Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for October 01, 2011

Hark! Is that a X-Acto® knife blade? When the X-Acto was invented in the 1930s, it was originally intended to be used as a scalpel! Now, back to Dick Tracy…

Good morning everyone…

The black image on the left is a shadow of the blade on the right, margueritem. Monty apparently had some illegal surgery performed along the way…

The character in panel three is Open-Mind Monty, a 1954 Tracy villain.

@Tarry PlaguerThanks for the ID —“Open-Minded” Monty? Looks like “Open-Noggin” Monty, if that is indeed a blade sticking from his head.You never know who’s going to make a cameo in this ride down memory lane!And a “G’morning” to all those who plan on staying up. Me, it’s “G’nite, and don’t forget the lights.”

OK, another subject for those that remember manual typewriters… is the “return” lever on the wrong side (for left-to-right languages)?

@Vista BillThe return lever was attached to the left end of the roller (she’s holding papers in front of it in panel 2). I believe that arm on the right end was to release the paper from where it was pressed against the roller for typing. (I learned to type on a vintage 1930’s Underwood; sadly it’s in storage, or I’d check it out.)

typewrite return is on the left side on all the typewriter’s I’VE ever used.

I remember Open-Mind. Dewdrop sought help from him when she was fleeing from the police for having murdered her father. In the end, the knife in his head turned out to be fake.

The lady might be operating an adding machine. The hand crank was on the right side, although it was attached to the lower right side of the container, not to a roller. If that’s a typewriter, she’s doing one thing wrong: there’s no paper in it.

The cute police clerk’s parting words to young Tracy in panel 2 are ominous (since we have some idea of what’s coming). I’m afraid he will not have a nice evening.

Only three days…

Looks like a Sawzall blade to me. Whoever was doing the lobodomy got busy doing something else.

Carlo is correct. Open-Mind Monty wanted his gang to believe that it was a broken off knife blade stuck in his head, to prove how tough he was and give him a psychological advantage. But, after his capture, Tracy had him walk through a metal detector at HQ, and it proved to be a plastic or rubber fake.There was nothing in the original story to say that he had ever been arrrested before, but, then again, there was nothing to say he hadn’t been, either. These cameo appearances are pretty cool. I wonder who will show up next.

Come to think of it, when did metal detectors come into use? That was a 1954 story. Was this another one of Chester Gould’s far sighted ideas, showing up in the strip years before reality caught up with him?

@Det.DanDone:

I looked at the photo of the L.C.Smith typewriter. How in the world did that work, with the shift lever on the right side? If the paper keeps moving to the right as the typing takes place, wouldn’t the letters be striking the page from right to left? Very interesting!

So… I see the 02

I’ve got to wonder if his prisoner number of 02171938 is a hidden date of Feb. 17, 1938 when this strip might have appeared.

Open-Mind Monty’s blade turned out to be nothing more than a rubber prop stuck to his head. He used it to intimidate others into thinking he’d been stabbed and survived, thus proving his toughness.

OOOO, I know whose birthday was on 2/17/38. Couldn’t be anyone other than Joe Staton, our very own resident artist! Am I correct in this assumption?

Without beeing sexist, Idon’t think there were any women in a police uniform in 1930’s

Too many keys per line for an adding machine. Gotta be a typewriter. And I agree the return lever’s on the wrong end of the roller.

For a split second, this morning, I thought the # being held by Open-Mind might be the infamous numbers from LOST. But, of course, that is not the case. I think those of you who have said it is a date must be correct. Very clever, these writers.

Go get "em Dick. You are a good man.

Next week on Oct. 12th DT will celebrate 80 years. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DICK TRACY!

we have a gay blade here!