''Barnaby'' is a comic strip which began April 20, 1942, in the newspaper '' PM'' and was later syndicated in 64 American newspapers (for a combined circulation of more than 5,500,000). Created by

Crockett Johnson Crockett Johnson (October 20, 1906 – July 11, 1975) was the pen name of the American cartoonist and children's book illustrator David Johnson Leisk. He is best known for the comic strip '' Barnaby'' (1942–1952) and the ''Harold'' series of boo ...

, who is best known today for his children's book ''

Harold and the Purple Crayon ''Harold and the Purple Crayon'' is a 1955 children's book by Crockett Johnson. Published by Harper Collins Publishers, it is Johnson's most popular book, and has led to a series of other books, as well as many adaptations. Plot The protagonist ...

'', the strip featured a cherubic-looking five-year-old and his far-from-cherubic fairy godfather, Jackeen J. O'Malley, a short, cigar-smoking man with four tiny wings. With a distinctive appearance because of its use of typography, the strip had numerous reprints and was adapted into a 1940s stage production. The usually caustic

Dorothy Parker Dorothy Parker (née Rothschild; August 22, 1893 – June 7, 1967) was an American poet, writer, critic, and satirist based in New York; she was known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles. From a conflicted and unhap ...

had nothing but praise: "I think, and I'm trying to talk calmly, that Barnaby and his friends and oppressors are the most important additions to American Arts and Letters in Lord knows how many years."Nel, Philip
Nel, Philip. ''Harold, Barnaby, and Dave: A Biography of Crockett Johnson''
K-state.edu

Characters and story

One night after having been read a fairy tale involving a fairy godmother by his mother, Barnaby Baxter was totally surprised to receive a visit through his bedroom window by the cigar-wielding and pink wings-wearing Jackeen J. (J. J.) O'Malley, who announced that he was Barnaby's fairy godfather. From that moment on, Barnaby began a series of adventures with Mr. O'Malley that frequently got the pair of them into a fair number of scrapes. However, most of them were either of Mr. O'Malley's making or resulted in embarrassment of some sort for the rather clumsy fairy godfather, a member of the

Elves, Leprechauns, Gnomes, and Little Men's Chowder & Marching Society The Elves, Leprechauns, Gnomes, and Little Men's Chowder & Marching Society was the fraternal organization frequented by Mr. O’Malley, the fairy godfather in Crockett Johnson’s daily comic strip '' Barnaby''. The actual locale of the ELGLMC&M ...

. However, quite a number of their adventures had surprising results (such as uncovering a gang of criminals hiding their loot in a supposedly haunted house, Barnaby's winning a scrap iron contest while out searching for a leprechaun's pot of gold, and unmasking a spy working in Mr. Baxter's office). Barnaby's parents denied that Mr. O'Malley was real and took Barnaby to a number of

child psychologist Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult developmen ...

s. This denial continued even when O'Malley was seen flying past their picture window, when he walked into their living room, and even after O'Malley was elected their representative to

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

. As time passed, more characters were added, including: Jane Schultz, the little girl from down the street who originally didn't believe in Mr. O'Malley until she was face to face with him (although her parents, like Barnaby's, didn't believe her); Gorgon, Barnaby's talking dog (who never talked in front of the adults); Gus the timid and glasses-wearing ghost, Atlas the Mental Giant (who was physically Barnaby's size); and Lancelot McSnoyd, the annoying invisible

leprechaun A leprechaun ( ga, leipreachán/luchorpán) is a diminutive supernatural being in Irish folklore, classed by some as a type of solitary fairy. They are usually depicted as little bearded men, wearing a coat and hat, who partake in mischief. ...

who spoke in a Brooklyn accent. The strip ended when Barnaby finally reached his sixth birthday, the magical point beyond which he could no longer have a fairy godfather. With much regret, O'Malley left, and so (after a short-lived attempt in the 1960s to revive the strip by redoing the original stories) did Johnson, to pursue other interests.

