Comic Art 15 May 2006 07:52 am
Polly Again
- Polly & Her Pals is the perfect strip to accompany any thoughts about the Group Theater.
The strip originally followed the adventures of Positive Polly through the Jazz Age on her jaunts about town. The ideal flapper with her bobbed hair, short skirts and devil-may-care attitude.
Like several other strips, the side characters eventually took over as Maw and Paw adjusted to the nouveau riche lifestyle and spent the rest of their existence in a strip following Paw. Polly, like Nancy’s Aunt Fritzi Ritz, calmed down and became a good working girl once they hit the thirties, and the depression changed everything. The days of Jay Gatsby and found money settled into a more suburban world for the family as they moved into the 40′s.
(Click on any image to enlarge.)
What always separated Polly & Her Pals from other strips, such as Bringin’ Up Father or Nancy, was Cliff Sterrett’s delicious graphic styling. Taking clues from the art world in general, Sterrett morphed the world under the feet of his characters to capture their emotions; it became hilarious to read and delightful to look at.
Like the actors in the Group Theater, comic strips became more popularized; more concerned with the common man, or in the case of Polly, the common gal.
on 18 May 2006 at 3:53 pm 1.Poptique said …
These are amazing – I’d never heard of this strip before. It’s like Windsor McCay doing Barney Google or Tillie the Toiller..!
Has an anthology ever been published?