Polly and Her Pals

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Polly and Her Pals was an American comic strip created by Cliff Sterrett which ran from 1912 until 1958.

Contents

[edit] History

Polly and Her Pals debuted as Positive Polly on December 4, 1912[1] in the newspapers of William Randolph Hearst, initially the New York Journal.[2] Polly was a pretty young girl with a flirting mind, a child of the Suffragette movement and a precursor of the flapper girls of the 1920s. But as the center of the action changed from Polly to the complete household, the title changed as well to Polly and Her Pals. The main character became Polly's father, nicknamed "Paw".

Sterrett was initially the sole creator of the comic, both for the daily strips and the Sunday strips. However, in the 1930s, Sterrett had to hand over most of the work on the daily strips to assistants like Paul Fung and Vernon Greene due to arthritis. The daily strip ended in the 1940s; the last Sunday page, still created by Sterrett, was published on June 15, 1958.[1]

[edit] Influence

Polly was the first of a whole series of comic strips about flirting pretty girls, like Boots and Her Buddies by Edgar Martin, Blondie by Chic Young and Fritzi Ritz, the comic by Larry Whittington that would later spawn Nancy. Although it was highly influential, it was never very popular and lacked the merchandising and spin-off books many contemporary comic strips had.[1]

The comic was not only remarkable for its creation of a new subgenre and prototype,[3] but also for its cubism-inspired graphics.[1] It is now considered as one of the masterpieces of the American comic strips of the Interwar period, both for its graphical qualities as for its storytelling innovations and humor,[4] and Sterrett is lauded as one of the great innovators of the comic strip.[2] When Polly and Her Pals was included in the Library of Congress exhibition Cartoon America, it was praised for its unique graphic style,[5], and is considered to be together with Krazy Kat the epitome of the Art Deco style in comics.[6] It had considerable influence on many later cartoonists, including Jules Feiffer.[7]

[edit] Book editions

A monthly Polly and her Pals publication was published briefly in 1922 by Embee Dist. Later during the original run, some Polly comics have been collected by Saalfield Publishing in 1934 (Polly and Her Pals on the Farm) The earliest Polly strips have been collected in 1977 by Hyperion Press (ISBN 978-0883556658), while a number of Sunday pages have been reprinted by Kitchen Sink Press in 1990 (ISBN 978-0924359149, nominated for Best Domestic Reprint at the Harvey Awards[8]) and in 1991 by Remco Worldservice Books (ISBN 978-0924359156). More daily strips have been reprinted by Arcadia Publications in 1990. The French publisher Editions de l'an 2 continued the reprints started by Kitchen Sink and Remco in 2005 in French,[9] and this edition was nominated for the 2006 Prize for Inheritance at the Angoulême International Comics Festival.[10]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Don Markstein. Polly and Her Pals. Toonopedia. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  2. ^ a b Kees Kousemaker. Cliff Sterrett. Comiclopedia. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  3. ^ You've Come a Long Way, Joanie!. Center for Media Literacy. Retrieved on 2007-05-15. “For example, the first strip about a woman, "Polly and Her Pals," featured a "tall, attractive young lady with a mind of her own." She became a prototype. Even her "French doll" look, cast the mold for future generations of comic women”
  4. ^ Laurent Boileau (2005-06-05). Polly and Her Pals, 1929-1930 (French). ActuaBD. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  5. ^ Laughs! Tears! Thrills!: Comic Strips. Library of Congress (2006-11-13). Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  6. ^ Le Musée des Beaux-Arts. Centre National de la Bande Dessinée et de l'Image. Retrieved on 2007-05-15. “On pense particulièrement à Krazy Kat de George Herriman et surtout à Polly and her Pals de Cliff Sterrett.”
  7. ^ Dolores Kazanjian O'Brien (2003-11-14). Jules Feiffer Visits Port Washington Library. Port Washington News. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  8. ^ 1992 Harvey Award Nominees. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  9. ^ Polly and her pals, 1929-1930 (French). Editions de l'an 2. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  10. ^ Selection officielle 2006: prix du patrimoine (French). Festival International de la Bande Dessinée. Retrieved on 2007-05-15.