This is an in-universe article with out-of-universe material.
Scribbly #2 is an issue of the series Scribbly (Volume 1) with a cover date of November, 1948.
Synopsis for "Scribbly"
Scribbly fawns over Red Rigley, offering to sharpen her pencils. She thanks him and asks if he's going to the Cartoonist's Ball that night. He points out he's not a real cartoonist yet, but she encourages everyone can go, even Mr. O'Hara. He points out he doesn't have anyone else to go with, but she offers that he knows her and she has two tickets and he agrees to pick her up at 7 in a taxi. She is a little worried, since she had actually meant he could bring his mother or someone and resolves to tell him she's already going with O'Hara. She tries to and finds Scribbly is so visibly lovestruck and doe-eyed that she can't tell him no and instead accepts his offer.
Meanwhile, O'Hara finds Scribbly has drawn on his wall again, now with tiny hearts and heart-like creatures. He calls in Scribbly, but stops before he can shout out him, recalling how Red said she'd break up with him if he bullies him and that he should be nice and learn self-control. O'Hara instead covers his face and tries something nice, giving Scribbly a dollar. He seems to feel better about himself afterwards and Red enters once Scribbly is gone. O'Hara says he'll do anything she asks as she tells him not only is she not going to the Ball with him, but she's going with Scribbly. O'Hara takes it in stride and tries to play it off as “the New O'Hara” who doesn't get upset about things… Red is shocked enough to call a doctor, worried something is wrong with O'Hara, only for him to crash through his own window, realizing that she's going with Scribbly! She reminds him to try self-control and he shouts very loudly that he is UNDER FULL CONTROL! He starts to talk to himself in the bathroom on how he can outsmart Scribbly and comes up with a wonderful awful idea. He calls in Scribbly and tells him he needs to wear something formal and says this is a white tie affair and that he'll need tails. Thus, he tells him to go to his tailor, Louie, and get tails sewn onto his jacket and then calls up Louie, saying Scribbly is an insane person who will murder Louie if he doesn't sew a monkey's tail onto his jacket and has already killed before. Further, if he does show up, he cannot by any means let him out of his store, since he may become violent. Scribbly soon shows up, terrifying Louie the Tailor.
O'Hara tries to lie to Red, saying Scribbly “couldn't make it” because he didn't have a tuxedo, but she points out his usual dark suit would've been fine. O'Hara claims Scribbly wouldn't not wear a tux as a matter of pride… just as Scribbly enters, wearing a tuxedo! Red commends his good look and we find that Louie just ran away, letting Scribbly take what he wanted in fear and refused to take his money, thinking it was because of O'Hara's “pull.” Suddenly, the cops burst in, saying they followed reports of an escaped maniac from Louie the Tailor and Red, putting the pieces together, says it was O'Hara and covers Scribbly's mouth when he almost outs him as O'Hara is arrested. Later, Scribbly asks if they'll let him go once they find out he's not crazy and Red merely says that's only if he can prove it!
Appearing in "Scribbly"
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Synopsis for "Littul Snoony"
Sisty introduces Dinky and his dog to her heretofore unseen brother, “Brainless” Hunkel. Dinky says he looks like an idiot, but Sisty says he definitely isn't. She proves this by showing he has a method that keeps your shoes from wearing out, only to find that he just keeps them on his head under his hat and walking around barefoot. Dinky points out he has an umbrella despite it not raining and Brainless reveals that this is a supposedly “accident-proof automobile” that is made of a chassis, engine, a box for Brainless to sit on and a polka-dot chair that Sisty is sitting on. They crash through the fence and Dinky points out that's quite the accident, but Sisty points out the car is fine! She insists he come along and drags him into the chair with him. Suddenly, before the “car” can go off, an arm comes out and hits Brainless in the head, which knocks him out while it reminds him he left the E-brake on (which is an anchor dragged behind them.) Suddenly, it sprays him in the face with water as his chin hits the steering wheel. Dinky tries to run off, but Sisty snags him by the pants with Brainless' patented “retriever” (a fishing rod) and drags him back, claiming they always lose passengers without it! She ties him up to keep him sitting in the chair with her for a ride, despite his protests.
