was also used by Kelly as a book title.) A 1952 campaign rally at Harvard degenerated into chaos sufficient to be officially termed a riot, and police responded. The Pogo Riot was a significant event for the class of '52; for its 25th reunion, Pogo was the official mascot.[14] Kelly's interest in keeping the strip topical meant that he sometimes worked closer to the deadline than the syndicate wanted. "The syndicates and the newspapers always like to stay about eight weeks in advance," Kelly said in a 1959 interview, "but because I like to stay as topical as I can and because I'm sure something will always come up that I'd like to comment on, I try to keep it somewhere between four and six weeks. Even then it gets rather difficult to forecast what is going to happen six weeks, four weeks, ahead of time. For example, I have a sequence coming on this moonshot that the Russians made. I was able to file it just by a month, but I wish I had known about it a little in advance because I could have hit it right on the nose."[15] Simple J. Malarkey Perhaps the most famous example of the strip's satirical edge came into being on May 1, 1953, when Kelly introduced a friend of Mole's: a wildcat named "Simple J. Malarkey", an obvious caricature of Senator Joseph McCarthy. This showed significant courage on Kelly's part, considering the influence the politician wielded at the time and the possibility of scaring away subscribing newspapers.[16] When The Providence Bulletin issued an ultimatum in 1954, threatening to drop the strip if Malarkey's face appeared in the strip again, Kelly had Malarkey throw a bag over his head as Miss "Sis" Boombah (a Rhode Island Red hen) approached, explaining "no one from Providence should see me!" Kelly thought Malarkey's new look was especially appropriate because the bag over his head resembled a Klansman's hood.[17] (Kelly later attacked the Klan directly, in a comic nightmare parable called "The Kluck Klams", included in The Pogo Poop Book, 1966.)[18] Malarkey appeared in the strip only once after that sequence ended, during Kelly's tenure, on October 15, 1955. Again his face was covered, this time by his speech balloons as he stood on a soapbox shouting to general uninterest. Kelly had planned to defy the threats made by the Bulletin and show Malarkey's face, but decided it was more fun to see how many people recognized the character and the man he lampooned by speech patterns alone. When Kelly got letters of complaint about kicking the senator when he was down (McCarthy had been censured by that time, and had lost most of his influence), Kelly responded, "They identified him, I didn't."[19] Malarkey reappeared on April 1, 1989, when the strip had been resurrected by Larry Doyle and Neal Sternecky. It was hinted that he was a ghost. (A gag used several times in the original strip, for both Wiley Catt and Simple J Malarkey, was his unexpected reappearance to the Swamp with a frightened regular saying "I didn't know you was alive" - responded to with "Would you stop shakin' if I tole you...I AIN'T?!" Later politics As the 1960s loomed, even foreign "gummint" figures found themselves caricatured in the pages of Pogo, including in 1962 communist leaders Fidel Castro, who appeared as an agitator goat named Fido, and Nikita Khrushchev, who emerged as both an unnamed Russian bear and a pig. Other Soviet characters include a pair of cosmonaut seals who arrive at the swamp in 1959 via Sputnik, initiating a topical spoof of the Space Race.[20] In 1964, the strip spoofed the presidential election with P.T. Bridgeport providing wind-up dolls that looked like Richard Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller and George W. Romney.[21] The wind-up caricatures of Richard Nixon, Nelson Rockefeller, George W. Romney, Ronald Reagan, Eugene McCarthy and Robert F. Kennedy appeared in 1968, during the presidential election. [22] Lyndon B. Johnson appeared in two caricatures in the strip. In 1966, he appeared as "The Loan Arranger," a character that Pogo, Albert, and Churchy La Femme met in Pandamonia. In a reference to Johnson's Texas heritage, the Loan Arranger was a centaur, half-human, half-horse, wearing a cowboy hat that was pulled down over his eyes, with Johnson's famous chin visible beneath it. He also wore a cowboy shirt and a bandolero of bullets around his waist. Kelly satirized the Vietnam War by having the Loan Arranger compete against Gwhan Shi Foah (a Buddha-like caricature of Mao Zedong) in a hand-shaking contest, for the right to "protect" a young Asian girl named Sha-Lan (representing South Vietnam). Later, during the 1968 presidential election, Johnson reappeared in the strip as an aging, bespectacled Texas longhorn who knew his time was fading, and was trying to make a graceful exit. Because some newspapers were wary of printing political satire on the comics page, Kelly sometimes drew two strips for the same day — the regular satirical Pogo strip, and a less-pointed version that he called the "Bunny Rabbit" strips. The 1982 book The Best of Pogo reprinted some of the alternate strips from the presidential election years of 1964 and 1968.[23] In the early 1970s, Kelly used a collection of characters he called "the Bulldogs" to mock the secrecy and paranoia of the Nixon administration. The Bulldogs included caricatures of J. Edgar Hoover (dressed in an overcoat and fedora, and directing a covert bureau of identical frog operatives), Spiro Agnew (portrayed as an unnamed hyena festooned in ornate military regalia, a parody of the ridiculous uniforms supplied to the White House guards[24]), and John Mitchell (portrayed as a pipe-smoking eaglet wearing high-top sneakers.)[25] Nonsense verse and song parodies Kelly was an accomplished poet and frequently added pages of original comic verse to his Pogo reprint books, complete with cartoon illustrations. The odd song parody or nonsense poem also occasionally appeared in the newspaper strip. In 1956, Kelly published Songs of the Pogo, an illustrated collection of his original songs, with lyrics by Kelly and music by Kelly and Norman Monath. The tunes were also issued on a vinyl LP, with Kelly himself contributing to the vocals.[26] The most well-known of Kelly's nonsense verses is "Deck Us All with Boston Charlie", the swamp creatures' interpretation of the Christmas carol "Deck the Halls". Each year at Christmas time, it was traditional for the strip to publish at least the first stanza: Deck us all with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla Wash., and Kalamazoo! Nora's freezin' on the trolley Swaller dollar cauliflower alleygaroo Don't we know archaic barrel Lullaby, lilla boy, Louisville Lou Trolley Molly don't love Harold Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo Some years also included other verses and versions: for example, the dog Beauregard knew it as "Bark us all bow-wows of folly, Polly wolly cracker 'n' too-da-loo!"[27] "Deck Us All with Boston Charlie" was recorded in 1961 by Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross for the album ""Jingle Bell Rock".[28] Personal references Walt Kelly frequently had his characters poling around the swamp in a flat-bottomed skiff. Invariably, it had a name on the side that was a personal reference of Kelly's: the name of a friend, a political figure, a fellow cartoonist, or the name of a newspaper, its editor or publisher. The name changed from one day to the next, and even from panel to panel in the same strip, but it was usually a tribute to a real-life person Kelly wished to salute in print.[29] Awards and recognition Long before I could grasp the satirical significance of his stuff, I was enchanted by Kelly's magnificent artwork ... We'll never see anything like Pogo again in the funnies, I'm afraid. — Jeff MacNelly, from Pogo Even Better, 1984 A good many of us used hoopla and hype to sell our wares, but Kelly didn't need that. It seemed he simply emerged, was there, and was recognized for what he was, a true natural genius of comic art ... Hell, he could draw a tree that would send God and Joyce Kilmer back to the drawing board. — Mort Walker, from Outrageously Pogo, 1985 The creator and series have received a great deal of recognition over the years. Walt Kelly has been compared to everyone from James Joyce and Lewis Carroll, to Aesop and Joel Chandler Harris (Uncle Remus).[30][31] His skills as a humorous illustrator of animals have been celebrated alongside those of John Tenniel, A. B. Frost, T. S. Sullivant, Heinrich Kley and Lawson Wood. In his essay "The Decline of the Comics" (Canadian Forum, January 1954), literary critic Hugh MacLean classified American comic strips into four types: daily gag, adventure, soap opera and "an almost lost comic ideal: the disinterested comment on life's pattern and meaning." In the fourth type, according to MacLean, there were only two: Pogo and Li'l Abner. When the first Pogo collection was published in 1951, Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas declared that "nothing comparable has happened in the history of the comic strip since George Herriman's Krazy Kat."[32] "Carl Sandburg said that many comics were too sad, but, 'I Go Pogo.' Francis Taylor, Director of the Metropolitan Museum, said before the Herald Tribune Forum: 'Pogo has not yet supplanted Shakespeare or the King James Version of the Bible in our schools.' "[33] Kelly was elected president of the National Cartoonists Society in 1954, serving until 1956. He was the first strip cartoonist invited to contribute originals to the Library of Congress.[citation needed] Kelly received the National Cartoonists Society's Billy DeBeck Memorial Award for Cartoonist of the Year in 1951. (When the award name was changed in 1954, Kelly also retroactively received a Reuben statuette.) The prestigious Silver T-Square is awarded, by unanimous vote of the NCS board of directors, to persons who have demonstrated outstanding dedication or service to the Society or the profession; Kelly received one in 1972. The Comic-Con International Inkpot Award was given to Kelly posthumously in 1989. Kelly is one of only 31 artists elected to the Hall of Fame of the National Cartoon Museum (formerly the International Museum of Cartoon Art). Kelly was also inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 1995. The Fantagraphics Pogo collections were a top vote-getter for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Reprint Graphic Album for 1998. Influence and legacy Walt Kelly's work has influenced a number of prominent comic artists: From 1951 to 1954, Famous Studios animator Irv Spector drew the syndicated Coogy strip, which was heavily influenced by Kelly's work, for the New York Herald-Tribune. In the Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book, cartoonist Bill Watterson listed Pogo as one of the three greatest influences on Calvin and Hobbes, along with Peanuts and Krazy Kat. Pogo has been cited as an influence by Jeff MacNelly (Shoe), Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury), Bill Holbrook (Kevin and Kell ) and Mark O'Hare (Citizen Dog), among others. MacNelly also gave a speech praising the strip and all of Walt Kelly's work that was published in the book Outrageously Pogo, which was a collection of praise of the strip. René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo were both admirers of Pogo, and many of Walt Kelly's visual devices resurfaced in Astérix. For example, the Goths speak in Olde English blackletter text, and a Roman tax-collector speaks in bureaucratic forms. Jim Henson acknowledged Kelly as a major influence on his sense of humor, and based some early Muppet designs on Kelly drawings. One episode of The Muppet Show's first season included a performance of "Don't Sugar Me" from Songs of the Pogo. Robert Crumb cites Pogo as an influence on Animal Town, an early series of comic strips he drew with his brother Charles that later formed the basis for R. Crumb's Fritz the Cat.