History

''Barnaby'' was primarily a

daily strip A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays. Bud Fisher's ''Mutt and Jeff'' is commonly regarded as the first daily c ...

which began April 20, 1942, and later had a short-lived Sunday strip (December 1, 1946, to May 30, 1948). Instead of hand-lettering, ''Barnaby'' used typography in the balloons. The

typeface A typeface (or font family) is the design of lettering that can include variations in size, weight (e.g. bold), slope (e.g. italic), width (e.g. condensed), and so on. Each of these variations of the typeface is a font. There are thousands o ...

is Italic Futura Medium, which was designed by the German typographer

Paul Renner Paul Friedrich August Renner (9 August 1878 – 25 April 1956) was a German typeface designer, author, and founder of the Master School for Germany's Printers in Munich. In 1927, he designed the Futura typeface, which became one of the most ...

in the 1920s. In 1946, when Johnson began to concentrate on his children's books, the strip was drawn by Johnson's Connecticut neighbor, artist Jack Morley, who had previously drawn editorial cartoons for the '' New York Journal American''. For a year, Morley collaborated on the writing of the strip with Ted Ferro, who teamed with his wife for nine years on their scripts for the daytime comedy-drama radio serial, ''

Lorenzo Jones ''Lorenzo Jones'' was a daytime radio series which aired on NBC in different timeslots over an 18-year span. Produced by Frank and Anne Hummert, the series could be classified with its own unique category of "comedy soap opera", highlighted by or ...

''. The Morley/Ferro strips ran from December 31, 1945, to September 14, 1947. Starting September 14, 1947, Johnson began scripting again, with Morley doing the art. Johnson assisted Morley by giving him specific layouts for each panel, and the credit "Jack Morley and CJ" was then used on the strip. The final story reached a conclusion on February 2, 1952.

Revival and reprints

The strip was briefly revived, with adaptations of the early stories minus their

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

references, for a run from September 12, 1960, to April 14, 1962. These strips were redrawn in Johnson's style by

Warren Sattler Warren Sattler (born September 7, 1934) is an American artist and cartoonist, who contributed work to many popular publications from the early 1960s through the 1990s. Biography A lifelong Connecticut resident, Warren Sattler started cartooning a ...

. ''Barnaby'' received much critical praise when it first appeared, and it has been reprinted in ''Barnaby Quarterly'' (three issues, 1940s), by Henry Holt and Company (two hardcover books, with strips redrawn), Dover books (reprinting the first hardcover, 1960s), Ballantine Books (six paperbacks, 1980s) and in ''

Comics Revue ''Comics Revue'' is a bi-monthly small press comic book published by Manuscript Press and edited by Rick Norwood. Don Markstein edited the publication from 1984 to 1987 and 1992 to 1996. As of 2020, it has published more than 350 issues, making ...

'' magazine. These reprints still command high prices from used book dealers. Fantagraphics Books has begun publishing a five-volume series of collections designed by

Daniel Clowes Daniel Gillespie Clowes (; born April 14, 1961) is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in '' Eightball'', a solo anthology comic book series. An ''Eightball'' issue typi ...

, reprinting the entire original run (1942–1952) of the strip. The first volume became available in June 2013 while the second and third volume were released in June 2014 and June 2016, respectively. While the series was originally estimated to complete in 2017, the fourth volume was not published until December 2020.

Theater

Jerome Chodorov Jerome Chodorov (August 10, 1911 – September 12, 2004) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He co-wrote the book with Joseph A. Fields for the original Broadway musical ''Wonderful Town'' starring Rosalind Russell. The musi ...

wrote a 1946 stage adaptation, ''Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley'', produced by Barney Josephson. It ran in several East Coast cities, drawing attention with a scene in which O'Malley ( J. M. Kerrigan) flew over the audience tossing out leaflets urging support for his run for Congress. Barnaby was portrayed by Thomas Wm. Hamilton, who later had the

minor planet According to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a minor planet is an astronomical object in direct orbit around the Sun that is exclusively classified as neither a planet nor a comet. Before 2006, the IAU officially used the term ''mino ...

4897 Tomhamilton 4897 Tomhamilton, provisional designation , is a stony asteroid from the outer region of the asteroid belt, approximately 14 kilometers in diameter. It was discovered on 22 August 1987, by American astronomer Eleanor Helin at Palomar Observatory ...

named after him. Iris Mann played Jane, and

Royal Dano Royal Edward Dano Sr. (November 16, 1922 - May 15, 1994) was an American actor. In a career spanning 46 years, he was perhaps best known for playing cowboys, villains, and Abraham Lincoln. Dano also provided the voice of the Audio-Animatronic L ...

had the role of the leprechaun Launcelot McSnoyd. The play was later adapted for television as a 1959 episode of the

General Electric Theater ''General Electric Theater'' was an American anthology series hosted by Ronald Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations. Radio After an audition show ...

