Gasoline Alley by Jim Scancarelli for January 15, 2014

Who does Walt think he is . . . Forrest Gump?

Walt is slicing that baloney REALLY thick! LOL

Never mind the boots, boys…Every one up on the tables.

It brings back memories of…..

Our Boarding house

tall-tale-telling, the self-styled Major Hoople

Frank Buck Zoo

Cute, but I was sort of hoping JS would serve up some of Walt’s “real” history. After the death if Walt’s wife Phyllis (Aunt Blossom), there were some flashbacks to the early days of the strip when Phyllis was a mysterious young widow somehow connected to Skeezix’s natural mother, an irresponsible opera star. JS wrapped it up nicely with a surprise that made perfect sense.

Quite a bump… they swapped shirts, pants And hats.

I remember the name Frank Buck, but I remember Clyde Beatty better.

Then there was the time that I told old Chris Columbus about this new, shorter route to the Orient.

Those animals look very friendly. “Pet me and I will eat you.”

This is the BEST storyline EVER!!!!!

Allan Sherman’s song “Good Advice” comes to mind.

The largest copy I can readily find of the “Wallet Family Tree” is at http://www.google.com/imgres?sa=X&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&biw=1280&bih=617&tbm=isch&tbnid=UxINHeS9-DJDgM%3A&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fthe-unmutual.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F09%2Ffor-better-or-worse.html&docid=utH6AHIjYxtQ6M&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dcdrecords.com%2Fblog_images%2Fgasoline1.jpg&w=600&h=651&ei=drvWUp-1KqSsyAG-hIGIBA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=500&page=1&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=0CIIBEK0DMA4

One of Walt finding Skeezix is at http://www.google.com/imgres?sa=X&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&biw=1280&bih=617&tbm=isch&tbnid=5Cx_kVHDnSFWXM%3A&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cartoonstudies.org%2Fschulz%2Fblog%2Fsurvey-1-comic-strip-essays-wade-simpson-on-gasoline-alley-aka-walt-and-skeezix%2F&docid=PaR9l3ypxab4PM&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cartoonstudies.org%2Fschulz%2Fblog%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2010%2F11%2FWaltSkeezix1st.gif&w=297&h=307&ei=drvWUp-1KqSsyAG-hIGIBA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=1078&page=1&start=0&ndsp=17&ved=0CHYQrQMwCg

Another strip on that same page has Doc’s wife saying that if he got the enclosed car she wanted, he’d be afraid she’d want him to dress as her chaffeur. When a stroke left my mother unable to drive, Dad actually did by a chauffeur’s cap (maroon to match the car) and referred to himself as Wobegon, as a counterpart to Jack Benny’s Rochester and Charlie Chan’s Chattanooga.

It sounds like Walt’s telling a tall tale, though I /think/ Frank Buck visited Africa at least once before the US entered WW1.

I drove past the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville literally hundreds of times before I finally found out who Frank Buck was. Sorry it took so long. He’s pretty fascinating.

Never let the truth get in the way of a good storyListen to that generation long enough and you will become a much wiser person

The year after “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, every TV network tried to do a ripoff. One of them, “Bring ’em Back Alive”, starred Bruce Boxleitner as Frank Buck.