''Sjors & Sjimmie'' (''George & Jimmy'') is a Dutch adaptation of the comic strip ''

Winnie Winkle ''Winnie Winkle'' is an American comic strip published during a 76-year span (1920–1996). Ten film adaptations were also made. Its premise was conceived by Joseph Medill Patterson, but the stories and artwork were by Martin Branner, who wrote ...

'', specifically the character Perry Winkle from that strip. The difference between the American original and the Dutch adaptation is that Sjors (Perry) forms a duo with

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

-born Sjimmie. They are raised by Sally and the Colonel. The Colonel regularly finds himself on the receiving end of their pranks. In return Sjors & Sjimmie are outsmarted by their scheming classmate Dikkie, although they manage to stay the best of friends.

Publication history

Early years

The popularity of the newspaper strip '' Buster Brown'' (debuting in 1902) spawned many imitators, including the Perry Winkle character (Winnie's adopted younger brother) in

Martin Branner Martin Michael Branner (December 28, 1888 – May 19, 1970), known to his friends as Mike Branner, was a cartoonist who created the popular comic strip ''Winnie Winkle''. Early life Branner was born in Manhattan, New York City on December 2 ...

's long-running strip ''

'' (debuting in 1920). Perry's adventures were translated and published in Dutch newspapers; and in 1938 given a Dutch-made version (''Sjors en de Rebellenclub'' by Frans Piët) after the original US strip shifted focus back on to Perry's sister Winnie. After the strip took a hiatus during

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 ...

, the protagonist Sjors found a companion in Sjimmie, an African boy who was part of the visiting circus. Sjimmie was originally portrayed in blackface stereotypical ways such as speaking in broken language. In 1969

Jan Kruis Johannes Andries “Jan” Kruis (; 8 June 1933 – 19 January 2017) was a Dutch comics artist best known for the family strip '' Jack, Jacky and the Juniors'' (''Jan, Jans en de Kinderen''). Biography He began creating comics as a child. Later ...

took over the comic from the retired Frans Piët; he reinvented Sjimmie as a normal-looking, properly speaking teenager, and introduced the Colonel (Sally's father) as a grumpy war-veteran. Kruis produced two 44-page stories, but eventually chose to work on his one-page comic '' Jack, Jacky and the Juniors'' in which Sjors & Sjimmie made one cameo appearance.

Jan Steeman Jan Steeman (23 May 1933 – 24 January 2018) was a Dutch comics artist, best known for his association football comic ''Roel Dijkstra'' and ''Noortje'', a comic strip about a bumbling teenage girl published in ''Tina''. The latter runs for more t ...

continued ''Sjors & Sjimmie'' during the first half of the 1970s.

1975-99; the Wiroja-years

In 1975 the ''Sjors'' and ''

Pep Pep is energy or high spirits; it may refer to: * Pep band, an ensemble of instrumentalists * Pep, the dog in ''Putt-Putt'' (series) * Neilson Dairy confectionery brand * Pep, New Mexico * Pep, Texas * Pep Cereal, by Kellogg * Pep Comics, by MLJ ...

'' magazines merged into '' Eppo''; ''Sjors & Sjimmie'' were re-invented as one-page gags drawn by Robert van der Kroft. The initial response was tepid, but things improved when scriptwriter Patty Klein was replaced by the duo of Wilbert Plijnaar and Jan van Die. Collectively known as the Wirojas, the threesome of van der Kroft, Plijnaar, and van Die turned ''Sjors & Sjimmie'' into one of ''Eppo'''s most popular features. During the 1980s Sjors & Sjimmie grew into teenagers pursuing like-minded interests (soccer, computer games) and chasing girls with varying results, while modern-day trends, celebrities, and political developments were ridiculed. For example; Sjors & Sjimmie were huge fans of "Michael Claxon" ("claxon" meaning "

car horn A horn is a sound-making device that can be equipped to motor vehicles, buses, bicycles, trains, trams (otherwise known as streetcars in North America), and other types of vehicles. The sound made usually resembles a "honk" (older vehicles) or ...

