Misplaced Pages

#657342

42-514: The strip told the adventures of a well-meaning hobo who encountered a lot of misfortune and bad luck, partly because of his appearance and low position in society, but who did not lose his smile over it. He was contrasted by his two brothers, the sour Gloomy Gus and the snobbish Montmorency, both just as poor as Happy. Montmorency wore a monocle and a tin can with a label as a hat but was otherwise as ragged as his siblings. The archivist Jennifer Huebscher wrote that Opper may have taken inspiration for

84-540: A University of Chicago master's thesis, wrote in 1932, Another merit of the book [Godfrey Irwin's 1931 American Tramp and Underworld Slang ] is that the author has not subscribed to the fiction that American tramps have a sign language, as so many professors are wont to believe. Though newspapers in the early and peak days of hoboing (1870s through the Depression ) printed photos and drawings of hoboes leaving these signs, these may have been staged in order to add color to

126-418: A "stiff" or his monica. And more than once I have been able to give the monica of recent date, the water-tank, and the direction in which he was then bound. And promptly the hobo to whom I gave the information lit out after his pal. I have met hoboes who, in trying to catch a pal, had pursued clear across the continent and back again, and were still going. The use of monikers persists to this day, although since

168-480: A 208-page paperback book containing the entire run of Sam's Strip . It includes brief introductions by Dumas and Walker, unpublished sketches, original artwork, photographs, and sales brochures. Plus there are select annotations by Dumas and comics historian Brian Walker. "These strips aren't perfect and some gags are repeated far too many times," wrote Chad Nevett, "but this collection made me laugh at least once on nearly every page. ... Once again, Fantagraphics delivers

210-454: A Super-Tramp , lost a foot when he fell under the wheels trying to jump aboard a train. It was easy to get trapped between cars, and one could freeze to death in cold weather. When freezer cars were loaded at an ice factory, any hobo inside was likely to be killed. Around the end of World War II , railroads began to move from steam to diesel locomotives, making jumping freight trains more difficult. This, along with postwar prosperity, led to

252-547: A conclusion on October 14, 1932. The Sunday strip changed titles and focus many times during the 1910s and 20s. The Happy Hooligan Sunday feature went on hiatus after January 16, 1916; when it returned on June 18, 1916, it was called Happy Hooligan's Honeymoon , a title which stuck until April 7, 1918. The next week, it was back to Happy Hooligan until May 26. Starting June 23, the strip was called Dubb Family , and didn't feature any appearances by Happy Hooligan; this title lasted until September 29. From October 6 to November 17,

294-540: A decline in the number of hoboes. In the 1970s and 1980s hobo numbers were augmented by returning Vietnam War veterans, many of whom were disillusioned with settled society . Overall, the national economic demand for a mobile surplus labor force has declined over time, leading to fewer hoboes. Hoboes were noted for, among other things, the distinctive lingo that arose among them. Some examples follow: Many hobo terms have become part of common language, such as "big house", "glad rags", "main drag", and others. Almost from

336-401: A feature starring a guy who runs his own comic strip as a business? Walker, a fan of alliteration , came up with the title Sam's Strip . They split the gag writing, Dumas did the drawing, and Walker the lettering. When the pair took samples to Walker's regular distributor, King Features Syndicate, four executives barraged them with questions about the contents, but there was enough laughter that

378-524: A piano dance and two-step by Theodore J. Morse titled Happy Hooligan . The original sheet music was a 1902 copyright by the American Advance Music Company. In the early 1960s, Happy Hooligan was a semi-regular character in Sam's Strip ; dozens of other comic-strip characters had appeared as "guests" in the strip, but Hooligan appeared so often that he was eventually treated as a regular member of

420-605: A quiet little town. While not as imaginative or innovative (Don Markstein's Toonopedia calls it "just a typical comic strip" ), it was far more popular. New Sam and Silo strips were still being produced, solely by Dumas, until his death in late 2016. “Walker and Dumas clearly take pleasure in working in callbacks to classic comic strips [and] many of the metatextual gags are funny and fun," wrote The Comics Journal ' s Shaenon Garrity, adding that "Dumas’s drawings of classic comic-strip characters are excellent.” Andrew Williams of Den of Geek agreed that "the strips that chip away at

