Although only a back-up in the long-running Dell LOONEY TUNES title, the MARY JANE & SNIFFLES series has been spread as a secret treat amongst the comics cognoscenti for decades. I first heard of it when Maggie Thompson wrote of the strip's gentle pleasures and inventiveness in CBG back in the eighties. Sniffles, of course, was the annoying Warner Brothers mouse whose only real claim to fame is as a stepping stone in the career of cartoon director/genius Chuck Jones. Mary Jane was a little girl added for this strip in the early forties. Together, the pair appeared for 20 years straight in the comics in clever, whimsical flights of fancy such as the one we have here today. Although there are no exact credits to be found, many of the strips were written by editor Chase Craig and much of the Chuck Jones-like art from this late period was by Al Hubbard.
in the 1940s ...living in L.A. (actually in El Monte, WATTS area...during WWII. Every Saturday, we guys swapped comic books on the street corner...traded Captain Marvel for Flash Gordon, Superman for Donald Duck, etc...Mary Jane was a fairly popular comic-even for boys, because they used typical "throw-away" objects and goods creatively and turned them into constructive new uses during their adventures of "sprinkling magic dust" on Mary Jane so she was sized closer to Sniffles. Street corner comic trading was our "Wall Street", When roller skates broke, we made scooters with an apple box and sets of skate wheels beneath a 2 x 4. After the War...we got Fleer's Bubble Gum back in stores...and got rid of the "Ration Stamps" we had to trade in to buy things like sugar, shoes, gasoline...'Twas Americana with good memories...
ReplyDeleteI loved Mary Jane and Sniffles (late forties, early fifties)! Thanks so much for posting!
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