"Gasoline Alley" and THE KID

Shush wrote:
> Geez, if it's going to be *this* quiet around here, we might as well
> go back to talking about the war.

Well, in a very indirect way, you just did. See below.

>
> I do have one bit of Chapliniana to offer, though. Frank King's
> comic strip "Gasoline Alley" is/was an American institution, begun as
> the story of a bachelor who liked to work on cars. It then became the
> story of a bachelor who liked to work on cars while also raising an
> orphan by himself. The boy, Skeezix, was introduced into the storyline
> as a baby, abandoned on the bachelor's doorstep. This was the
> foundation for the strip's greatest era, lasting for decades.
>
> Anyway, it occurred to me that little Skeezix made his debut on
> February 14, 1921... less than two weeks after the Little Tramp
> discovered an abandoned baby and began raising it himself, in Chaplin's
> THE KID (released earlier that month). Coincidence?

Can't say if it was a coincidence or not, but one story has it that the
Chicago Trib. publisher, Joe Patterson, wanted to attract more women
readers and suggested to King that a kid be introduced into the strip.
One of Patterson's grandson's was married to Madeline Albright (I SAID
it was very indirect war reference!). The timing, coming just a few
weeks after the release of The Kid, is pretty uncanny.

It's significant to note that King's personal experiences PREceded
Chaplin's by 5 or so years, but what is also a pretty uncanny
coincidence, if you read a bit about Frank King, is how similar King's
and Chaplin's attitudes and circumstances regarding sons was. King and
his wife had a stillborn son in 1916 followed by the live birth of
their son only a few years later. King was described as a doting
father, but the son was sent to boarding school early in his life.
Doting & distant seems contradictory but I think it pretty well
describes Chaplin's relationship with his kids too.
 >> Stay informed about: "Gasoline Alley" and THE KID 

Constance Kuriyama wrote:

<snip>

> But I can report that _Modern Times_ was the hit of my Intro to Drama
> (emphasis on comedy) course this semester, beating out the vigorous
> ACT production of _The Taming of the Shrew_ and the rather good Reese
> Witherspoon/Colin Firth film version of _The Importance of Being Earnest_.

"Rather good"? It was awful.

The writer made a number of additions to Wilde's play, and every single
one of them was a ghastly mistake. A potentially good cast undone by a
losuy script that had to make Wilde "up to date" (with a character in
Victorian England getting a tattoo on her ass!).

Tom Moran
 >> Stay informed about: "Gasoline Alley" and THE KID 

"Shush" (shushfilmseznospam@yahoo.com) writes:
> Geez, if it's going to be *this* quiet around here, we might as well
> go back to talking about the war.

It's the end of the semester, Shush. Energy is slowly ebbing away.

But I can report that _Modern Times_ was the hit of my Intro to Drama
(emphasis on comedy) course this semester, beating out the vigorous
ACT production of _The Taming of the Shrew_ and the rather good Reese
Witherspoon/Colin Firth film version of _The Importance of Being Earnest_.

> I do have one bit of Chapliniana to offer, though. Frank King's
> comic strip "Gasoline Alley" is/was an American institution, begun as
> the story of a bachelor who liked to work on cars. It then became the
> story of a bachelor who liked to work on cars while also raising an
> orphan by himself. The boy, Skeezix, was introduced into the storyline
> as a baby, abandoned on the bachelor's doorstep. This was the
> foundation for the strip's greatest era, lasting for decades.
>
> Anyway, it occurred to me that little Skeezix made his debut on
> February 14, 1921... less than two weeks after the Little Tramp
> discovered an abandoned baby and began raising it himself, in Chaplin's
> THE KID (released earlier that month). Coincidence?
>
>
>
> --Shush--

How long did that comic strip run? I seem to remember Skeezix, but I
can't recall whether I saw the strip or just heard my parents mention
the name.

I was a devoted reader of the funnies from an early age, and have
distinct recollections of Capp's Dogpatch saga (which Borat's
Kazakstan reminds me of, though it is technically closer to Slobobovia,
I suppose.) But I don't have any visual memory of Gasoline Alley.

