Threats and Missed Opportunities

[butch46163@yahoo.com]

could see Beast boy keeping his promise and her runny away escaping a spanking Nice Find

[hugob00m]

Hi, Sweetspot.

I like this, even though the spanking itself isn't shown. The two gossiping girls call the boy a fiend, a bully, and a brute... and end with "Isn't he wonderful?" Definitely some mixed feelings!

[web-ed]

The next Missed Opportunity discovered by Chief Strip Researcher Phil S. that we're going to see comes from Hap Hopper in 1940. The artist is Jack Sparling, whom we have mentioned in the past as a possible spanko. He did two known comic strip spankings (in Mr. Rumbles and Honor Eden) and we suspect him of doing one in Sick magazine (see the Humor Gallery for that one). No actual spanking here, although it may have taken place off-panel (see the third strip). Of some interest is the great satisfaction Babs takes at the thought of Emily getting spanked by her father, and there is no doubt that some women enjoy seeing another woman getting spanked if they feel the spankee deserves it.

Let's take a look:



09/17/1940


09/18/1940


09/25/1940 © United Feature Syndicate

But no spanking from Sparling - why? Well, he didn't write these strips, William Laas (the editor at United Features Syndicate) did, and he unfortunately appears not to have appreciated the drama and interest of a good spanking scene since young Emily certainly deserved one here.

[butch46163@yahoo.com]

Can`t say if there was a spanking but seeing him roll up his sleeve and the look on Emily face suggest a spanking took place off panel! always wonder why in comics Fathers wait until their daughters are grown women to start giving them spanking

[web-ed]

Can`t say if there was a spanking but seeing him roll up his sleeve and the look on Emily face suggest a spanking took place off panel! always wonder why in comics Fathers wait until their daughters are grown women to start giving them spanking

I don't know, Butch, but as Mr. Kett said more than once while spanking his daughter Etta, "Better late than never!"

[Sweetspot]

There aren't very many strips that disappointed me more than this one did by not finishing off the story with a good, on panel, over-the-knee spanking. First of all another spanking drawn by Jack Sparling would have been appreciated. Mostly though it's because the writer teased a spanking was appropriate punishment for this girl over the course of the action. She was guilty of an assortment of misbehavior that included knocking out her dad and putting an innocent man behind bars!

HapHopperSeptember19,1940DETAIL.jpg (63.82 KiB) Viewed 8637 times

I think we can all agree that Emily would have made a delightful sight across any adult male's lap, tears streaking down her face, getting the sound spanking she richly deserved.

HapHopperSeptember11,1940Detail.jpg (60.92 KiB) Viewed 8637 times

[Sweetspot]

As to the remark by Butch about comic strip dads waiting to long to get started on disciplining their daughters with a much needed spanking, well as Web-Ed said we do have the example of Mr. Kett trying to make-up for lost time as regards Etta's rear-end. Jim Jackson Sr. bemoaned the fact that he hadn't spanked his twin teens more often [as do I, by the way].

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Sometimes he was willing to make-up for lost time.

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JacksonTwinsAugust8,1954Detail.jpg (61.97 KiB) Viewed 8636 times

[daneldorado]

.
"No! We NEVER allow [our girls] to go downtown wearing shorts!"

Cute line, from your post of a comic strip "The Jackson Twins" ca. 1954, by Dick Brooks.

I'm old enough to remember 1954 fairly well. And my memory tells me that in that postwar era, girls were perfectly free to wear shorts in public, pretty much anywhere they went. There was no scandal involved in seeing young women that way, even while shopping in a store. Perhaps our victory over the Axis powers in 1945 released our tensions and we collectively relaxed about such matters.

Of course I am aware that Dick Brooks, or whoever wrote his scripts for "The Jackson Twins," was simply using the trope of a narrow-minded fusspot ("Mrs. Clubb") for humorous purpose. But even considering this scenario as a real-life event, I see no justification for giving the twins "the paddling of your lives." The girls weren't naked and they weren't in their underwear; they were simply wearing walking shorts, which in 1954 you could see just about anywhere in these United States.

Cheers,
Dan

[web-ed]

I agree the girls didn't deserve a spanking, mainly because they couldn't get back into their house to change clothes, but they sure did for playing the old "twin switch" on either or both of their parents. I will suggest, however, that despite the dialogue the real issue in the first situation may have been that they were wearing swimsuits. Remember that before the bikini, women could wear two-piece suits that looked exactly like what we see here: a brassiere-like top and shorts for a bottom (note that a reader designed the suits worn by Jan and Jill here). We've seen at least two spankings of such delightfully-clad women, in Frontier Romances #1 and Teen-Age Romances #3.

Now the bikini had been around for awhile by 1954, so actually the twins were only wearing the more-modest two-piece with shorts, but perhaps just being swimwear was enough to cause some consternation. Still, Dan's broader point has a lot of merit: although stigmatized nowadays by cultural Marxists as an era of mindless conformity or worse, the 1950's in America was actually an era of artistic dynamism and a continuing liberalization of sexual mores - something I will say more about (if that's possible ) when I finally get around to writing that special on the development of the spanking humor cartoon, which as we all know flowered during that wonderful decade.

