Beetle Bailey
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Beetle Bailey (begun on September 4, 1950) is a comic strip set in the United States Army, created by Mort Walker. It is among the oldest comic strips still being made by the original creator. The strip also remains among the most popular comic strips today. Walker received the Reuben Award for 1953, as well as the National Cartoonist Society Humor Strip Award for 1966 and 1969 for the strip. King Features Syndicate is the publisher.
History and origins of Beetle Bailey
In 1948 and 1949, Mort Walker submitted his comics to magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post. The editor of the SEP, John Bailey, suggested he draw some comics in a college setting, having seen some of Mort Walker's work during college. Walker did so, and Bailey suggested that he feature one character, who wore a hat down over his eyes. Walker named him Spider, after a fraternity brother.
Walker then decided to do a comic strip about college, putting all of his fraternity brothers from the University of Missouri-Columbia in it. Changing the name from Spider to Beetle, King Features Syndicate bought it; it was the last comic strip personally approved by William Randolph Hearst. Bailey was added as a last name in honor of John Bailey. Beetle Bailey first ran in twelve newspapers on September 4, 1950, the day after Mort Walker's birthday.
On March 13, 1951, during the Korean War, Walker had Beetle Bailey enlist in the Army. All characters other than Beetle were dropped, and new ones created. The struggling comic strip (King Features was considering not renewing the one-year contract) soon appeared in more newspapers, beginning Beetle's rise to popularity.
The strip
Most of the humor revolves around the mostly inept characters stationed at Camp Swampy, inspired by Camp Crowder, where Walker had been stationed while in the Army. Private Bailey is a lazy sort and usually naps and avoids work, and thus is often the subject of verbal and physical chastising from his Sergeant.
The comic strip currently takes place in present day. The characters in Beetle Bailey have never seen combat themselves, with the exception of mock battles and combat drills. In fact, they seem to be in their own version of stereotypical comic strip "purgatory", i.e. they are forever locked into Basic Combat Training or Boot Camp. The uniforms of Beetle Bailey are still the uniforms of the 1950s Army, with green fatigues and baseball caps as the basic uniform, and the open jeep as the basic military vehicle. Sgt. Snorkel wears a green undress uniform with heavily wrinkled garrison cap; the officers wear M1 helmet liners painted with their insignia.
Beetle's sister is Lois Flagston of the comic strip Hi and Lois, a spinoff which debuted in 1954.
Beetle is always seen with a hat or helmet over his head, forehead, and eyes. He was only seen without it once in the real strip, when he was still in college; the strip never ran in any newspaper, and is only seen in various books on the history of the strip. In a Mad Magazine parody in the 1960s, Beetle's hat is removed and on his forehead is written "Get out of Vietnam".
Over the years, Mort Walker has been assisted by (among others) Jerry Dumas, Bob Gustafson, Frank Johnson, and his sons Brian and Greg Walker, of which the latter is credited on the strips today.
Cast
Beetle Bailey is unusal in having one of the largest and most varied permanent casts of any comic strip. While many of the older characters are rarely seen, almost none have been completely retired.
- Beetle Bailey
- Sgt. Orville Snorkel ("Sarge") - Beetle's nemesis; known to frequently beat up Beetle for any excuse he can think of
- Otto - Sgt. Snorkel's anthropomorphic dog
- General Amos T. Halftrack - the inept, alcoholic, and sexist commander of Camp Swampy
- Martha Halftrack - the General's domineering wife
- Miss Buxley - Halftrack's beautiful ("buxom") civilian secretary, and occasional soldier's date
- Private Blips - Halftrack's competent secretary (not at all "buxom" - blips are small points of light on a Radar screen)
- Bunny - Beetle's rarely-seen girlfriend
- Lieutenant Jack Flap - the strip's first black character, introduced in 1970
- "Killer" Diller - the ladies man
- Zero - the uneducated, buck-toothed country boy
- Lt. Sonny Fuzz - very young (with very little facial hair), over-earnest, by the book, always trying to impress uninterested superiors, and rubbing it in with his subordinates, introduced 1956
- Cookie - the cook, who smokes cigarettes while preparing the mess hall's questionable menu; except for the presence of cauliflower ears, bears a striking resemblance to Sgt. Snorkel and has also been known to occasionally beat up on Beetle (hinting that Cookie and Snorkel may be related)
- Plato - the intellectual (as Tom Lehrer might say, "brings a book to every meal"); named after Plato
- Corporal Yo - the strip's first Asian character, introduced in 1990
- Capt. Sam Scabbard - flat-top wearing officer, often to Sarge as Sarge is to Beetle.
