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There was a comic strip in the Chicago Sun Times or Tribune for a cowboy character called Stainless Steel. During the life of the strip, Stainless achieved country and western fame with a tune titled, "The Rainbow Turned Muddy When You Turned Me Down." Ever heard of Stainless Steel? I never did hear
of him before, but I did some checking, and found out that Stainless first
appeared in a comic strip called "Invisible Scarlet O'Neil" by Russell
Stamm and Emery Clarke. "Invisible Scarlet O'Neil," which debuted in 1940,
changed its title to "Stainless Steel" in January 1955, and was discontinued
in 1956. I haven't found any samples of the strip. I read your reply regarding STAINLESS STEEL. It was actually a retitle of INVISIBLE SCARLET O'NEIL. The question about "THE RAINBOW TURNED MUDDY WHEN YOU TURNED ME DOWN." I've never seen STAINLESS STEEL, but that song is from DICK TRACY. The pop singer TONSILS sang it during the Mr. Crime adventure around 1953.
Thanks for the info! According to "Tracy" historian Jay Maeder, Tonsils was based on singer Johnny Ray, who had a 1951 hit entitled "The Little White Cloud That Cried." So either the two comic strips got mixed up in the previous correspondent's memory, or else Steel ripped off Tonsils' tune. I used to read Stainless Steel and Dick Tracy in the same newspaper,
and the only person who sang 'The rainbow turned muddy when You're right. The song belonged to Tonsils alone. I found this picture of Tonsils performing his signature number in the book "Dick Tracy: the Official Biography" by Jay Maeder. I suspect I have been engaged in subconscious mixing of cartoon stories
and characters by giving Stainless Steel Tonsils' singing career success.
Actually, Stainless Steel went from cowboy to baseball star. What distinguished
Stainless Steel from all the other ballplayers was his unique batting
style: he pointed the fat END of the bat at the ball, much like pointing
a rifle, which would make the ball go so high in the air, no defensive
player could keep an eye on it to catch it. By the time Stainless Steel
circled the bases with a home run, the ball would drop somewhere in fair
play to keep the play, and the home run, legitimate. Hey, that's interesting... and it's something I've never read about in any of my many comic strip history books. Glad I could clear up the Steel-Tonsils confusion ("Steel Tonsils"... wouldn't THAT be an interesting name for a character!). And thanks for giving me a new story to add to my website!
© 2003 Robert A. Buethe |
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you
turned me down' was Stainless. In the storyline, he became famous with
that hit. He had a unique singing style, both arms out to the front, thumbs
up, arms going up and down. 
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