462-423: A stellar package." Andrew Williams' review agreed with that last statement: "[T]he near-flawless execution of the book helps to make it feel like more of a prestige package, a celebration of the series rather than just a cheap cash-in. ... Although the book will largely be bought by fans of the series, it's still accessible for absolute newcomers." KC Carlson of Comics Worth Reading stated, "If you ever had more than

SECTION 10

#1732852423658

504-443: A writer or writers seeking to add to the folklore surrounding hoboes soon after they acquired the name, an invention perpetuated and embellished by others over the years, aided occasionally by amenable hoboes themselves. Several hoboes during the days that the signs were reportedly most in use asserted that they were in fact a "popular fancy" or "a fabrication". Nels Anderson , who both hoboed himself and studied hoboes extensively for

546-460: Is also cited as the first comic to use speech balloons on a regular basis as an integral part of the comic ( The Yellow Kid used speech balloons as early as 1896 but did not use them as the main means of communication). Opper was one of the most popular comic creators of his time. Happy Hooligan and his other popular strips were collected in book form and developed into merchandise products. The comic got translated as well and was, together with

588-840: Is the National Hobo Convention held in Britt, Iowa . The town first hosted the Convention in 1900, but there followed a hiatus of thirty-three years. Since 1934 the convention has been held annually in Britt, on the second weekend in August. Examples of characters based on hoboes include: Musicians known for hobo songs include: Tim Barry , Baby Gramps , Railroad Earth , Harry McClintock , Ramblin' Jack Elliott , Utah Phillips , Jimmie Rodgers , Seasick Steve , and Boxcar Willie . Examples of hobo songs include: Sam%27s Strip Sam's Strip

630-486: Is the bum , who neither works nor travels, save when impelled to motion by the police. While there have been drifters in every society, the term became common only after the broad adoption of railroads provided free, though illegal, travel by hopping aboard train cars . With the end of the American Civil War in the 1860s, many discharged veterans returning home began to hop freight trains. Others looking for work on

672-567: The Katzenjammer Kids and And Her Name Was Maud , one of the first North American comics to be published in Argentina , as Cocoliche . The comic was also probably the very first American comic strip adapted for films, when J. Stuart Blackton directed 13 live-action shorts (1900–03). Some 15 years later, it was adapted for more than 50 animated cartoons, released from 1916 to 1921. A number of Happy Hooligan short comic films were produced at

714-611: The American frontier followed the railways west aboard freight trains in the late 19th century. In 1906, Professor Layal Shafee, after an exhaustive study, put the number of tramps in the United States at about 500,000 (about 0.6% of the US population at the time). His article "What Tramps Cost Nation" was published by The New York Telegraph in 1911, when he estimated the number had surged to 700,000. The number of hoboes increased greatly during

756-757: The Edison Film Company by director Edwin S. Porter , including Happy Hooligan April-Fooled (1901), Happy Hooligan Surprised (1901), Happy Hooligan Turns Burglar (1902), Hooligan's Fourth of July (1902), The Twentieth Century Tramp; or, Happy Hooligan and His Airship (1902), Happy Hooligan in a Trap (1903), and Happy Hooligan's Interrupted Lunch (1903). In 1902 a music supplement of Hearst's Chicago American featured Happy Hooligan's Reception march and two-step by Richard A. Wilson and lyrics by Curtis Dunham, with artwork by F. Opper and R. Dirks. In 1907 Inter-mountain Republican of Salt Lake City published

798-473: The Great Depression era of the 1930s. With no work and no prospects at home, many decided to try their luck elsewhere by freight train. Hobo life was dangerous. Itinerant, poor, far from home and support, hoboes also faced the hostility of many train crews and the railroad police , nicknamed "bulls", who often dealt violently with trespassers. British poet W. H. Davies , author of The Autobiography of

840-766: The Steamtown National Historic Site at Scranton, Pennsylvania , operated by the National Park Service , and in the National Cryptologic Museum in Annapolis Junction, Maryland , and Webster's Third New International Dictionary supplies a listing of hobo signs under the entry for "hobo". Despite an apparently strong record of authentication, however, there is doubt as to whether hobo signs were ever actually in practical use by hoboes. They may simply have been invented early on by

882-685: The Western —probably Northwestern — United States , and to 1888. Liberman points out that many folk etymologies fail to answer the question: "Why did the word become widely known in California (just there) by the early Nineties (just then)?" Author Todd DePastino mentions possible derivations from " hoe -boy", meaning "farmhand", or a greeting "Ho, boy", but that he does not find these convincing. Bill Bryson suggests in Made in America (1998) that it might come from

