''Bluey and Curley'' is an Australian newspaper comic strip written by the Australian artist, caricaturist, and cartoonist

Alex Gurney Alexander Gurney (born September 4, 1974) is an American racing driver who competes in the Rolex Sports Car Series for GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing. He won the 2007 and 2009 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype drivers' championshi ...

. Few original ''Bluey and Curley'' strips are held in public collections, because Gurney often gave the original art work of his caricatures, cartoons, and comic strips to anyone who asked. Following Gurney's death in 1955, the strip was taken over by

Norm Rice Norman Blann Rice (born May 4, 1943) is an American politician who served as the 49th mayor of Seattle, Washington, serving two terms from 1990 to 1997. Rice was Seattle's first elected African-American mayor. Early life Rice graduated from th ...

in early 1956, but he died in a vehicle accident that year. ''Bluey and Curley'' was then taken over by cartoonist

Les Dixon Leslie Dixon (1910–2002), was an Australian cartoonist and commercial artist. Biography Dixon was born Leslie Charles Brailey in Sydney on 25 July 1910 and adopted by Charles and Lillian Dixon when he was only six months old. He attended ...

who drew it for 18 years until he retired in 1975.

Characters

The first ''Bluey and Curley'' strip appeared soon after the start of World War II. It featured two Australian soldiers, Bluey (who had served in the First AIF), and Curley, a new recruit. By the end of the war, they had served in every Australian campaign — in North Africa, in the Middle East, in New Guinea, in Northern Australia, and in the Pacific Islands — and, once the war was over, they even went to London and took part in the 1946 Victory Parade.

Creation

By 1939, Alex Gurney was already well established as a caricaturist, cartoonist, and comic strip artist. In late 1939, following the outbreak of World War II, he created his most famous characters, ''Bluey and Curley'', which first appeared in the ''Picture-News'' magazine. He applied for the copyright registration of ''Bluey and Curley'' on 16 October 1939; and his application was granted on 9 November 1939 (Australian Copyright No.6921).

Syndication

It was transferred to ''

The Sun News-Pictorial ''The Sun News-Pictorial'' (known as ''The Sun'') was a morning daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, from 1922 until its merger in 1990 with ''The Herald (Melbourne), The H ...

'' in 1940, from whence it was syndicated throughout Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Cultural impact

The strip featured a pair of soldiers, "Bluey" (named for his red hair), the Great War veteran who had re-enlisted in the second A.I.F., and Curley (named for his extremely curly hair), the new recruit to the A.I.F. The strip was widely appreciated for the good-humoured way it depicted the Australian "diggers" and their "

mateship Mateship is an Australian cultural idiom that embodies equality, loyalty and friendship. Russel Ward, in ''The Australian Legend'' (1958), once saw the concept as central to the Australian people. ''Mateship'' derives from ''mate'', meaning ''fri ...

", as well as for its realistic use of Australian idiom of the day.Panozzo, S., "Gurney, Alexander George (Alex) (1902 - 1955)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, (1996).
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Service life

Gurney visited army camps throughout Australia and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

to ensure authenticity. While in New Guinea he contracted

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

and was incapacitated for some time.

Post-war life

Gurney was in England in June 1946, as part of an Australian Press Syndicate sent specifically to view the Victory Parade. As well as sending caricatures of various eminent people involved in that parade back to Australia for distribution through the press, he also used the opportunity to have Bluey and Curley attend the parade, and a number of his Bluey and Curley comic strips reflected that event. Gurney's visit to London, and his version of events, as seen through his Bluey and Curley comic strip, was also historically significant for another reason: it was the first time that a newspaper comic strip had ever been transmitted from England to Australia by radio. Although ''Bluey and Curley'' were popular with Australians because they related to the slang, attitude, and the lack of respect towards authority exhibited by the main characters,Pilcher, Tim and Brad Brooks. (Foreword: Dave Gibbons). ''The Essential Guide to World Comics''. ''

Collins and Brown HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News C ...

''. 2005. 260. the strip lost some of its appeal and readership when the pair returned to "civvy street".Ryan, John ''Panel By Panel'' Cassell Australia 1979

Gurney's death

Gurney died suddenly, of heart disease, on 4 December 1955. He had collapsed in his car parked outside his home.

Post-Gurney

The strip was later drawn by Norman Howard Rice (1911–1956). Rice died as the result of a car accident on 31 December 1956 (New Year's Eve).4 More Deaths on Roads, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', (Monday, 1 January 1957), p.43 Killed in Crash, ''The Argus'', (Tuesday, 2 January 1957), p.10Artist Killed in Crash, ''The Argus'', (Wednesday, 2 January 1957), p.9Death Notice: Rice, Norman Howard, ''The Sydney Morning Herald'', Wednesday, 2 January 1957), p.18.
/ref> The strip was then drawn by

from 1957 until 1975.

Film

The comic was adapted into a TV film '' Mud, Bloody Mud'' in 1985.

The Original

Image:Bluey & Curley-(6921-original, 1939c).jpeg, Copyright Application, 1939.

Footnotes

References

* Gurney, Margaret, ''My Dad: Alex Gurney 1902-1955'', M. Gurney, (Black Rock), 2006. * Gurney, John & Dunstan, Keith, ''Gurney and Bluey and Curley: Alex Gurney and his Greatest Cartoons'', Macmillan, (South Melbourne), 1986.
Hetherington, J., "Bluey's Creator Was Hobart Student", ''The Mercury'', (Saturday, 28 July 1951), p.4.

Hetherington, J., "He's the Boss of Bluey and Curley", ''The Barrier Miner'', (Thursday, 2 August 1951), p.4.

The Cartoonist Wields a Mighty Pen, ''The (Adelaide) Mail'', (Saturday, 28 January 1933), p.13.

Meet Alex Gurney — Creator of Bluey and Curley, ''The Sunday Times Magazine'', ''The (Perth) Sunday Times'', (Sunday, 17 August 1947), p.9.

J.A., ""Bluey and Curley" Creator in Perth, ''The Sunday Times Magazine'', ''The (Perth) Sunday Times'', (Sunday, 15 May 1949), p.15.

Now, Meet Their Maker, ''The Sunday Times Magazine'', ''The (Perth) Sunday Times'', (Sunday, 12 August 1951), p.4.

* ttp://nishi.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-82/t1-g-t6.html Lindesay, Vane, "Alex Gurney: Creator of Bluey and Curley", ''The La Trobe Journal'', No 82, (Spring 2008), pp.59-65.{{Webarchive, url=https://archive.today/20121127031004/http://nishi.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-82/t1-g-t6.html , date=2012-11-27
Stanley, P, "Remembering the war in New Guinea, The real Bluey and Curley: Australian images and idioms in the island campaigns", Symposium Paper, Australia-Japan Research Project, 2000.

Famous Strip Creator Dead, ''The Age'', (Monday, 5 December), p.3.

* Kendig, D., "Alex Gurney", ''The Funnies Paper'', (November/December 2000), pp. 24–26. * Gurney, Alex (1902–55), p. 334 in Wilde, H.W., Hooton, J.W. & Andrews, B.G., ''Oxford Companion to Australian Literature (Second Revised Edition)'', Oxford University Press, (Melbourne), 1994 Australian comic strips Military humor Military comics 1939 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1939 1975 comics endings Comic strip duos Fictional Australian people Fictional Australian Army personnel Fictional World War II veterans Australian comics characters Male characters in comics Australian comics adapted into films