''Reg'lar Fellers'' is a long-running newspaper comic strip adapted into a feature film, a radio series on the

NBC Red Network The NBC, National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the Blue Network, NBC Blue Network it was ...

, and two animated cartoons. Created by Gene Byrnes (1889–1974), the comic strip offered a humorous look at a gang of suburban children (who nevertheless spoke like New York street kids). Syndicated from 1917 to January 18, 1949, Byrnes' strip was collected into several books. Branding also extended to such items as baseball bats and breakfast cereal.

Publication history

While working as a sports cartoonist with the ''

New York Telegram The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966. History Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...

'', Byrnes created his cartoon panel ''It's a Great Life If You Don't Weaken'' which introduced the ''Reg'lar Fellers'' characters in 1917. He began ''Wide Awake Willie'' as a '' New York Herald'' Sunday page in 1919, and this too featured ''Reg'lar Fellers'' characters. With ''Reg'lar Fellers'' distributed by the

Bell Syndicate The Bell Syndicate, launched in 1916 by editor-publisher John Neville Wheeler, was an American syndicate that distributed columns, fiction, feature articles and comic strips to newspapers for decades. It was located in New York City at 247 West 4 ...

as a daily strip in 1920, Byrnes changed the name of the Sunday strip to ''Reg'lar Fellers''. At its peak, the strip was syndicated in 800 newspapers. It was imitated by other strips, notably Ad Carter's ''Just Kids''. ''Reg'lar Fellers'' had several topper strips on the Sunday page: ''Draw It Y'self'' (May 1, 1932 - Sept 2, 1934), ''Daisybelle'' (Sept 9, 1934 - 1940/41), ''Dizzie Lizzie'' (1940/41 - 1942) and ''Zoolie'' (Feb 6, 1944 - Jan 1949).

Characters and story

The characters include leader Jimmy Dugan, sidekick Puddinhead Duffy, Puddinhead's little brother Pinhead, Bullseye the dog and the gang's girl member, Angie Riley.

Collected editions and comic books

Cupples & Leon Cupples & Leon was an American publishing company founded in 1902 by Victor I. Cupples (1864–1941) and Arthur T. Leon (1867–1943). They published juvenile fiction and children's books but are mainly remembered today as the major publi ...

published four collections of ''Reg'lar Fellers'' reprints between 1921 and 1929. Two Big Little Books, from different publishers, were published during the 1930s. ''Reg'lar Fellers Story Paint Book'' was published by

Whitman Publishing Whitman Publishing is an American book publishing company which started as a subsidiary of the Western Printing & Lithographing Company of Racine, Wisconsin. In about 1915, Western began printing and binding a line of juvenile books for the Hammi ...

in 1932. One curious hardcover book published 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 ...

brought together colorful ''Reg'lar Fellers'' episodes of kids playing soldiers in backyards with black-and-white

combat photographs. Reg'lar Fellers of America was an athletic organization founded by Clair F. Bee, the Director of Health Education at Long Island University. Reg'lar Fellers of America was planned to develop summer recreation for 12- to 15-year-olds through competitive sports, and

Eastern Color Printing The Eastern Color Printing Company was a company that published comic books, beginning in 1933. At first, it was only newspaper comic strip reprints, but later on, original material was published. Eastern Color Printing was incorporated in 19 ...

's ''Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics'' promoted the organization to the nation's youth beginning in 1940. ''Reg'lar Fellers'' remained in the title logo for the first 15 issues, which also displayed a seal with an eagle and a shield along with the words "Reg'lar Fellers of America". "The Official Publication of Reg'lar Fellers" was the cover blurb until issue 15; the title was shortened to ''Heroic Comics'' with issue 16. In other comic books, ''Reg'lar Fellers'' was reprinted in

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...

' ''Popular Comics'' beginning in #9 (November, 1936), which also featured reprints of '' Dick Tracy'', '' Tailspin Tommy'', ''

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 ...

