Gasoline Alley by Jim Scancarelli for May 22, 2013

Old Doc Yak?

He was the one who lost his house to the Gumps!

How d’ya like that!

Who is the pretty girl in the foreground in the first panel?

Would that be Ella Cinders in the bottom corner of panel one?

Not only is “Rex Morgan” being published, but by a rival syndicate,too! Guess this counts as parody! :)

This has been one of the best story lines on this strip in a long time!

And notice the portrait of the Little King on the wall.

Wow. Tillie the Toiler (by Russ Westover) is in the first panel; she retired in ‘59, but here she looks young as ever. That is indeed a portrait of Otto Soglow’s The Little King, above Walt Wallet—but I do not recognize the other king in the other portrait. And I confess I never before realized Rex Morgan’s first name was a pun on Rx! I always went straight to the Latin translation of “King.” Mutt and Jeff’s last year was either 1982 or ’83, it seems. What a wonderful strip today!

Actually, Mutt and Jeff are retired. What we see on GoComics is a rerun.

Dr. Yak may instinctively do the right thing, just didn’t get the maneuver named for him.

…funny stuff

After Slim coughs up the missing jewelry Fearless can shoot him full of holes, arrest him and send Walt back to GA without Slim. Nice story arc.

Old Doc Yak lost his car to the Gumps, not his house. Andy Gump drove Old 348 for many years.

I think that is Tillie the Toiler in full color in the first panel. Is that her husband Mac in between the two guys waving their hands behind her? He had one of the strangest hair styles in the comics.

@mjpanker:

She is indeed Tille. You made me look to see if that was Mac, but Mac had a bigger nose, and you are right about that hair—it stuck straight out over his forehead! I admit I am not sure who those three men are.

First, I have to echo so many others in saying this is the BEST story line for GA in years. Jim, please keep this going!!! Second, I think the other ‘king’ portrait may be Disney’s Lion King from the Jungle Book.

I don’t remember Doc Yak. Is he really a yak?

I’m just amazed by the rare old characters being brought back for this…

Amazing detail and what a great collection of folks posting and sharing knowledge of these old strips. As for the king to the left, my first thought was King Morpheus from Little Nemo, but I recall him wearing a laurel wreath, not a crown.

@marvee,

Actually, Old Doc Yak was an anthropomorphized goat. He never had any money, so Sidney Smith drew Old Doc being evicted from his daily newspaper space and replaced by The Gumps moving in, in 1917. Doc kept on in Sundays for a couple of years, though.

I am lovin’ this.

I can think of one Doc who’s not around anymore, but may have been in 1974, when the Heimlich maneuver was first published.

A quick search on the web confirms that the lady in the first frame is Tilly the Toiler. It would be great to republish each strip about a week later (give everybody a chance to guess) with all the characters identified. I used to think I knew something about old comics but this is way beyond what I know. Loving every strip of it!

@UncaJim,

Apparently, Tillie wore her hair sometimes both with and without bangs: http://www.pbase.com/csw62/westover —and she and Mac married, but only on the last day of the strip: http://www.toonopedia.com/tillie.htm —till yet, we suppose!