|
Please send info
and/or web-sites where I can get a history for "Myrtle" by Dudley Fisher
and "The Cisco Kid" by Jose Luis Salinas.
"Myrtle" was a mischievous
ten-year-old in the strip which ran from May 26, 1941 until May 2, 1965.
It was a spinoff of Fisher's panel, "Right Around Home." After Fisher's
death in 1951, the strip was handled by a variety of syndicate staff artists.
"The Cisco Kid" was based on the movie and television hero, who in turn
was based upon the O. Henry story, "The Caballero's Way." The Kid was
a Mexican version of the Lone Ranger or the Green Hornet... a champion
of the oppressed who fought evildoers with his sidekick Pancho, even though
the law believed him to be a bandit himself. The comic strip, by Argentinean
artist Salinas, ran from January 15, 1951 through August 5, 1968. See
"The Encyclopedia of American Comics" by Ron Goulart, or "100 Years of
American Newspaper Comics" by Maurice Horn for more details.
You were a great help Re: Dudley Fisher's "Myrtle," an absolute must for my sisters and I back in the 1940's with the Sunday morning funnies.
My Ma loved it. But where do I get more info on Dudley Fisher? I can't seem to find anything.
Not much has been written on Dudley Fisher himself. Here are some passages from the "Myrtle" entry in Maurice Horn's encyclopaedic
"100 Years of American Newspaper Comics":
In 1935 Columbus Dispatch cartoonist Dudley Fisher was working on a weekly feature called 'Jolly Jingles' when he decided one fine day to draw one
huge panel taking up the whole page and depicting what happens to a farm family when city relatives come to visit them for Christmas. His innovation
was so well received that Fisher dropped 'Jolly Jingles' to devote himself entirely to his new creation, which got its definitive title, 'Right Around Home,'
not long afterward. In January 1938 King Features Syndicate picked up the panel for national distribution. "The most striking characteristic of Fisher's
page was it's bird's-eye view... which the cartoonist recreated based on his experiences flying over enemy-held territory as a lieutenant in the 45th Photo
Section of the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War I....
"'Right Around Home' {gave rise to} a spin-off, a daily strip that started syndication on May 26,
1941... called 'Myrtle' in honor of the daughter who had in the meantime stolen the show from the other protagonists....
"Fisher died of a heart attack in July 1951. The daily strip and the Sunday panel... were picked up by Stan Randall,
followed by a succession of syndicate staffers. The durable feature managed to last until 1965, with the dailies closing
on April 26 and the Sunday coming to an end on May 2.
What was the name of the dog with the broken tail who always appeared in the bottom right of the panel
with the cartouche that read "There hasn't been this much excitement since I caught my tail in the
screen door"?
Since this was a panel and not a strip, I can't find much on it. My wife and I remember reading it
during WWII. I believe it appeared in the Chicago American and not the Chicago Tribune. Do you know
which of those newspapers carried it?
There were two dogs in the "Myrtle" strip named Bingo and Sunshine. I'm not sure which of them was
the pooch in question. I'm afraid I also don't know in which papers it ran (other than the Dispatch).
Hello, my name is Katherine Fisher Howell. I do not really
have a question, instead I have some information that might be useful to you. I am the
Great-granddaughter of Dudley Fisher. The little girl, Myrtle, in his cartoon "Right Around
Home" was based on my Grandmother, Marion Fisher Abel. Recently we have received hundreds of my
Great-Grandfather's cartoons and my stepfather is in the process of restoring many of them and
making copies. If you, or anyone else, have any questions for me, let me know. My
Great-Grandfather was a wonderful cartoonist during the World War II time period and it would
mean a lot to all of the people in my family if he is remembered as such. Thank you.
Sincerly,
Katherine Fisher Howell
Thank you for writing! If any readers of this page are interested in learning more about Dudley Fisher,
or would like to share memories of his work with his family, you can write to Katherine at Ktea511@aol.com
Ask
a Question
© 2003 Robert A. Buethe
|
Previous