[34] Harvey Kurtzman parodied Pogo as "Gopo Gossum" for the comic book Mad No. 23, published by EC Comics in 1955. It was the first of many Mad references to Pogo, most of them drawn by Wally Wood. According to The Best of Pogo (1982), "Walt Kelly was well aware of the Mad parodies, and loved them." Kelly directly acknowledged Wally Wood, and even had Albert spell out his name in Pogo Extra: Election Special (1960). Writer Alan Moore and artist Shawn McManus made the January 1985 issue (#32) of Saga of the Swamp Thing a tribute to Pogo (titled "Pog"), with Kellyesque wordplay and artwork. Jeff Smith acknowledged that his Bone comic book series was strongly influenced by Walt Kelly's work. Smith and Peter Kelly contributed artwork of the cast of Bone meeting Pogo and Albert for the 1998 "Pogofest" celebration. Jonathan Lemon cites Pogo as an inspiration or more as a "hero" for his comic strip "Rabbits Against Magic"[35] American rock band Kaleidoscope released a song named "Lulu Arfin Nanny" on their 1970 album "Bernice".[36] The protagonist of the film Simon (1980) is brainwashed to think he is an alien living on Earth and pirates the TV broadcast airwaves to talk to the people. In a field with his girlfriend he muses "I give em my best stuff too. Shakespeare, Pogo, the prophets." Pogo in other media At its peak, Walt Kelly's possum appeared in nearly 500 newspapers in 14 countries. Pogo's exploits were collected into more than four dozen books, which collectively sold close to 30 million copies. Pogo already had had a successful life in comic books, previous to syndication. The increased visibility of the newspaper strip and popular trade paperback titles allowed Kelly's characters to branch into other media, such as television, children's records, and even a theatrical film. In addition, Walt Kelly appeared as himself on television at least twice. He was interviewed live by Edward R. Murrow for the CBS program Person to Person, in an episode originally broadcast on January 14, 1954. Kelly can also be seen briefly in the 1970 NBC special This Is Al Capp talking candidly about his friend, the creator of Li'l Abner. Comic books and periodicals All comic book titles are published by Dell Publishing Company, unless otherwise noted: Albert the Alligator and Pogo Possum (1945–1946) Dell Four Color issues #105 and 148 Animal Comics (1947) issues #17, 23–25 Pogo Possum (1949–1954) issues #1–16 "Pogo's Papa" by Murray Robinson, from Collier's Weekly (March 8, 1952) Pogo Parade (1953), a compilation of previously published Dell Pogo stories Pogo Coloring Book (1953) Whitman Publishing "Pogo: The Funnies are Getting Funny" from Newsweek (June 21, 1954) Pogo cover painting by Kelly "Pogo Meets a Possum" by Walt Kelly, from Collier's Weekly (April 29, 1955) "Bright Christmas Land" from Newsweek (December 26, 1955) Pogo cover painting by Kelly "Pogo Looks at the Abominable Snowman", from Saturday Review (August 30, 1958) Pogo cover illustration by Kelly Pogo Primer for Parents: TV Division (1961), a public services giveaway booklet distributed by the US HEW Pogo Coloring Book (1964) Treasure Books (different from the 1953 book of the same name) Pogo: Welcome to the Beginning (1965), a public services giveaway pamphlet distributed by the Neighborhood Youth Corps Pogo: Bienvenidos al Comienzo (1965), Spanish-language version of the above title "The Pogofenokee Swamp" from Jack and Jill (May 1969) The Okefenokee Star (1977–1982), a privately published fanzine devoted to Walt Kelly and Pogo The Comics Journal No. 140 (Feb. 1991) Special Walt Kelly Issue "Al Capp and Walt Kelly: Pioneers of Political and Social Satire in the Comics" by Kalman Goldstein, from The Journal of Popular Culture; Vol. 25, Issue 4 (Spring 1992) Music and recordings Songs of the Pogo (1956): A vinyl LP collecting 18 of Kelly's verses (most of which had previously appeared in Pogo books) set to music by both Kelly and orchestra leader Norman Monath. While professional singers (including Bob McGrath, later famous as "Bob" on the children's television show Sesame Street) provided most of the vocals on the album, Kelly himself contributed lead vocals on "Go Go Pogo" (for which he also composed the music) and "Lines Upon a Tranquil Brow", as well as a spoken portion for "Man's Best Friend". Mike Stewart, who was later known for singing the theme song of Bat Masterson, sang "Whence that Wince", "Evidence" and "Whither the Starling". A "sampler" from Songs of the Pogo was issued on vinyl 45 at the same time. The three-track record included "Go Go Pogo" and "Lines Upon a Tranquil Brow" sung by Walt Kelly, and "Don't Sugar Me" sung by Fia Karin with "orchestra and chorus under the direction of Jimmy Carroll". The recording was issued by Simon and Schuster, with only ASCAP 100A and B as recording numbers. The Firehouse Five Plus 2 Goes South (1956): LP, with liner notes and back album sleeve illustration by Walt Kelly. (Good Time Jazz) Jingle Bell Jazz, (Columbia LP CS 8693, issued October 17, 1962, reissued as Harmony KH-32529 on September 28, 1973, with one substitution; The Harmony issue was reissued as Columbia Jazz Odyssey Stereo LP PC 36803), a collection of a dozen jazz Christmas songs by different performers, includes "Deck Us All with Boston Charlie" recorded on May 4, 1961, by Lambert, Hendricks, & Ross with the Ike Isaacs Trio. The recording features a center section of Jon Hendricks scatting to the melody, with Kelly's lyrics sung as introduction and close. NO! with Pogo (1969): 45 rpm record for children, narrated and sung by "P. T. Bridgeport" (Kelly) with The Carillon Singers; came with a color storybook illustrated by Kelly. (Columbia Book & Record Library/Lancelot Press) CAN'T! with Pogo (1969): 45 rpm record for children, same credits as above. The Comics Journal Interview CD (2002): Contains 15–20-minute excerpts with five of the most influential cartoonists in the American comics industry: Charles Schulz, Jack Kirby, Walt Kelly (interviewed by Gil Kane in 1969) and R. Crumb. From the liner notes: "Hear these cartoonists in their own words, discussing the craft that made them famous" (Fantagraphics). Songs of the Pogo was released on CD in 2004 by Reaction Records (Urbana, Illinois), including previously unreleased material. Animation and puppetry Three animated cartoons were created to date based on Pogo: The Pogo Special Birthday Special[37] was produced and directed by animator Chuck Jones in honor of the strip's 20th anniversary in 1969. It starred June Foray as the voice of both Pogo and Hepzibah, with Kelly and Jones contributing voice work as well.[38] The critical consensus is that the special, which first aired on NBC-TV on May 18, 1969, failed to capture the charm of the comic strip. Kelly was not pleased with the results, and it was generally disliked by critics and fans of the comic strip.[1] Walt and Selby Kelly themselves wrote and animated We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us in 1970, largely due to Kelly's dissatisfaction with the Birthday Special. The short, with its anti-pollution message, was animated and colored by hand. While the project went unfinished due to Kelly's ill health, the storyboards for the cartoon helped form the first half of the book of the same title. The theatrical, feature-length motion picture I Go Pogo (a.k.a. Pogo for President[39]) was released in late August 1980. Directed by Marc Paul Chinoy, this stop motion animated feature starred the voices of Skip Hinnant as Pogo; Ruth Buzzi as Miz Beaver and Hepzibah; Stan Freberg as Albert; Arnold Stang as Churchy; Jonathan Winters as Porky, Mole, and Wiley Catt; Kelly's friend, New York journalist Jimmy Breslin as P. T. Bridgeport; and Vincent Price as the Deacon.[40] The Birthday Special and I Go Pogo were released on home video throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The Birthday Special was released on VHS by MGM/UA Home Video in 1986 and they alongside Turner Entertainment released it on VHS again on August 1, 1992. I Go Pogo was handled by Fotomat for its original VHS and Betamax release in September 1980. HBO premiered a re-cut version of the film in October 1982, with added narration by Len Maxwell; this version would continue to air on HBO for some time, and then on other cable movie stations like Cinemax, TMC, and Showtime, until around February 1991. Walt Disney Home Video released a similar cut of the film in 1984, with some deleted scenes added/restored. This version of the film was released on VHS again on December 4, 1989, by Walt Disney Home Video and United American Video to the "sell through" home video market. As of 2019, there's still no word of Warner Archive planning to release Birthday Special on DVD. That special (along with I Go Pogo) have never officially been made available on DVD. Selby Kelly had been selling specially packaged DVDs of We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us prior to her death, but it is unknown whether or not further copies will be available. Licensing and promotion Pogo also branched out from the comic pages into consumer products—including TV sponsor tie-ins to the Birthday Special—although not nearly to the degree of other contemporary comic strips, such as Peanuts. Selby Kelly has attributed the comparative paucity of licensed material to Kelly's pickiness about the quality of merchandise attached to his characters. 1951: Special Delivery Pogo, a 16-page promotional mailer from the Post-Hall Syndicate, designed to spark interest and boost circulation of the new strip. 1952: "I Go Pogo" tin litho lapel pinback. Approx. 1 inch in diameter, with Pogo's face on a yellow background; issued as a promotional giveaway during the 1952 presidential election. 1954: Walt Kelly's Pogo Mobile (issued by Simon and Schuster) was a 22-piece hanging mobile, die-cut from heavy cardboard in bright colors. Came unassembled, and included Pogo on a cow jumping over a crescent-shaped Swiss cheese moon, with Okefenokee characters sitting on the moon or in a filigreed frame. 1959: Rare porcelain figurine of a sitting Pogo, with a bird in a nest atop his head; made in Ireland by Wade Ceramics Ltd. 1968: Set of 30 celluloid pinback buttons, quite rare. Approx. 1.75 inches in diameter, issued during the 1968 presidential elections. 