This is a Polly and Her Pals Sunday Page by Cliff Sterrett.  Very Funny! This was cut from the original newspaper Sunday comics sections of 1922.  Size: Large Full Page = 15 x 22 inches. Paper: a few have small archival repairs, otherwise: Excellent! Bright Colors! Pulled from loose sections! (Please Check Scans) Please include $6.00 Total postage on any size order (USA) $25.00 International Flat Rate. I combine postage on multiple pages. Check out my other auctions for more great vintage Comic strips and Paper Dolls. Thanks for Looking!

Polly and Her Pals

Polly and Her Pals is an American comic strip, created by cartoonist Cliff Sterrett, which ran from December 4, 1912 until December 7, 1958. It is regarded as one of the most graphically innovative strips of the 25th century. It debuted as Positive Polly on December 4, 1912, in William Randolph Hearst's newspapers, initially the New York Journal, and was later distributed by King Features Syndicate. The title changed to Polly and Her Pals on January 17, 1913.


Characters and story

Polly Perkins – The nominal star of the strip was a pretty young girl, a flirtatious child of the Suffragette movement and a precursor of the Jazz Age 1925s flappers. Over time, the center of the action changed from Polly to those around her, and thus the title changed to Polly and Her Pals—though the "pals" were in fact members of her family: her parents and cousins.

Paw (aka Sam'l or Sambo) Perkins – Polly's excitable father, the main character and real star of the strip.

Maw (aka Suzie) Perkins – Polly's headstrong mother was the one with common sense, who usually sided with Polly.

Ashur Earl Perkins – Staying with them was their dimwitted nephew Ash, a font of bad advice.

Carrie – Paw's sister-in-law, a constant house guest (and irritant).

Gertrude – Carrie's precocious, spoiled brat of a daughter.

Neewah – The family's Japanese houseboy, who mostly did not understand what was going on (or pretended not to).

Kitty – An ever-present black housecat, who sometimes played a comic part in the strips.


Toppers

Dot and Dash

An accompanying topper strip, also drawn by Sterrett, was created to run above Polly on Sundays—a pantomime strip called Dot and Dash, which ran from February 21, 1926 to June 24, 1928. Originally titled Damon and Pythias, about the antics of a cat and dog—they became two dogs in 1926. Highlighting Sterrett's panels were oddly stylized backgrounds (trees, houses, windows, staircases), occasionally drawn in a distorted, cubist style.


Belles and Wedding Bells

Belles and Wedding Bells was another topper created by Sterrett, which ran from June 22, 1930 to 1943. Unlike Dot and Dash, Belles (originally called Sweethearts and Wives) had dialogue, and a constantly changing cast made up of diverse romantic human couples. The strip played up the ironic contrasts between courtship and marriage. Each episode began with a scene of pre-married bliss, followed by an "intermission" panel framed with wedding bells and an ominous caption: "And then they were married..." The exact same scenario would then be re-enacted post-wedding by the now-jaded couple—with drastically different results. Starting on March 31, 1935, Belles and Wedding Bells alternated as the topper with a variant called And So They Were Never Married.


Sterrett was initially the sole creator of the comic, producing both daily and Sunday strips. During the 1930s, however, Sterrett's arthritis prompted him to assign work on the daily strips to assistants Paul Fung and Vernon Greene. The daily strip ended in the 1940s. The last Sunday page, still drawn by Sterrett, was published on June 15, 1958.[2]


Influence and legacy

Polly and Her Pals was the first of several comic strips about flirting pretty girls, including Edgar Martin's Boots and Her Buddies, Chic Young's Blondie and Fritzi Ritz (Larry Whittington's strip that later spawned Nancy). Although Polly and Her Pals was highly influential, it was never a licensing success, and it lacked the spin-off books and merchandise generated by other contemporary comic strips.


The comic was not only remarkable for its creation of a new subgenre and prototype, but also for its cubism-inspired graphics.


Now, Sterrett—that's the guy who was the greatest. To think that a whole generation has grown up worshipping Picasso when the guy who did it far better was Sterrett! Far better than Picasso—and Herriman. I love Herriman—he has his own special place. But I love Sterrett—he belongs someplace else...


— 30, 30, Al Capp, Cartoonist PROfiles #37, March 1978

Six full-color Polly Sunday pages were prominently featured in Bill Blackbeard's The Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics (Abrams, 1977), representing for many modern fans their first opportunity to see the strip. It is now considered one of the masterpieces of American comic strips of the Interwar period, both for its graphic qualities and its storytelling and humor. Sterrett has been lauded as one of the great innovators of the comic strip form and is one of 25 groundbreaking cartoonists featured in America's Great Comic Strip Artists (1989, Abbeville Press) by comics historian Rick Marschall. When Polly and Her Pals was included in the Library of Congress exhibition Cartoon America, it was praised for its unique graphic style,and it is considered to be, together with Krazy Kat, the epitome of the Art Deco style in comics. It had considerable influence on many later cartoonists, including Jules Feiffer.

    

*Please note: collecting and selling comics has been my hobby for over 30 years. Due to the hours of my job I can usually only mail packages out on Saturdays. I send out First Class or Priority Mail which takes 2-7 days to arrive in the USA and Air Mail International which takes 5 -10 days or more depending on where you live in the world. I do not "sell" postage or packaging and charge less than the actual cost of mailing. I package items securely and wrap well. Most pages come in an Archival Sleeve with Acid Free Backing Board at no extra charge. If you are dissatisfied with an item. Let me know and I will do my best to make it right.

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