Re: Weekly Updates
Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2017 12:45 am
I like it Dan, that's a first class touch-up job. While you took care of the over-cropping I'm afraid that my under-cropping may leave people with the impression that this strip was a collaboration between Allen Saunders and Elmer Woggon. In fact, Saunders and Woggan were responsible for the strip that appeared below A an' S in the particular newspaper I clipped. That strip being Big Chief Wahoo which would eventually metamorphous into Steve Roper. This was an early funny page clip effort of mine and I'm afraid my digital cutting wasn't very precise.
The possible meaning behind the name Tony Turkle has been mentioned several times on the board already. Let me throw in my two-cents worth. Slats runs out in the rain because the Turkle's Rolls-Ravioli has let off an explosive, gun-shot like, backfire and come to a sloppy halt right in front of the Scrapple residence. At one point Slats wants to know how many "guests" will be spending the night, Mr. Turkle says himself, the chauffer and Tony - who is in the back seat. Kee-rect! Slats, thinking Tony is a guy tells him to "...shake a leg". Obviously from the shapely gam that appears out the car door Tony turns out to be a GIRL! We share Slats surprise. Because master writer Al Capp [I'll get to that in a moment] doesn't want us to get ahead of the gag he names her Tony to help fool us concerning her gender - so the first name is all about the gag. The name Turkle besides being nicely alliterate with the name Tony is one letter removed from being Turtle so that Turtle Soup becomes Turkle Soup. You may mock Turkle Soup but I think it's a pretty good joke - but what do I know about attempting humor. The obvious target for satire even back in 1938 would have been Campbell's Soup but perhaps wary editors didn't want to poke fun at a big newspaper advertiser so we don't get Tampbell's Soup or Tony Tampbell.
I recently invested in a used copy of Maurice Horn's "over 1400 entries" World Encyclopedia of comics. Abbie An' Slats is the second entry in the book after Norwegian comic artist Hakon Aasnes [you're welcome]. According to Horn, Al Capp wrote the continuities for the first nine years beginning in 1937. The artist, Raeburn van Buren was already an accomplished illustrator when Capp convinced him to take on the steady work of comic art. Elliot Caplin took over the writing from his brother and continued in that capacity until the strip ended on January 30th (my birthday) 1971 (not my birth-year).
The possible meaning behind the name Tony Turkle has been mentioned several times on the board already. Let me throw in my two-cents worth. Slats runs out in the rain because the Turkle's Rolls-Ravioli has let off an explosive, gun-shot like, backfire and come to a sloppy halt right in front of the Scrapple residence. At one point Slats wants to know how many "guests" will be spending the night, Mr. Turkle says himself, the chauffer and Tony - who is in the back seat. Kee-rect! Slats, thinking Tony is a guy tells him to "...shake a leg". Obviously from the shapely gam that appears out the car door Tony turns out to be a GIRL! We share Slats surprise. Because master writer Al Capp [I'll get to that in a moment] doesn't want us to get ahead of the gag he names her Tony to help fool us concerning her gender - so the first name is all about the gag. The name Turkle besides being nicely alliterate with the name Tony is one letter removed from being Turtle so that Turtle Soup becomes Turkle Soup. You may mock Turkle Soup but I think it's a pretty good joke - but what do I know about attempting humor. The obvious target for satire even back in 1938 would have been Campbell's Soup but perhaps wary editors didn't want to poke fun at a big newspaper advertiser so we don't get Tampbell's Soup or Tony Tampbell.
I recently invested in a used copy of Maurice Horn's "over 1400 entries" World Encyclopedia of comics. Abbie An' Slats is the second entry in the book after Norwegian comic artist Hakon Aasnes [you're welcome]. According to Horn, Al Capp wrote the continuities for the first nine years beginning in 1937. The artist, Raeburn van Buren was already an accomplished illustrator when Capp convinced him to take on the steady work of comic art. Elliot Caplin took over the writing from his brother and continued in that capacity until the strip ended on January 30th (my birthday) 1971 (not my birth-year).