SECTION 20

#1732852423658

924-542: The railroad greeting, "Ho, beau!" or a syllabic abbreviation of "homeward bound". It could also come from the words "homeless boy" or "homeless Bohemian ". H. L. Mencken , in his The American Language (4th ed., 1937), wrote: Tramps and hobos are commonly lumped together, but in their own sight they are sharply differentiated. A hobo or bo is simply a migratory laborer; he may take some longish holidays, but soon or late he returns to work. A tramp never works if it can be avoided; he simply travels. Lower than either

966-613: The Depression, and continue to turn up in American popular culture; for example, John Hodgman 's book The Areas of My Expertise features a section on hobo signs listing signs found in newspapers of the day as well as several whimsical ones invented by Hodgman, and the Free Art and Technology Lab released a QR Hobo Code, with a QR stenciler, in July 2011. Displays on hobo signs have been exhibited in

1008-543: The Happy Hooligan's look from an illustration done by cartoonist Oscar Bradley depicting a Minnesotan acrobat and vaudeville entertainer named Fred Lowe. Lowe performed in the 1910s and onward under the moniker "The Original Happy Hooligan". Like the other major comics by Opper, And Her Name Was Maud and Alphonse and Gaston , Happy Hooligan initially did not run on a regular schedule, skipping Sundays from time to time, while some other weeks two pages appeared at once;

1050-453: The U.S. Nonetheless, the ethics of hobo culture can be regarded as fairly coherent and internally consistent, at least to the extent that any culture's various individual people maintain the same ethical standards. That is to say, any attempt at an exhaustive enumeration of hobo ethics is bound to be foiled at least to some extent by the diversity of hoboes and their ideas of the world. This difficulty has not kept hoboes themselves from attempting

1092-502: The United States. Hoboes, tramps , and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; a bum neither travels nor works. The origin of the term is unknown. According to etymologist Anatoly Liberman , the only certain detail about its origin is the word was first noticed in American English circa 1890. The term has also been dated to 1889 in

1134-459: The beginning of the existence of hoboes, as early as the 1870s, it was reported that they communicated with each other by way of a system of cryptic "hobo signs", which would be chalked in prominent or relevant places to clandestinely alert future hoboes about important local information. Many listings of these symbols have been made. A few symbols include: Reports of hoboes using these symbols appeared in newspapers and popular books straight through

1176-567: The cast. The strip is referenced in Beverly Cleary ’s 1961 novel Emily's Runaway Imagination when Mr. Archer is described wearing an tomato soup can tied to the top of his head like Happy Hooligan does when attending the Hard Times party. Everything not directly referenced in the text can be sourced to the Toonopedia entry for Happy Hooligan . Hobo A hobo is homeless in

1218-455: The character also played a role in some of Opper's daily strips. After a few years, though, Happy Hooligan became a regular feature with both daily strips and Sunday pages. Beginning in 1904, Opper drew And Her Name Was Maud , about the kicking mule Maud, into comic strips and books, but on May 23, 1926, he positioned And Her Name Was Maud as the topper to his Happy Hooligan , and it ran along with Happy Hooligan until both strips came to

1260-522: The creators didn't use [the] inter-strip get-togethers nearly as much as they should have. Instead, they whiled away a lot of their time with politically themed, time-dependent gags trading on the ' New Frontier ' administration of John Kennedy and the contemporary Cold War atmosphere." One paperback collection, Sam's Strip Lives! , was published in small quantities under the aegis of the Museum of Cartoon Art . In December 2008, Fantagraphics Books released

1302-414: The editor finally gave the go-ahead. Sam's Strip debuted as a daily only on October 16, 1961. Bulb-nosed, seemingly neckless Sam owned and operated the comic strip he inhabited, and both he and his bespectacled, unnamed assistant were aware of their fictional, artistic status. They commented on the elements of cartooning, talked to the readers, abused their artist (a fictionalized Dumas), and played with

Happy Hooligan - Misplaced Pages Continue

1344-711: The exercise. An ethical code was created by Tourist Union #63 (a hobo union created in the mid-1800s to dodge anti-vagrancy laws, which did not apply to union members) during its 1889 National Hobo Convention: There are numerous hobo conventions throughout the United States each year. The ephemeral ways of hobo conventions are mostly dependent on the resources of their hosts. Some conventions are part of railroad conventions or "railroad days"; others quasi-private affairs hosted by long-time hoboes; still others surreptitious affairs on private land, as in abandoned quarries along major rivers. Most non-mainstream conventions are held at current or historical railroad stops . The most notable

