Hi and Lois in the 1950s

As you know from past blogs, I've taken to reading vintage comic strips not because they're entertaining, but because they can tell you about the culture during the time they were printed. Sometimes, that culture can seem alien to the one we have today. That's why I find the stuff endlessly fascinating. Sometimes the cultural/timeline gap can kill the joke.

I've been following Mort Walker's vintage Beetle Bailey for years. I don't read the current Beetle Bailey, as I don't find it entertaining. But the vintage strips have a certain charm and a clean line of art that I do find entertaining. The strip started with Beetle in college, which I was surprised to find out. Beetle didn't join the army until we got into the Korean War. The strip made it plain that Beetle and his classmates felt it was their duty to sign up for the war effort.

I'm currently in 1956 in the vintage Beetle Bailey strips and the character hasn't seen a lick of action outside of training and putting up with day-to-day army life.

Another Mort Walker strip that I never paid any current day attention to is Hi and Lois. The strip just started running vintage reprints on DailyInk a month or so ago. I do find the vintage strip fascinating, as it reflects the typical American family in the 1950's.

Case in point:


This strip ran in August of 1955. Walt Disney's movie Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier premiered in May of 1955 and cut together three successful TV movies. So kids were gripped with Crocket fever and 'coonskin caps' at the time.

Then there's this strip from September of 1955:


This one hits closer to home than most. The offending items are books, but they could just as easily be comic books. The reference to vampires and zombies could be a nod to the super-popular Tales from the Crypt series published by EC comics and cancelled in September of 1954 due to Dr Frederick Wertham whipping parents of the day into a frenzy over what would cause juvenile delinquency.

It's hard to tell where Mort Walker stood on that issue within the context of this one strip. But then again, he could very well have been going for a laugh and that's it.

As an amatuer comics historian, I find the strip unsettling as the 'idea of past culture' I'm getting is a mother who believes her son will turn out badly because of what he reads. I'm against that notion. Very much so.

As a parent, I want to go check under my teenager's bed.

Thanks,
DCD