Tubby and Lulu

The rains returned today. It was another in a long string of wet, gloomy gray days that we've been having this fall. Not a good day for outdoor photography. Shortly before midnight I took this picture of a couple of plastic toys I have sitting on a bookcase in my office. They are toys of Tubby and Little Lulu, two comic strip/cartoon characters created in 1935 by Marjorie Henderson Buell. Little Lulu made her first appearance in the Saturday Evening Post as a single panel comic. During the years 1943-1948, 26 Little Lulu cartoons were released by Famous Studios for Paramount Pictures. During the 1940s and 50s Lulu was used to advertise Kleenex and Pepsi. Beginning in 1948, Lulu and Tubby went on to star in their own comic books which went through several publishers before their run came to an end in 1984.

Anyway, I've always been a fan of Little Lulu. She was smart and mischievous and I loved her comic books. I remember as a child seeing one of her cartoons on TV. It was a cartoon that featured the Bing Crosby song, 'Swinging on a Star,' and Lulu was shown acting out the lyrics. In the cartoon, Lulu is playing hooky from school and falls asleep while fishing. She has a dream where the stars are singing this song. The song is about what happens to kids who don't go to school and by the end of her dream, Lulu is convinced to study hard and she runs back to the classroom. You can watch the video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3zMjjMM6K0