Mort Walker, 1923-2018
February 3, 2018 8:47 AM Subscribe
Mort Walker, creator of the deathless comic strips Hi and Lois and Beetle Bailey, died on January 27. Josh Fruhlinger, who is generally in the business of making fun of zombie legacy comics, offered a remarkably respectful look back at the way Beetle Bailey changed (yes, it did change).
Beetle Bailey had earned modest circulation until the early 1950s when the Tokyo edition of Stars & Stripes banned it out of fear it would encourage service members to model Bailey's lackadaisical behavior. The ban backfired, leading to a massive wave of publicity and a surge in distribution for the comic strip.
This predates the Streisand effect by 50 years; we should push to rename it the Beetle Bailey effect (or Mort Walker effect) in his honor. I loved Beetle Bailey when I was a kid and enjoyed Hi and Lois too.
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posted by TedW at 9:00 AM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
This predates the Streisand effect by 50 years; we should push to rename it the Beetle Bailey effect (or Mort Walker effect) in his honor. I loved Beetle Bailey when I was a kid and enjoyed Hi and Lois too.
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posted by TedW at 9:00 AM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
The Comics Journal has just reprinted a massive career-spanning interview with Walker, conducted by RC Harvey in 2009. It's here.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:05 AM on February 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Paul Slade at 9:05 AM on February 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
The censored ones linked indirectly are... curious .
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:09 AM on February 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:09 AM on February 3, 2018 [8 favorites]
Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois were, from childhood to the last time I opened a newspaper to the comics page, strips that never made me laugh or think, but it was almost more trouble not to read them. Never even stirring the annoyance that Mell Lazarus' Momma or Cathy Guisewite's Cathy regularly evoked.
That said, as a fan of comics and their history, I look forward to reading that Comics Journal interview (thanks, Paul Slade!). Art as industry always has interesting stories to tell, and, for example, the fact that Walker cranked out some naughty strips is fascinating.
So, for a veteran of what used to be called the funny pages:
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aav
posted by the sobsister at 9:26 AM on February 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
That said, as a fan of comics and their history, I look forward to reading that Comics Journal interview (thanks, Paul Slade!). Art as industry always has interesting stories to tell, and, for example, the fact that Walker cranked out some naughty strips is fascinating.
So, for a veteran of what used to be called the funny pages:
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aav
posted by the sobsister at 9:26 AM on February 3, 2018 [5 favorites]
You may not know that Beetle Bailey and Hi & Lois exist in the same continuity -- Beetle is Lois's brother.
posted by briank at 9:35 AM on February 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by briank at 9:35 AM on February 3, 2018 [10 favorites]
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Beetle Bailey always had the best grawlices. A symphony of glyphs.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:40 AM on February 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
Beetle Bailey always had the best grawlices. A symphony of glyphs.
posted by Faint of Butt at 9:40 AM on February 3, 2018 [6 favorites]
Jeet Heer tweeted that Mort Walker was the last living cartoonist to be hired by William Randolph Hearst. An era is definitely gone now.
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posted by jonp72 at 9:42 AM on February 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
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posted by jonp72 at 9:42 AM on February 3, 2018 [18 favorites]
You may not know...
I had no idea. But it makes sense. When I think of Beetle Bailey changing, I remember in 1970 when Lt. Flap showed up, an acknowledgment that the Army was not just white people. I also never knew – according to this page at beetlebailey.com – that Flap was based at least in part on Walt Frazier of the Knicks.
posted by LeLiLo at 9:46 AM on February 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I had no idea. But it makes sense. When I think of Beetle Bailey changing, I remember in 1970 when Lt. Flap showed up, an acknowledgment that the Army was not just white people. I also never knew – according to this page at beetlebailey.com – that Flap was based at least in part on Walt Frazier of the Knicks.
posted by LeLiLo at 9:46 AM on February 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I remember my dad, cracking up about this one strip, where Sarge had posted his daily schedule, which consisted of Wake up, eat, eat, eat.
posted by Oyéah at 10:06 AM on February 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Oyéah at 10:06 AM on February 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
Talking out loud about this obituary the other day meant that after many many decades I finally understood the joke in the title of "Hi & Lois"
posted by stevil at 10:17 AM on February 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
posted by stevil at 10:17 AM on February 3, 2018 [15 favorites]
I knew of someone who worked at social media for the syndicate and described their job as making sure Mort Walker didn’t make dick jokes online
posted by The Whelk at 11:06 AM on February 3, 2018 [21 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:06 AM on February 3, 2018 [21 favorites]
I lost some Beetle Bailey porn, that looked really old, in a hard drive crash. It's probably for the best.
