Winnie Winkle Canceled
PatDOneill
The following came off the PR newswire:
LEGENDARY 'WINNIE WINKLE' LEAVES THE COMIC PAGES ...
PR 7/23/96 7:32 AM
LEGENDARY 'WINNIE WINKLE' LEAVES THE COMIC PAGES
AFTER MORE THAN 75 YEARS
CHICAGO, July 23 /PRNewswire/ -- After a successful career as the
trend-setting fashion executive and
mother in America's comic pages, Winnie Winkle's adventures come to a
close on Sunday, July 28.
Launched in newspapers on Sept. 21, 1920, "Winnie Winkle" is one of
the longest-running continuity
strips in American newspaper comic history. The strip was born when the
New York Daily News (dubbed
"the Stenographer's Gazette") and publisher Captain Joseph M. Patterson
were looking for a strip to target
its growing "working woman" audience.
Created by cartoonist and former vaudeville dancer Martin (Mike)
Branner, the strip was originally titled
"Winnie Winkle -- The Breadwinner." Over the years, it became a
forecaster of trends in fashion and was
noted for never featuring Winnie in the same outfit twice.
Her tremendous wardrobe caused a near scandal when thousands of irate
readers wrote letters asking
how a working girl could have so many clothes. Branner responded by
introducing a detective into the
storyline who followed Winnie for weeks and found that she had another job
displaying dresses for a
dress shop. In 1958, the strip flooded the syndicate's mailroom with more
than 50,000 letters when
Branner invited readers to mail in sketches of their own fashion ideas.
Despite the strip's rich history, after reviewing the feature, Tribune
Media Services felt that the Winnie
Winkle character was not recognized as a contemporary role model for the
'90s. "TMS remains committed
to the continuity strip and our classics in that genre, and recently
refreshed 'Brenda Starr' and 'Dick Tracy'
as well as reintroduced the popular Milton Caniff classic 'Terry and the
Pirates,' "said Mark Mathes,
managing editor for TMS. "The possibility remains that 'Winnie Winkle'
could re-emerge in another format
or medium in the future."
Branner retired from the strip in 1961, after a series of strokes. The
strip then changed creative hands
over the years and is currently drawn by cartoonist Frank Bolle and
written by Leonard Starr. Starr is also
the writer and artist for the "Annie" comic strip.
Bolle is a veteran cartoonist and illustrator whose credits include
drawing for all the major comic book
publishers, as well as Disney, Golden Books and Simon & Schuster. He also
was the creator of a variety
of comic strips including "Alexander Gate," "Debbie Deere" and "Children's
Tales." A resident of Weston,
Conn., Bolle will continue to work in the cartooning and illustration
industry.
Leonard Starr has a rich history as both a storyteller and a
cartoonist. Along with Starr's current
responsibilities drawing and writing the strip "Annie," he is also the
creator of "On Stage" -- a strip that ran
for more than 20 years and earned him the National Cartoonist Society's
Reuben Award. Starr is also a
resident of Weston, Conn.
The final weeks of strip reveal the killer behind a string of murders
and Winnie's decision to make a
commitment that will impact her life greatly.
Readers of "Winnie Winkle" are encouraged to comment on the strip's
discontinuation and are invited to
give answers to the following questions: Should Winnie marry Pierre and
give up Winkle Fashions? If
Winnie returns, should she be the same age as when we left her, or should
a considerable amount of
time have passed? What about Ma and Pa Winkle -- what do you see for
their lives? Is Pierre really cured
of his psychological problems? Should Wendy's burgeoning film career take
off with the release of her
first film, or should it be panned by critics, sending her fleeing back to
the arms of her mother?
Comments can be e-mailed to winniewinkle(at sign)tribune.com or mailed to
Winnie Winkle, c/o Tribune
Media Services, 435 N. Michigan Avenue, Suite 1500, Chicago, Ill. 60611.
Tribune Media Services is a leading provider of information and
entertainment products to newspapers
and electronic media. TMS syndicates and licenses comics, features and
opinion columns; financial and
television listings; audiotex; Internet, online and wire services; and
advertising networks. Headquartered
in Chicago, TMS is a subsidiary of Tribune Company. For more information
about TMS' syndicated comic
features, visit www.comicspage.com.
-0- 7/23/96
/CONTACT: Jan M. Guszynski, 312-222-4717, or jguszynski(at
sign)tribune.com, for Tribune Media
Services/
CO: Tribune Media Services ST: Illinois IN: ENT SU:
Copyright 1996 PR Newswire. All rights reserved
B. Baker
Alas, another dream is lost. They are far too few...
-- B. Baker
Peter Mullaney
In a previous article, patdo...@aol.com (PatDOneill) says:
> Leonard Starr has a rich history as both a storyteller and a
>cartoonist. Along with Starr's current
>responsibilities drawing and writing the strip "Annie," he is also the
>creator of "On Stage" -- a strip that ran
>for more than 20 years and earned him the National Cartoonist Society's
>Reuben Award. Starr is also a
Was "with Mary Perkins" incorporated as part of that title?
>give answers to the following questions: Should Winnie marry Pierre and
>give up Winkle Fashions? If
Who's Pierre, and what happened to Bill who was found after many years on
an island in the Pacific? (I haven't seen Winnie in a dogs age.)
Is little Billy still a pro baseball prospect?
--
: Pete Mullaney : Always do right. This will gratify :
: : some and astonish the rest. :
: : Samuel Langhorne Clemens :
: : aka Mark Twain :
John Kovalic
In article <4t3oec$4...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, patdo...@aol.com
(PatDOneill) wrote:
> The following came off the PR newswire:
>
> LEGENDARY 'WINNIE WINKLE' LEAVES THE COMIC PAGES ...
>
> PR 7/23/96 7:32 AM
>
> LEGENDARY 'WINNIE WINKLE' LEAVES THE COMIC PAGES
> AFTER MORE THAN 75 YEARS
>
> CHICAGO, July 23 /PRNewswire/ -- After a successful career as the
> trend-setting fashion executive and
> mother in America's comic pages, Winnie Winkle's adventures come to a
> close on Sunday, July 28.....
> said Mark Mathes,
> managing editor for TMS. "The possibility remains that 'Winnie Winkle'
> could re-emerge in another format
> or medium in the future."
I say they give it to Ted Rall to develop further.
Go for it, Ted! :-)
John Kovalic
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PatDOneill
Bill disappeared again sometime in the 1980s, Pierre has been Winnie's
love interest for the past five years or so, and Billy is now a movie
director.
Best, Pat
John Saponaro
PatDOneill wrote:
>
> LEGENDARY 'WINNIE WINKLE' LEAVES THE COMIC PAGES
> AFTER MORE THAN 75 YEARS
> Branner, the strip was originally titled
> "Winnie Winkle -- The Breadwinner." Over the years, it became a
> forecaster of trends in fashion and was
> noted for never featuring Winnie in the same outfit twice.
> strip then changed creative hands
> over the years and is currently drawn by cartoonist Frank Bolle and
> written by Leonard Starr. Starr is also
> the writer and artist for the "Annie" comic strip.
Pat should know -- he's a pro! (Anyway, I never knew Starr wrote current
WINNIE WINKLE stories. I don't have anything against Bolle -- he's no slouch
-- but knowing what I know now, I wish Starr could have drawn it too, since
it would he closest to his REAL style. When doing ORPHAN ANNIE, he has to
mimic Harold Gray. I haven't seen REAL Leonard Starr art since ON STAGE.)
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