'' and other strips. ''Reg'lar Fellers'' next appeared in the first issue (April, 1939) of

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

's ''

All-American Comics ''All-American Comics'' was a comics anthology and the flagship title of comic book publisher All-American Publications, one of the forerunners of DC Comics. It ran for 102 issues from 1939 to 1948. Characters created for the title, including Green ...

''.

Standard Comics Standard Comics was a comic book imprint of American publisher Ned Pines, who also published pulp magazines (under a variety of company names that he also used for the comics) and paperback books (under the Popular Library name). Standard in t ...

published two issues of ''Reg'lar Fellers'' in its own 1946–47 title.

In other media

Films

In addition to book reprints and comic books, the strip was adapted to both animation and live-action films.

Ub Iwerks Ubbe Ert Iwwerks (March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), known as Ub Iwerks ( ), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, and special effects technician. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Iwerks grew up with a contentiou ...

produced the animated adaptation, ''

Happy Days ''Happy Days'' is an American television sitcom that aired first-run on the ABC network from January 15, 1974, to July 19, 1984, with a total of 255 half-hour episodes spanning 11 seasons. Created by Garry Marshall, it was one of the most su ...

'', released on September 30, 1936, as the last '' ComiColor Cartoon'' short.

Walter Lantz Walter Lantz (April 27, 1899 – March 22, 1994) was an American cartoonist, animator, producer and director best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker. Biography Early years and start in animation Lant ...

also produced an animated short, '' Boy Meets Dog'', an unreleased 1938 commercial for

Ipana Ipana was a toothpaste product manufactured by Bristol-Myers Company. The wintergreen flavored toothpaste (0.243% sodium fluoride was its active ingredient) reached its peak market penetration during the 1950s in North America. Marketing of Ipan ...

toothpaste. It eventually got released on the home-movie market (with the Ipana toothpaste billboard scene removed) by

Castle Films Castle Films was a film company founded in California by former newsreel cameraman Eugene W. Castle (1897–1960) in 1924. Originally, Castle Films produced industrial and advertising films. Then in 1937, the company pioneered the production and d ...

Arthur Dreifuss Arthur Dreifuss (sometimes credited as Dreyfuss; March 25, 1908 – December 31, 1993)Reg'lar Fellers'' (1941) stars

Billy Lee Billy Lee is a former Gaelic footballer and former manager of the Limerick county football team. He is from Newcastle West. Player Lee played for Limerick. He became a selector when Liam Kearns managed the team between 1999 and 2005, and t ...

as Pinhead Duffy and

Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer Carl Dean Switzer (August 7, 1927 – January 21, 1959) was an American singer, child actor, dog breeder, and guide. He was best known for his role as Alfalfa in the short subjects series ''Our Gang''. Switzer began his career as a child ac ...

as Bump Hudson.

Radio

The ''Reg'lar Fellers'' comedy radio series, sponsored by Jello, aired Sunday nights on NBC from June 8 to August 31, 1941, as a summer replacement for ''

The Jack Benny Program ''The Jack Benny Program'', starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th century American comedy. He played one role throughout his radio and televis ...

''. Dickie Van Patten and Dickie Monahan starred as Jimmy and Dinky Dugan. Others in the cast included

Joyce Van Patten Joyce Benignia Van Patten (born March 9, 1934) is an American film and stage actress. She is best known for her roles in films like '' The Bad News Bears'' (1976), ''St. Elmo's Fire'' (1985) (as Mrs. Beamish), and as Rob Schneider's septuagenari ...

, Patsy O'Shea and Skippy Homeier.

References

Notes

Sources consulted

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

External links

'Reg'lar Fellers''
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on January 9, 2017.
OTRRpedia“Boy Meets Dog” (1938) in Actual Color!
{{King Features Syndicate Comics 1917 comics debuts 1949 comics endings 1941 radio programme debuts 1941 radio programme endings American comedy radio programs American comics adapted into films American comics characters American comic strips Child characters in comics Comics characters introduced in 1917 Comics adapted into animated series Comics adapted into radio series Gag-a-day comics Children's comics NBC radio programs Radio programs based on comic strips