posted by thelonius at 11:10 AM on February 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 11:10 AM on February 3, 2018 [2 favorites]
This short write up from The Atlantic, which I remember reading back in 1984, has some of Walker's thoughts on the censorship of his strip:
"When I first started, you couldn't mention divorce or death," Walker said. "You couldn't show smelly socks. You couldn't show a snake. They took a skunk out of my strip one time. In certain parts of the country you couldn't show anybody smoking. In Salt Lake City, if a guy was shown smoking a pipe, they'd simply white it out and leave the guy with his hand stuck out in the air for no reason at all. They would paint out cigarettes. Belly buttons were a big battle of mine. Down at the syndicate they would clip them out with a razor blade. I began putting so many of them in, in the margins and everywhere, that they had a little box down there called Beetle Bailey's Belly-Button Box. The editors finally gave up after I did one strip showing a delivery of navel oranges.
Less cute and funny is Mort Walker's sexist secretary character, the buxom, ditzy, and frequently sexually harassed Miss Buxley, and his griping about how he wants "feminists off his back".
posted by orange swan at 11:19 AM on February 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
"When I first started, you couldn't mention divorce or death," Walker said. "You couldn't show smelly socks. You couldn't show a snake. They took a skunk out of my strip one time. In certain parts of the country you couldn't show anybody smoking. In Salt Lake City, if a guy was shown smoking a pipe, they'd simply white it out and leave the guy with his hand stuck out in the air for no reason at all. They would paint out cigarettes. Belly buttons were a big battle of mine. Down at the syndicate they would clip them out with a razor blade. I began putting so many of them in, in the margins and everywhere, that they had a little box down there called Beetle Bailey's Belly-Button Box. The editors finally gave up after I did one strip showing a delivery of navel oranges.
Less cute and funny is Mort Walker's sexist secretary character, the buxom, ditzy, and frequently sexually harassed Miss Buxley, and his griping about how he wants "feminists off his back".
posted by orange swan at 11:19 AM on February 3, 2018 [4 favorites]
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posted by jim in austin at 11:22 AM on February 3, 2018
posted by jim in austin at 11:22 AM on February 3, 2018
As a kid in the 70s-80s, I read pretty much all the comic strips daily, like it was my job. It's really weird looking back, because I didn't enjoy most of them. When I was really young I liked Peanuts, probably because I knew the Xmas special from TV. The Far Side and Calvin and Hobbes were maybe the only ones I really remember liking, but by then I was a tween. My older brother would bring home the Chicago Reader every friday and we'd all obsess over Ernie Pook's Comeek, Life in Hell, etc.
The one that really puzzled me was Haggar the Horrible. I never understood the lasting appeal. I always skipped Brenda Starr and Dick Tracy and all the ongoing story ones. I liked the one-offs.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 11:46 AM on February 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
The one that really puzzled me was Haggar the Horrible. I never understood the lasting appeal. I always skipped Brenda Starr and Dick Tracy and all the ongoing story ones. I liked the one-offs.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 11:46 AM on February 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
I had a few Beetle Bailey books over the years that were library sale finds. The strips where Walker played with the comic medium itself as a gag never failed to make me smile.
Setting: Sarge and Beetle standing on the artillery range. Beetle fires the mortar with a “BANG” caption .
Sarge: “Not bad Beetle, try making it a little higher.”
Beetle fires again, the sound effect caption is now written in flowery script
Sarge: “Now cut that out!”
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posted by dr_dank at 11:57 AM on February 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
Setting: Sarge and Beetle standing on the artillery range. Beetle fires the mortar with a “BANG” caption .
Sarge: “Not bad Beetle, try making it a little higher.”
Beetle fires again, the sound effect caption is now written in flowery script
Sarge: “Now cut that out!”
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posted by dr_dank at 11:57 AM on February 3, 2018 [9 favorites]
Less cute and funny is Mort Walker's sexist secretary character, the buxom, ditzy, and frequently sexually harassed Miss Buxley, and his griping about how he wants "feminists off his back".
Fruhlinger covers this, and good General Halftrack was sent to training for proper office conduct.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:35 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Fruhlinger covers this, and good General Halftrack was sent to training for proper office conduct.
posted by Going To Maine at 12:35 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
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He was a product of his time, but he also learned to change. A nice goal for all of us.
posted by Samizdata at 12:39 PM on February 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
He was a product of his time, but he also learned to change. A nice goal for all of us.
posted by Samizdata at 12:39 PM on February 3, 2018 [13 favorites]
I lost some Beetle Bailey porn, that looked really old, in a hard drive crash.
