This is the 60th anniversary, 61st year, of Mort Walker's Beetle Bailey comic strip. Back in September, they ran 2 weeks of classic strips, including black-and-whites on weekdays (yeah, some papers have color strips all week, including locally the Syracuse Post Standard.) Also, a Sunday strip from 1955, showing how Sarge and Beetle have changed over the years. And earlier this year, the Post Office issued a Beetle-and-Sarge stamp as part of their Sunday Funnies series.
Here are some things maybe you didn't know about everybody's favorite boot on the ground, and remember, in November you can see pictures of some of the things mentioned here on my blog at stolf.wordpress.com
You're at the College Now...When the strip began on Sept. 4 1950, in 12 newspapers (today it's 1800 worldwide), Beetle was a sophomore at Rockview University. His pals included Bitter Bill, Freshman, Diamond Jim, Sweatsock, a different Plato, Flash, Lank, Tickets, his girlfriend Buzz Breezy, and his nemesis Prof. Hackle. When Beetle enlisted in the Army in late March 1951, as many college men did ahead of being drafted for the Korean War, the college crew disappeared. They seem to make cameo appearances every couple of decades, last sighted Sunday 9/20/09.
The Early Recruits...It took over 20 years for the current line-up to solidify. Gen. Amos Halftrack, Sgt. Orville Snorkel, and Capt. Sam Scabbard were there at the beginning. Cookie seemed to get his trademark features one at a time…the t-shirt, the stubble, the tattoo, the cigarette butt, each arrived separately, and he settled into his present form after about a year. In one early strip he even has a last name: Sgt. Jowls.
But the original troop compliment was completely different: the big lug Canteen, the country boy Bammy, the sharpster Snake Eyes, Fireball, Dawg, Big Blush, Duke, most were gone within a year, altho Bammy made occasional appearances thru the early 70s. Killer arrived in May of 1951, and became Beetle's main buddy. Curley-haired Julius arrived as the General's driver in 1952, then called Julian. Various one-shot majors eventually evolved into Major Greenbrass in 1953.
Mort has said he tried to introduce at least one new character a year, to keep things lively, and while most didn't last, some became regulars: Zero (1953), Cosmo (1955), Lt. Sonny Fuzz and Otto the dog (1956), Rocky and Chaplain Stainglass (1958), Plato (1963), shrink Dr. Bonkus (1967). The last 2 new characters of any significance were Lt. Jackson Flap (1970, with big Afro hair), and Miss Sheila Buxley (1971).
Lost in Action...A full-panel strip from 1971 showed an "A" Company group photo shoot, and present are several 60s characters who have since been shipped out: Moocher the mooch, big dumb Ozone (even dumber than Zero), and the hen-pecked Pop, a short-lived try at domestic humor…and it's also one of Bammy's latest appearances.
There was never a regular Colonel…with such a large cast, Mort included only as many officers as he really needed, altho there are occasional walk-ons, and one even had a name: Col. Hatchett. Then there are Beetle's parents and little brother Chigger, from the college days, and seen now and then ever since.
The Sergeant's Wife...Snorkel had a wife on camp, for one strip only: Sunday 5/10/53. She was needed for the punch line, was un-named, and never seen again. In fact, within a few years, Sarge was attending USO dances looking for women, so something must have happened...probably Mort forgot about her!
So where is Camp Swampy?…It's based on Camp Crowder, Missouri, same as Rob Petrie on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." In one Sunday strip in 1955, Beetle and Killer get a weekend pass to visit the state capital, said to be Jefferson City, so that pretty much settles that.
Meet the Big Sister...When the Korean War ended, Mort Walker sensed interest in military gags might wane, so he introduced a series of strips where Beetle spent some time visiting his big sister Lois, who had married Hiram "Hi" Flagston, and their 3 kids. Readers didn't take to it, and it was back to Camp Swampy to stay. Still, the Hi and Lois idea seemed to have merit, so a spin-off strip began, written by Mort and drawn by his friend Dik Browne. That's why to this day, characters from the 2 strips make occasional crossovers. Hi and Lois looked completely different back then, and their kids were different too...see my blog for examples.
The Alternate Universe... Beetle Bailey comics books date from 1963-1994, but the Dell issues from the 50s and early 60s are the most interesting because there are many incidental characters that were never in the newspaper strip, some unnamed, others with such monikers as Major Calamity, Capt. Typhus, eye doctor Capt. Bloodshot, frogman Capt. Finny, shrink Dr. Fruitcake, Cpl. Plunger from the maintenance corps, stuff like that. The one non-strip continuing character was Capt. Scabbard's rascally son Montague. A story in 1959 featured a "big-boned" WAC named Drucilla, sort of an early version of Sgt. Lugg.
And guess what? Mort Walker only drew the first 3 issues, and I'm guessing he didn't do the writing either, based on goofs like Gen. Amos Halftrack once being called "Henry" by his wife and other inconsistencies. But the long-form stories, as opposed to the 2 or 3 panels in a daily strip, are quite amusing, including one called "Beetle in West Berlin." No, it's not a serious story, thank goodness. There was also a filler strip called "Vinny the Vet," about a newspaper reporter, but these weren't as good, mostly slapstick. Even a text story once per issue about Froggy Phlippe, a kid who's father is Sergeant Phlippe, but there seems to be no connection to Beetle's world.
Don't forget to check Stolf's Blog at stolf.wordpress.com this month for pictures of the Camp Swampy crew, old and new. I also have a new blog called Deep-Fried Hoodsie Cups, at deepfriedhoodsiecups.wordpress.com. It's primarily for those who grew up where I did, on the North Shore of Massachusetts, but there are things of interest to all Groovy Geezers and Baby-Go-Boomers. And after an unplanned switch from PC to Apple, new stuff to hear at stolfpod.podbean.com is coming…till next time, rock on!
