Ol’ George #72: Terrapin Trouble

 Ol’ George #72: Terrapin Trouble 

Notes on 72: 

1. Churchy La Femme and Albert Alligator (from “Pogo”, don’t you know) are the first reptiles to grace these panels. May there be many more. 

They are also the first Pogo characters with speaking roles. Aside from a cameo by the titular possum in #62 and an anonymous bug in #55. There are more to come. 

2. One of Ol’ turtle’s great worries was Friday the 13th, no matter what day of the week it fell on. I often forget that not everyone reads and re-reads as much Pogo as I do. Who remembers that about Churchy? It would help if any of the attempts to continue the characters were successful after Kelly’s 1972 death, or that there were any well-known works in other media (the way so many know Peanuts from the animated specials). One problem is that it is impossible to write like Walt Kelly. I had to edit Churchy’s dialogue, because I honest can’t recall any of his characters ever saying “y’all’s.”

I remember “rowrbazzle” as a favorite Albertism in my early readings, but only recently discovered the beauty of “moomph”, an alternative harrumph. “Foo!” is a lovely stand-in for “phooey”, although spoken by Pogo. The nature’s screechers in the swamp don’t speak a regional dialect, they have their very own language. “Veritabobble catastafoo “ was stolen directly from a strip, probably out of Churchy’s mouth. 

3. Long ago, I said George is called Ol’ George after Geo Herriman’s calling himself “the Ol’ man.” Not really. It’s after the way all the animals in Pogo call each other “Ol’” as in Ol’ owl, Ol’ Deacon Mushrat, Ol’ Pogo, Ol’ mole, Ol’ Fremount, the boy bug. Etcetera. 

4. Where did Churchy’s beer go in panel four? What happened to his right arm? Why doesn’t Albert have s beer? Oh, these questions!