Probably a Tijuana bible. A friend of mine has a few, including, I think, a Beetle Bailey one. They're sort of upsetting, although apparently not actually that much worse than what Mort Walker himself was capable of.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:15 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Probably a Tijuana bible. A friend of mine has a few, including, I think, a Beetle Bailey one. They're sort of upsetting, although apparently not actually that much worse than what Mort Walker himself was capable of.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:15 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
The strips where Walker played with the comic medium itself as a gag never failed to make me smile.
Mort Walker loved doing that so much that he created Sam's Strip in 1961, in which the characters were very much aware they were in a comic strip. Though it only last a few years, it's his best work.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:23 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Mort Walker loved doing that so much that he created Sam's Strip in 1961, in which the characters were very much aware they were in a comic strip. Though it only last a few years, it's his best work.
posted by MartinWisse at 1:23 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
I never understood what Sarge was wearing on his head. Is that a garrison cap?
Beetle Bailey was a fine strip, but I have been genuinely confused about this for most of my life.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:13 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Beetle Bailey was a fine strip, but I have been genuinely confused about this for most of my life.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:13 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
There was a teacher at my high school in the '70s who had the nickname "Beetle Bailey" for no discernible reason. It turned out to be because in the '50s he always walked to and from school wearing a pork pie hat like Beetle had worn before he joined the army.
posted by lagomorphius at 2:29 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by lagomorphius at 2:29 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
He was a product of his time, but he also learned to change. A nice goal for all of us.
I love the article's deconstruction of Walker's evolution as applied to modern comedians: both-sides-ism, cynical embrace of the scandal, awkward attempts to find a comfortable way forward, and finally, owning up to it and making the change.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:15 PM on February 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
I love the article's deconstruction of Walker's evolution as applied to modern comedians: both-sides-ism, cynical embrace of the scandal, awkward attempts to find a comfortable way forward, and finally, owning up to it and making the change.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:15 PM on February 3, 2018 [7 favorites]
Didn't know he was on the outs with the War Department. This recalls the career of Bill Maudlin, creator of Willie and Joe during WW2. He too had trouble with the army wanting to shut his creations down. Well, not the army per se - George Patton, to be specific. Patton, in the end, had met his match.
posted by BWA at 4:46 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by BWA at 4:46 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
MartinWisse, I had never heard of Sam's Strip, so I went and looked for info on it. Now such a thing seems well ahead of its time, and I wish it had survived.
posted by JHarris at 6:16 PM on February 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 6:16 PM on February 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I also used to read all the weekend newspaper comics in the 70s/80s, even if they weren't funny. But! I just realised that Beetle Bailey is likely responsible for my disdain of beaurocracy!
posted by A hidden well at 7:43 PM on February 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by A hidden well at 7:43 PM on February 3, 2018 [1 favorite]
I met the creator of Hagar the Horrible,back in the day (I worked in an art supply store in Sarasota, where his family spent the winter-we catered to a lot of cartoonists.)
He was nice and was built like Hagar. Interestingly enough he had bad eyesight. I had to help him pick out paint. I think his son (also a cartoonist ) was helping him by then.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 8:28 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
He was nice and was built like Hagar. Interestingly enough he had bad eyesight. I had to help him pick out paint. I think his son (also a cartoonist ) was helping him by then.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 8:28 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
Hagar creator Dik Browne was actually the inspiration for Beetle Bailey's philosophical platoon-mate Plato.
posted by BiggerJ at 10:47 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by BiggerJ at 10:47 PM on February 3, 2018 [3 favorites]
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posted by Joey Michaels at 11:43 PM on February 3, 2018
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:43 PM on February 3, 2018
> MartinWisse:
"The strips where Walker played with the comic medium itself as a gag never failed to make me smile.
Mort Walker loved doing that so much that he created Sam's Strip in 1961, in which the characters were very much aware they were in a comic strip. Though it only last a few years, it's his best work."
> JHarris:
"MartinWisse, I had never heard of Sam's Strip, so I went and looked for info on it. Now such a thing seems well ahead of its time, and I wish it had survived."
Neat! Had never heard about it before, and I am positive Tumblr would be alight with how "meta" it was.
posted by Samizdata at 12:40 AM on February 4, 2018
"The strips where Walker played with the comic medium itself as a gag never failed to make me smile.
Mort Walker loved doing that so much that he created Sam's Strip in 1961, in which the characters were very much aware they were in a comic strip. Though it only last a few years, it's his best work."
> JHarris:
"MartinWisse, I had never heard of Sam's Strip, so I went and looked for info on it. Now such a thing seems well ahead of its time, and I wish it had survived."
Neat! Had never heard about it before, and I am positive Tumblr would be alight with how "meta" it was.
posted by Samizdata at 12:40 AM on February 4, 2018
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