Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for October 13, 2009

Hey, my grandpa does!

Being nagged by your grandson…

Tweet in the car on the way…instead…

And why not, young man? Do you think she should spend all her time on you?

A Sunday edition of Cleo and Company, coming up:

http://www.comicssherpa.com/site/feature?uc_comic=cscwy

I see NightHawks and StelBel are advertising their latest venture. Where can I get a copy?

Cleo can rock those free samples. Whebn she has worn them out, she will turn to the gallery of dog butts. Too bad they are not scratch and skiff.

I don’t and I won’t make the time either.

Well that was completely different.

That has to be Cleo as a pup. Rolling around in things with tongue hanging out and nothing but “wuf.”

Claude secretly wants to roll on that magazine, too. Cleo is going to wait till Claude and Clara are asleep before she un-tapes the back page that shows the picture of that male cat who is giving that girl dog a belly rub.

Yup, Liverlips… an oldie but a goodie…

We haven’t seen that face on Cleo for a long time.

She hadn’t found her voice, her balance on two legs, or her… well…. whatever the heck she uses for an opposable thumb.

The strip was still only three days a week…. StelBel was helping with animation, but not yet doing posters…

at least, not “Cleo and Company” posters.

But no matter how old this one is… the jokes and animations are hermetically sealed, and perfectly fresh…

As long as they get put back on the shelf for a while between airings, I bet they’ll stay fresh for generations.

 

Farside…. you can write to the publishers (c/o Cleo and Company Studios, I believe) and see whether they still have any back issues.

If the scent pages haven’t faded, they’ve probably aged to imperfection… and become even more attractive to a dog.

I’d wear gloves and a mask.

(Come to think of it… I  have some back issues… but I doubt you want them.)

 

BTW…. Jerry Van A rarely showed a child… today’s strip is a rare sighting.

He did another one years later… or who knows, maybe it was a rerun of one of these early ones….

with several children looking like short, squat, middle aged adults…. much as does Grandma’s wee darling, above.

It’s an unflattering look for anyone under 60 or so…

and he knows it.

He captioned that one something like "Why there are no children in ‘Ballard Street,’ "

 

Terrible time getting on the comics tonight…. but at least I made it…

Like it or not.

I’m riding on a B-17 this afternoon in Little Rock (the Texas Raiders). My dad was a radio operator on B-17s in WWII. (I hope we don’t make a mistake and strafe the Clinton Library. )

Ah. Cleo as a youngster. Full of pep and energy. Maybe it’s the kibble they’ve been feeding her.

“Let’s find something disgusting and roll in it.”

Never could figure that behavior out.

My baby turns 40 today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHAWN!

So……..why hasn’t someone come up with a magazine like this??