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Barnaby was a comic strip which began April 20, 1942 in the newspaper PM and was later syndicated in 64 American newspapers (for a combined circulation of more than 5,500,000). Created by Crockett Johnson, who is best known today for his children's book Harold and the Purple Crayon, the strip featured a cherubic-looking five-year-old and his far-from-cherubic fairy godfather, Jackeen J. O'Malley, a short, cigar-smoking man with four tiny wings. The usually caustic Dorothy Parker had nothing but praise: "I think, and I'm trying to talk calmly, that Barnaby and his friends and oppressors are the most important additions to American Arts and Letters in Lord knows how many years."
Story and characters
Barnaby Baxter got into a fair number of scrapes. However, most of them were either of Mr. O'Malley's making or resulted in embarrassment of some sort for the rather clumsy fairy godfather, a member of the Elves, Leprechauns, Gnomes, and Little Men's Chowder & Marching Society. Barnaby's parents denied that Mr. O'Malley was real and took Barnaby to a number of child psychologists. They continued this denial even when O'Malley was seen flying past their picture window, when he walked into their living room, and even after O'Malley was elected their representative to Congress. The strip ended when Barnaby finally reached his sixth birthday, the magical point beyond which he could no longer have a fairy godfather. With much regret, O'Malley left, and so (after a short-lived attempt in the 1960s to revive the strip by redoing the original stories) did Johnson, to pursue other interests.
Barnaby was primarily a daily strip, which began 20 April 1942, an later had a short-lived Sunday strip. Instead of hand-lettering, Barnaby used typography in the balloons. The typeface is Italic Futura Medium, which was designed by the German typographer Paul Renner in the 1920s.
In 1946-47, Johnson began to concentrate on his children's books, and the strip was then drawn by Johnson's Connecticut neighbor, artist Jack Morley, and scripted by Ted Ferro, who wrote the daytime radio serial, Lorenzo Jones, for nine years with his wife. Morley had previously drawn editorial cartoons for the New York Journal American. Morley and Ferro co-wrote "Barnaby" for a year. In September 1947, Johnson began scripting again, with Morley doing the art (credited "Jack Morley and CJ"). From September 1947 on, Johnson assisted Morley by giving him specific layouts for each panel. The final story reached a conclusion on 2 February 1952.
Revival and reprints
The strip was briefly revived, with adaptations of the early stories minus their World War II references, far a run from September 1960 to 14 April 1962. These strips were redrawn in Johnson's style by Warren Sattler.
Barnaby received much critical praise when it first appeared, and has been reprinted in Barnaby Quarterly (three issues, 1940s), by Henry Holt and Company (two hardback books, with strips redrawn), Dover books (reprinting the first hardback, 1960s), Ballantine Books (six paperbacks, 1980s) and in Comics Revue magazine. These reprints still command high prices from used book sellers.
Theater
Jerome Chodorov wrote a 1944 stage adaptation, Barnaby and Mr. O'Malley, produced by Barney Josephson. It ran in several East Coast cities, drawing attention with a scene in which O'Malley (J. M. Kerrigan) flew over the audience tossing out leaflets urging support for his run for Congress. Thomas William Hamilton portrayed Barnaby with Iris Mann as Jane and Royal Dano as the leprechaun Launcelot McSnoyd.
Bibliography
Key: Q1 - Q3 = Barnaby Quarterly; B1 - B2 = Holt hardbacks and their reprints; BB1 - BB6 = Ballantine Books; S = Sunday strip, 60 - 62 = 1960 - 62 version; CR = Comics Revue
1942
- 1. Mr. O'Malley, Q1, B1, BB1, S, 60, CR
- 2. Blackout, BB1
- 3. Spies, BB1
- 4. Ogre, Q1, BB1
- 5. Psychologist, Q1, B1, BB1, 60, CR
- 6. Air Raid Warden, B1, BB1
- 7. McSnoyd, Q2, B1, BB1
- 8. Scrap Drive, Q2, B1, BB1
- 9. Jane, Q2, B1, BB2, 60, CR
- 10. Gorgon, Q2, B1, BB2, S, 61, CR
1943
- 11. Gus, Q3, B1, BB2, S, 61, CR
- 12. The Hot Coffee Ring, Q3, B1, BB2, 61, CR
- 13. Quartet, Q3, B2, BB2
- 14. Garden, B2, BB2, 61, CR
- 15. Lion, B2, BB2, 61, CR
- 16. Giant, B2, BB2, 61, CR
- 17. Gorgon's Father, B2, BB2, 61, CR
- 18. Kiddie Camp, BB2
- 19. O'Malley for Congress, B2, BB3
- 20. Investigating Santa, BB3
1944
- 21. In Training, BB3
- 22. Washington, BB3
- 23. Book on Pixies, BB3, 61, CR
- 24. Pop's Business, BB4, 61, CR
- 25. Pirate Treasure, BB4
- 26. Election 1944, BB4
- 27. Thanksgiving, BB4
- 28. Ermine Hunters, BB4
1945
- 29. Soap Salesman, BB5
- 30. Wizard of Wall Street, BB5, 62, CR
- 31. Witch, BB5
- 32. Aunt Minerva, BB5
- 33. Thanksgiving Dinner, BB6
- 34. Movie, BB6
- Crockett Johnson leaves the strip
- 35. (Lectures), BB6
- 36. (Refrigerator Thief), BB6
- 37. (Baseball), BB6
- Miscellaneous stories, not by Johnson, none reprinted, 1945 - 1951.
1952
- Final Story: The Birthday, CR
References
- ^ Nel, Philip. Harold, Barnaby, and Dave: A Biography of Crockett Johnson
- Walsh-O-Matic
- Norwood, Rick. Comics Revue