Scribbly #11 is an issue of the series Scribbly (Volume 1) with a cover date of June, 1950.
Synopsis for "Scribbly Turns to Romance"
Part I:
Clover and Scribbly come out of a movie Swords Aflame and muses if Scribbly ever thinks about living in the “Romantic” Age. Scribbly bluntly says no. She tries to appeal that he could be rescuing her on horseback, but he questions what she's being rescued from. When she offers a “mean, old Duke” trying to kidnap her, Scribbly says he'd rather just call the cops. After figuring that cops didn't exist then, he instead offers he'd go break down his door, challenge his authority and then brutally describes how he'll tell the Duke that he lost his vote! Clover immediately abandons him over his lack of masculine nostalgia for the Dark Ages and decides to sit with Bentley, who is having a soda nearby. Scribbly denounces this concept, but Bentley tells him to basically get lost and Clover agrees that if he isn't romantic, he wouldn't really care who she's with. She insists he merely do something about it, which Bentley implies will mean beating him in a fight. Scribbly insists he'll do it, dashing off for a moment. Clover is almost taken by his supposed bravado, but instead he grabs hold of Bentley's umbrella. Clover begins to fantasize that he'll somehow fight him like a French fencer, only for Scribbly to instead snap the umbrella over his knee and toss it out, saying that he hopes it rains on him!
Part II:
Scribbly “reasons” that he'll be “broad-minded” enough to let Clover apologize and rings the bell at her house, only for Daffodil to tell him she can't yell loud enough to get her sister's attention, since she's at the an auto race with Bentley five miles away. She coyly offers that Clover thinks about Scribbly all the time and talks about him constantly. He asks what she says, but Daffodil refuses to betray her sister's confidence… unless he pays her first. He coughs up a quarter for her and she coldly says Clover said he was a drip, but offers if he pays her the same amount, she'll tell him what kind of drip. Scribbly starts to walk off and Daffodil decides to tell him for free that Clover called him an “unromantic stick-in-the-mud, never-get-anywhere drip, without an ounce of the stuff that makes a real man!” Scribbly is generally thinking of not sticking around Clover, but Daffodil offers for a second quarter, she can change that attitude for him. She wisely offers when he pays up that he go to the auto races and sit somewhere that Clover can see him. Scribbly isn't sure, but Daffodil offers for yet another quarter, she can include a “gorgeous brunette” that will make Bentley and Clover jealous of him. Nearby, a blonde woman sees them and hides behind a tree. When Daffodil offers that she is the brunette, Scribbly turns her down and also dumps her in a trash can. The Blonde Woman offers that a blonde could do and then that she'd love going to the races with him. Daffodil warns that this is Glenda, Clover's fiercest rival and that she is mostly doing this to get on Clover's nerves, insisting he'll be “SORREE!!”
Off at the auto races, Bentley gawks at Car# 5, but finds that Clover seems disinterested, then calls him “Scrib” by accident. Glenda points the two out with Scribbly in tow and gets into position. Clover sees Glenda with an arm around Scribbly, so she tells Bentley to do the same. She tries to goad him by telling Bentley to kiss her and meaningfully and they do, causing Scribbly to jump out of his seat and denounces Bentley for stealing “his” girl. Glenda offers he could just make her jealous by kissing her himself… but Scribbly just angrily decides he just really wants to punch Bentley instead, so he runs directly into the path of a racetrack. Clover demands Bentley go help him, but Bentley instead shouts he won't do it until the race is over. Clover calls him a coward, but Bentley cops to it. Scribbly continues challenging him while standing in high-speed danger. One of the racers swerves to not hit the Boy Cartoonist, making a wheel fly off and smack into Bentley's head, which he confusedly blames Scribbly for and also runs on to the track to fight him. Glenda insists that Scribbly make it out alive, since she doesn't want to really walk home alone. Bentley flies off the dust cloud over the track and lands in Glenda's arms, which she accepts as a fine date. Amid it though, Clover finds she can't see Scribbly and runs on to the track just as the race ends to call for him. The officials of the race give the driver of the Car# 7 a big trophy and shake his hand, but the driver reveals he lost a whole axle rod and somehow Scribbly managed to get stuck under his car and technically win him the race! Clover begins to pepper his face with kisses and promises she'll never fight with him again, but Scribbly notes that if this is making up, he's not too against fighting…
They soon head home and Daffodil calls to Scribbly for a secret window meeting, saying that his stunt sure did work. Scribbly taunts her that her prediction that he'd be “SORREE!!” didn't come true and he's due for a long life with Clover Cooley, but Daffodil points out even if they get married, he'll have to have her as a sister-in-law!
Part III:
Scribbly urges Clover to hurry, since their movie is starting in five minutes and she dashes to turn off the radio before they go. She is distracted by an ad about how to tell if your boyfriend will make a good husband and the big questions involved are if he likes children and if children like him back! Scribbly reflexively agrees and says she likes kids if they can leave faster, says he isn't sure if kids like him and they have three minutes left until the ad continues to say that if a baby cries in proximity to him, he won't be a good husband. She dashes off to make a phone call and soon tells him they can “go” now to somewhere that isn't the movies, instead telling him the second they are inside someone else's house that she assigned him to be a babysitter and hands him someone else's baby, Little Godfrey. He immediately starts crying and Clover says that if he can't just make a baby stop crying without any instruction, she's breaking up with him (which Little Godfrey is forced to repeat for him before he returns to crying loudly.) Scribbly takes this in stride and decides to try making a silly face and decides he'll do this himself, picking up a shovel and walking him to the backyard. Clover is naturally very disturbed by this, dashing outside to find that all he did was just let Little Godfrey dig a hole in his yard, since kids like doing that, winning his confidence. In exchange, he asks Clover to put him to bed now that he's tired himself out and Little Godfrey even calls Scribbly “Daddy.” Scribly reclines for a moment, eating a single chocolate out of a box and relaxes, thinking on how this could be a nice life being married and enjoying soft family life and its spendors… Then, Little Godfrey begins screaming again, forcing Clover to angrily put the blame on Scribbly since the baby wants to take the hole he dug in the yard to bed with him! Scribbly later is seen throwing books around at the book store to find something on “How to Stay Single!”
