Classic Mickey Mouse comic book artist Paul Murry has done a LOT of comic books!
Some might think the oddest of these were the three-issue run of "Mickey Mouse Super Secret Agent" in 1966, where Paul Murry's Mickey and Goofy navigated a word of realistic-looking espionage, provided another great classic-era artist Dan Spiegle.
But, I'm here to tell you that there's actually something even more unconventional than that on Mr. Murry's Mouse resume! It is DELL FOUR COLOR # 537 from 1954...
...Or, as it is described in its indicia: "Walt Disney's STORMY, THE THOROUGHBRED WITH AN INFERIORITY COMPLEX plus DOUBLE FEATURE PLUTO, No 537" - with upper and lower case lettering exactly as I've replicated it between quotes!
What really makes this so odd is that, what you see on the cover is exactly what you get inside, in terms of formatting!
It is not formatted as you might expect a comic like this to be... The STORMY lead story with a PLUTO backup...
Nope, it's STORMY, by an artist named Tony Sgroi (who later did layout on the original JONNY QUEST animated series, 1964), for the UPPER 2/3 of each page, and Paul Murry's familiar PLUTO for the LOWER 1/3...
...Beginning on Page One...
...To issue's-end at Page 32!
The fun even continues on the BACK COVER!
This is hardly the sort of thing a conservative publisher like 1950s Dell would have done, making it quite unique!
Just one final question to ask, however...
How is Mickey able to check Morty and Ferdie's "nails" under those ubiquitous white gloves?
STORMY and PLUTO might know, but they're not tellin'!
In fact, PLUTO's REALLY "keepin' it on the down-low"... the "down-lower part" of the book, that is!
14 comments:
This is an amazing find! I've often seen comic books billed as having a "double feature" but never running two stories on the same pages. I will look for a copy of this.
The "glove thing" you refer to always struck me as a little bit weird. It even gets a mention in "The Goofy Movie" when one of Max's friends remarks about the fact that they are always wearing gloves. Probably the animators developed it so that Mickey's fingers and hands could be more clearly delineated, and then so as not to make Mickey stand out too much from the rest of the characters, the gloves at some point became pretty much universal in the Mouse world. That's only my best guess.
Wow, this looks like something Western might have tried under the Gold Key label in the 1960s, but conservative, old-fashioned Dell of the 1950s?? Did they ever do this in any other comic? What ever possessed them to try this experiment?
Our local drive-in movie theater has double (even triple) features which are quite popular and you plan to just go and spend all night into the morning kicking back and watching the movies. But just think if they tried the Dell "double feature" concept and showed one movie in the upper 2/3 of the screen and another in the lower 1/3 then you could get through both movies in the same time as just one and get home at a decent hour.
Thanks for enlightening us on another of the great mysteries of comic book publishing. Just when you think you've seen it all, another crazy secret comes a long.
Scarecrow:
You write: “I've often seen comic books billed as having a "double feature" but never running two stories on the same pages.”
And just think… If it were done with Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge, it might have been a… (brace yourself) "double bill"! …Triple, if Uncle Scrooge were holding a bank note at the time!
I’m quite sure you’re correct in Mickey’s case, especially as he was developed for black-and-white cartoons. And, doubtless, Disney simply followed suit with subsequent characters – the tradition ultimately carrying over to comics, where even the “Giant Ants” wore gloves!
But, what about later characters like Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker? …And later still, Bullwinkle?
They were developed by other studios, and in color! I just accept the gloves as part of the ambiance, until I run into stuff like I cite here.
Dwight Decker (in my link) seemed to have a solid fashion-related reason pertaining to the times. But, in certain cases, it still seems odd.
Carl:
Awww, maaaan… You still have drive-in movies? We haven’t had ‘em here for over 25 years! I’d love to go to one, just one more time.
The drive-in was the ultimate win-win! You either enjoyed the movie or, if not, you enjoyed the girl you were with! If you were really fortunate, you enjoyed both! Oh, the good old days…
Regarding your idea… “ But just think if they tried the Dell "double feature" concept and showed one movie in the upper 2/3 of the screen and another in the lower 1/3 then you could get through both movies in the same time as just one and get home at a decent hour.”
