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'Beetle Bailey' cartoonist Mort Walker dies at 94
AP ^ | 1/27/18 | Lynn Elber

Posted on 01/27/2018 5:37:28 PM PST by markomalley

Comic strip artist Mort Walker, a World War II veteran who satirized the Army and tickled millions of newspaper readers with the antics of the lazy private "Beetle Bailey," died Saturday. He was 94.

Walker died at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, said Greg Walker, his eldest son and a collaborator. His father's advanced age was the cause of death, he said.

Walker began publishing cartoons at age 11 and was involved with more than a half-dozen comic strips in his career, including "Hi and Lois," ''Boner's Ark" and "Sam & Silo." But he found his greatest success drawing slacker Beetle, his hot-tempered sergeant and the rest of the gang at fictional Camp Swampy for nearly 70 years.

The character that was to become Beetle Bailey made his debut as Spider in Walker's cartoons published by the Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s. Walker changed Spider's name and launched "Beetle Bailey" as a college humor strip in 1950.

(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: beetlebailey; mortwalker; obituary
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To: markomalley

I started reading Beatle Bailey in the old Washington Star back in the 50’s. LOL

He had a good run, saddened to see him go.


21 posted on 01/27/2018 6:07:50 PM PST by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: the OlLine Rebel
Another person I never figured was still alive.

Boy, isn't that the truth.

22 posted on 01/27/2018 6:08:55 PM PST by corlorde
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To: markomalley

23 posted on 01/27/2018 6:09:23 PM PST by Ciaphas Cain (Liberalism, as with all else evil, can never create. It can only corrupt.)
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To: Kirkwood

My Mother once mentioned to me that her favorite comic strip when she was a girl was “The Katzenjammer Kids”. She was born in 1918 just South of the Alabama line.

Grandpa Mac subscribed to the Montgomery Advertiser.


24 posted on 01/27/2018 6:09:24 PM PST by yarddog
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To: markomalley

RIP, Mort. Thank you for your patriotism and humor. May God keep you and comfort your family.


25 posted on 01/27/2018 6:12:40 PM PST by OldMissileer (Atlas, Titan, Minuteman, PK. Winners of the Cold War)
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To: markomalley

God rest his soul. I’ve been enjoying his comics since I was a wee lass! :-)


26 posted on 01/27/2018 6:15:49 PM PST by VictoryGal (Never give up, never surrender!)
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To: GnuThere
"What a great contributor to the old fashioned Sunday funnies."

Those Sunday morning comics were how I started to learn to read. I would bring the paper in from the front porch and take it to my parents bedroom and sit between them in bed and they would read me the comics before breakfast.

27 posted on 01/27/2018 6:17:17 PM PST by fella ("As it was before Noah so shall it be again,")
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To: markomalley

RIP


28 posted on 01/27/2018 6:19:10 PM PST by Southside_Chicago_Republican (If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.)
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To: yarddog

I heard Walker would draw Miss Buxley in tie-off and half-shirts so he could reveal her belly button. . .only to have “censors” razor blade them off.


29 posted on 01/27/2018 6:19:50 PM PST by Oratam
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To: Oratam

A common thread was General Halftrack getting caught eyeing Miss Buxley, by his wife.


30 posted on 01/27/2018 6:22:28 PM PST by yarddog
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To: yarddog
My Mother once mentioned to me that her favorite comic strip when she was a girl was “The Katzenjammer Kids”.

That was the oldest comic strip that we would recognize as a comic strip, starting in the late 19th century. (The Yellow Kid is generally recognized as the first, but it was generally single panel, and really, really weird.)
31 posted on 01/27/2018 6:24:10 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: markomalley
Camp Swampy’s flag flies at half-staff. Rest In Peace, Mort.
32 posted on 01/27/2018 6:24:24 PM PST by DakotaGator (Weep for the lost Republic! And keep your powder dry!!)
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To: DakotaGator

I lived near Ft. Stewart for a couple of years.

Everyone called it “Camp Swampy”.


33 posted on 01/27/2018 6:26:26 PM PST by yarddog
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To: yarddog


The good ol' days.
34 posted on 01/27/2018 6:28:26 PM PST by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics.)
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To: markomalley

How about Snuffy Smith?

There was another one about an (unmarried) farmer and his sister but I’ll be damned if I can remember what it was.


35 posted on 01/27/2018 6:32:16 PM PST by SnuffaBolshevik
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To: SnuffaBolshevik

It was Roscoe Sweeney. That strip was a take off from Buzz Sawyer. Roscoe had been Buzz’s rear gunner on a dive bomber in WWII.


36 posted on 01/27/2018 6:34:49 PM PST by yarddog
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To: markomalley

All these old comic strip references are bringing back memories.

One of my favorite’s was “Our Bording House” with Major Hoople.

I guess boarding houses are nearly a thing of the past too.


37 posted on 01/27/2018 6:37:47 PM PST by yarddog
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To: markomalley

Read Beetle Bailey regularly when I was between 5 and 10 years old, very funny.

Be great if there was a modern cartoonist that could use Walker as an inspiration to keep this humor going.


38 posted on 01/27/2018 6:39:34 PM PST by Rome2000 (SMASH THE CPUSA-SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS-CLOSE ALL MOSQUES))
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To: GnuThere
God I miss the Sunday Comics!

I read them in the 70's and 80's and then newspapers shrunk physically and intellectually. Ronald Reagan shaped who I am as a Conservative. Clinton made my blood boil and here we are today. We are not immortal and we need to keep the torch on fire.

39 posted on 01/27/2018 6:40:11 PM PST by shanover (...To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them.-S.Adams)
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To: roadcat

“Thin Garbage”

Strongly agree with your post.


40 posted on 01/27/2018 6:42:10 PM PST by Rome2000 (SMASH THE CPUSA-SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS-CLOSE ALL MOSQUES))
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