Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for June 28, 2016

.Good morning guys!

Tracy and Fosdick.-Trailing Evil Eye Fleegle.-Begin the pursuit.

Tracy’s dreaming of being on a case with a parody of himself. I like Straightedge Trustworthy better. And who’s this villain a parody of? B.B. Eyes?

Evil Eye Fleegle is technically a “L’il Abner” villain, his appearance in Fosdick’s short-lived TV series notwithstanding.

Oh, and two-panel strip again.

Fleegle had a memorable turn in the stage and film productions of the “L’il Abner” musical.

For anyone who’s interested …

Here’s a brief clip of Fleegle in Animated Action!

… am loving Fearless’s lantern version of a Wrist Wizzard !

I know! He’s got one of those projection two-way wrist thingamajigs. That’s the latest technology (lantern version notwithstanding).

Not (gasp!) Evil Eye Fleegle! His whammies were just as powerful as Stupifin’ Jones’ ability to stupify! Although nowhere near as much fun.(FYI: Julie Newmar played her on film, and probably Broadway, too.)

Does he remind anyone of Eddie Cantor?

Wonder if a mirror would reflect a Double Whammy …?

And weren’t “Whammies” – of a different sort – used on the game show “Press Your Luck” …?

Excellent storyline teaming the two classic crimestoppers!

I pity the reader too young to remember the terrifying villainy of (shudder) Evil-Eye Fleegle and his horrific whammies!Fosdick and Tracy will have their hands full!

Oh I remember that fiend from a li’l Abner stroyline from way back! His “Triple Whammy” cause Mammy Yokum (Abner’s Grandmother) to lose a beauty contest to is moll (girlfriend)!

If anyone is all THAT interested, research Evil Eye Finkle for the inspiration that led to Capp’s Fleegle. It was back in the days when wrestling was just an act. Oh, wait…..

Correction: His first name was Ben and it was boxing, not wrasslin’.

Oh no, Evil-Eye Fleegle, Master of the Whammy. I once enjoyed his story line in Lil Abner.

Speaking of the game show “Press Your Luck” …

This was sort of akin to counting cards, and – technically – wasn’t against the rules.

Wonder if we will be visiting dog Patch.

I notice Tracy’s jaw gets sharper when he’s dreaming. (And if you order now, you’ll get a SECOND “Ever-Sharp” teflon and titanium jaw at no extra charge! Just pay shipping and handling…)

Gonna be a Whammie..

I read “an ability he learned from mystics in the Far East” and briefly thought how great it would be for Dick Tracy to cross over with The Shadow. I understand that Conde Nast is very tight with their control of him, though.

Two-Way Wrist Thingamajig: Introduced in 2005 as an upgrade to the Two-Way Wrist Doohickey…

AnyFace, I believe it was a mirror that was used to stop Evil Eye Fleegle in the Lil Abner movie (and I’m assuming stage play), wasn’t it?

Pretty good rendition of the Al Capp style in Joe’s drawing of Evil-Eye Fleegle today.

I always liked Capp’s style but always thought that in some ways his characters seemed to look like him. Then I saw a story about him on a TV show and it showed him at his drawing board. He had a mirror attached and he would make the facial expression he wanted in the mirror and sketch it onto whichever character he was drawing. The characters all looked like him because he was sketching his own facial expressions.

It’s strange the things that can jar my curiosity. I thought that the term “whammy” originated with the aforementioned Benjy “Evil Eye” Finkle. It didn’t. Apparently, the term was used in a book about baseball several years before Finkle’s birth. He just picked up on it and popularized it. It does appear that the “double whammy” and “triple whammy” are pure Finkle, however.

Now that I think of it, it was a drink tray that doubled as a mirror

Wasn’t Evileye destroyed when he tried to produce a triple whammy?

I dug around a little and found this description of Mr. Fleegle:Evil-Eye Fleegle, an otherwise petty zoot-suited hood, apparently standing only four and a half feet tall and living in Brooklyn NY, has one unique ability which was taught to him by his mother.When he concentrates a destructive beam shots from one of his eyeballs.Called by him a “Whammy” it has three settings:A single whammy can knock a dozen men unconscious for a day, a double whammy can make the stone head of Teddy Roosevelt on mount Rushmore weep, and the triple whammy can melt a battle ship.Anything more powerful than a single whammy however tires out Fleegle for the rest of the day, or the rest of the week in the case of a triple.The dreaded quadruple whammy, which only Fleegle’s mother can perform, is said to be to horrible to contemplate.

Is it me, or does Fosdick’s thingamajig resemble Alan Scott’s lantern?

As temperatures rise, Joe returns to Dogpatch, and explains to Mammie Yokum that it wasn’t his fault, Fleegle dun it. Using her powers of Yokum female persuasion, Mammie un-whammies Fleegle, and with Joe safely (?) away from him in Dogpatch, his girl returns, and he I-P Whammies the earth back into proper orbit, and life in the Cappverse returned to what passes for normal.

FOSDICKTECH: THE TWO-WAY WRIST THINGAMAJIGFosdick’s tiny lantern is just the latest (and smallest) in a chain of communication/data devices assisting law enforcement.Though given sufficient firepower to eradicate criminals from the streets, Fosdick and his fellow-officers often had difficulty maintaining contact with police headquarters. Car radios generally were one-way transmission thingies, and personal devices were little better than two tin cans with a string attached.The first sign of change came in 1937, when Fat Jones Enterprises developed the Two-Way Wrist Whangdoode, a prototype personal communication device that could put an individual officer in continual, simultaneous two-way contact with HQ. Though successful, the Whangdoodle never made it past prototype stage, as its size and weight – that of a old-fashioned wall crank telephone – led to broken wrists and strained muscles. More successful was the 1950 Two-Way Wrist Whatchamacallit, which was reduced in size to that of a World War II era walkie-talkie. Though still awkward, it could be safely strapped to a wrist (although rotator cuff injuries still occurred while moving from the earpiece to the microphone mouthpiece). Because it was truly portable, it is often referred to by historians as “the original Two-Way Wrist Whatchamacallit.”Jones Enterprises added video into the mix with the 1972 Two-Way Wrist Doohickey. Audio technology had shrunk to the point where simultaneous communication could be the size of a pocket watch, but the video screen increased the size to that of a mini Etch-A-Sketch; still, the Doohickey was easier on the arms of officers. Early versions of the device could have poor reception, with some officers sustaining gunshot wounds to the forearm from raising them to get a better signal. Refinement over the next 30 years, however, reduced the size of the screen and booted signal strength.In 2005, Jones Enterprises announced a technological leap with the Two-Way Wrist Thingamajig, adding projection technology and data transfer onto any surface. The Thingamajig also was the smallest version of the standard-issue wrist communication device. Although the shape of the unit reminded some of a miniature fire hydrant or lantern, its performance was well-received, with few bugs to be worked out and few reports of downtime.(Special thanks to Fosdicktech historians Maxine Viller and J. Puzzle Whiz)

Fun Golden-Age Green Lantern Fact:

As a pun on “Aladdin,” the creators intended that the character’s alter ego be named “Alan Ladd” – which the editor rejected as being silly.

Not long afterwards, the actor of the same name arrived on movie screens.

Li’l Abner was always a big favorite of mine, so this is great stuff.