
NOV 12 | 10:00 AM

All auctions / Books, Maps & Manuscripts / Lala Palooza - 57 Newspaper pages & strips - 1936/1937


Rare surviving episodes from various Sunday Comics sections of Lala Palooza by Rube Goldberg on one each single full page. Only some pages have been selected for being photographed. Published in period 1936-1937 (Lala Palooza started in 1936!) 29 full pages (14x 1936, 43x1937) Lala Palooza was only a minor creation of cartoonist Rube Goldberg, such a giant in the comics field that its most prestigious award is named after him. In no way does Lala compare to Boob McNutt, the fabulous inventions that can make even the simplest tasks complicated beyond belief, or even the Foolish Questions that constituted the first of his many claims to fame. In fact, if anybody but Goldberg had created her, she'd undoubtedly have suffered the same fate as Vic Forsythe's The Little Woman, F.O. Alexander's Effie Sponk and most of her other short-lived contemporaries — near-oblivion. Lala (no relation to Astro Boy's friend Lala Palooza) was originally designed as a fat clown, but that version didn't survive all the way to print. By the time it was actually published, Lala illustrated the idea that God's blessings are rationed, so no one person gets too many of them. Some people are beautiful but poor; some are smart but ugly; Lala was rich but not very bright. She'd apparently been married at one time, as her brother had a different last name (and wasn't as well heeled), but Mr. Palooza was not to be seen. The man in her life was the brother, Vince Doolittle, a lazy opportunist who was full of ideas. Vince often seemed to be the star of the comic. The strip began in 1936 as both a daily and a Sunday, from the Frank Jay Markey syndicate. This was a very small outfit, with company ties to McNaught (The Bungle Family, Dixie Dugan). The Markey syndicate didn't make much of a splash in the comics world, but did manage to field Sparky Watts, by Boody Rogers. There are conflicting reports about how long Lala lasted in newspapers. It may still have been running as late as 1939, but the syndicate advertised it in Editor & Publisher for only one year; and those ads are the source of much of our knowledge about comic strip durability. Certainly, however, she was gone from the newspapers by the end of the decade. The pages are in very good condition, although wrinkles, tears, flaking and missing pieces may occur. Will be shipped with track&trace. The lots in this auction can be shipped combined. This is taken into account up to a weight of 5 kg. If packages need to be split due to weight, an additional charge will apply. In this case, we will contact you. #specialcollectionservice
Estimate:$1.11
To the auctionView all items fromCatawikiorBooks, Maps & Manuscripts
Estimate:
$1.11
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