1968: Set of 10 color character decals, very rare; coincided with the set of election pinbacks 1968: Poynter Products of Ohio issued a set of six plastic figures (now very rare) with glued-on artificial fur: Pogo, Albert, Beauregard, Churchy, Howland and Hepzibah. The figures displeased Kelly, but are highly sought-after by fans. 1969: Six vinyl giveaway figures of Pogo, Albert, Beauregard, Churchy, Howland and Porkypine, packaged with Procter & Gamble soap products (Spic and Span, Top Job, etc.) as a tie-in with the Pogo animated TV special. Also known as the Oxydol figures, they are fairly common and easy to find. Walt Kelly was not satisfied with the initial sculpting, and—using plasticine clay—resculpted them himself.[41] 1969: Six plastic giveaway cups with full-color character decals of Pogo, Albert, Beauregard, Churchy, Howland and Porkypine, coincided with the Oxydol figures. 1969: Pogo Halloween costume, manufactured by Ben Cooper. 1980: View-Master I Go Pogo set, 3 reels & booklet, GAF 2002: Dark Horse Comics issued two limited edition figures of Pogo and Albert as part of their line of Classic Comic Characters—statues No. 24 and No. 25, respectively. Book collections and reprints Simon & Schuster Pogo books Simon & Schuster published a long series of Pogo books beginning in 1951. S&S editor Peter Schwed writes, "The first collection of Pogo comic strips burst upon the world in 1951 as the result of [editor] Jack Goodman's insistence that there should be such a book for those who could not afford a daily newspaper, particularly since it was the only thing in the newspapers worth reading... Pogo was the comic strip of the nation and the many books that were published before Walt died each sold in the hundreds of thousands of copies."[29] Simon & Schuster published 33 Pogo books between 1951 and 1972, often publishing two or three books a year. In addition to strip reprints, Kelly also published books of original material, including Uncle Pogo So-So Stories, The Pogo Stepmother Goose and Songs of the Pogo.[42] All titles are by Walt Kelly: Pogo (1951) I Go Pogo (1952) Uncle Pogo So-So Stories (1953) The Pogo Papers (1953) The Pogo Stepmother Goose (1954) The Incompleat Pogo (1954) The Pogo Peek-A-Book (1955) Potluck Pogo (1955) The Pogo Sunday Book (1956) The Pogo Party (1956) Songs of the Pogo (1956) Pogo's Sunday Punch (1957) Positively Pogo (1957) The Pogo Sunday Parade (1958) G.O. Fizzickle Pogo (1958) Ten Ever-Lovin', Blue-Eyed Years with Pogo (1959) The Pogo Sunday Brunch (1959) Pogo Extra (Election Special) (1960) Beau Pogo (1960) Gone Pogo (1961) Pogo à la Sundae (1961) Instant Pogo (1962) The Jack Acid Society Black Book (1962) Pogo Puce Stamp Catalog (1963) Deck Us All with Boston Charlie (1963) The Return of Pogo (1965) The Pogo Poop Book (1966) Prehysterical Pogo (in Pandemonia) (1967) Equal Time for Pogo (1968) Pogo: Prisoner of Love (1969) Impollutable Pogo (1970) Pogo: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us (1972) Ten Ever Lovin' Blue Eyed Years with Pogo 1949-1959 (1972) Pogo Revisited (1974), a compilation of Instant Pogo, The Jack Acid Society Black Book and The Pogo Poop Book Pogo Re-Runs (1974), a compilation of I Go Pogo, The Pogo Party and Pogo Extra (Election Special) Pogo Romances Recaptured (1975), a compilation of Pogo: Prisoner of Love and The Incompleat Pogo Pogo's Bats and the Belles Free (1976) Pogo's Body Politic (1976) A Pogo Panorama (1977), a compilation of The Pogo Stepmother Goose, The Pogo Peek-A-Book and Uncle Pogo So-So Stories Pogo's Double Sundae (1978), a compilation of The Pogo Sunday Parade and The Pogo Sunday Brunch Pogo's Will Be That Was (1979), a compilation of G.O. Fizzickle Pogo and Positively Pogo The Best of Pogo (1982) Pogo Even Better (1984) Outrageously Pogo (1985) Pluperfect Pogo (1987) Phi Beta Pogo (1989) Pogo books released by other publishers All titles are by Walt Kelly unless otherwise noted: Pogo for President: Selections from I Go Pogo (Crest Books, 1964) The Pogo Candidature by Walt Kelly and Selby Kelly (Sheed, Andrews & McMeel, 1976) Ten S&S volumes were reprinted in hardcover (Gregg Press, 1977): Pogo, I Go Pogo, Uncle Pogo So-So Stories, The Pogo Papers, The Pogo Stepmother Goose, The Incompleat Pogo, The Pogo Peek-A-Book, Potluck Pogo, Gone Pogo, and Pogo à la Sundae. Bound in brown cloth, with the individual titles and an "I Go Pogo" logo stamped in gold. The dust jackets are facsimiles of the original Simon & Schuster covers, with an image of Walt Kelly reproduced on the back. The Walt Kelly Collector's Guide by Steve Thompson (Spring Hollow Books, 1988) The Complete Pogo Comics: Pogo & Albert (Eclipse Comics, 1989–1990) 4 volumes (reprints of pre-strip comic book stories, unfinished) Pogo Files for Pogophiles by Selby Daly Kelly and Steve Thompson, eds. (Spring Hollow Books, 1992) Ten more S&S volumes reprinted in hardcover (Jonas/Winter Inc., 1995): The Pogo Sunday Book, Pogo's Sunday Punch, Beau Pogo, Pogo Puce Stamp Catalog, Deck Us All with Boston Charlie, The Return of Pogo, Prehysterical Pogo (in Pandemonia), Equal Time for Pogo, Impollutable Pogo, and Pogo: We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us. Bound in navy blue cloth, with the individual titles and a "Pogo Collectors Edition" logo stamped in gold. Issued without dust jackets. Pogo (Fantagraphics Books, 1994–2000) 11 volumes (reprints first 5½ years of daily strips) The Pogopedia by Nik Lauer, et al. (Spring Hollow Books, 2001) We Go Pogo: Walt Kelly, Politics, and American Satire by Kerry D. Soper (University Press of Mississippi, 2012) Much Ado: The POGOfenokee Trivia Book, Mark Burstein, Eclipse Books, 1988, ISBN 1-56060-025-X. Walt Kelly's Pogo: The Complete Dell Comics (Hermes Press, 2013–2018) 6 volumes (reprints of pre-strip comic book stories) Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips In February 2007, Fantagraphics Books announced the publication of a projected 12-volume hardcover series collecting the complete chronological run of daily and full-color Sunday syndicated Pogo strips. The series began in 2011 under the title: Pogo: The Complete Syndicated Comic Strips. A long-running (1948–75, plus a 1989–93 revival) daily Newspaper Comic that starred Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator, Churchy La Femme, Howland Owl, Porky Pine, Beauregard Bugleboy, Miz Mam'selle Hepzibah, Miz Beaver, and sundry other talking animals residing in Georgia's Okeefenokee Swamp. Early versions of Pogo and Albert (alongside a quickly-phased-out human protagonist named Bumbazine) were regulars in Dell's Animal Comics starting with its very first issue in 1942, but within a few years the characters had moved to the newspapers, and Pogo soon established itself as one of the all-time comic strip classics. Creator Walt Kelly (1913–1973), a former Disney animator, filled his strip with dozens — actually, hundreds — of characters, all of them with distinct personalities, motivations and goals that would frequently collide. Kelly's ear for dialect and language, in addition to his skill with nonsense poetry, has been compared to that of Mark Twain and Ogden Nash. While superficially a silly comic strip about funny animals, it was also a satire — subtle and, well, not — about modern times, and frequently delved into politics — so much so that Pogo often found itself the target of criticism and censorship. In such cases, Kelly often responded in kind; for instance, by placing a paper bag over the head of a controversial character (based on Senator Joseph McCarthy) when a newspaper said that they would drop the strip if his face ever appeared again. Later, he would create "fluffy bunny" versions of his daily strips, featuring rabbit characters engaged in harmless gags, whose real purpose was to inform readers that their local newspaper was censoring its comics page. Charming, clever, occasionally subversive, and surprisingly warm-hearted even at its most vicious, Pogo was The Office of its day... if The Office had a much larger cast, the writers of The Colbert Report, the trenchant wit of H. L. Mencken, and the idealism of Jon Stewart. Its influence on modern cartooning cannot be overestimated. Bill Watterson (Calvin and Hobbes), Berkeley Breathed (Bloom County), Jeff Smith (Bone), Garry Trudeau (Doonesbury), Frank Cho (Liberty Meadows), Dana Simpson (Ozy and Millie), and Bill Holbrook (Kevin & Kell) have all cited it as inspiration, as did the late Jim Henson (The Muppet Show). This comic strip provides examples of: Adapted Out: Beauregard Bugleboy is notably absent from the 1980 animated film I Go Pogo. Alliterative Name: Pogo Possum, Albert Alligator, numerous other characters. Alliterative Title: Several of the book collections: Potluck Pogo, Positively Pogo, Pluperfect Pogo, etc. Animated Adaptation: The Pogo Special Birthday Special (1969), animated by Chuck Jones; We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us (1970), a short film animated by Kelly himself; and I Go Pogo (1980), a feature-length Stop Motion film by the Chiodo Brothers. Anthropomorphic Shift: Varying amounts for different characters — Hepzibah, for instance, got a flatter face and longer legs over time. Art Evolution: Again, varies by the character, but the biggest changes occurred in the strip's New York Star run prior to national syndication. Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: It's a pandemic condition in the Okeefenokee. Author Tract: By the end of its run, Pogo was pretty much the liberal equivalent of Li'l Abner. Baby Language: Grundoon, the ridiculously cute baby woodchuck, speaks only in random consonants like "GNBX" and "SVMPS." Barefoot Cartoon Animal: P.T. Bridgeport evolved into this archetype with a full barker's suit and white spats on his paws. Other characters that apply to this include feline hillbilly heavy Wiley Catt and his cousin Simple J. Malarkey. The Barnum: P. T. Bridgeport, as evidenced by his name and old-time circus poster dialogue-font. Blind Mistake: Mole MacAroney claims to be a bird expert, but is clearly blind and keeps misidentifying everyone as a migratory bird, even the ones that aren't birds at all. Cannot Tell a Joke: Porky Pine has no sense of humor, so when someone tells him a joke, he never gets why it was funny. He then tries to retell it as best he can remember it... Porky: This is a humorous anecdote. A goat lost his nose — the first man says, "What will he smell with now?" The other replies, "As bad as ever." Haw haw haw? (Pogo and Albert look at him indifferently) Porky: One would think that the employees of a comic strip would have a sense of humor. Carnivore Confusion: The animals swing between having a fairly relaxed attitude towards carnivorism and treating it as cannibalism. In the comic's earlier days, Albert would sometimes swallow other animals by mistake (they were usually saved at the end) or be accused of eating whoever was missing at the time. The villains of the strip were more obviously carnivorous. Censorship by Spelling: Pogo uses it to talk to Albert without Pup-Dog understanding. Too bad Albert can't spell either. Cerebus Rollercoaster: No matter what wacky hijinks were going on in the swamp, everybody would stop on November 11th of each year in honor of Veterans' Day. Owl: [A minute of silence] seems backward - we oughter spend the rest of the year silent, thinkin' what we should say during this minute. Cerebus Syndrome: The strip always had a satirical bent, but got a lot more political as time went on. By the end it was basically Doonesbury with talking animals. Characterization Marches On: In the early days, before the strip was nationally syndicated, Pogo was the stupidest cast member and was easily taken advantage of by the other characters. He was also a lot more jerkish and could get directly mean sometimes. Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: The ridiculously cute Pup-Dog disappeared from the strip without explanation in the mid-1950s. Cigar Chomper: Albert Cloudcuckoolander: Most of the characters have their moments of this, but none more than Churchy La Femme. Comically Missing the Point: Anyone and everyone — If anything is at all possible to misunderstand, someone in the swamp will misunderstand it. Continuity Drift: Kelly tended to go with what was funny, not consistent. One specific example is exactly how well the various swamp denizens are able to read; a particular character can go from being completely illiterate to quoting the classics and back again. Convicted by Public Opinion: Parodied in an early storyline when the Pup-Dog disappears and Albert is accused of eating him; he is saved only by the Pup-Dog's eventual return, and some of the old townsfolk still insist he was guilty and a great injustice has been done by letting him go free. Creator Career Self-Deprecation: One exchange goes as follows: Albert: I'm showing you how to become a famous cartoonist... first, you thinks of a catchy name... then you sits down an' writes half-a-dozen-jokes... Pogo: S'pose you can't think of any jokes? Albert: No drawback... you mere swipes 'em from your pals... actually, if you can't get up anything funny, then you gotta learn to draw guns and/or girls! Pogo: S'posin' you can't draw? Albert: No drawback! You makes cartoon animals that talk. Cunning Like a Fox: Seminole Sam, generally a con-man. Deadpan Snarker: Porky Pine. Deep South / Sweet Home Alabama: A bit of a see-saw. The cast is poverty-stricken and ignorant; on the other hand they're also kind-hearted, generous and hospitable. (Albert's even generous with other peoples' stuff and hospitable with other peoples' houses.) Dork Horse Candidate: Pogo Possum, against his will, ran for president on three occasions; a write-in campaign in the real world attracted a surprising amount of support. Early-Installment Weirdness: The earliest appearances of Pogo were standard-issue Funny Animal comics, with none of the razor sharp wit or satire that the series became known for. In the Dell comics, Pogo himself looked much more like an opossum (with grey fur, no less), and he was merely Bumbazine's sidekick, and Albert was overtly (if harmlessly) villainous, usually more annoying than aggressive. Equal-Opportunity Offender: While Kelly leaned politically left, nobody was safe from his satire. During the 1968 presidential elections, he lampooned many of the candidates (Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, Eugene McCarthy, etc) as well as the outgoing president Lyndon Johnson. Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Miss Ma'm'selle Hepzibah, the designated object-of-every-male's-affection, speaks in a heavy accent with occasional French words peppered throughout (often with no regard to what they mean). Exposed Animal Bellybutton: Mainly Pogo. Extreme Omnivore: Albert once ate half a kettle of tar on the assumption that somebody had made licorice. Other characters have made odd dietary choices too. Fictionary: "Swamp-speak", based on U.S. Southern dialect, with many made-up words. Many, many. Kelly was a master of nonsense verse, and had absolutely no shame in using his skill at the drop of a hat. These included malaprops, spoonerisms, and good ol'-fashioned American gibberish. Examples include rhiknockwurst (a large gray African herbivore), Walla Wallanote  (a place-holder for the surprisingly-frequent occasions on which the characters forget the words to the song they're rehearsing), rackety coon (local swamp residents who have black masks and banded tails) and rowrbazzle (an exclamation of disbelief and/or disdain.) Foreign-Looking Font: A job- rather than country-specific variation, for P.T. Bridgeport and Deacon Muskrat. Funetik Aksent: The bits that weren't made up. The 'per-loo' they made out of everything (including squirrels—inside adding to the flavour) is in some areas spelled 'pilaf'. There are even characters whose names are Funetik Aksent examples - Churchy La Femme being the foremost. Funny Animal: All characters qualified, with varying degrees of anthropomorphism. Gonk: If it wasn't clear what Kelly's politics were, Simple J. Malarkey is by far the ugliest character in the strip— not that his model was exactly a come-hither ravishing beauty. Green Aesop: Pogo was one of the first environmentally aware strips. But then again, they do all live in wetlands. Pogo: We have met the enemy, and he is us. Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Pogo with his signature striped shirt, Barnstable Bear with his checkered hat and slacks, and Deacon Mushrat with his country preacher outfit, among others. Ma'm'selle Hepzibah is a borderline case, wearing a skirt that qualifies as more of an accessory. The Heart: Pogo, as you might guess from the fact that the strip is named after him. He is a kind, uncomplicated character, less foolish and not as easily distracted as his neighbors. Generally. Humanlike Foot Anatomy: For most of the cast (Owl, Miz Hepzibah and Houn' Dog being the foremost exceptions). In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: The 1989–93 revival strip was called Walt Kelly's Pogo, although Kelly himself (who'd died in 1973, even before the original strip ended its run) had nothing at all to do with it.note  Informed Species: Pogo looks more like a monkey than a possum. Insane Troll Logic: Par for the course. For example, when Albert is on trial for eating Pup-Dog, Seminole Sam notes that Pup-Dog was fond of water, "jus' like a fish," and produces a fish skeleton that he claims is Pup-Dog's. Porky refutes him by noting that it's a catfish skeleton. Seminole Sam: Well, is you ever seen the Pup-dog's skeleton when he was alive? Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Played With in the case of Porky Pine. He is capable of acts of kindness, but he does so in a pretty taciturn manner. Porkypine: I dislikes most folks. But I dislikes you less than I dislikes folks what dislikes you less than they dislikes gossip. So I'll go alongside of you. Albert can get really jerkish and is really soft-hearted. Knight of Cerebus: Simple J. Malarkey, both in the sense that he's an antagonist who lacks any of the silliness of previous villains and has seemingly no compunction about attempting to kill the protagonists, and in the sense that his identity as an expy of Joseph McCarthy signaled the movement of the strip into addressing much more controversial political subject matters. Large Ham: P.T. Bridgeport (the P.T. Barnum expy) is such an example of this that his word balloons are even lettered in old-school circus advertising type. Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Alan Moore had space aliens that bore a striking resemblance appear in an issue of Swamp Thing. Lighter and Softer: Kelly would occasionally produce alternate strips (which he called the "fluffy bunny strips") with "safer" gags that more timid newspaper editors could run when the regular strips got too political. Although the 'bunny strips' increased his already-formidable daily workload, he was willing to pay that price to express himself. The First Amendment prevented him from getting sued, but he had a lot of very nervous newspaper editors to pacify. Because more children tended to read the Sunday color comics, Kelly usually made them less satirical and more kid-friendly than the daily strips. The Magic Poker Equation: Parodied with the three bats. Six aces tended to be a losing hand. The Man in the Mirror Talks Back: Subverted. It looks like Porkypine's reflection is talking back to him, but it's actually a bug hiding behind his mirror playing a prank on him. Medium Awareness: The characters would occasionally acknowledge that they were in a comic, either by answering mail from readers or otherwise making references to their status as comic book characters by (among other things) complaining that the comic wasn't funny enough or remarking that the punchline for today's strip was in the wrong panel. One famous strip even has Albert explaining to Bear how the modern comic strip works ... by pointing to features in their own strip. The same gag popped up when Porkypine was trying to break into cartooning. Albert: ...And down here we have the date of the comical strip. Porky: Indisputably droll. Albert, Churchy, and others are known to lean on or against the comic border for support—and Albert even lights matches by striking them against the borders. Mondegreen Gag: Every Christmas the strip would have the characters sing a mangled version of "Deck the Halls", which famously begins with "Deck us all with Boston Charlie..." Never Heard That One Before: A few strips had a ladybug who was tired of always being told to "fly away home." Never Learned to Read: Sometimes made the subject of a gag, with various characters trying to bluff their way through "reading" something. (Although as noted above, the actual literacy rate of the swamp varied wildly from strip to strip.) Never Smile at a Crocodile: Albert has quite the appetite, but with a few exceptions in the early days, the only times anyone ends up inside him are by accident or because someone tricked them into thinking his cavernous maw was a house. Nice Guy: In addition to being the Only Sane Man of the strip, Pogo is also a genuinely good guy without many vices. Walt Kelly referred to him as the glue that held the strip together. No Celebrities Were Harmed: Simple J. Malarkey was Senator Joseph McCarthy as a bobcat. In this case, though, the intent was pretty obviously not "not harming" the celebrity in question; the Jack Acid Society storyline was one of the most savage indictments of a politician in comics since Thomas Nast took on Tammany Hall. One-Steve Limit: The reason why Walt Kelly sued the band Poco, which originally had the same name as the strip. Only Sane Man: Pogo and Porky Pine were frequently the only two sane characters in an environment where, e.g., a rabbit can be celebrating all known holidays at the start of the year to save time, an owl and a turtle might develop advertising slogans for dirt ("D as in dirt! I as in dirt! R as in dirt! T as in orange pekoe!") while, at the same time, an alligator is plotting to make his fortune and retire to the Sunny Bermoothies ("Land of the onion and the eel!") by ordering a million boxes of dirt with a penny-a-box discount, and then return the boxes. Sanity is very definitely an optional extra in the swamp. The Owl-Knowing One: Gloriously subverted and parodied with Howland Owl, who thinks he's a genius and is repeatedly shown to be an enormous fool even by Okeefenokee standards. Painting the Medium: P.T. Bridgeport and Deacon Muskrat speak in stylized fonts. Poor Communication Kills: One of the most prominent recurring themes in the comic. Nobody ever seems to quite understand what anyone else is talking about — the villains of the comic often try (and sometimes succeed) to use all the misunderstandings to their