''Reg'lar Fellers'' is a long-running newspaper

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

adapted into a feature film, a radio series on the

NBC Red Network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...

, and two animated cartoons. Created by

Gene Byrnes Eugene Francis Byrnes (March 18, 1889 – July 26, 1974) created the long-running comic strip ''Reg'lar Fellers'', which he signed Gene Byrnes. His humorous look at suburban children (who nevertheless spoke like New York street kids) was syndica ...

(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 A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histor ...

and

breakfast cereal Breakfast cereal is a category of food, including food products, made from food processing, processed cereal, cereal grains, that are eaten as part of breakfast or as a snack food, primarily in Western societies. Although warm, cooked cereals li ...

Publication history

While working as a sports cartoonist with the '' New York Telegram'', 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 The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the '' New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. Hi ...

'' 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 The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in some Western newspapers. Compared to weekday comics, Sunday comics tend to be full pages and are in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, t ...

to ''Reg'lar Fellers''. At its peak, the strip was syndicated in 800 newspapers. It was imitated by other strips, notably

Ad Carter August Daniel Carter (1895–1957) was an American comic strip cartoonist who created the long-running ''Just Kids'' strip. He was known as Ad Carter, the signature he used on his strips. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Carter was 11 years old wh ...

'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 Hamm ...

in 1932. One curious hardcover book published during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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 Long Island University (LIU) is a private university in Brooklyn and Brookville, New York, United States. The university enrolls over 16,000 students and offers over 500 academic programs at its main campuses, LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post on Long I ...

. 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 1928 ...

'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 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

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

Dick Tracy ''Dick Tracy'' is an American comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a tough and intelligent police detective created by Chester Gould. It made its debut on Sunday, October 4, 1931, in the '' Detroit Mirror'', and was distributed by the Chicago T ...

'', ''

Tailspin Tommy ''Tailspin Tommy'' was an aviation-adventure comic strip about a youthful pilot, "Tailspin" Tommy Tomkins (sometimes spelled Tompkins). Originally illustrated by Hal Forrest and initially distributed by John Neville Wheeler's Bell Syndicate and ...

'', ''

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 t ...

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

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

's ''

All-American Comics ''All-American Comics'' is 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 Gree ...

''.

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 i ...

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 "Ub" Iwerks ( ; March 24, 1901 – July 7, 1971), was an American animator, cartoonist, character designer, Invention, inventor, and special effects technician, known for his work with Walt Disney Animation Studios in general, and f ...

produced the animated adaptation, ''

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

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

Walter Lantz Walter Benjamin 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 animat ...

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

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

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 ...

Arthur Dreifuss Arthur Dreifuss (sometimes credited as Dreyfuss; March 25, 1908 – December 31, 1993)Reg'lar Fellers ''Reg'lar Fellers'' is a long-running newspaper comic strip adapted into a feature film, a radio series on the NBC Red Network, and two animated cartoons. Created by Gene Byrnes (1889–1974), the comic strip offered a humorous look at a gang ...

'' (1941) stars Billy Lee as Pinhead Duffy and

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

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 and television comedy series. The show ran for over three decades, from 1932 to 1955 on radio, and from 1950 to 1965 on television. It won numerous awards, including the 1959 and 19 ...

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

Joyce Van Patten Joyce 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 Gloria Noonan in '' Grown Ups'' (2010) ...

, 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 Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

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OTRRpedia“Boy Meets Dog” (1938) in Actual Color!
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