We’re not called New England for nothing, here in Massachusetts. I believe in Democracy, not monarchy, but I’m a shameless Anglophile, and if I had lived in Colonial America I probably would have been called a Loyalist.
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United they fall
The house that Sparky built is no more. United Media, home of UFS and NEA, has closed. Peanuts had been syndicated by United Feature Syndicate, but is now handled by Universal. From Peanuts to Garfield to Dilbert, United Feature Syndicate was a marketing powerhouse for decades, with NEA carrying a stalwart selection of comics, including its leading strip, Arlo and Janis. But now, Universal has them all.
Technically, King Features was the first syndicate to publish a drawing by Charles M. Schulz. It appeared on February 22, 1937. It was a submission Sparky made to the popular feature Ripley’s Believe it or Not!, about his dog Spike, who wasn’t a picky eater.
The caption reads, “A hunting dog that eats pins, tacks and razor blades is owned by C. F. Schulz, St. Paul, MN.” I don’t know where the “F” came from — his middle name was Monroe — and I doubt any dog would survive eating razor blades. Schulz’s original submission supposedly was, “eats pins, tacks and screws.” The word “screws” was changed to avoid it being taken as a verb.
Author Monte Schulz has a humorous reference to his dad and Spike on page 231 of his novel, This Side of Jordan.
“Jeepers, it must be swell to ride all over in a circus wagon. You ain’t got a sideshow for a kid whose dog eats tacks and razor blades, do you?”
“Naw, we ain’t got nothing like that.”
The newspaper boy lowered his head and kicked at the dirty pavement. “Aw, gee whiz, me and Spike never get a break.”
“Tacks and razor blades?”
The newspaper boy nodded. “Pins, too!”
“Kid, you’re almost as big a fibber as someone else I know.”
The boy’s face reddened. “If you got any tacks or pins on you, we can prove it. He rubbed his dog’s neck. And how!”
Flabbey Road?
The famed and fabled EMI recording studios at Abbey Road, in St. John’s Wood, London, may be 80 years old, but the facility is up-to-date and it’s still a happening place. cnet has a gallery of photos.
Separated at birth?
Scott Krinsky from Chuck and Don Most from Happy Days
The day comic books died?
This picture was taken at That’s Entertainment, Paul Howley’s award-winning comic book and collectibles store in Worcester, MA. The comic book is Captain America issue #108, on newsstands September, 1968. The pencil art was drawn by Jack Kirby, and it was inked by Syd Shores. Captain America #108 was the last issue of Cap I bought in Norwalk, CT, before my family moved to Massachusetts. The villain was the Trapster, a revamped version of Paste Pot Pete, who should have worked for 3M, but instead used his expertise in adhesives for evil.
What would I have done without comic books when I was a kid? The point is, I like comic books being physical things, but like music and movies, comics are becoming virtual products. The Boston Globe has an article at this link about comics publisher DC offering a digital alternative. Of this development, Paul says…
“Once one of my customers buys a comic online, then DC Comics has them forever,’’ Howley said. “They don’t need me. They have no interest in keeping people like us in the middle. This really is, in the long run, cutting our own throat.’’
My friend Morris doesn’t see digital comics as replacing the real thing, on paper. He has a point. How many casual comics readers are there? There used to be many, when comic books were sold in drug stores and read in barber shops, but these days almost all comic book readers are also collectors, and who wants to collect PDF’s?
More company for ‘Company’
My friend Morris is a big Stephen Sondheim fan, and he said that Company at the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, MA was sold out! Quite a contrast to the sparely attended screening we saw last week in the outer suburbs. The Kendall Square Cinema has added an extra show for Sunday at noon, and Morris bought a pair of tickets for that.