Sunday, December 1, 2013

Come Along, Cheerful Charlies!

Hey kids, let's start a chapter of the Cheerful Charlies!

June 20, 1971

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , ,

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous12/1/13, 2:09 AM

    I am a Cheerful Charlie for life. Also, Howland has the proper description for the Myth-Illogicla Beast that is the Unique Orn!

    - (A)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous12/1/13, 6:48 AM

    At least in respect of equal rights ("rites" in swamptalk) for females a bit of progress has been achieved since 1971; what with lady boxers, soccer teams, weight lifters, cycle competitions. Are there any quarterbacks of that 'persuasion' yet?
    Just musing...

    Hun
    PS. I quite like the closing words of that Ladybird, being for the birds

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous12/1/13, 11:45 AM

    There’s been a tendency to refer to a certain mild sexism in Pogo: Indeed the gender breakdown of the members of the swamp can be somewhat telling, I think. There's only a few long running regulars that are female: Miss Mam'selle Hepzibah is the primary and unreachable target for most of the wooing going on, a distillment of the narrow brand of western femininity. Miz Beaver, on the other hand, radiates a matronly charm, and mostly she's depicted quite possibly the most physically competent of the swamp denizens. (Perhaps if you want to nitpick, you can throw in the exceptionally assertive Sis Boombah in there, but I don't think she's considered a regular by most.) I find it interesting that the female characters in this comic strip are basically an assortment of of Ms. (Species Name Here) counterparts to act as counterweights to certain male characters' layaboutness. Otherwise the most time anyone has spent in a dress has to go to Albert (“Funny how a good-lookin' fella look handsome in anything he throw on!”). Kelly's work reflects, I think, a boyish focus that is distinctly a product of the times: A collection of male friends, getting into trouble and slacking off together. The women are probably off keeping things actually running in the swamp, since any male that seems interested in overt social control is generally an antagonist (coughdeaconcough).

    - (A)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous12/1/13, 1:10 PM

    Love the way Kelly seamlessly moves from one storyline to the next with reckless abandon.

    I remember reading that Kelly and Ward Kimball used to hide out in adjoining stalls in the men's room when they were working at Disney, Kimball playing his trombone and Kelly accompanying on comb-and-tissue-paper, driving all their coworkers nuts. Despite his love of music, I've never read that Kelly played any instrument. I wonder if he tried and was never able to master it? Such frustration might account for the wanton destruction of musical instruments (particularly horns) that often occurs in the swamp.

    ~Craig

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous12/2/13, 6:25 AM

      What amazes me more is how, in the same day, Albert is sick, then up again to officiate a race, then is run over by a cow, and after recovering from that - while practicing for band - ends up in a match with the same cow who runs of with his sousaphone. The Busy World of Richard Scarry-- I mean, Walt Kelly.

      - (A)

      Delete
  5. Kevin12/6/13, 11:48 AM

    Thank you for this blog. As a result of reading your Pogo posts, I have added "myth-illogical" and "shatterpated ninnyhammer" to my conversational vocabulary.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)