This is a Napoleon Sunday Page by Cliford McBride.  Fantastic Artwork! Very Funny! This was cut from the original newspaper Sunday comics sections of 1937.  Size: Half Full Page or Tabloid = 11 x 15 inches. Paper: a few have small archival repairs, otherwise: Excellent! Bright Colors! Pulled from loose sections! (Please Check Scans) Please include $5.00 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!

Napoleon and Uncle Elby

Clifford McBride's Napoleon

Author(s) Clifford McBride (1932–1951)

Margot Fischer McBride (1951–1961)

Illustrator(s) Roger Armstrong (1950–1953, 1958–1960), Joseph Messerli (1953 to 1956), Ed Nofziger (1950's)

Current status / schedule daily & Sunday; concluded

Launch date June 6, 1932

End date 1961

Alternate name(s) Napoleon

Syndicate(s) LaFave Newspaper Features(1932–1952)

Mirror Enterprises Syndicate(1952–1961)

Genre(s) Humor

Napoleon and Uncle Elby was a popular syndicated newspaper comic strip created by Clifford McBride. Over a span of 29 years it was distributed to both American and foreign newspapers. By the mid-1940s, the strip was carried by 80 newspapers.[citation needed]

Publication history

While drawing such features as McBride's Cartoon (1927) and Clifford McBride's Pantomime Comic (1932), McBride introduced Elby, a character based on his uncle, Wisconsin lumberman Henry Elba Eastman. He soon began to add situations involving Elby's dog, Napoleon.

For a minor syndicate, LaFave Newspaper Features, McBride began Napoleon as a daily strip on June 6, 1932. His Sunday strip was added in 1933, and the following year, the title was changed to Napoleon and Uncle Elby.

McBride's assistant on the strip was former Disney artist Roger Armstrong (1917–2507). After McBride's 1951 death in Altadena, California, his second wife, Margot Fischer McBride, wrote the strip, and she hired Armstrong as the illustrator. In 1952, the team switched to the Mirror Enterprises Syndicate in Los Angeles, keeping the strip going for the next eight years.

Joseph Messerli drew the strip from 1953 to 1956. Another artist who worked on Napoleon was Ed Nofziger. The strip ended in 1961.

Characters and story

Elby was based on McBride's uncle, Henry Elba Eastman. McBride soon began to add situations involving Elby's dog, Napoleon.

Comics historian Don Markstein described the characters:

Napoleon was a big, clumsy, ungainly dog, most likely an approximation of an Irish wolfhound. As dogs go, he had a remarkably broad facial range, able to convey surprise, dismay, haughty disdain, grudging satisfaction and much more, as recognizable to readers as the expressions of any human character, and yet completely dog-like in every panel. Napoleon's alleged "master", Uncle Elby, was no more able to impose his will on the dog than was Si Keeler on Maud the Mule. The difference was that Maud acted out of pure orneriness, whereas Napoleon was just playful, headstrong, and not overly concerned about any damage he might cause. Uncle Elby wasn't quite what you'd call elderly, but getting pretty close. He was overweight and kind of fussy, just the sort of guy who would be most disconcerted by the antics of a dog like Napoleon — whom he clearly loved, no matter how hard it was to deal with the beast, or how upset he became as a result of those antics. Other than Napoleon, Uncle Elby lived alone, but his young nephew, Willie, was also part of the cast.

Licensing and merchandising

Napoleon became a spokesdog during the 1940s for Red Heart Dog Food. Merchandising included a stuffed toy of Napoleon. Although Napoleon was an Irish Wolfhound, McBride's own dog was Ace, a 190-pound St. Bernard, who sometimes was used for promotional purposes with McBride, including two short films, Unusual Occupations (1941) and Artist's Antics (1946).

Bibliography

Clifford McBride’s Immortal Napoleon and Uncle Elby. 1932.

Napoleon and Uncle Elby Clifford McBride. 1945.

Napoleon: A Complete Compilation, 1932-1933. Clifford McBride. Introduction by Jack Herbert. Westport, Connecticut: Hyperion Press, 1977.

*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 Priority Mail which takes 2 - 7 days to arrive in the USA and Air Mail International which takes 5 - 30 days 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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