[web-ed]

Since we're revisiting Boots on the main site this week, it seems an appropriate time to reveal some of Chief Strip Researcher Phil S.'s other discoveries about this strip. Most significantly for our purposes, he found three other spankings and a character literally asking to be spanked! Let's see what we can of them (and the actual spankings will of course be added to the Data Base).

First, let's meet Pug and her friend (we'll be seeing more of Pug in the above-mentioned update). This is from Nov. 20, 1950:


© Newspaper Enterprise Associates

Four years earlier, this same duo, feeling guilty over something they had done and believing they deserved to be spanked (and being somewhat younger), actually spanked each other, at least to the extent of exchanging swats with a paddle(!) that resulted in the classic post-spanking "Bawww!" from both of them (Phil S. has written about the use of "Bawww!" elsewhere).

Now let's move forward one year to 1951 and see Pug requesting a spanking from Boots! There is an actual spanking by Boots of her son Davey which has been censored here. (To see the uncensored version or the dual paddling, drop Phil S. or me a note and we'll send them to you. They are omitted here because they involve juveniles getting spanked). Boots comes very close to concluding that no one is too old to be spanked, but wimps out and tells Pug that she is indeed to old to be taken OTK .


Sept. 23, 1951. © Newspaper Enterprise Associates

No other spankings of Boots or her Buddies are known at this time. I believe I've searched most of the Boots comic books, but it's always possible Phil will turn up something else from the strips. If Boots herself ever got the OTK treatment (delightful idea), it
was probably in the strip's early days - that's my guess, anyway.

[Sweetspot]

Many spanking-in-sequential-art-enthusiasts have a fond memory of an image that they recall from a by-gone year perhaps even dating back to their own youth. This might be a spanking from Abbie an' Slats, Lancelot perhaps the Jackson Twins. I have a long held fond recollection of an "off-stage" spanking found in a May 1971 Prince Valiant strip. Unfortunately, like the problem so many of us share, that strip was lost to me for decades. Recently however, following my purchase of a new newspaper archive and an extensive search, I was able to rediscover this important to me episode.

Maurice Horn writes, "Carefully plotted and laid out far ahead of time, the scenario of Prince Valiant is not a collection of unrelated episodes arbitrarily woven around the central character, but an organic whole reflecting the vicissitudes and joys of the hero's life as well as the (legendary) times and society around him. The action however, moves slowly, due partly to Foster's rather weighty text, partly to the static composition of his pictures."
Since Hal Foster relinquished the drawing of the page to John Cullen Murphy at some point in 1971 I can't be sure of the artist of this particular story. In this adventure Valiant, his son Arn and new friend Ben Zirara are headed to the Misty Isles for a reunion with Queen Aleta and further opportunity for adventure.
It's typical of the Valiant story that the main quest is interrupted by a small incident, sometimes for purpose of advancing a character's development or for comic relief. Here a domestic situation unfolds right in front of them as they are on the road. Zirara's resolve as the protector of all womanhood is put to the test.

PrinceValiantApril25,1971DETAIL#1.jpg (71.37 KiB) Viewed 8174 times

The traveling lady has left her long-suffering husband, perhaps she is going home to mother! Her escort is a young man who obviously has an infatuation for his traveling companion. When the irate husband catches up to the pair the young escort climbs a tree to avoid conflict.

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PrinceValiantMay2,1971.jpg (68.25 KiB) Viewed 8174 times

[Sweetspot]

PrinceValiantMay2,1971SwitchPanel.jpg (61.97 KiB) Viewed 8170 times

PrinceValiantSt.LouisPostDispatch5,2,1971.jpg (92.02 KiB) Viewed 8170 times

PrinceValiantMay2,1971AftermathSt.Louis.jpg (92.28 KiB) Viewed 8170 times

[Sweetspot]

PrinceValiantSt.LouisPostDispatchMay2,71Tears.jpg (97.79 KiB) Viewed 8170 times

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Not a bad set of drawings and remarkably close to how I remember the scene from over 45 years ago.

[web-ed]

Great one, Phil - and with a switch, too! It's obvious Hal Foster believed it appropriate to spank a misbehaving wife, and the spanked women characters in Prince Valiant, including the wife here, all seem fine with it. I don't think anyone in the spanko community has ever mentioned this one before. Too bad the actual switching takes place off-panel, but perhaps it was on the bare so Foster couldn't show it .

There are at least a couple of other spankings in the strip I can think of, but they're of juveniles. I wonder if there were any more spankings of adult women

[web-ed]

This week's update is the first of two spankings Phil S. discovered in Polly and Her Pals. As is discussed on that page, Polly spawned some imitators including the one that concerns us here, Freckles and His Friends. Phil S. has found one missed opportunity and one actual spanking that unfortunately takes place off-panel, so let's take a look at them now.

