Sad Sack
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Arrested Development episode, see Sad Sack (Arrested Development episode).
Sad Sack is a cartoon character created by Sgt. George Baker in a World War II comic strip. Set in the United States Army, Sad Sack was a lowly private, experiencing some of the absurdities and humiliations of military life. The strip, drawn in pantomime, debuted in the first issue of Yank, the Army Weekly in June 1942. Highly successful, a hardcover collection of Baker's wartime Sad Sack strips was published by Simon & Schuster, Inc. in 1944, with a follow-up volume, The New Sad Sack, in 1946.
After the war ended, Sad Sack was successfully put into newspaper syndication that lasted until 1960. In September 1949, Harvey Comics published their first Sad Sack comic book. "Sad Sack" comics was a long-lived series, extending into the 1980s and including numerous spin-off titles featuring other characters in the strip, such as "The Sarge," "Slob Slobinski", "The General," "Sadie Sack," and "Muttsy" the dog. In addition, Harvey published a less-successful spin-off directed at the Navy featuring "Gabby Gob", as well as "Little Sad Sack", an infrequently published "kids version" of the main characters.
The Harvey Comics and newspaper strip were aimed at younger readers than Baker's wartime originals, and the style of the strip was changed dramatically, and as in the newspaper strip, the pantomime style was abandoned in favor of a more conventional comic story format. In the mid fifties, Harvey and Baker brought in Paul McCarthy to draw Sad Sack, followed by Fred Rhoads, Jack O'Brien and Joe Dennett. Warren Kremer and others also periodically drew Sad Sack. George Baker retained editorial control and continued to illustrate the covers of Sad Sack comics in his own original style until his death in 1975.
Sponsored by Old Gold Cigarettes, The Sad Sack radio program aired in 1946 as a summer replacement series for The Frank Sinatra Show. It starred Herb Vigran in the title role with a cast of Jim Backus, Sandra Gould, Ken Cristy and Patsy Moran. Dick Joy was the announcer for the series which began June 12, 1946 with the episode "Sack Returns Home from the Army" and continued until September 4.
At Paramount Pictures Baker's comic strip was adapted by screenwriters Edmund Beloin and Nate Monaster for George Marshall's film The Sad Sack (1957), in which WAC Major Shelton (Phyllis Kirk) has the assignment to turn bumbling Private Meredith C. Bixby (Jerry Lewis) into a good soldier. The supporting cast includes David Wayne, Peter Lorre and Joe Mantell.
[edit] References
- Strickler, Dave. Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index. Cambria, CA: Comics Access, 1995. ISBN 0-9700077-0-1.