advantage. Punny Name: Oh so many. Starting with Churchy La Femme. Ridiculously Cute Critter: And how! Even the bugs are adorable in this strip. Satire/Parody/Pastiche: Pogo is the very definition of satire. Scenery Porn: The comic had some beautiful backgrounds at times, particularly in the Sunday strips. Self-Deprecation: On one strip, Albert is reading the comics and thinks "this dog bone thing called Poggo is jes about incompreehensibule." Ship Tease: Pogo and Hepzibah show mutual attraction. Signature Line: "We have met the enemy, and he is us." Sinister Minister: Deacon Muskrat, the only character among the main cast This example contains a TRIVIA entry. It should be moved to the TRIVIA tab.Kelly described as genuinely evil. Smelly Skunk: Averted. Hepzibah is never shown using her spray; the one time she resorts to long-distance discouragement, it's the more traditional rock salt shotgun round. Species Surname: Almost all the animals have this, and quite often they're even called by their species (for example, Churchy La Femme is often simply called "Turtle" and Beauregard is called "Houn' Dog") The exceptions are Pogo and Albert, who are always called exactly that. Strawman Political: Dozens of short-term visitors to the swamp were thinly-veiled caricatures of politicians of the day. Talking Animal: The ones that aren't Funny Animals. Tar and Feathers: Simple J. Malarkey tries to have everyone tarred and feathered so they can be classified as migratory birds and be run out of the country. Deacon Muskrat turns the tables on him. Terrified of Germs: Mole in his first appearance is spraying disinfectant from a Cartoon Bug-Sprayer on everyone he meets, worried about "germs of every nation" polluting the country. Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Most female swamp critters wear bonnets and/or aprons, and Hepzibah wears a skirt. Lampshaded in an early strip in which Miz Hop Frog fools Pogo into thinking she's Mister Hop Frog simply by removing her apron. Too Dumb to Fool: The gullible, ignorant swamp folk were prone to accidental Logic Bomb situations that would leave the swindler as confused as his victims. The Trickster: Seminole Sam, the slick-talking fox, was always out to separate the Okeefenokee folks from their money. This example contains a YMMV entry. It should be moved to the YMMV tab.(They have money?) Over the decades he tried just about every scam imaginable - dirt in a box ("you can't wash clothes unless you have dirt!"), magic elixir ("Made of pure H20!"), admission to invisible or impossible things ("The U.S. Constitution engraved on the point of a pin!"), and more. At one point he swapped Albert, who'd fallen asleep, to some passing church-mice for their boat, claiming Albert was a "tumbled-down church." Sometimes he got his comeuppance, sometimes he didn't, and sometimes he and the rest of the characters got sidetracked by a fresh face, the resurfacing of an old plot, or the World Series. True Companions: The swamp critters are all one big family, especially around Christmas time. Unusual Euphemism: "Rowrbazzle", among others. Taking the unusual euphemisms out of the strip would probably reduce the amount of text by 90%, and the remaining would probably be articles and the occasional conjunction. World of Ham: Almost every character loves the sound of their own voice, with the exception of a few mute characters, Porky the Deadpan Snarker, and Pogo himself. Workaholic: Walt Kelly basically worked himself to death trying to keep up with all his self-selected projects. Pogo, popular 20th-century American comic-strip character, a cartoon possum who was the main actor in an often politically charged daily newspaper strip of the same name. Pogo Possum represented Everyman, though he was a classic comedic straight man among the denizens of Okefenokee Swamp, a community outside of Waycross, Georgia. Although he was harmless and mild mannered, he could not avoid continually being drawn into the hare-brained schemes of his cigar-smoking friend, Albert Alligator; the swamp’s self-proclaimed bespectacled intellectual, Dr. Howland Owl; and others. Perhaps most notably, on several occasions he was pressured by his friends to run for president of the United States. Created by cartoonist Walt Kelly, Pogo first appeared in 1941 in the Dell Comics’ anthology Animal Comics. For several years his standing was equal or subordinate to that of Albert Alligator. In 1948, however, Kelly created a newspaper comic strip around the possum, and the following year Pogo received his own ongoing Dell title. Although the comic books always hewed to clever but gentle “funny animals” storytelling, the newspaper strip soon began to venture into political satire. Among Kelly’s many targets were communist-hunting U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy, the ultra-conservative John Birch Society, and presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Kelly produced the Pogo strip, as well as a number of original stories for bookshelf volumes, until his death in 1973, after which his wife, Selby, carried on the feature for a brief time. A short-lived revival with new writers in the late 1980s failed to rekindle the enthusiasm of Kelly’s original, which had achieved a rare combination of critical acclaim and popularity among readers. This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper. Walt Kelly Table of Contents Introduction Fast Facts Facts & Related Content Quotes Quizzes Pop Culture Quiz More More Articles On This Topic Contributors Article History Related Biographies Miller, Frank Frank Miller American writer and artist Garry Trudeau Garry Trudeau American satirist The Simpsons Matt Groening American cartoonist and animator Jules Feiffer Jules Feiffer American cartoonist and writer See All Home Visual Arts Graphic Art Walt Kelly American cartoonist      Also known as: Walter Crawford Kelly Written and fact-checked by  Last Updated: Article History Born: August 25, 1913 Philadelphia Pennsylvania Died: October 18, 1973 (aged 60) Los Angeles California Walt Kelly, byname of Walter Crawford Kelly, (born Aug. 25, 1913, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died Oct. 18, 1973, Los Angeles, Calif.), American creator of the comic strip “Pogo,” which was noted for its sophisticated humour, gentle whimsy, and occasional pointed political satire. In 1935 Kelly went to Hollywood, where he did animation drawings for Walt Disney Productions. During the 1940s he was active as a commercial artist in New York City, one of his projects being a comic book in which the character Pogo appeared about 1943. His great opportunity came in 1948 with the publication of the short-lived New York Star, for which he did the daily comic strip “Pogo,” based on the character he had created earlier. After the Star ceased publication in January 1949, “Pogo” was carried by the New York Post and, before long, by many other papers. USA 2006 - 78th Annual Academy Awards. Closeup of giant Oscar statue at the entrance of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, film movie hollywood Britannica Quiz Pop Culture Quiz The characters in “Pogo” are animals who live in Okefenokee Swamp, in Georgia. Pogo himself is a self-effacing possum. Other characters were Howland Owl, Albert the Alligator, and Churchy LaFemme, a turtle. The strip was exceptionally well-drawn, and the text material was witty and highly literate. Kelly frequently included animal characters that closely resembled prominent political figures of the day. Beginning with Pogo (1951) there have been many collections of Kelly’s strips, compiled both from newspapers and from original creations. cartoon Table of Contents Introduction Fast Facts Related Content Quizzes Pop Culture Quiz Saturday Morning Cartoons and More Media Images More More Articles On This Topic Contributors Article History Home Visual Arts Graphic Art cartoon graphic art      Written and fact-checked by  Last Updated: May 11, 2023 • Article History Key People: Honoré Daumier William Hogarth Walt Disney Frank Tashlin Rudolf Bauer Related Topics: comic strip caricature and cartoon political cartoon caricature de moeurs Editorial Cartooning Recent News May 11, 2023, 6:54 AM ET (AP) Hong Kong newspaper to stop publishing drawings by prominent cartoonist after government complaints A Hong Kong newspaper will stop publishing drawings by the city’s most prominent political cartoonist after they drew government complaints cartoon, originally, and still, a full-size sketch or drawing used as a pattern for a tapestry, painting, mosaic, or other graphic art form, but also, since the early 1840s, a pictorial parody utilizing caricature, satire, and usually humour. Cartoons are used today primarily for conveying political commentary and editorial opinion in newspapers and for social comedy and visual wit in magazines. A brief account of cartoons follows. For full treatment, see Caricature, Cartoon, and Comic Strip; for animated-motion-picture cartoons, see Motion Pictures: Animation. Fantasia (1940) Lobby card with Mickey Mouse in a scene from The Sorcerer's Apprentice segment from the animated film by Walt Disney. animated movie See NOTES Britannica Quiz Saturday Morning Cartoons and More While the caricaturist deals primarily with personal and political satire, the cartoonist treats types and groups in comedies of manners. Though William Hogarth had a few predecessors, it was his social satires and depictions of human foibles that later cartoons were judged against. Honoré Daumier anticipated the 20th-century cartoon’s balloon-enclosed speech by indicating in texts accompanying his cartoons the characters’ unspoken thoughts. Hogarth’s engravings and Daumier’s lithographs were fairly complete documentaries on the London and Paris of their times. Thomas Rowlandson lampooned the ludicrous behaviour of a whole series of social types, including “Dr. Syntax,” which may well be the grandfather of the later comic strips. Rowlandson was followed by George Cruikshank, a whole dynasty of Punch artists who humorously commented on the passing world, Edward Lear, Thomas Nast, Charles Dana Gibson, and “Spy” (Leslie Ward) and “Ape” (Carlo Pellegrini), the two main cartoonists of Vanity Fair magazine. In the 20th century the one-line joke, or single-panel gag, and the pictorial joke without words matured and a huge diversity of drawing styles proliferated. The influence of The New Yorker magazine spread to other publications worldwide. The new cartoonists included James Thurber, Charles Addams, Saul Steinberg, Peter Arno, and William Hamilton of the United States and Gerard Hoffnung, Fougasse, Anton, and Emett Rowland of England. A Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning was established in 1922, and a Sigma Delta Chi Award for editorial cartooning was awarded annually after 1942; such cartoonists as Jacob Burck, Herblock, Bill Mauldin, and Rube Goldberg won both. Carl Giles was honoured with the Order of the British Empire in 1959 for his achievements in editorial cartooning. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. comic strip Table of Contents Introduction A definition of terms The origins of the comic strip The 19th century The first half of the 20th century: the evolution of the form The second half of the 20th century and beyond: adolescence and maturation The comics industry Fast Facts comic strip summary Related Content Quizzes Marvel or DC? Pop Culture Quiz Media Videos Images More More Articles On This Topic Additional Reading Contributors Article History Home Visual Arts Graphic Art comic strip     Written by  Fact-checked by  Last Updated: May 23, 2023 • Article History King, Frank: Gasoline Alley King, Frank: Gasoline Alley See all media Key People: Gary Larson Art Spiegelman Jack Kirby Stan Lee Winsor McCay Related Topics: superhero supervillain animation cartoon manga Recent News May 23, 2023, 11:02 AM ET (AP) From Xerox to TV box, long awaited adaptation of 'American Born Chinese' book hits Disney+ Gene Luen Yang was initially excited when Hollywood showed interest in his graphic novel "American Born Chinese", but his enthusiasm quickly faded when he realized they had misunderstood the book's message. comic strip, series of adjacent drawn images, usually arranged horizontally, that are designed to be read as a narrative or a chronological sequence. The story is usually original in this form. Words may be introduced within or near each image, or they may be dispensed with altogether. If words functionally dominate the image, it then becomes merely illustration to a text. The comic strip is essentially a mass medium, printed in a magazine, a newspaper, or a book. The definition of comic strip as essentially containing text inscribed within “balloons” inside the picture frame aspires to a certain orthodoxy in the United States, but it is unworkable and would exclude most strips created before about 1900 and many since. The term graphic novel is now established for the longer and more novel-like coherent story, and the term sequential art is also in use. A definition of terms A comic book is a bound collection of strips, each of which typically tells a single story or a gag (joke) in a few panels or else a segment of a continuous story. Most of the more popular newspaper comic strips eventually are collected over a varying period of time and published in book form. Only in the English language is the word comic used in connection with these strips. Although now firmly established, it is misleading, for the early (pre-19th-century) strip was seldom comic either in form or in content, and many contemporary strips are in no sense primarily humorous. The terms comics and comic strip became established about 1900 in the United States, when all strips were indeed comic. The French term is bande dessinée (i.e., “drawn strip,” or BD for short). The older German term is Bildergeschichte (“picture story”) or Bilderstreifen (“picture strip”), but the Germans now tend to employ the English word, as do speakers of many other languages. The Italian term for this art form is fumetto (literally, “little puff of smoke,” after the balloon within which most modern strips enclose verbal dialogue). In Spanish both the comic strip and book are called historieta. The origins of the comic strip The comic strip, defined as a mass medium, cannot reasonably be said to have existed before the invention of printing. In the early period there were two principal forms: a series of small images printed on a single piece of paper (narrative strip proper) and a series composed of several sheets of paper, with one image per page, which when displayed on the wall of a house formed a narrative frieze or picture story. Publicity still of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Dr. Victor Fries/Mr. Freeze in the 1997 film Batman & Robin, directed by Joel Schumacher. Britannica Quiz Marvel or DC? German broadsheet: “Profanation of the Host by Jews at Passau, 1477” German broadsheet: “Profanation of the Host by Jews at Passau, 1477” From the outset two basic groups of themes emerged: political morality and private morality. Surviving pre-1550 strips, most of which are German woodcuts, deal with such subjects as the lives of saints (subdivided in the manner of late medieval painted altarpieces, which were a decisive factor on the compartmentalized layout of broadsheets), accounts of contemporary miracles, mockery of worldly love, and politically inspired accusations against the Jews. The Reformation and the ensuing wars of religion through the 17th century, particularly in Protestant Germany and the Netherlands, gave rise to many propagandistic and patriotic strips based on contemporary political events. In the course of the 17th century, the narrative strip, hitherto an ill-defined and irregular phenomenon, became stabilized and typically took the form of an allegorical graphic centrepiece surrounded by narrative border strips. Although often crude in style, these strips managed to render accounts of political intrigue and moving descriptions of military terror; the best known in the latter category is the exquisitely executed and carefully cadenced narrative of the Thirty Years’ War by Jacques Callot. Little known, but as powerful in their way, are Romeyn de Hooghe’s indictments of Huguenot persecution under Louis XIV. Romeyn, the first named artist to devote himself consistently to the narrative strip, also left colourful, forceful, and elaborate graphic accounts of the accession of William III to power in the Netherlands and England. English engravers, inspired by the Dutch example and led by Francis Barlow, retailed the complex political events of the period (e.g., the Popish Plot of 1678) in the form of playing cards, which were often sold in uncut broadsheets. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. The earliest strips concerning private morality are German and recount atrocious forms of murder and their public punishment, the emphasis shifting from the latter (in the 16th century) to the former (in the 18th century). The crime strip eventually developed into the more or less exaggerated and romanticized life of the famous brigand, which is the precursor of the early 20th-century detective strip. Narratives based on a wider spectrum of immoral and criminal behaviour took as their point of departure illustrations for the parable of the prodigal son, woodcut versions of which, independent of the biblical text, were first produced by Cornelis Anthonisz of Amsterdam. The riotous living of the prodigal, enriched with elements from illustrations for the seven deadly sins (see deadly sin) and the Ten Commandments, was distilled in various Italian lives of harlots and rakes, the most comprehensive and drastic of which are mid-17th-century Venetian. A generation later the Bolognese artist G.M. Mitelli was giving his narrative and seminarrative satires almost caricatural moral emphasis. German artists in the 17th century specialized in satirically exposing the tyranny of shrewish wives and proposing violent remedies. The Dutch at this time produced expressly for children some frankly farcical strips of primitive design. By the mid-18th century the Russians too were making satirical strips. The various social and moral themes that had been crudely treated in different countries and at different times were the raw material for the English artist William Hogarth, who raised the broadsheet picture story to an aesthetic level that has rarely been surpassed. With a social insight both broad and deep, an unrivaled sense of satirical counterpoint and topicality of reference, and exceptional physiognomic finesse, Hogarth dealt with types from all classes of society. His narrative richness is entirely visual, for he dispensed with all the broadsheet paraphernalia of caption-balloon-legend-commentary, permitting only such inscriptions as could be introduced naturalistically into the scene. Hogarth’s moral attitude was also new: he depicted the follies and the punishment of his protagonists with a measure of sympathy, reserving the full fire of his satire for those who exploit these unfortunates. Among Hogarth’s many followers, two stand out: the German Daniel Chodowiecki, who reduced the Hogarthian picture story to fit within the compass of almanac illustrations, and the Englishman James Northcote, who tried to combine Hogarthian realism with a Neoclassical sentimentality (Diligence and Dissipation, 1796). It was the introduction into the broadsheet of the essentially comic mechanism of caricature that established the “comic strip” as basically comic in both form and content. The major exponents of the caricatural strip during the great age of English caricature (about 1800) were minor artists such as Henry Bunbury, George Woodward, and, notably, Richard Newton, who in his brief career combined elements of Hogarthian satire with the grotesque exaggerations of Thomas Rowlandson and James Gillray. Economy of line, instantaneity of comic effect, and visual and verbal wit now became the hallmark of the strip. With the story concentrated on a single page, backgrounds and narrative incident were minimized in favour of striking facial expressions and silhouetted poses. The 19th century The heir to the experiments of the English caricaturists and the father of the comic strip in its modern sense was Rodolphe Töpffer, a schoolmaster of Geneva who was active in the 1830s and ’40s. Largely exempt from the preoccupations of the English caricaturists, Töpffer created a species of absurdist antiheroes who struggled desperately, fruitlessly, and farcically against the caprices of fate, nature, and an irrational, mechanistic society. The stories (lithographed in little oblong albums containing up to 100 pages) are purposefully purposeless, flow with calculated non sequiturs, and make digression a narrative principle. The pace is sustained by another revolution in draftsmanship, for Töpffer discovered how to turn systematic doodling to account, how to exploit the accident, and how to vary physiognomies experimentally. By abandoning anatomical three-dimensional drawing, he showed how to render movement for movement’s sake. Töpffer’s strips are also morally mobile: in his work the normal relationship between cause and effect or crime and punishment, which had underpinned all the older stories, disintegrated. Töpffer’s satire was broadly based: he mocked social climbing, educational systems, parliamentary chaos, political scaremongering, scientific and medical pretensions, and revolutionary zeal, but his sense of fun and taste for the silly are always uppermost. The French caricaturist Cham (pseudonym of Amédée de Noé) published in the 1840s several albums modeled on Töpffer before choosing a style nearer to that of Honoré Daumier. By this time caricature had settled into satirical periodical journalism. A special place is occupied by illustrator Gustave Doré, who published little Töpfferian albums as a youth and then—in a style of his own—farcical travel tales that culminated in his tremendous Histoire…de la Sainte Russie… (1854). This crudely anti-Russian (Crimean War-era) chronicle used a hodgepodge of picturesque and absurd effects arranged casually or with deliberate incongruity into a loose chronological sequence. Léonce Petit, armed with Töpffer’s lightness of graphic touch but lacking Töpffer’s imaginative flair, specialized in caption-heavy novelettish rustic farce (Histoires Campagnardes [Rustic Stories] in Le Journal Amusant [1872–82]). Britain, lagging behind the