This is an in-universe article with out-of-universe material.
Scribbly #6 is an issue of the series Scribbly (Volume 1) with a cover date of July, 1949.
Part I:
Scribbly has bought a box of candy for Red, thinking that she will be overjoyed that he got it for her birthday and will kiss him on the cheek and begins thinking about how best to present them to her. He decides to play to his strengths and draw her a birthday card. He does so with it reading “Happy Birthday, Miss Rigley,” a picture of red dressed like an angel and “From Scribbly” at the bottom. He attempts to present it to her, but Mr. O'Hara roars for the Copy Boy, ordering him to fetch a “pail of air” for him from downstairs. Scribbly gets a ways away before he realizes he's been duped and dashes back to find that O'Hara got Red a box of orchids for her birthday. Cowed at his supposed failure with a girl who expressly is not his girlfriend, Scribbly throws away the box and swallows sadness as he goes to the bathroom. He talks to himself in the mirror, swearing off love and romance and deciding he'll fill this void in his life with adventure, danger, risk and thrills like famed actor Bumphrey Gocart in Fast and Furious.
Later, O'Hara notices the box in the trash and picks it off the bin, finding it's from Scribbly. Red quickly puts together what happened. She looks on his desk and finds a notes saying that he is now bequeathing his worldly possessions (a harmonica, a slightly-leaky silver-plated fountain pen and a “slightly-used” drawing board) to Red to remember him when he's “far, far away.” O'Hara says he's likely not run away, since he never does anything useful. Red goes to see Leila, who says that Scribbly hilariously is going to join the US Navy! Red dashes back to O'Hara and says they need to retrieve him, despite O'Hara pointing out he's too young, since “You never can tell with Scribbly!” and threatens to stop dating him. O'Hara tries to skip the line, earning him a black eye from a large surly man who thinks he's cutting and O'Hara fumes as he waits in line two blocks down. An hour later, O'Hara gets to the desk, but it becomes quickly clear that the sailors there want him to join and aren't paying attention to literally anything he's saying. Back at the Morning Bugle, Red weeps in worry at Mr. Birdnest's desk and he assures her that O'Hara will find him. Scribbly appears in the doorway and Red is overjoyed to find he didn't join the Navy (since the line was too long) and that he had just went rowing in the park instead. Red kisses him for the box of candy and demands he never run off like that again! Mr. Birdnest is happy things have worked out alright, only for O'Hara to angrily enter, dressed as a sailor with a shiner, saying his pants are too tight… and he's shipping off for Africa tomorrow!
Part II:
Clover goes to see Scribbly and Snoony answers the door with the air of a butler, politely offering she be seated… before he coarsely tells Scribbly “Hey, Stupid! You got company!” Clover asks for help as Scribbly traps Snoony under a stool and sits on it. She says she needs to interview someone real famous for the school newspaper and that she wants to interview him, mostly because he's claimed that he runs the entire Morning Bugle singlehandedly. Snoony tries to call him out on lying through his teeth, but Scribbly manages to slip him a dollar that changes Snoony's mind, now claiming Scribbly speaks the absolute truth! Clover says she's interviewing him tomorrow at the office, making Scribbly worry about O'Hara shouting at him and showing he's not literally running the company. Thinking that O'Hara is being deployed tomorrow, he accepts, earning a kiss on the cheek from Clover! However, we see that O'Hara calling up an old friend “Chicago” Chuck, a former gangster turned cobbler. Chuck says he's not in the game anymore, but O'Hara says he doesn't want anyone killed, he just wants him to harass Scribbly, knowing that he'll definitely intend to pretend he's the editor in his absence.
The next day, Scribbly draws his own editor sign and nails it over O'Hara's before Clover is sent in to see him. Clover points out that this could take days for her to get all she needs and to see him in his “atmosphere,” mostly because she saw it in the movie Love Goes to Press (which she notes ends with the heroine marrying the editor!) Scribbly insists that editors are too busy for romance and she says that the movie does that too, where he's too busy and she is his Girl Friday and becomes entirely dependent on her, making it clear she intends to assign herself this job, much to Scribbly's confusion. Suddenly, one of Chuck's goons enters with a hand in his jacket, but Clover shoves past Scribbly, announcing herself as his secretary! He tells her to scram and directly states that his business involves drawing his finger across his neck, and saying “ear to ear” and Clover happily decides to tell him. Instead, the goon just grabs Scribbly and says that he wants a scoop in the paper that “Chicago” Chuck is going to kill “Laffin'” Louie that night. Clover is overexcited and the goon leaves, threatening he'll cut his throat if he says that he heard it from him, then leaves. Clover cheerily promises she won't tell anyone and revels in the thrill of the dazzling newspaper life. She then slaps Scribbly's hand for ever thinking of calling the police, because newspapermen in the movies get the scoop first and capture gunmen singlehandedly without the police. Scribbly points out they use real bullets in real life and that he's going to call the cops anyways. Before he can, “Chicago” Chuck appears in the doorway and tells him to drop the phone. He threatens that Scribbly cannot print the story about him going to kill Louie, but Clover insists they'll just doing it anyways, undeterred even when Chuck heavily implies he's going to make him a live coward or a dead hero. Clover goes for the phone to stop the presses and put in a scoop, but Chuck just snips the receiver cord with scissors and promises to kill them both as they're too smart.