Dinky insists that Brainless is definitely crazy, but Sisty says he's a man who makes money, showing off how he created the “Insulter,” a phonograph he lifts up to shout for him at a man he's tailgating severely. The man ahead of them gets upset that he's insulting his car, especially considering Brainless is barely driving a real car at all. Brainless' Insulter challenges the man to a $100 bet to get to the bottom of the hill before him and without passing him, which the man agrees to. Brainless drives off the mountain road, but the umbrella lets them down slowly as the man arrives at the bottom to see Brainless, demanding “PAY ME!” with his Insulter! Dinky is almost impressed by his actions as Sisty says that he's got more in mind! Brainless folds the C note into a paper airplane and throws it off the beach into the sea. Dinky asks if he has any sense in his head, but Sisty points out of course he doesn't, that's why they call him Brainless and asks him to join her in the “car” again, but Dinky says he's going to walk.
Appearing in "Littul Snoony"
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- "Brainless" Hunkel
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Synopsis for "Scribbly (2)"
Scribbly daydreams of being a cowboy, saving Damsel Red Rigley from Black Hat O'Hara as “Light Finger” Scribbly, shooting Black Hat O'Hara's gun to pieces and then pulling an Oklahoma Kid on him, firing at his feet to make him “dance.” O'Hara shouts at him for cartooning while being a Copy Boy and he claims that it's personal work. O'Hara is upset that Scribbly drew himself kissing Red and Scribbly asks if Red is his girl, which O'Hara confirms, since she's also the big cartoonist there and he better remember that. Red calls for Scribbly to pick up her daily strip to take to the Engraving Department and decides he'll throw away his strip so he won't be further embarrassed, he tries to discretely toss it in a wastepaper basket, accidentally throwing away Red's Terrificman for the day. He turns in what he thinks is Red's strip to the engravers, who rush to get it onto the next edition. O'Hara the next morning hears snickering around the office and finds Scribbly's strip in the Morning Bugle. O'Hara comes out of his office and beats the tar out of everyone laughing at him and then calls for Scribbly, who walks past, seeing his victims. He is shocked to find his strip got into the paper and Scribbly tries to quietly leave. He runs home and hides behind his couch so fast that Dinky is mildly thrown into confusion until Scribbly tells him to lock the door and help him push the couch in front of it. Scribbly tells Dinky his strip got printed and Dinky is overjoyed to hear his brother is famous. Scribbly worries what will happen to him as Dinky whistles his friends over and they take a few hours to hammer out a plan.
Once they do, they demand 5¢ apiece. He does so. The next day, Red tries to calm down the homicidal O'Hara. Mr. Birdnest crashes in and demands to know how this happened and for Red to not defend him. However, their mail call soon comes in and the mailman dumps tons of letters onto O'Hara's desk (like Miracle on 34th St.,) revealing everyone loves Scribbly's strip and some rudely state they are only reading the Morning Bugle because of “Light-Finger” Scribbly! Mr. Birdnest calls up every media outlet he can, demanding they push “Light-Finger” Scribbly, telling O'Hara he just spent $100,000 on publicity (Over $1.12M today!) He asks when the next strip is coming, but O'Hara says they can't find Scribbly and Mr. Birdnest tells him to find him or they'll find a new editor! O'Hara and Red find they can't get hold of him by phone and Red blames O'Hara for scaring off Scribbly and mildly threatens she'll leave him again. O'Hara admits he's “always loved” Scribbly as Scribbly suddenly appears from the sea of mail. O'Hara tells him to start drawing now, but Scribbly reveals he's hurt his hand (or at least that it's wrapped in a mitten of bandages.) Scribbly says he strained it and O'Hara shouts at him for it, only for Dinky and Sisty to appear in the letters, revealing angrily that Scribbly wrote the 20,000 letters delivered to them, much to Sisty's immediate embarrassment. O'Hara orders everyone but Scribbly out and they all pace around his office until Scribbly walks out angrily and says O'Hara told him to go home and write “I must not draw cartoons in the office” 20,000 times!
