Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Number 1698: Natch Kilroy’s unformed teenage brain

During my teen years my dad, Big Pappy, aimed several variations on a well-worn cliché at me: “You’d forget your head if it wasn’t glued/bolted/nailed/screwed on!” The splash panel for this story from The Kilroys #3 (1947) brings back that memory. Big Pappy died years before science came out with news that a teenage brain is not yet done; it is still maturing about the time our bodies get large enough to fool people into thinking we should be wiser than we really are.

Bob Wickersham (art) and Hubie Karp (story) give us more funny teenage tales, close to situations I encountered during my own teenage unformed brain years. Yours too, I’ll bet.








“No Vacancies” is a story based on the postwar housing shortage. Returning veterans returned home where a place to live was hard to find.










The Kilroys get a television set in 1948! Just click on the thumbnail.


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5 comments:

  1. Unknown2:11 AM

    I've never been into teen humor comics, but those were pretty entertaining! I really liked the history lessons I got of them.

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  2. J_D_La_Rue_674:38 AM

    Hah! I've always wondered what was the origin of the "Kilroy was here" thing....
    Has it something to do with Comics?
    Anyway, if I remember well, teenagers don't use their head to think.... I mean, they think with one "head" but it's not the "head"... you have on your shoulders... oh well!

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  3. Pappy7:28 AM

    J D, there's a quote I like from the movie, Used Cars: "Don't let the little head do the thinking for the big head." Unfortunately with teenage boys, the little head is often the one that matures first.

    Here is the Snopes.com version of the origin of Kilroy Was Here.

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  4. Pappy7:45 AM

    Ryan, I have often thought of how much technology has changed in my lifetime. Born in 1947, I saw my first television in 1950, when programs were live and crudely done. The TV picture itself was enough to create headaches. I appeciate the improvements made from then until today, when I watch my high definition television: no image orthicon tube; no lines making up a picture; no "vertical hold" control or need for it. I wish most of the programs were better, but you can't have everthing.

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  5. J_D_La_Rue_6711:33 PM

    Thanks Mr. P., now I understand much better the gag at the end of "Kelly's heroes".

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