In my skimming the 1950s DC funny animal titles, a couple of stories
with reused scripts jumped out at me, because the originals were so
distinctive--they were part of a comic book with a running gag
throughout the different strips in the
issue.
All the strips in
Funny Stuff
25 (Sept/47) are untitled
stories. At the end of the first Dodo and the Frog story, the Frog is
stuck
in the Dodo's closet yelling "Open de door, Dodo!"
("Open the Door, Richard" was a vaudeville routine whose song verion
was
released as a record in 1946 and got on the Billboard charts in 1947.)
Then in the 3 Mouseketeers story a house is seen in one panel's
background with "Open da door, Dodo" coming from it; likewise in the
Henry the Laffing Hyena story a similar balloon is making its way under
a
door. (These could be editorial emendations.) Blackie Bear in his story
interacts with the Frog in the closet;
so does J. Rufus Lion in his. There's a Dodo and the Frog half-pager
with the Frog still in there, and finally the second D&F story
gives the situation a punchline.
In
Animal Antics
49 (Mar-Apr/54) the Nip and Chip story refries
the first of
FS
25's D&F stories--never getting to the
actual punchline of the entire Frog-in-the-closet saga. Interestingly
enough,
there's a cameo at Nip's home: the Dodo. The Raccoon Kids story
"Boom!" refries the earlier Blackie Bear story, but the house in this
version remains
the Dodo's--and he's the one in the closet this time. The Professor
from the Nutsy Squirrel strip plays the same role in both the Blackie
and Raccoon Kids versions.
I don't know
who wrote the
Funny Stuff
stories, and the refries are pretty much that person's work
transcribed, but from the tales about editor Larry Nadle, he may well
have vouchered DC checks for himself for the "new" scripts.
stories
in HOLLYWOOD'S ANIMAL ANTICS
49
reworking
earlier scripts
| Mar-Apr/54 |
49 |
(NIP AND CHIP) |
| |
|
from FUNNY STUFF 25 1st Dodo and the Frog story |
|
|
Boom! (RACCOON KIDS) |
| |
|
from FUNNY STUFF 25 Blackie Bear
story |