Connie K.
 >> Stay informed about: "Gasoline Alley" and THE KID 

Constance Kuriyama wrote:

> How long did that comic strip run? I seem to remember Skeezix, but I
> can't recall whether I saw the strip or just heard my parents mention
> the name.


I'm pretty sure "Gasoline Alley" is still running, though creator
Frank King is gone. The strip's heyday was the 1920s-1950s. Its
characters grew older in real time, which was a novelty in the comics,
and still is.

George Herriman, of "Krazy Kat" fame, was friends with Hal Roach's
title-writer H. M. Walker, and used to spend so much time visiting him
at the Roach studio that some of his daily comic strips were drawn
there.



--Shush--
 >> Stay informed about: "Gasoline Alley" and THE KID 

Shush wrote:

> Constance Kuriyama wrote:
>
> > How long did that comic strip run? I seem to remember Skeezix, but I
> > can't recall whether I saw the strip or just heard my parents mention
> > the name.
>
>
> I'm pretty sure "Gasoline Alley" is still running, though creator
> Frank King is gone. The strip's heyday was the 1920s-1950s. Its
> characters grew older in real time, which was a novelty in the comics,
> and still is.
>
> George Herriman, of "Krazy Kat" fame, was friends with Hal Roach's
> title-writer H. M. Walker, and used to spend so much time visiting him
> at the Roach studio that some of his daily comic strips were drawn
> there.
>
Frank Capra says this in his autobiography.

So it must be true. :)

Tom Moran
 >> Stay informed about: "Gasoline Alley" and THE KID 

Constance Kuriyama wrote:
> "Feuillade" (Feuillade@aol.com) writes:
> > Constance Kuriyama wrote:
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> >> But I can report that _Modern Times_ was the hit of my Intro to Drama
> >> (emphasis on comedy) course this semester, beating out the vigorous
> >> ACT production of _The Taming of the Shrew_ and the rather good Reese
> >> Witherspoon/Colin Firth film version of _The Importance of Being Earnest_.
> >
> > "Rather good"? It was awful.
> >
> > The writer made a number of additions to Wilde's play, and every single
> > one of them was a ghastly mistake. A potentially good cast undone by a
> > losuy script that had to make Wilde "up to date" (with a character in
> > Victorian England getting a tattoo on her ass!).
> >
> > Tom Moran
> >
>
> Most of the awful script was by Wilde, [...]

You know, my first inclination is to think that you're kidding, because
you *can't* be serious.

But then I remember what you've said here about Buster Keaton, and
Woody Allen, and Marlon Brando, and Gore Vidal, and God knows how many
other artists, and I realize that you're really *not* kidding.

Tom Moran
 >> Stay informed about: "Gasoline Alley" and THE KID 

In article <1165450234.779977.268960.TakeThisOut@79g2000cws.googlegroups.com>,
shushfilmseznospam.TakeThisOut@yahoo.com says...
>
> Constance Kuriyama wrote:
>
> > How long did that comic strip run? I seem to remember Skeezix, but I
> > can't recall whether I saw the strip or just heard my parents mention
> > the name.
>
>
> I'm pretty sure "Gasoline Alley" is still running, though creator
> Frank King is gone. The strip's heyday was the 1920s-1950s. Its
> characters grew older in real time, which was a novelty in the comics,
> and still is.

It is indeed still running, and has been written and drawn by Jim
Scancarelli since 1986. Scancarelli was the assistant to Dick Moores,
who was Frank King's assistant and who likewise took over the strip upon
King's retirement in 1959.

http://www.comicspage.com/gasoline/gasolinealley.html

It's currently in the midst of a story arc involving Walt Wallet's visit
to the "Old Comics Home", filled with characters from practically every
old-time comic strip (Mutt & Jeff, Barney Google, the Yellow Kid, Krazy
Kat, and so on). Meanwhile, a Social Security investigator has paid a
visit to Walt's house, suspecting fraud because he's claiming to be 106
years old!

Fantagraphics has also reprinted two volumes (so far) of the original
Frank King strips in nice hardcover editions, the first of which can be
seen here:

http://www.amazon.com/Walt-Skeezix-Book-Frank-King/dp/1896597645

Dave
 >> Stay informed about: "Gasoline Alley" and THE KID 

Feuillade.TakeThisOut@aol.com (Feuillade)
wrote:

>Shush wrote:

>>Geez, if it's going to be *this* quiet
>>around here, we might as well go back
>>to talking about the war.

