Reg'lar Fellers
Encyclopedia
Gene Byrnes
Eugene Francis Byrnes created the long running comic strip Reg'lar Fellers, which he signed Gene Byrnes...
(1889-1974), the comic strip offered a humorous look at a gang of suburban children (who nevertheless spoke like New York street kids). Syndicated from 1917 to 1949, Byrnes' strip was collected into several books.
While working as a sports cartoonist with the New York Telegram, Byrnes created his cartoon panel It's a Great Life If You Don't Weaken which introduced the Reg'lar Fellers characters in 1917. He began Wide Awake Willie as a New York Herald Sunday page in 1919, and this too featured Reg'lar Fellers characters. With Reg'lar Fellers distributed by the Bell Syndicate as a daily strip in 1920, Byrnes changed the name of the Sunday strip
Sunday strip
A Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
to Reg'lar Fellers. At its peak, the strip was syndicated in 800 newspapers. It was imitated by other strips, notably Ad Carter
Ad Carter
August Daniel Carter was an American comic strip cartoonist who created the long-running Just Kids strip. He was known as Ad Carter, the signature he used on his strips....
's Just Kids.
Characters and story
The characters include leader Jimmy Dugan, sidekick Puddinhead Duffy, Puddinhead's little brother Pinhead, Bullseye the dog and the gang's girl member, Angie Riley. Reg'lar Fellers had at least two topperTopper (comic strip)
A topper in comic strip parlance is a small secondary strip seen along with a larger Sunday strip. In the 1920s and 1930s, leading cartoonists were given full pages in the Sunday comics sections, allowing them to add smaller strips and single-panel cartoons to their page.Toppers usually were drawn...
strips—Daisybelle and Zoolie.
Books
Cupples & LeonCupples & Leon
Cupples & Leon was an American publishing company founded in 1902 by Victor I. Cupples and Arthur T. Leon . They published juvenile fiction and children's books but are mainly remembered today as the major publisher of books collecting comic strips during the early decades of the 20th century.In...
published four collections of Reg'lar Fellers reprints between 1921 and 1929. Two Big Little Books, from different publishers, were published during the 1930s. Reg'lar Fellers Story Paint Book was published by Whitman in 1932. One curious hardcover book published during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
brought together colorful Reg'lar Fellers episodes of kids playing soldiers in backyards with black-and-white WWII combat photographs.
Films
In addition to book reprints and comic books, the strip was adapted to both animation and live-action films. Arthur Dreifuss' feature Reg'lar Fellers (1941) stars Billy Lee and Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer. Ub IwerksUb Iwerks
Ub Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award winning American animator, cartoonist, character designer, inventor, creator of Mickey Mouse, and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney....
produced the animated adaptation, Happy Days, released on September 30, 1936.
Comic books
Long Island University
Long Island University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution of higher education in the U.S. state of New York.-History:...
. Reg'lar Fellers of America was planned to develop summer recreation for 12 to 15-year-olds through competitive sports, and Eastern Color Printing's Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics promoted the organization to the nation's youth beginning in 1940. Reg'lar Fellers remained in the title logo for the first 15 issues, which also displayed a seal with an eagle and a shield along with the words "Reg'lar Fellers of America". "The Official Publication of Reg'lar Fellers" was the cover blurb until issue 15; the title was shortened to Heroic Comics with issue 16.
In other comic books, Reg'lar Fellers was reprinted in Dell's Popular Comics beginniing in #9 (November, 1936), which also featured reprints of Dick Tracy, Tailspin Tommy, Winnie Winkle and other strips. Reg'lar Fellers next appeared in the first issue (April, 1939) of DC's All-American Comics. Standard Comics published two issues of Reg'lar Fellers in its own 1946-47 title.
Radio
The Reg'lar Fellers comedy radio series, sponsored by Jello, aired Sunday nights on NBC from June 8, 1941 to August 31, 1941, as a summer replacement for The Jack Benny Program. Dickie Van Patten and Dickie Monahan starred as Jimmy and Dinky Dugan. Others in the cast included Joyce Van Patten, Patsy O'Shea and Skippy HomeierSkip Homeier
-Career:Homeier began acting as Skippy Homeier at the age of six, on the radio show Portia Faces Life. From 1943 until 1944 he played the role of Emil in the Broadway play, Tomorrow the World. Cast as a child indoctrinated into Nazism, who is brought to the United States from Germany following the...
.
