Proquest Dissertations
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Funny Pages in Black and Not-Quite-White: Race, Class and Imperialism in American Comic Strips, 1924-1929 Sylvia Galley Marques A Thesis in The Department of History Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (History) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada July 2008 © Sylvia Galley Marques, 2008 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-63215-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-63215-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1*1 Canada ABSTRACT The Funny Pages in Black and Not-Quite-White: Race, Class and Imperialism in American Comic Strips, 1924-1929 Sylvia Galley Marques From 1924-1929, Moon Mullins, The Gumps and Gasoline Alley reinforced the boundaries of dominant whiteness by essentializing poor whiteness. Poor white characters in these comic strips were singled out and marked as inherently different in two ways: first, through comparisons with non-white characters and second, through references to cultural myths associated with imperialism. These comic strips performed important work in conceptualizing whiteness for reasons directly tied to the comic strip form. Comic strips during this period strove to be highly accessible and had an extraordinarily large and broadly-based readership. The medium aimed to create a sense of community among readers and these readers engaged and identified with comic strips to a significant degree. This is evidenced most strikingly in comic strip readers' reactions to affective events within a strip's narrative arc and reader response to direct appeals from the comic strip on a more formal level. In turn, comic strip creators were particularly attentive to their audiences, as 1920s newspapers relied on comic strips to sell papers. For these reasons, comic strips provide a unique perspective on tastes and values of mainstream America. The ways in which Moon Mullins, Gasoline Alley and The Gumps articulated and reinforced the racial, behavioural and classed limits of whiteness reflected and reinforced the ways in which mainstream America conceptualized dominant whiteness. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures v Introduction 1 Chapter 1 38 Chapter 2 92 Konklusion 142 Bibliography 149 Appendix A 159 IV LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Sidney Smith, "Red Hot Papa." The Gumps 1 Figure 1.2. Martin Branner, "Sunday Supplement," Winnie Winkle the Breadwinner, 13 February 1927 5 Figure 1.3. Sidney Smith buried under a mountain of fan mail 11 Figure 2.1 Sidney Smith, The Gumps, 3 January 1926 38 Figure 2.2 Frank O. King, "A night Out Please," Gasoline Alley, 8 September 1927 38 Figure 2.3. Clare Briggs, When a Feller Needs a Friend, Chicago Tribune, 18 February 1924 44 Figure 2.4 Frank O. King, "Q.E.D, Which Means You Tell 'Em," Gasoline Alley, 10 October 1927 45 Figure 2.5 Frank O. King, "Rachel's On the Warpath," Gasoline Alley, 12 June 1924 47 Figure 2.6 Frank Willard, Moon Mullins, 29 July 1924 49 Figure 2.7 Frank Willard, "Higher Education" Moon Mullins, 33 July 1924 49 Figure 2.8 Frank Willard, "Mushmouth Should Do his Shooting with a Gun," Moon Mullins, 9 March 1927 55 Figure 2.9 Frank Willard, "No Questions Asked," Moon Mullins 4 August 1924 55 Figure 2.10 Frank Willard, "Moon's Not So Particular," The Gumps, 1 July 1924 59 Figure 2.11 Frank Willard, "A Big Cleanup," Moon Mullins, 23 June 1928 59 Figure 2.12 Frank Willard, "Such is Love," Moon Mullins, 5 December 1924 60 Figure 2.13 Frank Willard, "Yes, We—No, We Won't Say it," Moon Mullins 61 Figure 2.14 Frank O. King, "Both in the Same Boat," Gasoline Alley, 28 July 1924 63 Figure 2.15 Frank O. King, Gasoline Alley, 1 May, 1927 65 Figure 2.16 Frank O. King, "Sunday Supplement" The Gumps, 1 May, 1927 66 Figure 2.17 Frank O. King, "Sunday Supplement," The Gumps, 30 January 1927 67 Figure 2.18 Frank O. King, "Sunday Supplement," Gasoline Alley, 27 March 1927 68 Figure 2.19 Martin Branner, "Sunday Supplement," Winnie Winkle the Breadwinner, Chicago 69 Figure 2.20 Frank Willard, "The Smoke Menace," Moon Mullins, 17 February 1925 72 Figure 2.21 Frank Willard, "An Optical Illusion," Moon Mullins, 21 December 1925 73 Figure 2.22 Frank Willard, "The Old Gent is a Great Little Sympathizer," Moon Mullins, 17 February 1925 73 Figure 2.23 Frank Willard, "The P.D.