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By 1939, Freckles was 17 years old, a high school senior and the captain of
Shadyside High's football team. Most of his time was spent hanging out with his girlfriend June and his pal Lard, who was often in the company of his girlfriend, Hilda. Freckles' younger brother, Tagalong, aka Tag, also made
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was dropped by a newspaper in 1929, the paper received thousands of phone calls, cards and letters, plus a petition from the employees of the newspaper, prompting a return of the strip to the comics page. In 1932, Freckles wore long trousers when he entered
Shadyside High School and met his Friends.
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When
Blosser began the strip in 1915, he simply devised daily gags and problems for his child character Freckles to encounter while wandering around the fictional town of Shadyside. At the time, Freckles wore short pants and long stockings. As Freckles aged, the strip introduced more jokes in family
420:. After his first few decades of doing the strip, Blosser shared the work of producing the daily and Sunday strips with his assistant Henry Formhals, who took over the daily in 1938. When Blosser retired, Formhals produced it alone from 1966 to 1971. The strip was discontinued on August 28, 1971.
350:, since Blosser often referenced real places in Nappanee, such as Johnson's Drug Store. Nappanee holds the distinction of having the longest city name in the United States containing each letter in its name twice, and six successful cartoonists lived in Nappanee as children, including
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The
Crumpet Hut crowd eventually included his best buddy Lard Smith, Bazoo Botts, Hilda, perky Daisy and the inventive intellectual Nutty Cook. Romance entered the strip after Freckles met June Wayman, a character introduced in 1937.
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The one-a-day gag strip evolved into adventure stories in the 1920s. In 1927, when readers were told to submit names for a horse, Blosser was overwhelmed with 24,000 responses. Freckles began wearing knickers in 1928. When
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honored
Blosser with an award "in recognition of the wholesome entertainment he has brought his myriad readers" and for the creation of "the oldest regular comic strip still piloted by its creator."
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were an influence on
Blosser's simple cartoon style. An inspection of strips from different decades reveals that Blosser's artwork continually improved as the strips and characters evolved. After
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made his first appearance in strip form (he had appeared a few weeks earlier as a panel) on Sept. 20, 1915.... Note from Allan: actually debuted on August 16, 1915.
432:, Blosser was the guest of honor in Los Angeles at a testimonial dinner attended by his personal friends, radio personalities, film stars and executives of the
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comic book. Freckles had his own title from
Standard Comics for eight issues in the late 1940s and then four issues published by Argo Comics in the mid-1950s.
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strips. For years, the couple lived in
Cleveland, where the NEA office was located, until they moved to Los Angeles and then to the Los Angeles suburb of
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set in the peaceful small town of
Shadyside where young Freckles McGoosey and his friends lived. Although the long-running strip, created by
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on
September 20, 1915. One by one, Blosser dropped each of the other single-panel comics and, in July 1916, he began another strip,
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became Blosser's assistant in 1935, a more realistic style surfaced as Freckles grew older and the strip became more narrative.
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Although Shadyside could have been located anywhere in the American heartland, it was obviously based on Blosser's hometown of
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situations, eventually expanding into a continuity storyline about the teenage Freckles' day-to-day life with his friends.
172:, initially drawing cartoons based on news events. That summer he began drawing five comics features. One of these, titled
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176:, began as a one-column daily gag panel on August 16, 1915. that expanded into a full comic strip and was retitled
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188:, continuing until early in 1918. At that point, Blosser then dedicated himself exclusively to the production of
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108:(September 8, 1935). Freckles does not appear in this installment. The young character seen here is Oscar.
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published by Whitman in 1937. The cover shows the 1930s transition of Freckles from child to teenager.
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was published in 130 newspapers, while the daily strip appeared in more than 500 papers. During the
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Morehead, Toni. "The Nappanee Six: Hoosiers with National Exposure," Yesteryear in Print
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In May 1915, 23-year-old Merrill Blosser began working for the Chicago syndicate
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years, Blosser's creation was seen by some 60,000,000 readers.
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was syndicated to more than 700 papers. It was adapted to the
740:. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 162.
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gained readers through the 1920s and into the 1930s when a
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American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide
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Syracuse University: Merrill Blosser Cartoons collection
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Fred Fox, comic strip author And writer for Groucho Marx
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was added on December 31, 1933. By 1939, according to
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August 16, 1915 (Dailies), December 31, 1933 (Sundays)
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August 28, 1971 (Dailies), August 22, 1971 (Sundays)
412:Blosser married shortly after he drew the earliest
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571:capsule reprinted with additional note by Holtz)
160:had a long run through much of the 20th century.
428:In September 1945, with the 30th anniversary of
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798:"Ryan Stutsman - the Myth about Nappanee"
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144:by Fred Fox (1903-1981). A gagwriter for
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541:Holtz, Allan, ed. (September 26, 2006).
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786:Lucie's Genealogy: Blosser Information
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669:. Indiana University Press. pp.