Part IV:
Mrs. Cooley is having tea with a social friend and gossip about how Millicent Jones spends all her husband's money, but Mrs. Cooley tells Clover that she thinks it's actually good for Mr. Ed Jones, since it drives him to work harder, making him ambitious and advises that no one “gets” big without learning to “act” big. Clover decides to illustrate this to her “boyfriend” by calling him at work, demanding he take a second lunch hour to a restaurant, demands two steaks despite them being $2.50 each and insists it's for his own good. She adamantly demands he get the steaks despite him saying he cannot afford them, but when he's forced to wash dishes, but claims that this is somehow worth it and he's still a big shot that knows ate a steak for lunch! She remembers the last part is he needs to “act big,” so she instead just lies to the cook, saying that Scribbly could afford forty steaks and he's a newspaper man. She implies that Scribbly is some kind of food critic, which is lofty enough for the cook to let Scribbly leave without having to work for several hours. When he points out, she's lying about him, Clover insists she has a “great future” for him that she's made up her mind for him and says he's going to meet the “right people!” Scribbly points out he wasn't invited to the office party they're having tonight, but Clover demands he “act big” by just showing up anyways.
He does so, but finds that the stuffier socialites aren't paying him any attention. An attractive blonde woman walks up and presumes he must be a celebrity (since he's bored at a nice party) and demands he show her around. He takes Clover's advice and generally introduces O'Hara, calling him a goon, claims that he secretly writes all of Red Rigley's material and that he and Mr. Birdnest are so like brothers that he basically owns the Morning Bugle and keeps him around as a figurehead. She coldly points out that she's Mr. Birdnest's daughter. Scribbly asks if she knows who he is and she coldly says she doesn't. Scribbly is pleased to know that this means he won't be implicated further and scarpers. Later still, at 3am, Daffodil wakes up Clover, who has received a telegram from Scribbly telling her “Dear Clover, the next time you go out with me, you'll eat hamburgers and like it! Love, Scrib”
Appearing in "Scribbly Turns to Romance"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Red Rigley
- Clover Cooley
- Glenda (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Bentley Bilgewater
Other Characters:
- Daffodil Cooley
- Mrs. Cooley
- Little Godfrey
- Claudia Birdnest
- O'Hara
- Mr. OP Birdnest
Locations:
Items:
- A Shovel
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Lora"
Lora dashes to her mother in her garden in tears, saying her father is inhumanly cruel. First, Roger called and broke their date that night, Barbara Brown (a rival of hers) was wearing the same dress as her and she got a run in her nylons. Lora's mother asks what that has to do with her father and Lora sobs loudly that he had the nerve to say it's a beautiful day!
Appearing in "Lora"
- Lora
Supporting Characters:
- Lora's Mother
Antagonists:
- Lora's Father
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
- The Brand New Yellow Topcoat
- Root Vegetables
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Littul Snoony"
Littul Snoony and Dizzy find an entire dollar on the ground and Sisty calls for “halfies.” Sisty has to stop him before he physically tears it in half to split it and offers they spend it on chocolate sundaes between them. Snoony goes to take it to Tillie's Ice Cream Parlor, but she snatches it back and says now that they're rich, they must remember their position and dignity, ordering a dull-witted boy in an oversized blue jacket, blue hat and long polka-dot scarf, ordering him to buy the sundaes for them and keep the change. They relax under a tree as the “Peasant” goes to get the sundaes, but is told by Tilly they're out of containers. He takes his hat off to have her put one chocolate sundae in to it, but when she asks where to put the second one, he turns it over, to have her put it on the top of his hat to carry it. He brings the small bit on top back to them and Sisty complains that he didn't get them much for a dollar, only for him to indignantly tell them to look at where he's “kept” the rest of it, turning the hat over, dumping the remaining ice cream on Dizzy's head.
Appearing in "Littul Snoony"
Supporting Characters:
- Sisty Hunkel
- Dizzy
Antagonists:
- "Peasant"
Other Characters:
- Tilly
Locations:
- Tilly's Ice Cream Parlor
Items:
- $1
- "Peasant's" Hat
Vehicles:
Notes
- "Scribbly Turns to Romance" is a four-chapter story, with each chapter being as long as a standard Scribbly story.
- This issue also includes:
- A one-page Jerry the Jitterbug story by Henry Boltinoff.
- A half-page Howie story.
- "Home, Sweet Home!", a one-page public service announcement starring Binky that appeared in many DC Comics in this time period.
Trivia
- Despite the cover, Scribbly doesn't invent kite-based automotive travel, nor does he drive any automobile. Clover is almost consistently angry with him throughout the whole issue.
- This is Lora's final appearance in the pages of Scribbly. She would only return for two more appearances: A backup feature in A Date with Judy# 20 and her final appearance in Leave It to Binky# 18. We barely knew ye.
See Also