When I was a little boy, I did not read much of the daily Dallas Times Herald unless my Dad or Mom pointed me towards something in particular. But, when the BIG Sunday Paper was out there early, I would go out and get it and put it onto the kitchen cabinet so that it would be ready to be “taken apart” (Save the rubber band and put it into the cabinet drawer.) after we had eaten the pot roast, with oven-cooked-next-to-it potatoes, carrots, and onions– and gravy made from the “drippings.” Apple or cherry or rhubarb pie– or maybe some German chocolate, spice, angel food cake–or maybe some tapioca pudding for desert was nearly always a guaranteed way to finish off a wonderful Sunday “after-church” meal, most of which had been cooking/baking in the gas oven while we were in Dallas at Hope Lutheran Church.
And then, it was “into the living room to spread the ‘Funny Papers’ across the living room rug but only in certain spots so as not to block Dad’s view of the sporting event on the ‘little screen,’ as most folks would call the television we had then today! See if any of you recognize any of these ‘funnies.’” “Peanuts”–Charles Schulz; “Blondie”–Chic Young; “Marmaduke”-Brad Anderson; “The Family Circus”–Bill Keane; “B. C.”–Johnny Hart; “Beetle Bailey”–Mort Walker; “Hagar the Horrible”–Dik Browne; “Dennis the Menace”– Hank Ketcham; “Li’l Abner”–Al Capp; “Hopalong Cassidy”–Dan Spiegle; “Pogo”–Walt Kelly; “For Better or For Worse”–Lynn Johnston; “Garfield”–Jim Davis; “Doonesbury”– Garry Trudeau; “The Far Side”–Gary Larson; “Calvin and Hobbes” –Bill Waterson; “Little Orphan Annie”–Harold Gray; “Dilbert”–Scott Adams; “Nancy”---Ernie Bushmiller; “Cathy”–Cathy Guisewite; “Tumbleweeds”–Tom K. Ryan; “ Po p e y e ” – Bu d Sagendorf; “Dick Tracy”– Chester Gould; “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith”– John Rose; “Superman”– Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster; “Betty Boop”–Max Fleischer; “Bugs Bunny”–Ralph Heimdahl & Al Stoffel.
When I was really young, I thought that the “funnies” were just that–FUNNY. As I aged, I began to see not only the humor but also some advice, wisdom, satire, and nostalgia.
And for the past month or so, I have been perusing the “comics”–especially the individual “one square” ones to see what I could learn or what brings youthful thoughts and learnings back to life. I am not going to name the comics and quote them, but I will share a few. 1) A young boy is met at the door by his Mom, who asks about his behavior. His reply concerning whether or not the teacher has called reminds me of times I did something “sort of wrong” at school and hoped my Mom or Dad would not hear about it. 2) A boy describes his knuckle injury and calls it the “knee of his finger.” I remember a boy in my class told the teacher he had almost broken his “chin” when he hit his leg hard on the “monkey bars.” 3) Another comic showed an upper level high school boy, clearly still inebriated, telling his Mom he thinks it is “just allergies!” 4) A wife is telling her husband that their tiny child is “on his 1st mailing list,” poking fun at the preponderance of messages we all get every day and wonder how “they got our names.” 5) A comic strip shows a child telling the parents that the principal delayed the school’s opening due to snow, and the parents are seen running out to play. We teachers were sometimes guilty of that! 6) A boy is showing a girl out the front door and saying it was a “great visit,” because it was “short and snappy.” Remember being the age when it wasn’t “cool” to “like” girls, or at least to admit it? 7) Another is defining a “plugger” (We would say an “old-timer.”) and saying you are one if all your gift books are LARGE PRINT. 8) And a final one for today: Four children with a dog nearby are asking Dad if he is allowed to “override Mom’s VETO.” Probably all of us men can identify with the question and can probably remember when we were children and “Mom was the boss” at least of household decisions.
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