The fourth spanking from Abbie an' Slats unfortunately takes place off stage, so it can't be counted in the Comics Spanking Data Base, but it's a good scene nonetheless. When Mr. Forbush's grown daughter gets a little too big for her britches, he decides to take her firmly in hand with what sounds to his secretary through the closed door like "an old-fashioned whipping with a real old-fashioned belt!" We certainly hope it was applied OTK, and while we would have liked to have seen that position in the final panel here, we must admit that the scene as rendered by Raeburn Van Buren is hightly effective dramatically.
A "tip" of the cap to Tiptopper, who kindly provided us with this nice, high-quality scan. He says that it is
"probably from the 1960's...You can tell by the more sophistcated drawing style that is much later than the Abbie 'An Slats comics that you already have" [i.e. #'s 1-3 already in this gallery].We aren't going to make an Abbie An' Slats index yet because Dan Rivera remembers one more in which Slats spanks a spoiled heiress, and we're still trying to find that one. [03/31/2017 Update: the fifth spanking has now been found, and we placed the index there.]
Date unknown; script probably by Eliot Caplin; art by Raeburn Van Buren. Posted by the Web-Ed on 12/30/2011 (click to enlarge).
04/07/2017 Update: Sweetspot has now determined that this strip first appeared on May 18, 1958. He also provides the background for the spanking:
"Helena Forbush gets Rocky and his girlfriend Buzz suspended from school for several months. This takes the school's star player off the baseball team. The situation is unfair and intolerable but evidently Helena's father is the dean or principal of the school and is extremely indulgent in granting his daughter's requests. Helena is a student. I didn't catch if it's college or high school but the name of the school is simply Crabtree Corners [the home town in Abbie An' Slats]. Abbie is usually pretty inconsequential, if not down-right counterproductive, in this strip particularly considering she's gets top billing but in this case she has some dirt on Mr. Forbush [In their youth he proposed to Abbie but then jilted her] and he is more than willing to let Rocky and Buzz back in school rather than have that "scandal" come to light. Evidently he also comes to his senses in dealing with his headstrong and selfish daughter."
Thanks for solving another mystery, Sweetspot! Some further discussion of this Abbie An' Slats storyline may be found on the CSR Bulletin Board here.
Scan by Sweetspot, color-balanced and posted by the Web-Ed on 04/07/2017.
