A Gooble Chop is Bad Luck

OK, so I missed President's Day weekend with this strip. Has it ruined your life? Happy Sunday, Kelly Sunday. And willya look at that lounging tree in the opening panel!

Pop Goes the Weasel

Now, I never promised you the best of Walt Kelly, I more-or-less promised an appreciative examination of the Whirled of Kelly. This drawing from the Complete Nursery Song Book certainly isn't his best, and isn't even recognizable as his style. But for those who appreciate Kelly's Whirled, it's informative to know where he came from to get to where he got to—I think.

President Eisenhower's Plight

Walt Kelly had a love of editorial cartooning, politicizing with them in the late 40s and early 50s. Here, he portrayed President Eisenhower's plight "as that of a school bus driver who has had motor trouble, and while he studies a motor manual, his irresponsible passengers 'help' by indulging in assorted Katzenjammer Kids antics." Senator Joe McCarthy seems to be doing the most damage.

This ran as a (large) full page, commissioned by Life magazine in the 50s.

I can almost imagine those woods back there as being the far northern fringe of the Okefenokee, and ol' mouse hitching a ride on that train, coming in from Baltimore.

The Birthday Season

That's quite a nickname for Kelly's wife of the time, and a lovely birthday greeting for her.

With Broiled Bacon an' 'Sparagus

Be Kind to Humans Week

Second Class Animals

Y'see, Waldo is of the piscatorial persuasion, not that there's anything wrong with that, and . . . well, y'see, Waldo's in love with miss Li'l' Awry, and wants to marry her. Y'see, he proposed to her, but she's stalling him cuz, y'know, she's a bunny who's only a week old. And, well, that's a story for another time. Let's continue with this one . . .

Skee-rumptious, Baby-Doll Wabbit

Kelly certainly wasn't averse to going for jes' plain cute.

When I was reading the strip in real time, back in '65, Li'l' Awry wore pretty thin, I thought. But looking at these strips now, it's a nice change of pace to see this perpetually week-old bunny. And as for Waldo the fish, well . . .

Images and Other Mirages

One of the special treats of the Pogo books was the special art created just for the books. Even a minor page, with minor characters, and a minor ditty was pretty special.

Our little bunny here is Li'l' Awry, who claimed she was just a week old bunny all the time.

Stay tooned, Li'l Awry dailies coming up.

Unafraid in the Gloom

. . . and we are back. I have met my deadline, and I am exhausted. But I knew I couldn't let a Sunday go by without a Kelly Sunday post. This one is completely out of season, but that won't bother us, will it?

Deadline Time

Kelly had his deadlines, I've got mine, this time a major MAJOR deadline. Won't be back until this weekend. See you all by Sunday, Kelly Sunday at the latest.

Kelly self-portrait—1961

Priceless Antique Percheron-Plaza Torque-Mada

I love Kelly bugs more'n any other bugs in the whirled.

And take a closer look at that opening shot. Wotta view. And take an even closer look at the birds—they have the face of the little mascot that Pat Oliphant drew into every editorial cartoon that he created. It just so happens that Oliphant tied with Johnny (BC) Hart to win the Cartoonist of the Year award the preceding year.

The City Rat & the Country Rat

I think it's rather fascinating to see Kelly's early renderings take on a feeling of dimensionality. And in this case, hinting at character development for the Pogo strip, as the City Rat looks an awful lot like Ol' Mouse will end up looking like, all resourceful and independent.

Oranges and Lemons

We're quite used to Kelly's renderings of swamp settings, so it's fun to see his drawing of a British horizon, pulled from The Complete Nursery Song Book of 1947.

"Oranges and lemons," say the bells of St. Clemens. "You owe me five farthings," say the bells of St. Martin's. "When will you pay me?" say the bells of Old Bailey. "When I grow rich," say the bells of Shoreditch. "When will that be?" say the bells of Stepney. "I do not know," says the great bell of Bow. Here comes a candle to light you to bed; And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!

"Pancakes and fritters," say the bells of Saint Peter's.

"Two sticks and an apple," say the bells of Whitechapel.

"Old father Bald-pate," say the slow bells of Aldgate.

"Pokers and tongs," say the bells of Saint John's.

"Kettles and pans," say the bells of Saint Ann's.

"Brickbats and tiles," say the bells of Saint Giles.

Yep, that's a real nursery song.

Bear Went Over the Mountain

Another Kelly illustration from The Complete Nursery Song Book, 1947. Kelly certainly could have made a career of children's book illustration, but I'm kinda glad he didn't. Still, awfully fun to look at, what with the bunrab and mouse.

The Bugs are Out

I've heard from enough of you to puzzle out the bugs in the system. Hopefully commenting will be easier for some of you now. Thanks to everyone I've heard from!