Continent, flirted ineffectually with the genre (George Cruikshank tried it several times) and began to make original contributions only toward the end of the century. Though the strip Ally Sloper is often credited to the English novelist Charles Henry Ross, it was his wife, Marie Duval (pseudonym of the French actress Emilie de Tessier), Europe’s first (and still obstinately unrecognized) professional woman cartoonist, who developed the character Ally Sloper. Featured in roughly 130 strips in Judy—an imitator of Punch magazine—and in albums published separately between 1869 and the 1880s, Ally Sloper was a scheming proletarian loafer, the star of rather formless and crudely, even childishly drawn “gag” strips. Discounting a few short-lived or intermittent German forerunners such as Franz von Pocci’s Der Staatshämorrhoidarius (published in Fliegende Blätter, 1848–56), Duval’s Ally Sloper should be considered the first truly popular continuing comic strip character. He was compared at the time to the feckless Charles Dickens character Wilkins Micawber (in David Copperfield) and moreover was merchandised on commonplace objects in a 20th-century manner. Duval’s Ally was rerun in a new magazine named after him (from 1884) but also was raised to a new level and mock-gentrified in nonnarrative (large single-scene) cartoons by W.G. Baxter and W.F. Thomas. McNab of That Ilk, a strip by James Brown featuring an irascible Scot (published in Judy, intermittently 1876–88), is the first ethnically stereotyped continuing character. In Fun, another Punch imitator, J.F. Sullivan ran a series of attacks on working-class and petty bourgeois types under the titles British Working Man (1878) and British Tradesman (1880). German comic: “Max and Moritz” German comic: “Max and Moritz” The dominant figure of the later 19th century is the German Wilhelm Busch, whose immense popularity in his own day has survived to the 21st century. Busch was much plagiarized in various European countries in his own time, and his major works have been translated into many languages. At first in periodicals (Fliegende Blätter and the Münchner Bilderbogen from 1859) and then in separately published albums (from 1865), Busch quickly established himself as the first fully professional and truly popular comic strip artist, appealing to the educated and uneducated, the young and old alike. Not being bound to journals, he could, like Töpffer, develop much longer and wordier stories than his French contemporaries, whose strips rarely exceeded 50 or so scenes running over three successive issues of a magazine. His graphic and narrative line appears more controlled, more predictable than that of Töpffer; it is comic in an earthier and more rational way. Busch revived the tradition of realistic social satire, directing it at what he saw as a society locked in a Darwinian struggle for survival, coded most famously in the childish rebellion of Max and Moritz (1865) but carried through a “chain of being” from insects (The Bees, a political allegory of 1869) upward, through rodents and simians to various classes of humans. He created a gallery of social types that have since entered German folklore: the drunkard, the disrupted poet, the frustrated painter, the hapless schoolteacher, the perennial bachelor, the sexually precocious self-destructive nymph. The politically conformist Protestant German petty bourgeoisie was ready after 1870 for realistic social satire: Pious Helene (published in English as Pious Helen) and St. Anthony take (Roman Catholic) religious hypocrisy as their butt. Busch seemed obsessed with the farcical situation and its potential for physical violence. For him, happiness appeared to lie in the avoidance of the petty annoyances of life and in the repression of instinctual behaviour. His cautionary tales of naughty children and animals may be regarded on one level as sophisticated parodies of the didactic juvenile literature of Germany and on another as condemnations of the childish sadism that is assumed to lie in everyone. On yet another level his work can be viewed as one long essay on the vulnerability of human dignity. His best-known characters, the infant pranksters Max and Moritz, have spawned innumerable progeny down to the 21st century. Busch’s graphic inventiveness was tremendous; his use of patterns of oscillation to represent movement and new conventional signs to express shock, pain, and other emotions constitute a vocabulary that has served the humorous strip cartoonist to the present day. The rolling rhythm of Busch’s graphic line has its counterpart in his facile comic verse, which is both independent and complementary, engaged in both duel and duet (and remains infinitely quotable). Variation in the amount of verse accompanying each picture plays an essential part in the pace of the narrative. The only German follower of Busch worthy of the association was Adolf Oberländer, a sharp observer of human behaviour. In France the heirs to Busch were Adolphe Willette and Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, both pioneers in Le Chat Noir (“The Black Cat”)—house magazine of the world’s first cabaret—of the wordless, or “silent,” strip (first employed by Busch). Willette created a black-clad Pierrot, a volatile, poetic, and amoral trickster (1882–84), and Steinlen specialized in cats (1884–86); in both there is a calculated, anarchistic cruelty that is both philosophical and physical. They were followed by Caran d’Ache, who was also much influenced by Busch and who in supplements to Le Figaro in the later 1880s drew the first strips to appear in a general-interest daily newspaper rather than in a weekly satirical magazine of relatively restricted readership. Always witty in a purely graphic sense, he frequently dispensed with captions altogether. In this respect, as in his technique of motif accumulation—his manner of letting a motif or movement snowball or crescendo ad absurdum—he taught much to later cartoonists, especially the Australian-born cartoonist H.M. Bateman in the 1920s. Other European countries that early produced comic strips include Austria, where the Busch-influenced cartoonist Karl Klič made political comment in a Sunday weekly, Der Floh (1868–72; “The Flea”); Italy, where Casimiro Teja (influenced by Daumier and Cham) was a dominant figure in the satirical magazine Pasquino; and notably Spain. There, despite heavy, erratic government censorship, a combination of Busch (Spanish edition, 1881) and the French models produced several original masters: Apeles Mestres, Angel Pons, Francisco Ramón Cilla, and Mecáchis (Eduardo Sáenz Hermúa), the latter two creating strips of extraordinary length and coherence. The European pioneer of the exotic adventure strip, Cilla was preceded, in a genre whose fruition in the comic book lay many years in the future, by Angelo Agostini, an Italian who settled in Brazil. His As aventuras de Nhô-Quim & Zé Caipora (initially 1883–86; “The Adventures of Nhô-Quim & Zé Caipora”) set a record length of 23 chapters and 378 drawings, a number eventually tripled to a total of 75 chapters by 1906. Thereafter the story was turned into a popular song, four plays, and two silent movies. In Russia the satirical magazine Strekoza (1875–1918; “Dragonfly”), which reached its apogee in the late 1870s through the 1880s, published French-influenced Chekhovian comedies of everyday domestic life. Imagerie d’Épinal, based in Épinal and other French towns, developed a distinct form of comic strip. Throughout the 19th century the common people and particularly children in rural areas of France, the Netherlands, and Germany had subsisted on Imagerie d’Épinal, single cheap broadsheets hawked about the countryside and in small towns. These documents covered, often in narrative form, such topics of folk interest as religious stories, patriotic histories, and fairy tales. The severe and simple didactic plates had a more or less realistic social emphasis. Some Imagerie d’Épinal is comic in content, although not always in style, relating, for instance, the folly of certain traditional social stereotypes or satirical characters from folklore and literature such as Tyl Eulenspiegel and Baron Munchausen. Christophe (pseudonym of Georges Colomb) raised this type of popular imagery to the level of the intelligent urban child, first in the children’s periodical and then in various albums published separately. These were originally designed, like Töpffer’s, for the children of his own household and the pupils of his school. Christophe’s gentle mockery of such types as the naïve bourgeois and the absent-minded professor is now a staple of French folklore. Christophe established a format for English and French children’s comics that survived down to World War II, whereby the text is excluded from the image rather than incorporated in the balloons, as in American practice. In the United States the comic strip antedates by many years its “official birthday” in the newspapers in 1896, as celebrated for instance in 1996 by the U.S. postal service with a special commemorative set of stamps showing classic comic strip characters. Several American magazines from the 1870s and ’80s—notably Puck and Judge—began to incorporate comic strips of the European, especially German type and were the first to print them in colour (from 1888). This was an era of massive plagiarism in the United States and Europe, with Germany at first the primary source, and then, as native artists found their feet, borrowings occurred in both directions. Plagiarism, flouting ineffective international copyright laws, helped to launch new, very cheap (10 cents or one half-penny) magazines on both sides of the Atlantic. Frederick Burr Opper (who went on to create the comic strip Happy Hooligan), F.M. Howarth, Syd Griffin, and especially Eugene Zimmermann were original and prolific artists of this period. The Swiss-born Zimmermann’s taste for grotesque forms of violence, animal antics, and racism seems as much American as German. The first half of the 20th century: the evolution of the form The United States The modern newspaper strip was born in the heat of rivalry between giants of the American press. In January 1894 a comic strip filled for the first time a full-colour page of Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper the New York World; in October 1896 the publisher William Randolph Hearst announced in his rival paper, the Morning Journal, the first regular weekly full-colour comic supplement. This supplement ran to eight pages and included the Yellow Kid of Richard Outcault, whom Hearst had enticed away from the New York World. The Yellow Kid, set in a large single scene, not a narrative strip, was the first continuous comic character in the United States. Outcault established earthy, strictly urban farce as the keynote of the early American strip, which thereafter grew in sophistication and sentimentality. The Yellow Kid also standardized the speech balloon, which had largely fallen into disuse since the 17th century and its occasional appearance in the English caricatural strip about 1800. In 1897 Rudolph Dirks, at the instigation of Hearst, who as a child had enjoyed the work of Busch, worked up a strip based on Max and Moritz, called the Katzenjammer Kids, which