Morty Meekle
| Morty Meekle | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Dick Cavalli |
| Current status / schedule | Concluded |
| Launch date | January 9, 1956[1] |
| End date | February 1966 |
| Syndicate(s) | Newspaper Enterprise Association |
| Genre(s) | comedy, gag-a-day |
Morty Meekle is an American syndicated newspaper comic strip that was published between 1956 and 1966, created and produced by cartoonist Dick Cavalli. The series featured the title character dealing with office and dating situations, and, like Fritzi Ritz, which earlier became Nancy, evolved to focus on the younger characters from Cavalli's strip, and was renamed Morty Meekle and Winthrop and then just Winthrop in February 1966.[2]
Publication history
Gag cartoonist Dick Cavalli—whose work appeared in magazines including The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's—had achieved such popularity by 1956 that Writer's Digest observed he had "risen to the top faster than any other cartoonist in the business."[3] On January 9 of that year, Cavalli launched Newspaper Enterprise Association's syndicated comic strip Morty Meekle, featuring the courtship of the title character and his girlfriend, Jill Wortle, as well as Morty's travails at his low-level office job under boss E.G. Boomer.[4] The strip gradually deemphasized the romance and work aspects in favor of what comics historian Maurice Horn called its "background chorus of snide youngsters with a perceptive take on the human condition."[3] On February 27, 1966, Cavalli removed the adult characters and renamed the strip Winthrop, after Jill's kid brother, the most prominent of the young social critics.[3][4]
Cast
- Morty Meekle – office worker
- Jill Wortle – Morty's girlfriend
- Mr. and Mrs. Wortle – Jill's parents
- Winthrop Wortle – Jill's kid brother
- E. G. Boomer – Morty's boss
Paperback collections
References
- 1 2 "Don Markstein's Toonopedia: Morty Meekle/Winthrop". toonopedia.com. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
- ↑ "Generation gap: Strip changed from 'Morty Meekle' to 'Winthrop'". archive.jsonline.com. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
- 1 2 3 Wepman, Dennis, in Horn, Maurice, ed. (1996). 100 Years of American Newspaper Comics. New York City; Avenel, New Jersey: Gramercy Books. pp. 395–396, Winthrop (entry). ISBN 978-0-517-12447-5.
- 1 2 Morty Meekle (Winthrop) at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on March 10, 2015.
- ↑ "Yesterday’s Papers: Morty Meekle". john-adcock.blogspot.com. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
External links
- Cavalli, Dick. "Dick Cavalli". National Cartoonists Society. Archived from the original on October 13, 2015. Retrieved October 13, 2015.
Further reading
- "Dick Cavalli and Winthrop". Cartoonews (10). 1976. pp. 23–24.