FUNNIES ARE SUPPOSED TO MAKE YOU LAUGH

The Southeast Missourian includes many special features in the daily and Sunday editions that appeal to the varied interests of readers.

One feature with high readership is comics. Almost everyone who sees the paper, even children, who cannot read but look at pictures, turn first to the comics. All comics have fans, and to them their day is not complete until they see what their favorite comic-strip folks are doing.

The funnies have not always been part of the daily newspapers; at first the newspapers were what the name implies ... news.

Funnies started in a small way in 1892, when Jimmie Swinnerton began to draw little bears and tigers doing things. They were pictures in action with no words. The drawings were the forerunner of what was to develop into comic strips. The pictures were carried in the San Francisco Examiner.

In 1896, The New World began to include the antics of The Yellow Kid in the publication. The Yellow Kid was a boy dressed in a bright-yellow sack-like garment who did things that were funny. He spoke no words.

The strip was a series of action pictures drawn by R.F. Outcault. Then Outcault began to put words on the boy's shirt. This was the first comic cartoon caption put inside a frame, and the beginning of what would become comic strips. With the present craze for designed T-shirts with words and pictures, Outcault should be given credit for originating the idea in 1896, just as he did the funnies.

The Funny Paper in 1896 was on its way to becoming a thing Americans looked forward to reading and laughing at. The paper did not appear every day in the city editions, but only on Sunday. At first it was printed in black and white; color came later. It was expensive. Many experiments were undertaken before the Funny paper, as we know it, materialized.

One of the first funny strips was The Katzenjammer Kids. There were others. When an artist died the strip ended. There were no syndicates to make arrangements with artists to continue the strip after his death. At that time most of the funnies were drawn by men. Even today death stops the publication of many strips.

During the early years of the present century, adults, who were children then, can remember when the Sunday paper was delivered and there was a mad scramble to the front door. Then, usually father or mother read the funnies and explained the drawings to the young children. Sometimes an older brother or sister assumed the task. The funnies seemed to be funnier years ago, with the exception of a few modern comics, because political and world issues were not included in the scripts.

The concern of many young boys for developing strong muscular arms and body strength attracted them to Popeye, who developed his strength eating spinach. Since spinach was not an all-time favorite with most boys, mothers used Popeye as an inducement to down the leafy vegetable.

The character of Popeye was introduced by Elzie Segar in Thimble Theatre Jan. 7, 1928, and the story appeared first, 10 years later, in 1919 as the Oly Family with Olie Oly as the star.

Popeye was a sailor who was engaged to operate the Oly family boat. Eventually he fell in love with Olie Oly, who was his "Sweet Patootie." They were married and the nation laughed through their courtship and marriage at the funny things the characters said and did. Their child was named Sweet Pea, who was introduced for the Christmas trade in 1950 and is now a collector's doll. The child was not too pretty but she was Popeye's "Sugar Pie." It was the fashion to try and imitate Popeye's gravely voice saying "Blow Me Down" or "I yam what I yam," expressions that are still popular.

The Max Fleisher Studio developed the character of Popeye.

Crystal City, Texas, the Spinach Capital of the World, erected a 20-foot statue of Popeye in 1938, and adopted Popeye as its trademark in memory of E.C. Segar, who had died.

Since Segar was a native of Chester, Ill., that town also erected a statue of Popeye. It is on the right side of the Chester bridge across from the old toll house.

Collections of old Popeye comic strips are valuable.

The list of comics is long. Among the new strips are The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Every child knows The Turtles. The comic strip is drawn by Kevin Eastman and Peter Loird.

The Turtles have captured reader interest just as the wonderful character of Tarzan did years ago. Developed from a novel written in 1912 by Edgar Rice Burrough, it took place in an African jungle, where Tarzan met Jane. The character of Tarzan was played in 12 movie films by Johnnie Weissmueller, who played the part so well he became Tarzan to the public and could never get another movie role. The script and the movies are considered classics. The strips were rejuvenated in 1975, the 100th anniversary of Burrough's birth by The Edgar Rice Burrough Inc. Enterprises.

The drawings for the script were done by Burne Hogarth. Then in 1929, Hal Foster drew Tarzan and in 1932 Johnnie Weissmueller, an Olympic swimming medalist, began the first of the 12 films. The year Burroughs died he was 79. The Burrough's family control the Tarzan material and the company. Weissmueller died in 1982.

Read the comics. They are fun and provoke laughter besides being a working tool in today's society, introducing new words and habits, and much, much more.