By Wally WachterRetired Herald Managing Editor
By Wally Wachter
Retired Herald Managing Editor
THE GLITTER OF SUNDAY COMICS that enthralled us when we were kids seems to have less effect on today's youngsters.
The after-church hassle over the comic pages of the Sunday paper was a weekly occurrence. The section of several pages was split asunder and strewn throughout the living rooms by siblings who rummaged for their favorite cartoons.
Today, judging from most bundles of recycled newspapers, the comic sections are mostly intact, many showing no signs of having been read.
It not that yesteryear's comics were more humorous or adventuresome than today's offerings, but they filled a void in entertainment hunger which youngsters now have never tasted. Today's kids have a gamut of new activities provided for them that put interest in comics low on their list.
Even grownups in this generation lack the interest they once had.
``Toonerville Folks,'' a single-panel cartoon that occupied a prominent spot in most comic sections has long been gone, but would have renewed interest if it appeared today.
The reason would not be the light humor that emanated from the ironic escapades of a little Toonerville trolley. It would be the little sketch marks resembling number digits that were obscured in the backgrounds. They would be deciphered by many as a means of figuring out the lottery number of the day.
This was one of the reason's for the cartoon's success back in the pre-state lottery days when the numbers rackets flourished illegally in the area.
And it wasn't only in the Sunday editions. Every day there was a run on the morning papers as rabid numbers players tried to decode the drawings to extract their ``winning numbers.''
Along with ``Toonerville,'' the two other single-panel comics that drew vast attention among the grownups were ``Major Hoople'' and ``Out Our Way.''
Major Hoople was the old gent who had a fabricated yarn to spin at every opportunity, or an excuse to get out of every chore that his wife proposed.
``Out Our Way'' was a true-to-life glimpse of humorous situations. Often times it would reach back into the past with a feature, ``Born 30 Years Too Soon.''
The Sunday favorite was ``Bringing Up Father.'' It was the riotous saga of Jiggs, a typical Irish bricklayer made wealthy by winning the Irish Sweepstakes, and Maggie, his social-climbing wife.
Jiggs' craving for corned beef and cabbage, his frequent bout with the gout, and his cavorting with his old riff-raff buddies that incensed Maggie, made for hilarious reading.
Then there was the ``Captain and the Kids,'' which later gave way to the ``Katzenjammer Kids.'' It featured the mischievous antics of Hans and Fritz.
``Thimble Theater,'' the comic strip that gave Popeye to the world. always was one of my favorites. Popeye started out as just another character in the strip that also featured his girlfriend, Olive Oyl, a baby, Sweetpea, the hamburger-munching J. Wellington Wimpy, Alice the Goon, the Sea Hag and the Jeep. Wimpy's favorite line, ``I'll gladly you pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today,'' became a byword among the younger set of the day. Popeye, who garnered great strength from a can of spinach, developed as the strong character and gained even more popularity through his movie cartoons.
There was the popular adventure series, ``Wash Tubbs,'' whose exciting episodes kept you on edge all week long awaiting the next one. Wash Tubbs was a scholarly intellectual who was rescued from constant trouble by his swashbuckling soldier-of-fortune pal, Captain Easy.
Among my all-time favorites was ``Joe Palooka.'' It was the story of a mild-mannered boxer, and his wise manager, Knobby Walsh. Joe took a lot of bloody bumps in the ring, but it was always his exemplary clean life that brought him victory.
There were many other strips that ring old memories. Among them were ``Boob McNutt,'' ``Little Orphan Annie,'' ``Freckles and His Friends,'' ``Flash Gordon,'' ``Terry and the Pirates,'' ``Moon Mullins,'' ``Boots and Her Buddies,'' ``Prince Valiant'' and ``Mutt and Jeff.''
The inimitable Mickey Mouse made the comic pages only after he won fame as a movies cartoon character.
Brightening our pre-teen childhood was the emergence of ``L'il Abner,'' the cartoon that grew into a classic. It offered its own feisty adaptation of the old American lesson of a hillbilly yokel who exposes the foibles and corruption of city slickers by simply maintaining his own naivete.
Most of the old comics have faded into the past. A few still appear on today's comic pages, but under the hand of different artists that have succeeded in maintaining the interest the original artists built up years ago.
Some of the replacements of our old favorites, like ``Peanuts,'' ``Beetle Bailey.'' ``Shoe,'' ``Frank and Ernest,'' and ``Garfield,'' still provide us daily and weekly laughs.
But, try as they may, they don't seem to promote the wild rush to the comic sections that was a Sunday experience for us when we were youngsters.
Wally Wachter is retired managing editor of The Herald