Monday Quickies

December 6, 1966

No. And Brutus will never get a raise. 59 years of never getting a raise. Brutus is probably still getting paid 1966 money.

Pour some bleach or drain eater down there to destroy the hair. Any idiot can do it, you don't need to bother this idiot with it.

Quality Time

I decided to look into who this Dorothy Grace person was who helped inspire(?) yesterday's classic comic. Now, I am not positive but Dorothy Grace is more than likely Dorothy Grace (Stapleton) Hamlin. In 1926, Dorothy Grace Stapleton married Vincent Trout "V.T." Hamlin. V.T. Hamlin was the creator of the comic strip Alley Oop, which continues to this day after 93 years. It would make sense that Art Sansom would be friendly with the Hamlins as Alley Oop was still going strong in 1966 and Hamlin would stay on the strip until 1973. Alley Oop and The Born Loser were also distributed by the same syndicate, Newspaper Enterprise Association. The Hamlins and the Sansoms were clearly close as Wilberforce would make an appearance in an Alley Oop comic in 1970 and, I believe, Oop makes an appearance in The Born Loser in the background.

Dorothy would pass away in 1985 at the age of 82. V.T. would pass in 1993 at the age of 93.

Dorothy and V.T. Hamlin circa 1928.

July 19, 1987

Wastrel is still so drunk that he doesn't know if he's coming or going! I originally thought Wastrel was trying out a new schtick, but then I realized he's that drunk off his ass.

It's time once again for Brutus and Uncle Ted to talk about Uncle Ted being old. It usually is a Sunday thing these days. I guess it takes 6-7 panels to really get the idea that Uncle Ted is old across.

Note the "including you" part. Uncle Ted knows what he's doing here.

One of the last research things I did on Twitter was updated and reposted yesterday--the arrest of Underwood Taylor. If you would like to support me or this website, you can click the Support page at the top.

It's Only Been Six Weeks?!!

December 5, 1966

God, when the last time I heard the word "rutabaga". Have kids these days ever heard of a rutabaga? While looking up rutabagas, I learned that people sometimes put them in pastries and I hope those kind of people are not a part of your life.

Yes, thank you Dorothy Grace.

So Wilberforce and Hattie started school after Labor Day, which I know a lot school districts do. Unless you are going by when Chip finished this strip which was at least two weeks ago so Wilberforce and Hattie started school on roughly August 18th. I don't know why I'm dwelling on this except that I wish my district started after Labor Day, but I would still want to be done by Memorial Day and that's impossible to schedule without getting rid days off in our long breaks.

I like that Wilberforce and Hattie are on their way to their own local No Kings rally. Surprised they didn't make signs. Be safe out there, kids.

Underwood Taylor

Back in 2021, KMUW in Wichita, Kansas posted an article on Kansas' racist past. Being nearly a year after the murder of George Floyd, the article talked about how racist Kansas was from its original settling to today and how we are trying to reconcile with that. The article mainly focused on the renaming of Noose Road in Hays to Rome Road. They also remind Kansans that while we were a Free State and founded by abolitionists, that didn't necessarily mean Kansas wanted Black people--free or enslaved--residing next to them. It's a really good article you can read here. Many of the names mentioned as being racist have been changed in the last few years.

Going over the map of racial violence, there was one that stuck out in Baldwin City. I lived in Baldwin for six years and there was never more than one Black family and maybe a couple college students that lived in the town so I wondered what this threatened lynching was all about.  In May of 1909, Underwood Taylor was a man from Missouri hired to work on the waterworks plant. He had said that he was originally from Missouri. Minnie Hackett, a five-year-old girl, was playing on the sand pile with some friends when Taylor walked by. Taylor was able to get Hackett alone. Soon, the little girl was crying and running home. Underwood Taylor was arrested and taken to Lawrence as Mr. Walter Hackett, Minnie's father, and other men in town were threatening to deal with Taylor their own way.

Taylor said that he was innocent of the charges and that he was just playing with the girl and offered to tie her shoe. Taylor was quickly convicted, given 30 days in jail, and ordered to pay a $20 fine. He then, presumably, left town.

The last mention of Underwood Taylor was in 1919 in Independence, Kansas where he was sentenced to jail for stealing seven bushels of coal from his employer and then escaping from jail.

That's Not Why

December 3, 1966

I do not like nor do I really understand the "R.W. Veeblefetzer (NOW HEAR THIS!) President!" visual gag that happens nearly every time we see something that could have words printed on it.

It's weird that the company has a void room. That could be someone's office but you're using to house a void.

I feel like if Brutus wasn't getting promoted because he was a born loser then he'd be better at his job. Brutus isn't getting promoted because he's a bad employee. Also, as I've mentioned before, Brutus seems pretty high up on the chain of command. Maybe he's already reached his summit.

