Claudette Colbert And Dick Tracy

Movie star Claudette Colbert was depicted as a fictional character by Chester Gould in the comic strip DICK TRACY. Colbert was then at the peak of her popularity. The same year she was in "It Happened One Night", a smash hit which transformed Columbia Pictures from a poverty row studio to one of the majors.

 The character of Jean Pennfield is introduced and becomes involved in the war against crime.

Finally she gets killed,

a fate that befell a few pretty girls too many in this strip.

  Dick Tracy comics featured a number of characters who resembled celebrities.  Jean Penfield had a boyfriend named "Jimmy White" who was modeled after Jimmy Cagney. 

Jimmy Cagney and Alice White.  The name "White" could have been used because of Alice White, who worked with Cagney in the movies during this period.

Jimmy Cagney:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000010/?ref_=tt_cl_t1

Claudette Colbert:
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001055/

Dick Tracy site:
http://www.dicktracymuseum.com/



Dick Tracy comic strip in 1934:
http://martingrams.blogspot.com/2013/04/dick-tracy-1934-year-in-review.html
:

DICK TRACY AND AMERICAN CULTURE by Garyn Roberts mentions Claudette Colbert:
http://books.google.com/books?id=K-OCBcT1O4UC&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=jean+penfield+claudette+colbert&source=bl&ots=Ud8fOx896C&sig=EfTrAiqfzg0U2q3uTkkzni6FRmg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=XohQUuXaFoXgqgHNiYHoAQ&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=jean%20penfield%20claudette%20colbert&f=false

Alice White
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0924442/?ref_=tt_cl_t4

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Toby Wing In Dick Tracy

Thirties blonde Toby Wing inspired a character in thirties Dick Tracy comics.


                                                                     Toby Wing

 

 

 

 

 

Toby Townley

Toby Townley first appeared in DICK TRACY in the Sunday strip for May 26th, 1935, as a cashier working for Mary Steele, who was the recently introduced mother of "Junior". Toby's boyfriend is a bank teller who "borrows" money from the bank to bet on horses without bothering to make the proper arrangements. When he gets in trouble, he shoots the bookie who'd taken his bets and is killed by the other gangsters in revenge, who then frame Toby for shooting a cop. She gets sent to prison*, but is finally freed because Dick Tracy learns the truth by giving the killer a lie detector test**. But right before she can be released there is a riot in the prison and she is blinded by tear gas.

Junior trains his dog to be a "seeing-eye dog" for Toby and for some time she is led about the strip

 

by the dog. Eventually she recovers her eyesight and no longer needs the dog. Toby Townley continued as a character for several years, even after Toby Wing had retired from the movies in 1938. But eventually Toby Townley was retired from the strip and Chester Gould went on to something else.

 

In 1982, the character was revived after a long absence by writer Max Allan Collins, who ignored the marriage the character originally had in the story to have her marry Dick Tracy's friend Pat Patton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The marriage of Toby Townlee and Pat Patton can be seen as related to developments in the original DICK TRACY, where the two characters were shown as going around together, leading Tracy to comment, "You know- you two look terribly suspicious to me, terribly suspicious." ( March 4, 1936 )

Toby Wing in real life was alleged to have been involved with Pat DiCicco's cousin Cubby Broccoli, who was alleged in turn to have underworld connections. But at least she didn't have to go to prison like the comic strip version.



* Writing in THE COMPLETE CHESTER GOULD'S DICK TRACY: 1935-1936, Max Allan Collins remarked that the prison sequence "recalls Barbara Stanwyck's 1932 Pre-Code feature, LADIES THEY TALK ABOUT."

**Max Allan Collins notes that this may have been the first use of a lie detector in fiction. William Moulton Marston, better known as the creator of Wonder Woman, was involved in the early development of the lie detector.



Dick Tracy Comicooky Baking Set ( Includes Toby Townley as a character ):
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/dick-tracy-comicooky-baking-set-129635967

William Moulton Marston:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Moulton_Marston

Toby Wing:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toby_Wing

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0934976/

http://operator_99.blogspot.com/2010/12/toby-wing.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1329690/Toby-Wing.html


Toby Wing in Dick Tracy:
http://books.google.com/books?id=AKjjceXSgB4C&pg=PT6&lpg=PT6&dq=dick+tracy+toby+townley&source=bl&ots=QYa755RDnS&sig=FJSp15WR7ib0fOcjphO-iDXBsBQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=OdLNUcX9JofVyAH9noH4CQ&ved=0CFcQ6AEwBg


http://dicktracy.info/comic-strip/storylines/dick-tracy-stories-1983/



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Moon Maid Contest, Part II

More on the Moon Maid contest.