Elsewhere, Snoony tells Sisty he wants to go to Tillie's to get a soda pop, insisting she won't have to foot the bill since he has an entire dollar. Sisty exclaims loudly about the dollar, meaning that all the other assorted kids are now coming in for a “free” soda from Snoony. They head there to find Tillie (who looks rather like Ma Hunkel wearing a red fright wig) and a comically large board on a hinge attached to the bar. She pours all of the sodas before revealing that the board is to specifically cut off people from their soda so they pay for it (as opposed to just not making it first) and Snoony is furious to find that Scribbly gave him a fake dollar! The kids begin preparing to violently attack Scribbly with a board with a nail in it, a pop-gun, an entire box of overripe tomatoes and a baseball bat.
Part III:
Clover is obstinate in her lack of fear, deciding for him that Scribbly can just fight these four grown men. Scribbly almost gets a reprieve when Clover realizes a real gentleman wouldn't fight in front of a lady… then decides she'll just cover her eyes instead! Sisty and the kids, outside, decide to just generally lob tomatoes through the door and assuming Scribbly will learn any lesson from this as Scribbly finds up a big Popeye punch that completely whiffs a foot away from Chuck's face. However, he is hit in the face with a tomato, confusing and upsetting everyone as Chuck assumes he's bleeding out from a single punch (somehow.) The “gangsters” go to leave, only for Scribbly to seize the phone and say that he's calling the cops on them. Snoony and Sisty eavesdrop in and assume Routine 66A, which means just hitting the lights and charging into the darkness altogther. Snoony's Unnamed Dog somehow manages to even climb on top of an opened door with a brick in its mouth and drop it on Chuck's head. O'Hara suddenly shows up and the kids cheese it faster than sight. Clover, worried Scribbly is hurt, turns the lights back on and finds him. Scribbly is surprised that he apparently won in the end as O'Hara asks what he did now. Scribbly asks why he isn't in Africa and O'Hara says he was discharged due to being “allergic to seaweed.” Clover tries to stick up for Scribbly, claiming the goons tried to kill them. The Riot Squad show up soon, asking about gangsters and O'Hara explains it was all a joke and is blamed for all this trouble and offer he can tell the judge about it. Chuck rouses and Scribbly says that everything's been worked out, since O'Hara explained it. Confused, Chuck asks if O'Hara is in the Navy like he said he was, but Scribbly says he's in jail for “starting a riot.” Chuck grumbles that he's going to start a riot of his own when O'Hara gets out and Scribbly helpfully tells the former gangsters about O'Hara's presumably serious allergy to seaweed. Later, in jail, O'Hara gets a gigantic crate brought to his cell apparently without being checked at all as the guards immediately abandon him to anaphylaxis since he “started a riot” and is a “troublemaker.”
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Littul Snoony
- Sisty
- Red Rigley
- Clover Cooley
- Mr. O'Hara
- Tillie
Antagonists:
- "Chicago" Chuck
Other Characters:
Locations:
- Tillie's Soda Shop
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Snoony"
Littul Snoony tells Sisty that his dog Dizzy is a talking dog. He asks him what's on the top of the house and he barks. Snoony says he clearly said “roof!” He asks next what they call the tall grass in golf and he barks and he says he clearly said “Rough.” Sisty points out she can just ask him a different question: “Who's the President of the United States?” only for Dizzy to answer “Hmm… Coolidge?”