- Major Greenbrass, straight man and golf partner to Gen. Halftrack
- Chaplain Staneglass - ("He's praying... he's looking at the food... he's praying again!")
- Julius Plewer - fastidious fussbudget, who eventually became Halftrack's chauffeur
- Cosmo - Camp Swampy's resident "shady entreprenur"; almost forgotten in the 1980s
- Rocky - Camp Swampy's resident "rebel-without-a-cause", introduced 1958
- Dr. Bonkus - Camp Swampy's staff psychiatrist, whose sanity is questionable at best (as in "Bonkers").
- Specialist Chip Gizmo - Camp Swampy's resident computer geek, named by a write-in contest in 2002
- Sgt. Louise Lugg - wants to be Sarge Snorkel's girlfriend, introduced in 1986
- Bella - Sgt. Louise Lugg's pet female cat
- Beetle's parents and younger brother (apparently unnamed)
- A camp doctor whose appearance is consistent, but who is apparently unnamed
- An unnamed officers' club bartender, frequent intermediary between the Halftracks
Unseen
Retired
- Canteen (early 1950s) - "always eating," kind of redundant with Sarge
- Snake Eyes (early 1950s) - "the barracks gambler," replaced by Cosmo, Rocky, and others
- Big Blush (early 1950s) - "tall, innocent, and a great attraction to the girls"; many of his characteristics incorporated into both Sarge and Zero
- Fireball (early 1950s) - "neophyte who always seems to be in the way"; forerunner of both Zero and Lt. Fuzz
- Bammy (early 1950s) - "the southern patriot who is still fighting the Civil war"
- Dawg (early 1950s) - "the guy in every barracks who creates his own pollution"
- Ozone (late 1950s) - Zero's bigger, more naive friend
- Moocher (early 1960s) - "stingy and always borrowing things"
- Pop (1960s) - married private: "gets yelled at by Sarge all day and goes home at night for more abuse from his wife"
- The entire cast, except for Beetle, of the early strip as set at Rockview University (although both incarnations of the strip include a spectacled intellectual named Plato). Four characters from the original cast ("Bitter Bill," "Diamond Jim," "Freshman," and "Sweatsock" made at least one appearance, in the January 5th strip from either 1962 or 1963.Quotations and documentation of characters from: Mort Walker, The Best of Beetle Bailey (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1984)
- Sgt. Webbing, variously described as being from either B Company or D Company. He somewhat resembles Snorkel, except that he lacks the trademark wrinkles in Snorkel's garrison cap, has wavy hair and thick eyebrows, and has pointed fangs instead of Sarge's tusk. On at least two separate occasions, Webbing engaged Sgt. Snorkel in a cussing duel.February 17, 1957 Sunday strip, reprinted in Walker, The Best of Beetle Bailey, Feb. 10, 1963 Sunday strip, reprinted in Walker, At Ease, Beetle Bailey (New York: Grosset & Dunlap/Tempo, 1970). He also attempted to one-up Snorkel in anthropomorphizing dogs, leading to Otto's first appearance in uniform, and was most recently seen (recognizably, but not mentioned by name) in 1983 June 26, 1958 and December 19, 1983 strips, reproduced in Walker, The Best of Beetle Bailey.
- Rolf (early 1980s), civilian tennis instructor, very popular with the female cast (including both Mrs. Halftrack and Miss Buxley, much to the General's consternation). First appearance was in the September 9, 1982 strip, and he disappeared completely by the mid 1980s.Various strips reproduced in ibid.
Extras, one-shots, and walk-ons
Numerous one-shot characters have appeared over the years, mostly unnamed, including an inspector general who looks like Alfred E. Neuman, and various officers and civilians. Among the few to be given names is Julian, a nondescript chauffer eventually replaced by Julius.July 5, 1964 Sunday strip, reprinted in Walker, At Ease, Beetle Bailey (New York: Grosset & Dunlap/Tempo, 1970).Controversy
The strip became the focus of feminist animosity in the 1990s because of Gen. Halftrack's unrestrained (if ineffectual) libidinous approach to women. Reacting to this, Walker put the General through a bit of sensitivity training and dressed Miss Buxley more professionally.
External links
References
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