Scribbly struggles to do so with a strained hand already is interrupted at 1,001 lines by O'Hara on the phone, he points out he clearly must've wrote more than 20,000 letters since there are almost 1,000,000 letters coming in! O'Hara laughs all this off, realizing that Scribbly is selling gangbusters and says he's an official cartoonist now! Scribbly is so shocked he just starts levitating and O'Hara grumbles as he hangs up, saying he wasn't impressed, cause he didn't say anything!
Appearing in "Scribbly (2)"
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Synopsis for "Liz"
Liz's Mother finds her husband's class ring that he gave her 20 years ago and reminisces about their romantic past with Liz. Liz soon goes out with her boyfriend, Freddie, and insists they go to a ferry ride so they can look at the moon instead of going to see a picture show. She tries to impress a sense of romance and intimacy into Freddie once they're on the water, but he instead only seems interested in admiring the craftsmanship of the ferry.
Appearing in "Liz"
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- Liz
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Synopsis for "Scribbly (3)"
Scribbly's “Light-Finger” Kid is still selling gangbusters, even animals! Meanwhile, two goons, Webster and Trelawney, talk about it in front of their boss, Larry “the Lapel” (named for his giant pointy green lapels), upsetting him because they think Light-Finger Kid may die in the strip. To break the suspense of what happens next, he just orders his goons to kidnap Scribbly!
However, as Red brags how she knew Scribbly was good and O'Hara comes to see Scribbly about what's coming up himself, he finds that Scribbly doesn't know! The goons enter and demand to see Scribbly while pointing a gun in his face. He points them immediately to his office and Scribbly is gagged and carried out by the goons as O'Hara gawks in disbelief. Red chastises him for letting him get kidnapped as O'Hara says he was outnumbered 10:1 and they all had hand-grenades!
The goons drop Scribbly off at his boss and ungag him so he can reveal his secrets, but Scribbly says he doesn't know! Larry the Lapel calls them off and says they need to treat him nicely, only for Scribbly to admit he has writer's block. Larry offers this means he's going to lose sleep over this and do bad at doing crimes, meaning that he needs to write some comics or they'll put a bullet in his head. Scribbly claims he thought of something, only to lose it very quickly. Scribbly soon says he needs a better atmosphere to work in. They try to replicate his home life by calling in their goon Moe the Midget to dress like a baby and spill jam and breadcrumbs on Scribbly, but Scribbly says he's got Dinky's technique wrong. He thinks on how he's usually hearing O'Hara shouting at him and Larry orders his men to go get O'Hara too. They find him trying to brag how he'd show those gangsters if they ever came back. Red adjusts her drafting desk when the goons come in and tells O'Hara to duck, but he doesn't, hitting both O'Hara and the goons in the jaw with the edge of her desk when she shoves her end down. O'Hara is stunned, but conscious as Red rouses him and puts his hat on, telling him they need to rescue Scribbly, leaving Webster and Trelawney bound and gagged in a corner, unconscious. They somehow find Larry's house and sneak in the back way and find Scribbly in the dark with Larry unconscious from head injury. He reveals he made a strip, but that it's just more of a cliffhanger than yesterday and offers the foolish idea that he'll just throw his gun across a canyon while he's still holding onto it. And it was such a great idea that Larry tried it himself, throwing himself into a wall and knocking himself out. The press goes crazy for Scribbly, Red kisses him on the cheek, the cops arrest Larry the Lapel and O'Hara grouses to a cat about being ignored as the cat just tells him “Maybe you're repulsive!!”
Appearing in "Scribbly (3)"
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- Larry the Lapel
- Webster
- Trelawney
- Moe the Midget
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Notes
- This issue also includes:
- A one-page Bonny story by Hy Rosen.
See Also
Links and References
