Recent Comments

1. 7 minutes ago on Gasoline Alley

   On this date 100 years ago, the first marketing in the U.S., urging the general public to buy a radio for home use, was made by Horne’s Department Store in Pittsburgh. The first ad, run in the Pittsburgh Press, simply noted that “a complete receiving set” was on display in the store’s sporting goods section “for the accommodation of our patrons… who haven’t had an opportunity to ‘listen in’” to radio, and offering Amateur Wireless Sets, for sale here, $10.00 upwards."

   https://i.imgur.com/1fGclfD.jpg

   Six days later, Horne’s ran another ad about a September 23 broadcast from the home of Westinghouse Electric Company engineer Frank Conrad of “two orchestra numbers, a soprano solo… and a juvenile ‘talking piece’” transmitted for twenty minutes and urged buyers to get a wireless set. Although the amateur sets were not manufactured by them, the advertisements are credited for inspiring Westinghouse to mass market radio sets and to turn Conrad’s 8XK into the KDKA-AM station.

   https://i.imgur.com/hTiryWp.jpg

2. 35 minutes ago on Gasoline Alley

   Slim strikes out again. Good grief.

3. 37 minutes ago on Gasoline Alley

   They’re 10, Corky is 17 at this point. I’m guessing he doesn’t know yet, but Judy will probably blurt it out soon, now that she knows, heh.

4. 43 minutes ago on Gasoline Alley

   I don’t know that I’d say Wilmer is wrong in how he’s approaching this salesman’s racket.

   - – - – -

   Jessica may be playing a bit of the drama queen as Larry Packer lowers the boom on the relationship. Though losing a catch like that with the Great Depression nearing a decade long?

   But I’m not sure Jess sees the “misunderstanding” being the same thing that I do. Guessing if she knew WHY Larry was looking elsewhere she wouldn’t feel quite so bad about him swimming off the hook. It’s “The Brush-Off”:

   January 26-30, 1938 – https://i.imgur.com/HkO8QGw.jpg

   For the Sunday strip, I took a closer look, and maybe this blown-up panel 9 helps put over the gag:

   https://i.imgur.com/lJu3xt3.jpg

   (It looks like Walt is reading a book titled “Who Killed (obscured by his hand)”

   - – - – -

   James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 – July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the “Hoosier Poet” and “Children’s Poet” for his dialect works and his children’s poetry. His poems tend to be humorous or sentimental. Of the approximately 1,000 poems Riley wrote, the majority are in dialect. His famous works include “Little Orphant Annie” and “The Raggedy Man”.

   Riley’s chief legacy was his influence in fostering the creation of a Midwestern cultural identity and his contributions to the Golden Age of Indiana Literature. With other writers of his era, he helped create a caricature of Midwesterners and formed a literary community that produced works rivaling the established eastern literati. There are many memorials dedicated to Riley, including the James Whitcomb Riley Hospital for Children.

   It was Riley who wrote the poem Uncle Walt was reciting to Judy – “Little Dick and the Clock” (1902).

   https://internetpoem.com/james-whitcomb-riley/little-dick-and-the-clock-poem/

5. about 1 hour ago on Gasoline Alley

   Doc and Bill? Fred and Ginger.

   “Let’s call the whole thing off.”

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOILZ_D3aRg

   - – - – -

   Pesky’s keen nose for trouble leads to the Great Detective using the awesome crime-fighting tactic of “eavesdropping”, which turns up a lead that Traverts Jr will undoubtedly take all the credit for. But it’s Brenda and Tom Taylor who figure out who the kidnapper is!

   January 25, 1942 – https://i.imgur.com/JvvCk7O.jpg

   (Meanwhile, like our Starr was stuck for a time in the cavern with Professor Squell, poor Flurry Snow has been reduced to an existence in the fitting room and runway of the ‘Brenda Starr, Reporter’ universe.)

6. about 18 hours ago on Gasoline Alley

   No idea, but you prompted me to take a look, and I find one of the best selling books of 1937 was Agatha Christie’s “Murder in the Mews (and other stories)”.

   Mews (noun, British) – a row or street of houses or apartments that have been converted from stables or built to look like former stables.

   Also could have been King doing a take-off on how popular murder mystery books were at the time?

7. about 18 hours ago on Gasoline Alley

   Cartoonists get sick, can have family emergencies, etc. I imagine the syndicate just wants a chance to make arrangements in case of some unforeseen contingency.

   Having nothing to offer a paper some day (or a series of reruns) could make a local editor consider replacing a strip on their comics page.

8. about 24 hours ago on Gasoline Alley

   For want of a rock, a kingdom was lost.

9. about 24 hours ago on Gasoline Alley

   Of course the “like” is meant as a gesture of support, I’m so sorry to hear of all the bad news, Pony. We’re glad to see you again, and that you have some time back with our little group here.

10. about 24 hours ago on Gasoline Alley

    I imagine we Alley Cats still carry loose change, but in both pockets?

    And why does Walt have a scorpion in his pocket? (panel 7)

    - – - – -

    While young Skeezix and Nina can only look on while Jessica holds out hope against all evidence from Larry Packer – Uncle Walt gives a dinka wata and an inadvertent lesson about the battle of the sexes, in “The Set-Up”:

    January 21-25, 1938 – https://i.imgur.com/LwzZCyf.jpg