Appearing in "Snoony"
Supporting Characters:
- Sisty
- Dizzy the Talking Dog
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Scribbly"
Red asks who Scribbly is taking to the Annual Newspaperman's Dance and he cheerily offers he'll ask her, only for her to point out she's going out with O'Hara, since they're engaged! Scribbly is absolutely stunned as she offers that she thought she knew already and if he's finishing his lunch. Scribbly says he's not hungry and storms off back to the Morning Bugle. He goes to tear up his tickets to the dance, but looks at several inspirational posters on the wall that were never there before, deciding to go with the ideal of “Where there's life, there's hope!” and decides that Red isn't married yet, which means he just has to try harder and foolishly decides the best way to make an engaged woman jealous is go out with someone else who is actually his own age, dashing off to invite Clover Cooley to the dance instead. However, arriving there, he finds that Clover has a new friend Bentley, a tall and seemingly friendly jock. She hugs on Bentley's arm and asks what Scribbly wanted to see her about, but he says it's nothing and storms off in a huff, tossing away the flowers he was going to get for her before he walks directly into traffic and then an open manhole, still too fuming to notice it as he's falling, claiming out loud to himself that he doesn't care if Clover has a boyfriend and he was never interested in her in the first place! The cops soon show up and worry that Scribbly is dead, calling in emergency services and the NYFD. They lower down a firefighter on a ladder attached to a winch with oxygen waiting nearby. However, when dredged up, Scribbly is still complaining loudly about how he definitely doesn't like the cute way her nose wrinkles when she laughs. The firefighters shrug in confusion and offer merely “It's spring!”
Scribbly comes home to find Snoony declaring himself Chief Sitting Bull, riding the banister on the stairs with Dizzy, sporting a large and offensive Native American headdress and then braining his brother in the head with a claw hammer, smashing it in half. Fortunately, Scribbly is still too bitter to notice it and walks upstairs, grumbling further. Snoony runs to tell Mrs. Jibbet about not being thrashed for hitting his brother in the head with a claw hammer and Mrs. Jibbet is only mildly worried, but because Scribbly has a guest, Clover. Mrs. Jibbet offers that she come back when Scribbly is feeling better, but Scribbly overhears that Clover is there and he offers her an entire bowl of fruit. She says she wanted to talk about Bentley, revealing that he did ask her out on Saturday… but she decided to go with Scribbly instead! They figure out that they both want to go out with each other and start staring into each other's eyes with hearts floating around them as they begin to levitate into the air. Snoony asks what's the matter with them, but Mrs. Jibbet merely says “It's spring!”
Appearing in "Scribbly"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
- Red Rigley
- Littul Snoony
- Clover Cooley
- Bentley Bilgewater
Antagonists:
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Scribbly (2)"
Scribbly over a framed picture of Clover, delighted that he now has a real girlfriend. Mrs. Jibbet enters with a large box which she finds are filled with self-defense books, which he explains he ordered back when he was “dating O'Hara's girl” since “he's a big guy, y'know!” He immediately shrugs off this likely expensive purchase, saying that Snoony can have them when he's over. Heading out from his house, he immediately runs into Bentley, who says that he's dating Clover that night, but Scribbly merely slips right past him. Bentley roughly grabs his necktie and tells him that Clover is only dating him to make him jealous and that he's a helpless pawn in her hands, then compares himself directly to him, showing off how he is larger and claims Clover is using her as a “spare tire” to gauge if Bentley is actually interested in her. Bentley offers Scribbly go home already and he does, dumping his box of chocolates for Clover into the feedbag of a nearby horse. However, he suddenly hears Clover telling Bentley Bilgewater to leave her alone already and Scribbly retakes the chocolates and races back. Bentley just directly blocks his path, saying he intends to just not let him by punching him in the face. Scribbly dashes back home to study all of his self-defense books, but finds that it'll take at least three months to entirely learn the “manly art of self-defense!” Getting a brighter idea, he calls Bentley over, daring him to if he's so tough… Later still, we see Scribbly and Clover out on their date as Bentley “sleeps” next to the Jibbet household where Scribbly has apparently knocked him out for several hours by dropping the heavy self-defense books on his head!
Appearing in "Scribbly (2)"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Bentley Bilgewater
Other Characters:
Locations:
Items:
Vehicles:
Notes
- "Navy Blues" is a three-chapter story, with each chapter being as long as a standard Scribbly story.
- This issue also includes:
- A half-page Lora story.
Trivia
- Red Rigley is revealed to be engaged to Mr. O'Hara and not merely his long-term girlfriend.
- Scribbly Jibbet and Clover Cooley begin dating again
- Littul Snoony's Unnamed Dog is finally named "Dizzy"
- It is not established clearly if Dizzy can actually talk or not.
- This issue abbreviates the title "Littul Snoony" to just "Snoony." He is presumably still "littul."
- Mr. O'Hara is revealed to have a seemingly highly serious allergy to seaweed and is discharged from the United States Navy
- Despite what the cover indicates, Snoony does not attempt to steal a soda directly, though the promise that everyone loves Scribbly is debatable, since he does get kissed twice by two different women, seemingly in the course of days.
See Also
Links and References
