''The Better Half'' is an American

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

created by Bob Barnes. It follows the lives of a married couple, Stanley and Harriet Parker, and the usual annoyances couples have with one another after years of marriage. In 1958, the strip won Barnes the

National Cartoonist Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award.

James Coco James Emil Coco (March 21, 1930 – February 25, 1987) was an American stage and screen actor. He was the recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a Drama Desk Award and three Obie Awards, as well as nominations for a Tony Award, an Academy Awards, ...

and

Lily Tomlin Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin (born September 1, 1939) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and producer. She started her career as a stand-up comedian as well as performing off-Broadway during the 1960s. Her breakout role was on the vari ...

made a

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

pilot based on the strip for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in the early 1970s, but no series was ever made.

Publication history

''The Better Half'' was distributed by the

Register and Tribune Syndicate The Register and Tribune Syndicate was a Print syndication, syndication service based in Des Moines, Iowa, that operated from 1922 to 1986, when it was acquired by King Features to become the Cowles Syndicate affiliate. At its peak, the Register a ...

in 1956–1986 and

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

from 1986 to 2014. Creator Bob Barnes produced the panel from its debut on June 25, 1956, until his death in 1970. His wife Ruth Barnes and illustrator Dick Rogers continued the strip until September 30, 1979. It then passed to Vinnie Vinson (October 1, 1979 to October 3, 1982) and

Randy Glasbergen Randy Glasbergen (February 20, 1957 – August 11, 2015) was an American cartoonist and humorous illustrator best known for three decades of newspaper syndication as well as a freelance career. He produced the syndicated strip '' The Better Half' ...

(October 10, 1982 to November 30, 2014). Between 1982 and 1992, Glasbergen did the strip under the pseudonym "Jay Harris," so as not to confuse publishers who were familiar with his different style of humor and character design. ("Harris" was his wife's maiden name.) As he was able to transform the characters to his own style, he began using his own name. In the process, Stanley became much shorter than Harriet and lost his scruffy mustache. At the end of syndication, ''The Better Half'' was appearing seven days a week in approximately 150 print and online newspapers around the world. The strip ended on November 30, 2014, after a 58-year run.

Characters

*Stanley Parker is a stocky, middle-aged office manager who tends to be lazy, especially at home. He is sometimes seen lounging in a chair in front of the TV set with a large bag of potato chips. *Harriet Parker is Stanley's thin (and thin-tempered) wife. Her cooking does not always agree with Stanley. *Bert is the proprietor and head cook of Bert's Beanery, a greasy spoon which Stanley frequents.

References

Notes

Sources

*Strickler, Dave. ''Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index.'' Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995. *

Publication history

Characters

References

Notes

Sources

See also