>Don't. It'll only encourage Shelps (who if
>he had any class would have fallen on
>his sword by now).

Last time I checked, Bush was still
President.

I endured 8 years of Bubba, so losing
the House--and the Senate by one
vote--is no big tsuris.
 >> Stay informed about: "Gasoline Alley" and THE KID 

"Feuillade" (Feuillade@aol.com) writes:
> Constance Kuriyama wrote:
>
> <snip>
>
>> But I can report that _Modern Times_ was the hit of my Intro to Drama
>> (emphasis on comedy) course this semester, beating out the vigorous
>> ACT production of _The Taming of the Shrew_ and the rather good Reese
>> Witherspoon/Colin Firth film version of _The Importance of Being Earnest_.
>
> "Rather good"? It was awful.
>
> The writer made a number of additions to Wilde's play, and every single
> one of them was a ghastly mistake. A potentially good cast undone by a
> losuy script that had to make Wilde "up to date" (with a character in
> Victorian England getting a tattoo on her ass!).
>
> Tom Moran
>

Most of the awful script was by Wilde, and the film helped some students fill
the gaps in the play text.

I doubt that Wilde, if he knew what he was dealing with today, would
object to the additons.

Tattoos were quite familiar in Victorian England, although the
"respectable" set was unlikely to get them. Gwendolyn is something of
a rebel, and the filmmakers ran with that.

I liked the pre-Raphaelite touches, Algy's rag, etc.

Connie K.
 >> Stay informed about: "Gasoline Alley" and THE KID 

Constance Kuriyama wrote:

<snip>

> Believe it or not, there is actually room for difference of opinion on
> all of those subjects. :-)
>
Never claimed that there wasn't.

Tom Moran
 >> Stay informed about: "Gasoline Alley" and THE KID 

"Feuillade" (Feuillade@aol.com) writes:
> Constance Kuriyama wrote:
>> "Feuillade" (Feuillade@aol.com) writes:
>> > Constance Kuriyama wrote:
>> >
>> > <snip>
>> >
>> >> But I can report that _Modern Times_ was the hit of my Intro to Drama
>> >> (emphasis on comedy) course this semester, beating out the vigorous
>> >> ACT production of _The Taming of the Shrew_ and the rather good Reese
>> >> Witherspoon/Colin Firth film version of _The Importance of Being Earnest_.
>> >
>> > "Rather good"? It was awful.
>> >
>> > The writer made a number of additions to Wilde's play, and every single
>> > one of them was a ghastly mistake. A potentially good cast undone by a
>> > losuy script that had to make Wilde "up to date" (with a character in
>> > Victorian England getting a tattoo on her ass!).
>> >
>> > Tom Moran
>> >
>>
>> Most of the awful script was by Wilde, [...]
>
> You know, my first inclination is to think that you're kidding, because
> you *can't* be serious.

I just taught the play. I know how much of the script was added and how
much of the play was preserved. Very little was dropped. What was
added was an extenstion of what was there.

No, I'm not kidding. I can imagine a better film version, of course,
but it's more accessible for students today than the older Asquith version,
which eliminates a lot and is very stagey.

> But then I remember what you've said here about Buster Keaton, and
> Woody Allen, and Marlon Brando, and Gore Vidal, and God knows how many
> other artists, and I realize that you're really *not* kidding.
>
> Tom Moran

Believe it or not, there is actually room for difference of opinion on
all of those subjects. :-)

But I'm not sure what I said about Buster that you didn't like. Oh yes,
it was about _The General_. Sorry. It's still not my favorite Keaton.
But _The Boat_ is growing on me, so there's always a chance I'll change
my mind.

Connie K.
 >> Stay informed about: "Gasoline Alley" and THE KID 

Feuillade.TakeThisOut@aol.com (Feuillade)
wrote:

Constance Kuriyama wrote:


>>Believe it or not, there is actually room
>>for difference of opinion on all of those
>>subjects. :-)

>Never claimed that there wasn't.

>Tom Moran

Always amusing to see these two
authoritarian dogmatists in conflict.
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