Smokey Stover

A lot of comic strips just aren’t here anymore. Smokey Stover, for one; the artist described its most famous catch phrase, "Notary Sojac," as a re-spelled and re-worked Gaelic word meaning "Merry Christmas" (Nodlaig Sodhach). It was filled with visual puns, as well as those spoken by the characters.

Winnie Winkle ran for 76 years and was way ahead of its time: a working woman supporting her parents and adopted brother, from 1920. The Sunday strip featured Denny Dimwit (her brother, I guess, but I don’t think he would last long in these politically-correct days).

Dixie Dugan was not a particular favorite of mine, but I did notice her outfits each day were credited to readers who designed them. Never saw that before, or since.

Out Our Way, with the Willets, was one of my favorite strips a long time ago. It seemed so natural. The cartoonist, J. R. Williams, also had single-panel drawings variously titled, “Why Mothers Get Gray,” “Born Thirty Years Too Soon,” and “The Worry Wart,” which was about an approximately 8-year-old boy.

Mickey Finn was a strip which, if it appeared daily, I never read. But the Sunday issue was all about his bumbling uncle, Sheriff Phil Finn. That was pretty good. It took place in suburban New York City. These were the days when the Sunday strips were a small magazine in themselves and each one was a full page. Those days are gone for sure.