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7:
827:"Freckles and His Friends (Standard)
132:Illustrated by Blosser and later by
596:from the original on July 30, 2016.
543:"E&P 1939: Merrill Blosser Bio"
549:from the original on March 4, 2016
513:Freckles and the Lost Diamond Mine
14:
907:Fictional characters from Indiana
815:. Indiana University Press, 2003.
844:"Freckles and His Friends (Argo)
436:. In New York in May, 1965, the
170:Newspaper Enterprise Association
154:Newspaper Enterprise Association
82:Newspaper Enterprise Association
813:More Amazing Tales from Indiana
665:More Amazing Tales from Indiana
91:Humor, Children, Teens, Adults
1:
892:Teenage characters in comics
709:Plattsburgh Press-Republican
438:National Cartoonists Society
263:(Oct 1943 - July 1944), and
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887:Child characters in comics
882:American comics characters
661:Cavinder, Fred D. (2003).
590:Don Markstein's Toonopedia
405:and the back pages of the
685:Freckles and His Friends.
618:. Retrieved 24 July 2008.
259:(Dec 1933 - April 1934),
705:Freckles and His Friends
585:Freckles and His Friends
430:Freckles and His Friends
414:Freckles and His Friends
387:Freckles and His Friends
375:Freckles and His Friends
315:Freckles and His Friends
302:Freckles and his Friends
291:Freckles and his Friends
280:Freckles and his Friends
267:(Sept 1944 - Jan 1973).
239:(Oct 1926 - June 1929),
237:Bucky the Little Old Man
227:during the strip's run:
221:Freckles and His Friends
190:Freckles and His Friends
178:Freckles and His Friends
158:Freckles and His Friends
138:Freckles and His Friends
114:Freckles and his Friends
106:Freckles and His Friends
22:Freckles and His Friends
902:Comics about friendship
611:. (September 2, 1971).
235:(Feb 1924 - Feb 1936),
42:Current status/schedule
568:Editor & Publisher
522:
391:Big Little Book series
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294:
283:
251:(July 1933-Jan 1934),
206:Editor & Publisher
109:
897:Comics about children
877:American comic strips
849:Grand Comics Database
832:Grand Comics Database
736:Holtz, Allan (2012).
711:, September 20, 1945"
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545:. Stripper's Guide.
282:(September 21, 1915)
271:Characters and story
184:, which soon became
16:American comic strip
872:1971 comics endings
243:(April-Sept 1932),
164:Publication history
917:Teen comedy comics
867:1915 comics debuts
811:Cavinder, Fred D.
707:Is 30 Years Old,"
633:, October 3, 1945"
616:The New York Times
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511:Merrill Blosser's
403:Crackajack Funnies
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304:(February 6, 1947)
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293:(January 12, 1924)
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261:Freckles' Fan Fare
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393:and reprinted in
348:Nappanee, Indiana
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66:Alternate name(s)
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912:Gag-a-day comics
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635:. Archived from
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434:Los Angeles News
357:Life’s Like That
327:Jerry on the Job
247:(May-Oct 1933),
241:Comic Scrap Book
186:Chestnut Charlie
182:Miniature Movies
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31:Merrill Blosser
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373:In the 1940s,
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233:The Newfangles
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338:appearances.
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33:(1915-1966);
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721:February 18,
719:. Retrieved
715:the original
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641:. Retrieved
637:the original
631:The Albertan
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551:. Retrieved
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397:, including
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322:Walter Hoban
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255:(Oct 1933),
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223:had several
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215:World War II
211:Sunday strip
204:
201:Sunday strip
194:
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177:
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167:
157:
146:Groucho Marx
142:ghostwritten
137:
131:
129:situations.
113:
112:
111:
105:
77:Syndicate(s)
69:
476:Marty Links
470:Harold Teen
399:Dell Comics
395:comic books
362:Bill Holman
245:Rebus Rimes
197:daily strip
150:Judy Canova
119:comic strip
50:Launch date
37:(1935-1971)
861:Categories
503:References
451:Aggie Mack
377:carried a
352:Fred Neher
229:Mom n' Pop
463:Etta Kett
407:Red Ryder
342:Shadyside
127:gag-a-day
27:Author(s)
643:April 8,
594:Archived
560:Freckles
553:July 30,
547:Archived
444:See also
174:Freckles
88:Genre(s)
70:Freckles
58:End date
45:Complete
847:at the
830:at the
457:Carl Ed
418:Arcadia
381:strip,
225:toppers
744:
677:
565:(1939
424:Awards
383:Hector
379:topper
360:) and
265:Hector
209:, the
489:Teena
482:Penny
253:Hi-Ho
742:ISBN
723:2010
675:ISBN
645:2009
555:2016
515:, a
496:Zits
231:aka
195:The
148:and
140:was
609:UPI
588:at
370:).
104:'s
863::
756:^
703:""
692:^
683:.
673:.
671:75
653:^
601:^
592:.
576:^
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529:^
401:'
192:.
156:,
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364:(
354:(
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