, hosted by Ronald Reagan and starring

Bert Lahr Irving Lahrheim (August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967), known professionally as Bert Lahr, was an American actor. He was best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion, as well as his counterpart Kansas farmworker "Zeke", in the MGM adaptation of ...

and

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He first came to prominence as a child actor, guest-starring in several television series, including an episode of ''The Twilight Zone''. He ...

Bibliography

Key: Q1–Q3 = ''Barnaby Quarterly''; B1–B2 = Holt hardbacks and their reprints; BB1–BB6 = Ballantine Books; S = Sunday strip, 60–62 = 1960–62 version; CR = ''Comics Revue''; F1–F5 = Fantagraphics Books

1942

*1. Mr. O'Malley, Q1, B1, BB1, S, 60, CR, F1 *2. Blackout, BB1, F1 *3. Spies, BB1, F1 *4. Ogre, Q1, BB1, F1 *5. Psychologist, Q1, B1, BB1, 60, CR, F1 *6. Air Raid Warden, B1, BB1, F1 *7. McSnoyd, Q2, B1, BB1, F1 *8. Scrap Drive, Q2, B1, BB1, F1 *9. Jane, Q2, B1, BB2, 60, CR, F1 *10. Gorgon, Q2, B1, BB2, S, 61, CR, F1

1943

*11. Gus, Q3, B1, BB2, S, 61, CR, F1 *12. The Hot Coffee Ring, Q3, B1, BB2, 61, CR, F1 *13. Quartet, Q3, B2, BB2, F1 *14. Garden, B2, BB2, 61, CR, F1 *15. Lion, B2, BB2, 61, CR, F1 *16. Giant, B2, BB2, 61, CR, F1 *17. Gorgon's Father, B2, BB2, 61, CR, F1 *18. Kiddie Camp, BB2, F1 *19. O'Malley for Congress, B2, BB3, F1 *20. Investigating Santa, BB3, F1

1944

*21. In Training, BB3, F2 *22. Washington, BB3, F2 *23. Book on Pixies, BB3, 61, CR, F2 *24. Pop's Business, BB4, 61, CR, F2 *25. Pirate Treasure, BB4, F2 *26. Election 1944, BB4, F2 *27. Thanksgiving, BB4, F2 *28. Ermine Hunters, BB4, F2

1945

*29. Soap Salesman, BB5, F2 *30. Wizard of Wall Street, BB5, 62, CR, F2 *31. Witch, BB5, F2 *32. Aunt Minerva, BB5, F2 *33. Thanksgiving Dinner, BB6, F2 *34. Movie, BB6, F2 :::Crockett Johnson leaves the strip

1946

*35. Lectures, BB6, F3, written by Ted Ferro, drawn by Jack Morley *36. Refrigerator Thief, BB6, F3 *37. Baseball), BB6, F3 *38. A House for Gorgon, F3 *39. School Board, F3 *40. A New Car, F3 *41. A Chemical Set for Christmas, F3

1947

*42. Shoes for Industry, F3 *44. O'Malley's Brother Orville, F3 *45. The Dog Show, F3 *46. At the Beach, F3 *47. Spraying, F3, Crockett Johnson writes some strips, which are signed Jack Morley and initialed CJ *48. A Visit to Aunt Minerva, F3, CJ

1948

*49. The United Nations, F4, CJ *50. Mother Baxter's Swamp Oil Eyewash, F4, CJ *51. The License, F4, CJ *52. The Little Theater, F4, CJ *53. Kindergarten, F4, CJ *54. The Exorcism, F4, CJ *55. Jack Frost, F4, CJ

1949

*56. Fafnir the Dragon, F4, CJ *57. The Hospital, F4 *58. The Museum, F4 *59. "The O'Malley Story", F4 *60. The Beach, F4 *61. College, F4 *62. Television, F4 *63. Pixies, F4

1952

*Final Story: The Birthday, CR 188

References

External links

Philip Nel Philip W. Nel (born March 29, 1969) is an American scholar of children's literature and University Distinguished Professor of English at Kansas State University. He is best known for his work on Dr. Seuss and ''Harry Potter'', which has led to hi ...

Crockett Johnson Homepage: Cartoon Books (Barnaby and Barkis)
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. from the original on August 27, 2015. {{Portal bar, Comics 1942 comics debuts 1952 comics endings 1960 comics debuts 1962 comics endings American comics characters American comic strips Barnaby (comic strip) Child characters in comics Comics adapted into plays Comics characters introduced in 1942 Comic strips set in the United States Fantasy comics