proved an instant success. It survived in syndication into the 21st century, under its sixth author. The market-driven tendency to continue strips in their formula if not their spirit after the death of the original author(s) has given extraordinary longevity to many strips that should have died a natural death; most decline into prolonged senility before being finally scrapped. Katzenjammer Kids had for the first time the fully developed form of the newspaper strip; i.e., it used word balloons, had a continuous cast of characters, and was divided into small regular panels (dispensing with the full panoramic scenes in which the Yellow Kid had appeared). Little Nemo in Slumberland Little Nemo in Slumberland The spread of comics to other newspapers was rapid and was aided by the development of newspaper syndication. The aesthetically outstanding strip of the early years was Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland (1905–11, 1924–27), which created a dreamworld at once gentle, exciting, and humorous. The strip was executed in fairy-tale illustration style, with a conscious display of colouristic effects. (A musical based on the strip and called Little Nemo was produced in 1908, and an animated cartoon by McCay followed in 1909.) The daily strip in black and white, indispensable to all major newspapers from 1915, was effectively inaugurated by the San Francisco Chronicle with Bud Fisher’s Mr. A. Mutt (later Mutt and Jeff). At first set in a horse-racing milieu, it soon became a general interest comic. During the years 1907–20 most of the major categories of American comics were established, including the first aviation, ethnic character, and career girl strips. The most important gag strip was George McManus’s Bringing Up Father (begun 1913/16), also the first American strip to achieve international fame. Outstanding among the family saga or domestic problem strips that burgeoned during the 1920s was Frank King’s Gasoline Alley, which started in 1918. It strove for realism rather than farcical effects and had a strict continuity (as opposed to the daily gag), during which, moreover, characters actually grew older. The first career girl strip was Martin Branner’s Winnie Winkle (1920–96), followed by the fashion-conscious Tillie the Toiler (1921–59) by Russ Westover. Another major group of the 1920s was fantastic, satirical, and parodistic. Elzie Crisler Segar’s Popeye (first appearance in Thimble Theatre, begun 1929) still depended upon slapstick, but George Herriman’s Krazy Kat (1911–44) placed the slapstick in a tender world of poetry, at once surreal and humorous. Drawn with the greatest of graphic economy, it presented the absurd interrelationships of a tiny cast of characters (basically three), using the thinnest imaginable plot line. Krazy Kat was the first newspaper strip anywhere to be aimed at relatively intellectual adults and to claim philosophical significance. USA 2006 - 78th Annual Academy Awards. Closeup of giant Oscar statue at the entrance of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, film movie hollywood Britannica Quiz Pop Culture Quiz Have a glance at George Herriman's “Krazy Kat-Bugologist” cartoon Have a glance at George Herriman's “Krazy Kat-Bugologist” cartoonSee all videos for this article During the 1930s the comics page expanded both in quantity of strips and in range of subject matter. Several of the strips created then survive today. One of them, Chic Young’s domestic comedy strip Blondie (begun 1930), has achieved unparalleled international renown, syndicated by the turn of the 21st century to 2,300 newspapers and read by some 250 million people in 55 countries and in more than 33 languages. Twenty-four Blondie films were made between 1930 and 1950. A new category of immense significance emerged: the continuous-action adventure strip. This took many forms: domestic and detective drama, science and space fiction, and, by 1938, war and superhero strips. The earliest adventure strip was Tarzan (begun 1929), whose Canadian-born creator Harold Foster broke completely with the prevailing caricatural style, adopted cinematic techniques, and sought picturesque, documentary realism. No less concerned with classic aesthetic effects was Alex Raymond, first master of the exotic space strip (Flash Gordon, begun 1934). An aggressively cinematic adventure strip, meticulously researched, was evolved by Milton Caniff in his Terry and the Pirates (begun 1934). Caricatural simplifications and grim forms of humour were introduced into the genre by Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy (begun 1931), the detective strip par excellence, which is laced with science-fiction gadgetry and bizarre eroticism. Truly satirical forms of exaggeration and of social content returned to the strip with Al Capp’s Li’l Abner (1934–77). The demand for adventure stories spawned a new and highly lucrative vehicle for the comic strip: the cheap staple-bound comic book. The first true comic books were marketed in 1933 as giveaway advertising premiums. These had a 7.5- by 10.25-inch (19- by 26-cm) page size, a format that has continued. By 1935 such titles as Famous Funnies, Tip Top Comics, King Comics—at first chiefly reprints of newspaper strips and then with original stories—were selling in large quantities. Specialization soon set in with Detective Comics (begun 1937) and Action Comics (begun 1938). Superman, which appeared first in Action Comics, was the creation of Jerry Siegel (scenario or text) and Joe Shuster (art); it was soon syndicated and transposed to other media. The Superman formula of the hero who transcends all physical and social laws to punish the wicked was widely imitated. The animated cartoon animals of Walt Disney also took root in the comic book. World War II hastened the development of strips and comic books dealing with war and crime, the latter finding a new and avid readership among American soldiers stationed abroad. Being outside the control of newspaper editors, the comic book became increasingly violent and gruesome. The sadism of the American comic became proverbial; the “comic” became equated by Europeans with the “horror comic,” and voices of educators were raised against it on both sides of the Atlantic. The psychiatrist Frederic Wertham’s Seduction of the Innocent (1954) blamed rising juvenile deliquency on the pernicious influence of the comic book, and U.S. congressional investigations confirmed this opinion. The industry responded by instituting systems of self-censorship, administered by several organizations; the more vicious-looking material was restrained, but in Europe some American adventure strips continued to be criticized for their pursuit of violence and for their racist, militarist, and fascist tendencies. Wertham’s book had reverberations in many other countries. Perhaps as a reaction, there was a parallel postwar development in newspaper strips devoted to sentimental soap-opera-like domestic drama—such as Rex Morgan, M.D. (begun 1948), Mary Worth (begun 1938), and The Heart of Juliet Jones (begun 1953)—and simple-looking but subtly conceived gag strips. The latter included Beetle Bailey (begun 1950), featuring an incorrigible army private (though the gags were never tainted by military reality), and Dennis the Menace (begun 1951), a sophisticated Katzenjammer, not to be confused with the much cruder English strip of the same name in the young children’s comic The Beano (begun 1938). Pogo (1948–75), by former Disney artist Walt Kelly, was the most cerebral, socially pointed, and self-reflective of all strips in the mid-20th century, without sacrificing humour. Disneyish in style, the Pogo social menagerie transcended Disney’s moral simplism, presenting a highly nuanced world populated with an almost Dickensian multitude of characters, all depicted as swamp animals. Pogo exuded a tender, nostalgic air, perpetually ruffled by the breezes of sociopolitical allusion and rendered stormy with the caricature of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Kelly’s dialogue, both bizarre and poetic, was admired for its contrast with the generality of strips, which were criticized for their verbal poverty. Charles Schulz Charles Schulz The literate strip with philosophical, psychological, and sociological overtones was the principal innovation of the later 1950s. Charles Schulz’s Peanuts (1950–2000) featured a small band of young children, a beagle, and a small yellow bird and dispensed entirely with the usual adult foil. The characters’ interactions and passions, which were of course easily readable as adult concerns, offered a broad psychological range without ever impinging on the political or controversial. Arguably the most successful and most translated gag strip ever, “Peanuts” entered American folklore and was heavily commercialized. An estimated 400 million Peanuts record albums had been sold by the time of Schulz’s death in 2000, and into the 21st century Schulz’s estate continued to earn tens of millions of dollars a year in syndication and merchandising fees. Schulz never used help in drawing, inking, or lettering a single design, as was the custom. Such was the repute of Peanuts that no attempt was made to continue it after the author’s death, when reruns of old strips began. Of comparable psychological finesse and imbued with truly satirical flashes was Johnny Hart’s B.C. (begun 1958) and his Wizard of Id (begun 1964; in collaboration with Brant Parker), which had prehistoric and medieval settings, respectively. The major strip of political satire, Feiffer by Jules Feiffer (first appearing weekly in The Village Voice, 1956), was run in the more liberal or left-wing papers; as a mainstream newspaper strip, it was consigned to the editorial rather than comics pages. In Feiffer the dialogue was more important than the deliberately repetitive drawings, which never went beyond the human figure; the content played upon the logic-twisting, deceptive rhetoric of politicians and the neurotic relationships between social competitors and lovers. Feiffer created scenes in the manner of absurdist or “noir” drama; indeed, a play based on his strip was mounted in 1961. Europe The first recurrent British comic characters, after Ally Sloper appeared in the 1870s, were those in Jack Yeats’s Conan Doyle burlesque The Adventures of Chubblock Homes (published in Comic Cuts, begun 1893) as well as Tom Browne’s tramps Weary Willie and Tired Tim. The latter strip was sponsored in 1896 by the publisher Alfred Harmsworth and was originally intended for the newly literate and semiliterate masses, but it developed into children’s fare. Distinctive British contributions were the magazine of strips designed for preliterate children, such as Tiger Tim’s Weekly, which carried Tiger Tim (1904–80), the oldest and longest-lived of British comic heroes and the first British newspaper strip (in the Daily Mirror); the picture paper based on film comedy (Film Fun, Kinema Comic); and the multitude of children’s magazines containing both articles and comic strips. The first strip for young children to appear in an adult newspaper was Rupert, the Adventures of a Little Lost Teddy Bear (begun 1921), created by Mary Tourtel for the Daily Ex
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