" in Dutch) and "Madomma" ("dom" meaning "dumb" or "stupid" in Dutch), and preferred off-time lunches at McMickey's over mundane cheese-sandwiches.

''Sjors & Sjimmie'' magazine

In 1988 ''Eppo'' magazine was renamed ''Sjors & Sjimmie'' after its most successful comic. It lasted until 1999 and contained multi-page stories besides the regular one-pagers. The Wirojas couldn't cope with the amount of work, which was outsourced to a Spanish art studio; the Wirojas stayed on hand for cover designs and quality control whilst producing the gag strip ''

Claire Clair or Claire may refer to: *Claire (given name), a list of people with the name Claire * Clair (surname) Places Canada * Clair, New Brunswick, a former village, now part of Haut-Madawaska * Clair Parish, New Brunswick * Pointe-Claire, Q ...

'' for the women's magazine '' Flair''. The first years of "Sjors & Sjimmie" were still successful, but in 1994 the name was shortened to ''Sjosji'' in an unsuccessful attempt to reach a younger generation. In 1999 ''Sjosji'' ceased publication.

Cancellation and possible comeback

The magazine was revived in 2009 as '' Eppo'', but due to legal issues Sjors & Sjimmie were not included. Robert van der Kroft worked on ''Claire''-gags with Jan van Die and

Evert Geradts Evert Geradts (born 9 June 1943, The Hague) is a Dutch cartoonist and former underground comics artist. He later became a prolific Disney comics writer and artist too. He is the winner with Leny Zwalve of the 1977 Stripschapprijs The Stripschap ...

. The latter replaced Wilbert Plijnaar, who moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

in 1995 where he enjoyed a successful career in animation and continues to live. In 2019, the Wiroja's reunited to produce new gags for quarterly magazine '' StripGlossy''.

In other media

*''Sjors van de Rebellenclub met vacantie'' (1940) Seven live-action ''Sjors & Sjimmie'' movies were made between 1955 and 1977 by Henk van der Linden. *''

Sjors van de Rebellenclub '' Sjors van de Rebellenclub '' is a 1955 Dutch adventure film directed by Henk van der Linden. It was based on the popular Dutch comic strip ''Sjors en Sjimmie ''Sjors & Sjimmie'' (''George & Jimmy'') is a Dutch adaptation of the comic strip ...

'' (1955) *''Sjors en Sjimmie op het Pirateneiland'' (1962) *' (1966) *''Sjors en Sjimmie in het Land der Reuzen'' (1968) *''Sjors en Sjimmie en de Toverring'' (1971) *''Sjors en Sjimmie en de Rebellen'' (1972) *''Sjors en Sjimmie en het Zwaard van Krijn'' (1977) An anticipated eighth movie was planned, but eventually cancelled. It would have starred comedians

Paul de Leeuw Paul Henri de Leeuw (born 26 March 1962) is a Dutch television comedian, singer and actor. De Leeuw gained national fame in the late eighties and early nineties with television shows for broadcasting company VARA. Though satire was only a part ...

and Eric van Sauers as Sjors & Sjimmie in their forties. In 1992 Sjors & Sjimmie appeared in an animated rap video for the ''No Shobo'' campaign (''shobo'' being contemporary slang for showoffs).

Artists

* Hans Ducro * Frans Piët *

* Robert van der Kroft * Carol Voges

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sjors and Sjimmie Dutch comic strips Dutch comics characters Male characters in comics Male characters in advertising Comic strip duos Fictional Dutch people Fictional African people Black people in comics 1938 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1938 Mascots introduced in 1938 Child characters in comics Child characters in advertising Humor comics Adventure comics Magazine mascots Comics set in the Netherlands Dutch comics adapted into films