In the first, Freckles' best friend Lard (what a name!) has no money to buy a present for his girlfriend Hilda, so Hector (whom I think is Hilda's little brother) cooks up a scheme to get her to bend over (smart lad ). Too bad the scheme didn't involve a nice paddle instead of Lard's boot, for Hilda, rather intriguingly, doesn't mind getting kicked and so would probably have been delighted to receive swats on her fanny with a paddle. This is a true "missed opportunity".


It's the old "bend over, get a swat" gag, on Dec. 10, 1942. © NEA Services

Even better, Hilda got an actual spanking from her father of the "you're not too big to take over my knee" variety a little more than a year later in between Feb. 23-24, 1944.


© NEA Services

Interestingly, Hilda discusses her embarrassment at being spanked with her girlfriends in a scene which reminds me very much of a Phil Overbarrel strip:

Written and drawn by Merrill Blosser. Scans by Phil Sweetspot, edited by Web-Ed. © NEA Services

This time, a paddle is used, but it's an improvised one in the form of one of Hal Krooner's (evidently a teeny-bopper idol) albums. Blosser makes a joke that may need some explanation: the name of the album is "Beat me, Daddy". The spanking reference is obvious, but what is the non-spanking meaning of the phrase? The answer is that it refers in the vernacular of the era to the eight-to-a-bar boogie-woogie rhythm, a style that was popular at the time (although Fats Waller hated it, and so do I).

I actually transcribed one of Fats's piano solos (by listening to a CD - and at normal speed!) that used boogie-woogie for a few bars (this must have been a concession by Fats to the tastes of the period), but it would be kind of a pain to present that excerpt here. If there's anyone out there who plays the piano reasonably well and who's curious, I might be able to send the transcription to you - just drop me a line and then wait a few months for a response...

[butch46163@yahoo.com]

Thanks for the info SweetSpot about the song Beat Me Daddy He really played a swinging tune on her bottom too bad we couldn`t see it kinda young women of that time was to hear about girls their age still being spanked didn`t they know women was also spanked in that time Great comic!

[Tanner]

The Jackson Twins.Does that ever bring back fond memories of reading that comic strip in the old Washington Star newspaper(which also carried Oakey Doaks), And agree that they were quite in need of spankings!
Like to make a comment on the subject of girls wearing shorts in public in 1954. While true is was mostly accepted, there were still many more conservative parts of the country, especially rural and small towns, where it was not approved. And likewise many older people and families strict about modesty of dress for females. Some young ladies who wore shorts back then, especially short ones, may well have had to undergo spankings, or what some would doubtless have deemed "a punishment fitting the crime" , having a switch applied to their bare legs, leaving stripes that would force them to cover up out of shame.
Spanking for improper or immodest attire is a not uncommon theme in spanking literature. Recall some letters to Mr magazine that had girls in mini-skirts getting spanked. And one letter from a husband who spanked his wife for wearing hotpants in public when that fashion rage hit. Of course we know those letters were written by the magazine staff, at least mostly!
More recently it has been the thong. Whether underwear or swimsuits. Spankings for wearing lowrise pants with thong showing. Sadly, that fashion has vanished. Some thought it tacky or something, but it was so much fun seeing girls with exposed thongs and imagining them getting spanked. And there were the fat ones showing their thongs and you had to ask what were they thinking. They truly needed to be paddled just so that would wear something to cover all that red skin!

[web-ed]

Glad to have your comments on these matters, Tanner!

[Sweetspot]

Thanks Web-Ed for the information concerning Hilda's favorite Hal Krooner recording 'Beat Me, Daddy!' The optimist in me likes to think that the reason these spankings are off 'stage' instead of shown in the strip is because the spanker has bared the woman's bottom. That had a high-probability of being the case in the Prince Valiant switching [heck of a big switch isn't it?] posted above. In Hilda's case since her coat needed to come off [or lifted up] anyway perhaps the spanker lifted her dress in order to give her the promised one-handed applauds! The plus-side of any off-panel spanking is that you can let the imagination run free. At least while she's on the floor recovering from being booted in the behind we get an idea of what she might look like across a guy's lap.

Over the last couple of days I've been wracking the old brain trying to remember the other Freckles and His Friends missed opportunity we had in our files -that I recall - and thought I had sent to you. I came across the panels I had in mind while perusing through my "file" this evening. Anyway from August 10, 18 and 19 of 1950:

A quick look at Sheila going all-out brat! She's freeloading off of Freckles because her rich daddy has temporarily cut off some of her funds and anyway she gets a kick out of making other people pay for her extravagances.

FrecklesAndHisFriendsAugust10,1950.jpg (34.09 KiB) Viewed 8113 times

FrecklesAndHisFriendsAugust18,1950.jpg (36.56 KiB) Viewed 8113 times

Turns out that instead of having Freckles "on his knees" she ends up Over The Knee

FrecklesAndHisFriendsAugust19,1950.jpg (60.82 KiB) Viewed 8113 times

[overbarrel49]

Hi Phil,

I have to tell you that in the case of Sheila, I sure would like to have seen the spanking scene. In fact, I think the writer owed that to his viewing audience . Anyway, it's a good story with the proper ending, even if we didn't get to see the spanking. Thanks, Phil O