&Q. Loses Some Business," Moon Mullins, 20 January 1927 75 Figure 2.24 Frank O. King, "All Alone," Gasoline Alley 28 January 1926 78 Figure 2.25 Sidney Smith, "There's Many a Good Tune in an Old Violin," The Gumps, 2 January 1926 78 Figure 2.26 Sidney Smith, "Here Comes the Bride," The Gumps, 14 July 1926 79 Figure 2.27 Sidney Smith, "Dust Hound," The Gumps, 1 April 1926 78 Figure 2.28 Sidney Smith, "The Next Day," The Gumps, 2 February 1924. 80 Figure 2.29 Sidney Smith, "Angels Have Wings," The Gumps, 31 May 1924 80 Figure 2.30 Sidney Smith, "Just a Good Girl," The Gumps, 18 May 1926 81 Figure 2.31 Sidney Smith, "The Perfect Putt," The Gumps, 19 May 1926 81 Figure 2.32 Sidney Smith, "The Crown Prince," The Gumps, 21 July 1927 83 Figure 2.33 Sidney Smith, "A Picture no Artist can Paint," The Gumps, 15 February 1928 86 Figure 2.34 Frank Willard, "The Mind Reader," Moon Mullins, 6 September 1927 86 Figure 2.35 Frank Willard, "There's the Proof in the Pudding," Moon Mullins, 24 February 1926 87 Figure 2.36 Sidney Smith, "Fresh Lemonade, Made Right in the Shade," The Gumps, 7 June 1928 88 Figure 2.37 Sidney Smith, "New Antiques," The Gumps, 20 January 1924 88 VI Figure 2.38 Sidney Smith, "Blue Blood," The Gumps, 28 November 1924 89 Figure 3.1 Sidney Smith, The Gumps, 1 August 1926 92 Figure 3.2 Sidney Smith, "Into the Great Unknown," The Gump, 10 April 1926 93 Figure 3.3 Frank O. King, "Red Men, White Clouds, and Blue Sky," Gasoline Alley, 4 July 1924 99 Figure 3.4 Sidney Smith, "The Hunting Season Opens," The Gumps 2\ May 1926 101 Figure 3.5 Sidney Smith, "Ye Knyghte Gump," The Gumps. 5 June 1926 102 Figure 3.6 Theodore Roosevelt on Safari 1909-1910 102 Figure 3.7 Sidney Smith, "Into the Great Unknown," The Gumpt 10 April 1926 102 Figure 3.8 The President is Resting at his Home in Oyster Bay, 1903 102-3 Figure 3.9 Sidney Smith, "The Simple Life," The Gumps, 22 July 1924 105 Figure 3.10 Sidney Smith, "Apple Blossom Time in Normandie," The Gumps, 13 April 1927 106 Figure 3.11 Sidney Smith, "The Day's Work Done," The Gumps, 18 April 1927 107 Figure 3.12 Sidney Smith, "Raising Chickens," The Gumps, 19 April 1927 107 Figure 3.13 Roosevelt campaigning in Asheville, NC September 1902 109 Figure 3.14 Sidney Smith, The Gumps, 17 September 1924 109 Figure 3.15 Sidney Smith, "Ride 'em Cowboy," The Gumps, 3 October 1924 110 Figure 3.16 "Pearl Harbor," Chicago Tribune, May 10 1925 112 Figure 3.17 Sidney Smith, "Beware of the Dog," The Gumps, 1 September 1926 120 Figure 3.18 Sidney Smith, "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, the Bums are Marching!" The Gumps, 5 October 1926 122 Figure 3.19 11 September 1927, Chicago Tribune 128 Figure 3.20 Sidney Smith, "Sunday Supplement," The Gumps, 19 October 1924 131 vn Figure 3.22 "Hurrah for the fourth of July! We're coming in on independence day celebrations, too," The Verdict, 21 August 1899 133 Figure 3.23 Sidney Smith, The Gumpst September 12 1926 133 Figure 3.24 Sidney Smith, "Sunday Supplement," 5 September 1926 134 Figure 3.25 Troubles Which May Follow an Imperial Policy," New York Herald, 3 July 1898 134 Figure 3.26 Sidney Smith, "Sunday Supplement," The Gumps, 14 June 1925 135 Figure 3.27 Sidney Smith, "Sunday Supplement," The Gumps, 5 September 1926 136 Figure 3.28 Sidney Smith, "Sunday Supplement," The Gumps, 19 September 1926 137 vin INTRODUCTION On 24 October 1925 Minerva Gump, one of the main characters in The Gumps, a popular comic strip distributed by the Chicago Tribune-New York News syndicate, announced to her husband Andy that she wanted to learn the Charleston.