Work the Bugs Out

I received the nice email shown below, and I want to ask y'all if anyone else has had trouble with the comments feature. If so, please email me as well, so I can work the bugs out. Thanks Mark!

Hello!

As a long-time Kelly fan (a reader of the strips in the 1960s, a reader of the books since 1979), I wanted to thank you for posting all of the excellent Kelly scans on your pages.

I've actually tried to post comments on your site, but for some reason, the Comments feature has consistently defeated me. For that reason, I wanted to let you know here, by email, how much your work and dedication have meant to me. If you have the time and energy to continue, then I have the gratitude and enthusiasm to keep visiting your fine contribution to Pogo fans everywhere.

Best wishes,

Mark Dillon

Pogofenokee

1952 is one of my favorite years for several reasons, one of which was the flowering beauty of Walt Kelly's art. This is his double page spread from Life Magazine. A very tip top Kelly favorite of all time.

Events of 1952

• January 8 – West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders.
• January 14 – Today premieres on NBC, becoming one of the longest-running television series in America.
• January 24
  • A sudden heavy snowfall hits Algeria.

The 3 Queens in mourning- Queen Elizabeth II, her grandmother, Queen Mary and her mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother at the funeral of King George VI.

• February 2 – A tropical storm forms just north of Cuba moving northeast. The storm makes landfall in southern Florida the next day. It is the earliest reported landfall from a tropical storm, and the earliest formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.
• February 6
  • Elizabeth II becomes Queen upon the death of her father George VI. She is simultaneously proclaimed Queen of Canada at Rideau Hall, Ottawa, Ontario.
  • In the United States, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.
• February 7 – Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom at St. James's Palace, London, England—an event that effectively knocked Walt Kelly and Pogo off the front cover of Life Magazine, and deep into the interior pages.
• February 14 – February 25 – The Winter Olympics held in Oslo, Norway.
• February 15 – The funeral of King George VI takes place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
• February 26 – United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that the United Kingdom has an atomic bomb.

• March 15 – March 16 – 73 inches (1,870 mm) of rain falls in Cilaos, Réunion, the most rainfall ever in one day.
• March 20 – The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
• March 22 – Wernher von Braun publishes the first in his series of articles entitled Man Will Conquer Space Soon!, including ideas for manned flights to Mars and the Moon.

• April 15 – The United States B-52 Stratofortress flies for the first time.
• April 23 – A nuclear test is held in the Nevada desert.
• April 28
  • The Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect, formally ending the occupation of Japan.
  • The Treaty of Taipei is signed between Japan and the Republic of China to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.

• May 1 – East Germany threatens to form its own army.
• May 2 – The first passenger jet flight route between London and Johannesburg.
• May 3 – U.S. lieutenant colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict land a plane at the geographic North Pole.
• May 6 – Farouk of Egypt has himself announced as a descendant of prophet Muhammad.
• May 13 – Pandit Nehru forms his first government in India.
• May 18 – Ann Davison becomes the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean.

• June 5 – Remains of a Viking ship are found near Boston, Massachusetts.
• June 14 – The keel is laid for the U.S. nuclear submarine USS Nautilus.
• June 15 – The Diary of Anne Frank is published.
• June 19 – The United States Army Special Forces is created

• 
  August 26 – A British passenger jet flies twice over the Atlantic Ocean in the same day.July 13 – East Germany announces the formation of its National People's Army.
• July 19–26 – Washington D.C. is "buzzed" by several alleged UFOs tracked on multiple radars. Jets scramble on several occasions and the objects take evasive action, only to return after the jets leave the area.^[1]
• July 19 – August 3 – The 1952 Summer Olympics are held in Helsinki, Finland.

• September 6 – Television debuts in Canada as the CBC in Montreal, Quebec airs..
• September 18 – The Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership in the United Nations.

• October 14 – The United Nations begins work in the new United Nations building in New York City.
• October 16 – Limelight opens in London; writer/actor/director/producer Charlie Chaplin arrives by ocean liner; in transit his re-entry permit to the USA is revoked by J. Edgar Hoover.

• November 1 – Nuclear testing: Operation Ivy: The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike", at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, with a yield of 10.4 megatons.
• November 4
  • United States presidential election, 1952: Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democrat Adlai Stevenson (correctly predicted by the UNIVAC computer).
  • The U.S. National Security Agency is founded.
• November 21 – A show trial in Czechoslovakia sentences 11 ex-communist officials (all of them Jews) to death.
• November 29 – Korean War: U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a political campaign promise, by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.

• December 4 – Great Smog of 1952: A "killer fog" descends on London (in the process coining the word "Smog", for "smoke" and "fog").