Browne and Haenigsen 2

Saturday Leftover Day. For my second Browne and Haenigsen to go along with my article in the new issue of Hogan's Alley (out soon), I am going to do a repost... and it may not even be pure Browne. Somewhere in the late forties Dik Browne teamed up with Gill Fox for a series of Pennyinspired newspaper comic strip0 ads. They both worked as regulars for the Johnstone and Cushing company - though Fox may not have been there every day. In 1951, he started doing the Sunday only Jeanie (see the link for samples) for The New York Herald Tribune, which for a short period also was turned into a daily version. Their styles melted together seemlessly. So much so, that I can not pick apart who did what on each series. For a long time I have thought that the 1953 series of larger one panel ads Browne did for Camels were a solo job. They must have been done when Fox still did Jeanie Sunday and daily and they seem more like Browne's style than the stiffer Fox. But when I found another source for them and posted an almost complete run recently, newspaper history giant Alan Holtz told me he saw a bit of Hank Ketcham in them. And he is right. And although Ketcham did some advertising work, even after he started Dennis the Menace, he could never have been available for those. But on closer look, they do resemble Gill Fox' very much Ketcham and Browne inspired Bumper To Bumper filler strip for The New York Sunday News (again, see the link for the gorgeous samples). So... maybe Fox was involved after all? And what does that say about another Browne series mystery, the one panel serie he did for Listerine in 1959. They seem to be pure Browne as well, but they also look completely like The Tracy Twins series Browne did with Fox' help for the Boy Scouts of America weekly Boy's Life.

 

Here are the four Listerine ads I have in my files. I will be looking for more this week. From March 8 1959 (a bit late for Browne, but the money must have been good): From March 15 (actually my birthday):

From March 22: From July 5 1959 (a two week frequency was normal on these type of ads, so there should be more):

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Saturday Leftover Day.

These are truely leftovers, but they tie in together nicely.

In the forties Dik Brwone was a bit of a stylistic chameleon, who could do a variety of funny styles. I recently came across an ad that seems like his, but it is in the style of another artist who did a lot of these things around that time, called Sargent. He alsways signed his stuff though.

Here is a color sample of his typical style and signature.

And here is Sargent again - untypically not signing (unless I am missing something). If you look at the figures underneath, you can see how he and Browne worked in the same stylistic area.

To compare, here is a Roger Wilco ad I know is by Browne, because he signed some of them. I have more if you follow the label, some in color.

I also found this sample of Sargent's later style.

This week I showed some of Dik Browne's advertising work. I realized I have a couple of odd pieces that could or could not be by im as well, which I am showing here.

First off here are two Billy Baker ads, which seem to be by Browne. They are done in a slightly more realitic style than his usual fare, but he was still working at Johnstone and Cushing at that time.

Another early ad, which could just as easily be by Gill Fox imitating Browne, but I don't think so.

Next we have another Royal Twins ad. No doubt here.

The Trouble Twins are intersting, because apparently this series is what got him the job on Hi & Lois. When I visited Mort Walker he repeated the anecdote of looking for an artist fot that strip - King Features Editor came with the artist doing The Tracey Twins in Boy's Life and Mort Walker came with the artist of The Trouble Twins. Both were of course the same, Dik Browne.

But did he continue this series when Hi and Lois started? One would say that a daily strip on it's own would be more than enough to fill your time. And it seems to have been quite succesful from the start. Still, I have some of the beautiful one panel gags he did for Camels from 1956, so he was probably still doing commercial work on the side, at leasst until the Hi & Lois Sunday page started.

But I can't help but feel that these Trouble Twins ads could also be by Bill Williams, another Johnstone and Cushing artist, who also took over another of Dik Browne and Gill Fox's ad series, the cough drop ads about a black cat (which I showed a couple of years ago and should be easy to find if you use the label for Bill Williams). Like Browne, Williams also did a gag strip for Boy's Life. He never got his own succesful newspaper strip, but he did become known for working on Dell comedy series such as Going On Thirteen and other teen fare.

To compare, here is an ad in the same style that really is too late to be by Browne. I think this definitively is by Williams.

Another series I think is by Bill Williams.

And here is one of those later ads. This one is for Listerine, but Browne did similar ones for Camels (which I have shown earlier). This one is even from 1959. That must ave been quite a lucrative account. The old guy in the car was the grandpa character from the Tracey Twins, which Browne also continued while doing Hi and Lois - with the help of Gill Fox (although I am not quite sure in which period). Hm.... seems like Browne.