1386-443: The fourth wall in particular frequently raise a smile, and occasionally even a laugh." Comic Book Resources ' Chad Nevett elaborated that "Walker and Dumas are very adept at making most of those jokes [featuring run-ins with other strip characters] work on two levels, where the character’s role is obvious to those unaware of its pre-existence, while those in the know will get an extra kick out of it." But Christopher Barat felt "that

1428-483: The railroad, though others such as "A No. 1" and "Palm Tree Herby" rode trains as tramps or hoboes. Hobo culture—though it has always had many points of contact with the mainstream American culture of its day—has also always been somewhat separate and distinct, with different cultural norms. Hobo culture's ethics have always been subject to disapproval from the mainstream culture; for example, hopping freight trains, an integral part of hobo life, has always been illegal in

1470-405: The rise of cell phones a moniker is more often used simply to "tag" a train car or location. Some moniker writers have tagged train cars extensively; one who tagged under the name Bozo Texino during the 1970s and ’80s estimated that in one year ("where I went overboard") he marked over 30,000 train cars. However, not all moniker writers (or "boxcar artists") are hoboes; Bozo Texino in fact worked for

1512-466: The series ended in 1932 when Opper abandoned it due to failing eyesight. While lacking lasting popularity, the series remained influential and inspired other cartoonists such as Rube Goldberg and Jules Feiffer (who compared the title character to President Gerald Ford ) and was also arguably a major inspiration for Charlie Chaplin 's The Tramp character. It was called "Opper's greatest comic character" by comics artist Coulton Waugh . Happy Hooligan

1554-550: The stock in their Cartoon Prop Closet (which contained everything from idea bulbs and flying money to pain stars and angry thought bubbles), all the while trying any scheme to make their business a success. Along the way, they encountered strip stars such as Blondie and Charlie Brown , cult favorites like Krazy Kat and Ignatz Mouse, and old-timers such as Happy Hooligan and Tillie the Toiler . Dumas took pride in drawing each character's style exactly (there were no good copy machines at

1596-585: The story. Nonetheless, it is certain that hoboes have used some graffiti to communicate, in the form of "monikers" (sometimes "monicas"). These generally consisted simply of a road name (moniker), a date, and the direction the hobo was heading then. This would be written in a prominent location where other hoboes would see it. Jack London , in recounting his hobo days, wrote, Water-tanks are tramp directories. Not all in idle wantonness do tramps carve their monicas, dates, and courses. Often and often have I met hoboes earnestly inquiring if I had seen anywhere such and such

1638-526: The strip was back to Happy Hooligan , and then switched to Mister Dubb from December 8, 1918 to April 24, 1921. For the next two years—May 1, 1921 to July 29, 1923—the Sunday strip was called Down on the Farm . The title swapped again—now called Mister Dough and Mister Dubb —from Aug 9, 1925 to January 9, 1927, and then reverted to Happy Hooligan for the rest of the run, until 1932. As Opper did not use an assistant,

1680-403: The time), but the job was intensely time-consuming. It took him three weeks to create a week's continuity about a comic characters convention that featured dozens of "guest stars." This metahumor made fans of cartoonists and informed comics aficionados (and some editors), but the reading public was left scratching its collective head. As Walker admitted later, "the readers had to be familiar with

1722-423: The various characters we were satirizing before they could get the gag. It's a tough sell." Just as Sam struggled to make his strip a hit, his creators did the same, and Sam's Strip never gained more than sixty newspapers before being cancelled on June 1, 1963. In 1977, Walker and Dumas reemployed Sam and his sidekick for a new strip with a "new" concept called Sam and Silo , about a pair of bumbling cops in

Happy Hooligan - Misplaced Pages Continue

1764-730: Was a humorous comic strip created and produced by Mort Walker and Jerry Dumas . It was distributed by King Features Syndicate from October 2, 1961 to June 1, 1963. The series depended heavily on metahumor and appearances by famous comic-strip characters. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Mort Walker and Jerry Dumas met on Monday mornings to go over the gag ideas they had worked up for future installments of Walker's strips Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois . Just for fun, they started putting their considerable knowledge of comic-strip history to use in creating gags about characters from different strips and time periods meeting and interacting. An idea eventually came out of these exercises: What about

#657342