Bad Manager

December 2, 1966

Ooh. Hope that recreation room isn't carpeted.

Is Brutus the real estate guy here? I wish Brutus still bounced around from job to job being employed by whatever makes the joke work.

Well, this for one. The other flaw is that you are bad at giving constructive criticism. "Hey, can you help me with this?" "What bonehead mess are you getting my company into?" "Well, that doesn't help my problem at all." "Neither does your brain!" "Okay. I'll talk to you later."

Wednesday Special

I've been listening to Dr. Demento's last show over the last couple of days and just finished it yesterday afternoon. It was a Top 40 most requested songs of the 55 year history of his show. With just a couple exceptions (I actually think the official tally was 3) I was able to recite all the songs I remember hearing when I was routinely listening to Dr. Demento back between 1996 and 2004.

I got into Dr. Demento when I decided to listen to the Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection that my Mom had. I fell in love with it and needed more. Learning that his show aired out of Kansas City on KYYS Sundays at midnight, I began staying up late to listen. Dr. Demento is the reason I was bad at school. I stopped listening when I just couldn't stay awake anymore. His show had moved stations at least twice since I started listening and, based on someone else's research, left the Kansas City area in 2007. The radio show would come to an end in 2010. Dr. Demento began streaming in 2006 and has been online since. You can listen to thousands of episodes of his show on his website.

No one else I knew listened to the show. I could annoy my friends and anyone near me with dumb novelty songs. I'd quote odd, random things and could take credit for being so funny. I felt like I was a member of a secret club. I'd go back to Dr. Demento and novelty songs numerous times over the years. They were comforting. I got into so much more music because of Dr. Demento. Being a fan of Dr. Demento and novelty songs just reinforced the belief that I should've been born in 1909. I can't even count the ways Dr. Demento has inspired me.

Back in June, Dr. Demento, whose real name is Barry Hansen, announced he was retiring. Keep in mind, he's been doing this radio show for 55 years (since 1970) and is now 84-years-old. He has more than earned a retirement. I saw numerous comments online on how Dr. Demento got them into different music or wanting to do that kind of music. I'm glad Mr. Hansen is able to see and hear how much he means to so many people. Here's to long and happy retirement, Doctor. Thank you for being one of the best.

December 1, 1966

He did this 48 times (counting the one that made it) and probability states that at least 23 of those cigarettes should of made it. I guess it would be less since he couldn't just not caught any, swallowed and spit a few out, bit at the wrong time... Ok, so maybe missing 47 times is possible.

Don't do it Brutus. Doesn't seem worth it. Monetarily or what it's going to do to you later. Just get a burger or some soup and go back to work. You don't need to eat the diner shrimp.

And don't forget to stay demented!

Sleep Score Number: 23

Harry Anderson would've been 73 today. I posted my annual tribute to him back on Saturday where he plays Jim Korman, a comic book artist for Tales from the Crypt whose monsters start coming alive when he begins taking fertility pills. You can check out "Korman's Kalamity" here.

You can also check out all my Harry Anderson posts by clicking the tag.

November 30, 1966

Ha ha! Brutus didn't even forget his wife's name because Emily is beautiful (she is fairly normal and not a buxom beauty like you would expect) but because he's just a terrible husband!

Brutus has been having a lot of problems waking up in the morning. I don't know how to fix this. I hate waking up in the morning and only do it because I have to. I just wanted to comment that Brutus needs help. It's killing him.

Self-Identified Rebel

November 26, 1966

Don't apologize. It's clear the stairs aren't there so why would he walk out? You can probably put those back. He won't need them anymore. Or keep going, maybe run him over.

I'm just imagining Brutus here as President Trump, who also can't really use airplane stairs.

"Why are you like this, Brutus? What are you rebelling against?" "What do ya got?" Brutus snarls while smoking and wearing sunglasses.

I don't believe for a second that Brutus ever rebelled in his life. I mean, look at him. People who rebel don't look like that.

Do They Only Have the One Cellphone?

July 12, 1987

Meh. Just run some water into the pot from the sink. Is this really a "life hack" or whatever? Do people do this? I'd be afraid everything would just dump out from the already-open top. Are the bottoms of cans even conducive to being opened?

Is this condensed black bean soup or are they using canned black beans to make homemade black bean soup?

Just call the auto club--or Triple-A if you're nasty and don't care about trademarks and free promotion. All flats are bad and it doesn't look like there's a service station anywhere nearby. Is she in a desert? The vast farmland expanses of the Midwest?

The perspective in the last panel is way off compared to the first two panels with the car.

Yesterday's post was my annual Harry Anderson post featuring an episode of Tales from the Crypt he starred in back in 1990. A series of comic book monsters have been coming to life. Is it just a coincidence or it is because of an artist and his fertility pills?

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