Milt is Dudley's best friend. So why does he do him dirt every chance he gets? Well, that's what friends are for! I think everyone has a couple of “friends” like Milt when they are teenagers. If they're lucky they catch on before the "friends" do too much damage.
It reminds me of the old saying, “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer,” except in this case your friends are actually your enemies.
Ah, well...as we grow up we live and learn. I think I know better now about choosing my friends more carefully. As far as I'm concerned, my best friends are you Pappy readers!
Drawn by Boody Rogers, from Dudley #2 (1949):
Don't forget Craig Yoe's great book, Boody, with many stories by this fabulous cartoonist, from your usual bookstore sources.
I've had friends like Milt, unfortunately. It's one reason I don't idealize the concept of friendship as much as others seem to. But that's a story for another day.
ReplyDeleteI already knew the word "groovy" was around long before the 1960s, but seeing it pop up in a comic book was a bit of a surprise. I don't think Archie Andrews used that term until the 1970s, by which time it was already on its way out. Even more surprising was seeing "Shake, Rattle, and Roll" written on the car. It actually compelled me to do some research. The earliest version of the famous rock n roll song of the same name was in 1954, five years after this story was published. But apparently the phrase was in currency long before that, and was even used in some early non-rock songs.
Kirk, shake, rattle and roll was like rock and roll, a euphemism for sex. I'm sure it's been around a long time. My guess is it originated in the black community and another guess is that these phrases reached white audiences through jazz, blues and r & b musicians.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure groovy has been around as long as records have had grooves. I have seen it in Archie and other comics, but have heard it used in actual conversation only rarely. The last time was from an aging hipster in the 1980s, and at the time I thought he was joking, but he wasn't.
In the '70s I worked with a woman who was in high school in the '40s, who told me the cool word was "solid." I also remember "copacetic" meaning everything is good. I think both of those words deserve resurrection, since these things go out of fashion and then reappear at some point, when young people think they're new.