Ya know… that might just be the perfect thing for today’s fast-paced, multi-tasking-obsessed, ADD-ridden society! Push those films through faster and faster, and all at once, so that you don’t remember anything an hour or two later! …Hmmm! With many of today’s movies, that might not be such a bad thing!
Seriously, now… To my knowledge, Dell never did this before or since! And, as you (and all readers of this Blog) know, we just keep ADDING to the list of mysterious workings of Western Publishing, not reducing their number! …The things we’ll just never know – or that we continue finding out about 35 years after their end – just boggle the mind.
Two quick notes on this comic:
1: I read it “Pluto first”, then “Stormy second”! I originally tried reading it page-by-page, in order, but quickly abandoned that ill-fated approach! No coherence to either story, that way.
2: I’ve been looking for this particular book for a long time, until finally acquiring it in 2019. One very likely reason is that, as I look through dealer’s long boxes, and only seeing the tops of each book as I go, I only saw “Stormy” when I was looking for something with “Pluto” also in the title! … Paul Murry’s “Pluto”, unbeknownst to me, was listed at the BOTTOM of the cover (as seen in this post), and I must have blown-by this book a number of times over the years because of this.
Joe:
We have 5 drive-in theaters within 30-40 minute drive. Most have been here since the 1950s and have been in continuous operation since. In fact it wasn't until the 1980s that we had our first "cinema" open up so I grew up thinking that everyone watched movies outdoors. It is ironic that drive-ins are so popular here in rainy WA state, where the sun doesn't set in the summer until around 9:30pm. It is a great treat for a whole bunch of families to get together and go to something like the new Lion King and all converge on the local drive-in, arrive early and set up camp (like almost literally with tents and outdoor furniture) and enjoy a picnic meal together while waiting for dark. Unlike when I was growing up, people don't watch from inside their cars anymore and the parking lots have been re-configured to encourage parking and camping out near the car so it really is a family experience. No more window speakers anymore either (although a few still have the old posts in some parts of the parking lot) since they broadcast over the FM radio.
All is not lost for NY though, I see there are still 14 drive-in theaters in NY state (though perhaps none of them close enough to you). It looks to me like there are some really cool, vintage spots here which would be fun to visit.
https://untappedcities.com/2018/03/06/14-drive-in-theaters-across-new-york-state/
I agree that watching more than one movie at once sounds like it would appeal to the modern generation obsessed with screens and managing multiple competing notifications from all different sources at once. Too bad a comic book like Stormy and Pluto would never hold their interest long enough to get through to the end of the book.
I just went and found a copy online and ordered it (quickly before everyone else reading this blog does the same). This is one of those unique items I would love to add to my collection. Thanks for bringing this one to our attention.
Mickey didn't get his gloves until 1929, in "When the Cat's Away":https://d23.com/creating-a-mouse-terpiece-mickey-mouses-design-through-the-years/
Deb:
HERE is Deb’s link for your reading and viewing pleasure!
And, if THAT is the cartoon I’m thinking of (…and Deb’s links says that it IS), Mickey was just one of many “mouse-behaving-type-mice”! How very strange it was to see that, after he’d already been established as a starring character!
Carl:
That’s a great list of drive-ins! Of course, it would be greater still if any of them were even remotely near me. They seem to be concentrated in upstate (or western?) New York, and well beyond any trip I’d make willingly today!
HERE is Carl’s link, if you ever find yourself “somewhere in New York State, but far away from New York City”, with nothing to do!
Truth to tell, I *DO* know where Warwick is, and my “upstate uncle” might have even taken me there in 1969 or 1970! I do remember going to a drive-in up there! Probably that one. I don't think there were many other choices.
The drive-in experience today sounds more like “football tailgating” than anything I remember.
Glad I was able to introduce you to yet another treasure to add to your collection!
