Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 21, 2022

Guilty!

Good morning™, everybody!

There have been some comments about a woman’s fur coat. I want to point out that long fur coats were more popular with men at the time when this story was set (about 1934-35). I can explain better why I think that, later today or tomorrow. I don’t have time to explain why at the moment.

Aha! The butler is setting up an alibi…

Dang. I was about to say the butler did it! Say, is that Gomez Addams?

The soon-to-be-ex wife did it. SHE has the most to lose, and probably in cahoots with the big guy.

What was in the coffee? Does Tracy have a cause of death yet?

Jarvis is a Gomez Addams lookalike.

Hasn’t this been running for MORE then a minute?

There were three coats and all of them look too long for NotGomez.

I continue to enjoy Charles’ art work…very nicely done!

♪♪♫ It may sound corny but the butler makes me horny, uh huh ♪♪♫

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5LnpErE6f4&loop=0

Melting snow from the boots and shovel.Butler’s story checks.On to sexy upstairs maid.

MOVIE QUOTE—-

“Neither Mr.Laurel or Mr.Hardy had any thoughts of doing wrong”.

“As a matter of fact,they had no thoughts of any kind”

THE HOOSEGOW—1929

Okay,while we’re in a lull;a story I should have mentioned already.

As a member of SONS OF THE DESERT for 30 years,I’ve met a lot of the old Hal Roach studios crowd.

It used to be quite a racket for imposters to pose as adult versions of the “OUR GANG” kids and collect appearancefees under false pretenses.

Spanky(McFarland) was the leader of the gang both on and off the screen.He was well-off enough to hire detectives to investigate some of the more outrageous fakes.

One guy was impersonating Porky(the kid who alwaysfollowed Buckwheat around).Spanky went to to the man’s house in person.“Are you Porky?”—-“I’m Porky”—“Well,I’m Spanky McFarland and I know you’re NOT Porky”(Spanky leaves,saying he’ll be back with the authorities).

Spanky came back by himself the next day.The guy was gone.And so was the furniture.The fake had hired a moving van and COMPLETELY taken a powder.

I got this story from Spanky’s son,at a nostalgia convention.

My current theory is that the guilty party is Midge Gregory. We know conditions outside are wet, from the butler’s equipment shedding water, to the two gentlemen wearing coats (and one having an umbrella). The wife is dry, but that could well be from the short walk from the car to the house. Less explicable is why Midge, who allegedly does not have a coat, is seemingly dry with crisp stockings unaffected by wet. The butler doesn’t have a clear motive; the ex-wife does have something of a motive; the two gentlemen have somewhat weaker motives; but Midge has a motive that she seems (supposedly) hard up against it.

I’m pretty sure the butler did it.

I’m guessing it’s going to be one of the two men because there was a puddle under the coat rack, which would indicate that one of them showed up before the butler shoveled… it doesn’t make much sense since it’s still snowing when Tracy arrives but that’s my guess.

Really I’m betting on Puss Piston or whatever because I don’t think they’d reintroduce some 60-year old villain and then give him like one panel.

Then, Tracy interviews the shovel and boots…/sarcasm

And after that, “Gomez” gets questioned…

My guess is that the butler did it.

What butler is going to wear wet boots through the house and them leave them AND a wet shovel in the kitchen, or whatever room that is?

Are there tracks, or did he clean up everything only to leave boots and shovel inside, rather than in a garage or mud room or something?

Friday has come almost gone (just as Notgo is almost an Addams clone), and still we scurry about, poking and prodding with this clue and that (if such they are), either genuinely unsure who is the murderer (assuming Krispies was murdered and didn’t die of natural causes), either because we haven’t bothered to look back at the 2017 original run, or because we’re faking it. And so it goes with the “minut” Minit Mystery. At least we all agree that Charlie’s art work is good (or most of us, at least)….