Actually the final outcome of the contest doesn't seem to be known for certain at this point. But-





I found a little more about the Moon Maid contest they had in connection with the Dick Tracy comic strip at  http://www.libraryofamericancomics.com/blog/2013-05/  . It seems that was the last major promotion they had for the strip, in 1964. Moon Maid had actually been introduced in the later part of 1963 and was an immediate sensation, although later commentaries frequently claim that the comics are not well thought of today. Something which I think they keep repeating as much as anything because that's the way they want it to be.









The introduction of Moon Maid in Dick Tracy comics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the contestants dressed as Moon Maid.

 

 

 

 

               The girl at the left in this photo appears to be the same girl as in the above picture.

 

 

 

This also appears to be the same girl.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A contest announcement.

 

 

Any movie or television roles the winner might have gotten after the contest don't seem to be known for certain at this point, either. Some movie stars did become famous after winning beauty contests.

 

The same site makes a reference to plans to reprint the Dick Tracy comics from this period in the future, which would make it easier for readers to decide for themselves whether they like them or not.





Moon Maid Contest ( Library Of American Comics Site):
http://www.libraryofamericancomics.com/blog/2013-05/

Moon Maid Contest ( Google News ):
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1873&dat=19640715&id=Zm4pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ncwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=562,2511987

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Dick Tracy Meets Smokey Stover

Smokey Stover was a popular comic strip by Bill Holman. Although Smokey Stover was supposed to be a fireman, few if any of his adventures involved going out and fighting fires. He seemed to be more preoccupied with something called "Foo" and was sometimes called a "Foo Fighter", so that might be what he really thought must be fought, though he spent no more time fighting foo in the strip than he did fire.

And actually this Smokey Stover comic strip just has a picture of Dick Tracy hanging on the wall in one panel, but that's close enough.

Smokey Stover site:
http://www.smokey-stover.com/

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Moon Maid Contest

In 1964 there was a "Moon Maid Contest" to find a look-alike for the new character in Dick Tracy comics. Moon Maid was evidently a very popular character at the time, although some people would have it otherwise. Certainly creator Chester Gould liked the character.

Back when he was still working on the strip I was a little boy, and I thought Moon Maid looked strange. But what I really dislike now was what somebody who didn't have anything to do with the original comic strip did to the character later on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I was told that Chester Gould no longer read the comic strip after he was taken off of it. This was just as well, as one of the things Max Allan Collins did was to kill Moon Maid off.

I am not a fan of Max Allan Collins. Even apart from the Moon Maid business, I didn't like anything he did. And I can't say I'm a fan of the current writer on the strip, either.

Moon Maid is Moon Maid, pure and simple. "Mysta" was the name of another character that they used to have in Planet Comics.

                                                                 Mysta of the Moon
                                                     

 

 

Moon Maid:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Maid_(comics)

Moon Maid Contest:
http://www.libraryofamericancomics.com/blog/2013-05/

Moon Maid discussed in book DICK TRACY AND AMERICAN CULTURE by Garyn Roberts ( Google Books ):
http://books.google.com/books?id=K-OCBcT1O4UC&pg=PA135&lpg=PA135&dq=moon+maid+dick+tracy&source=bl&ots=Ud7fVC5cfB&sig=GaoBgMU13ZokdvjWhWRB4i7sY7g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=W1nDUYm_Hu3iyAH37oCACg&ved=0CGIQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=moon%20maid%20dick%20tracy&f=false


Mysta Of The Moon:
http://www.toonopedia.com/mysta.htm

http://thatsmyskull.blogspot.com/2011/04/essential-mysta.html


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Dick Tracy And The Lost Flyer

This story involves the seeming discovery of the remains of an aviatrix much like Amelia Earhart. Or maybe she's not so much like her as it might at first seem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This story takes place in a period when Dick Tracy flew to the moon regularly. This element was later taken out and eventually Chester Gould was taken off the strip. I prefer the original Chester Gould version, myself.

 

 

The missing aviatrix in this story is modeled after Amelia Earhart, whose Lockheed Electra was lost at sea in 1937.

  

 

 

 Amelia Earhart was flying a Lockheed Electra when she disappeared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A shot of Amelia Earhart's plane.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A three-view of the Lockheed Electra.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here we have the other plane mentioned in the story, the Gotha Go 46.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And a three-view of the Gotha.

 

 

 

 One plane does appear to be close enough that someone might try to disguise it as the other. One obvious difference is that the Lockheed has a twin tail. But the Gotha could have been fitted with a similar tail with little difficulty.

 

 

In real life there were people who thought Amelia Earhart had been shot down by the Japanese. Although it might have been more likely that she ran out of gas. Which is the more usual explanation as to what happened to her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amelia Earhart:
http://www.ameliaearhart.com/

http://blogs.denverpost.com/library/2012/07/02/amelia-earharts-disappearance-75-years/2089/

Gotha 146:
http://www.wwiivehicles.com/germany/aircraft/transport/gotha-go-146-transport.asp

Lockheed Electra:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Model_10_Electra


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