Just received my copy. It's in very good condition, all pages intact, almost like new. I planned on reading first one story, and then the other, but I am actually reading the two stories in tandem, just as laid out on the pages, and it's kind of fun that way. I just looked up in "The Disney Films" by Leonard Maltin and found that Stormy the Thoroughbred was a live-action short released in 1954 and later played on the "Disneyland" TV show in its second season.
Scarecrow:
Wow! It looks as if I’m personally responsible for selling TWO copies of this book! (To you and Carl)
If only Dell was an active Disney licensed publisher today, I could get a job with them… in their marketing and sales department, if not as a writer! :-)
I guess I’m too much of a “straightforward, linear-progression type of guy”, because I gave up on the tandem reading after just a few pages.
Given the time it was published, I figured that “Stormy” was an adaptation of one of Disney’s live-action animal-based films. But I have very little knowledge in that area, so thanks for confirming that.
As for the Murry Pluto portion, the real reason I bought this book in the first place… I wonder if, given its unconventional, single tier, oblong layout, if it wasn’t intended for one of those Cheerios giveaway premiums, but ended up in this issue.
Interesting theory, but why wouldn't they just remount the strips into full pages, like they did all the bloody time with Taliaferro strips? Why… this?!…
The Pluto story actually reads a lot like the Mickey Mouse comic strips of the same era, especially as Mickey's role is much more prominent than in a "typical" Pluto comic book story. Interestingly, the device generally utilized in a Pluto story--that of a narration box that reveals Pluto's thoughts--occurs in the Stormy feature but NOT in the Pluto feature. The story also appears to be drawn in the style of the very early work of Murry, in which Mickey appears "younger" than he does in the later detective and secret agent stories. My guess is that it may be an unused (or reprinted, who knows?) effort from the mid to late 40's. I am almost certain it predates the more conventional type of Pluto story that appeared in most of the Pluto comics. And also, as Murry appears to have been peripherally associated with the comic strip, the fact that both nephews are in this story may also place it before Ferdie's never-explained disappearance from the comic strip.
Reading this story concurrently with the Stormy adventure brings out the episodic cliff-hanger nature of both. The Pluto story is by far the more dramatic of the two, in my opinion. In fact, the tribulations endured by Stormy seem as nothing compared to the agony suffered by Pluto. I think my reading of it in this way is what most strongly brought to my mind the comic strip. The single tiers would have worked very well as a daily continuity. As you suggest, it may well have been intended for one of those little giveaway books. Dare I suggest alternatively that it could have been initially developed as a potential comic strip story line? I have little doubt that the comic strip writers must have created dozens of story ideas that were never used in the strip. In my own writings, I keep huge files of story ideas, many of which never see the light of day or end up getting reworked in a different manner. Because of its interesting qualities, not the least of which is its style of presentation in published form, the Pluto story suggests that it must have some kind of history and probably was not simply dashed off to meet the publication deadline of this book. It doesn't have a "dashed-off" feel to it, not at all.
Achille:
You write: “Interesting theory, but why wouldn't they just remount the strips into full pages, like they did all the bloody time with Taliaferro strips? Why… this?!…”
If there’s one thing more than TEN YEARS, and over 1,000 POSTS with this Blog has taught me, it’s that we will NEVER UNDERSTAND – or even KNOW – very much about the strange workings of Western Publishing!
It’s like unwrapping a mummy and finding… another mummy, and another, and another…
Scarecrow:
Paul Murry’s art looks to be consistent with the then-contemporary early serials, as seen in the first Murry Disney Masters volume from Fantagraphics. So, I don’t think the story – at least in its finished form – had been around very long.
However, while I still lean toward the late-forties – early-fifties “giveaway” format like “Donald Duck’s Atom Bomb”, you put forth a very interesting alternate theory… That it might have considered for a late-in-the-run newspaper strip continuity, and it had originally been broken-down into a “daily strip type of format” for that purpose.
The Mickey Mouse daily strip continuities ended in 1955. The next-to-last one was a Pluto-centric continuity. Perhaps this WAS intended for later in the run, and was shelved once the decision was made to move to gag-a-day format!
Once again (…all together now), we’ll just never know!
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