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Make her stop staring at me!

Gasoline Alley, 8/22/05

Gasoline Alley is at it again with the realistically-drawn characters dropped into a highly cartoonish milieu without explanation. Check out the extreme close-up in panel two. I swear the artist is working off of a photograph here. Who is she? What is her relationship to the strip’s creators? And does she object to her portrayal as a Vegas cocktail bunny serving drinks in what appears to be a bathing suit?

This current Gasoline Alley plot deserves pretty much the same amount of attention as the last five or six, which is to say none, but I admit that I like the little halo floating over Lil’s head in panel three as she attempts to cute-old-lady her way out of a serious beating from the casino’s security staff.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 22, 2005 at 01:06 pm and is filed under Gasoline Alley.

55 responses to “Make her stop staring at me!”

  1. Hubris
    August 22nd, 2005 at 1:15 pm [Reply]

    Did Brian De Palma film that second panel?

  2. Uncle Lumpy
    August 22nd, 2005 at 1:33 pm [Reply]

    Blondie and Dagwood did that many years ago, and what’s left of Nancy inserts them like it’s some kind of artist’s tic.

  3. rich24
    August 22nd, 2005 at 1:38 pm [Reply]

    Yeah, it was freaky when Blondie and Dagwood’s realistically drawn neighbors started dropping by (though not as weird as it’ll be tomorrow if they invite Hagar, Grimm and B.C. inside). The blonde might be Michelle Williams, an old picture of Teri Garr, or the artist’s granddaughter.

  4. yellojkt
    August 22nd, 2005 at 2:20 pm [Reply]

    Pretty bad when we are ripping off poker cheating plots from Gil Thorp. Once again just a little behind the curve on the trendy topics.

    What’s the next bandwagon to jump on? Cigar afficionados, Pokemon cards, comatose housewives on life support?

  5. lynette
    August 22nd, 2005 at 2:31 pm [Reply]

    certainly gives new meaning to the phrase “see you in the funny papers”

  6. johnwhorfin
    August 22nd, 2005 at 4:11 pm [Reply]

    Here I was, thinking it was Rene Zwellger, minus the squinty eyes.

  7. MotoMike
    August 22nd, 2005 at 4:12 pm [Reply]

    Panel 2 -
    Is that Alfred E. Newman in drag?
    “What, me waitress?”

  8. DCBirdblaster
    August 22nd, 2005 at 4:13 pm [Reply]

    I feel that the issue of having health insurance (or not) was given not near enough attention along with the clearly sound advise to run to high ground.

    If only those poor lead poisoned children in the Dominican Republic had the common sense not to drink the water that tastes like battery acid.

    Speaking of which, calcium pills? Clothing? For lead poisoning? C’mon, what kind of idiot writes this stuff? (blithering or flaming you choose) EVERYBODY knows the correct treatment for lead poisoning is several intraveinous treatments of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). You get that watching any version of CSI.

    And again, clothing drives!!! OMG! Run to high ground! The LAST thing Dominicans need is clothing. If you’ve been there like I have on several occaisons, you would know that it’s F*@CKING HOT there all the time. I was happy to wear the same pair of bermuda shorts and flip flops day after day, except on Sundays where I would wear a Sarong and a white shirt to church. Shoes, okay shoes would be welcomed.

  9. Islamorada Girl
    August 22nd, 2005 at 4:22 pm [Reply]

    Actually, the poisoned Dominicans would probably like food,clean water, decent shelter, good schools, better jobs,and money.Oh yeah, and universal health care. Whenever there’s a disaster, they always tell you to send money, not your crappy second hand clothes.

    Since Scott evidently has all the money in the world, why isn’t he cutting a big chunk of his trust fund checks to help out?

  10. Dennis Jimenez
    August 22nd, 2005 at 4:30 pm [Reply]

    Hey, COTW – after three months of trying, I now feel like I’ve earned my CCC miter!

    More miters, mule!

  11. Phinneaus J. Whoopigoldberg
    August 22nd, 2005 at 4:33 pm [Reply]

    It’s the smiling face of death, of course. Not to be confused with the sullen face of death that is Keith Richards.

  12. saint ruby
    August 22nd, 2005 at 4:45 pm [Reply]

    The day they took Gasoline Alley out of the Kansas City Star was the best goddamned day of my life.

  13. Islamorada Girl
    August 22nd, 2005 at 4:57 pm [Reply]

    Good on yer, Dennis! Very cool! Now we have to, um, initiate you. Meet us at midnight with an old Clorox bottle, a pair of pantyhose and a blowtorch for your, hazing, um, I mean, um, initiation into Cardworld. Knock twice and ask for Beasley.

  14. Joseph Thompson
    August 22nd, 2005 at 5:56 pm [Reply]

    Why don’t strips do this in reverse? Apartment 3-G, Mark Trail, et al would benefit from the occasional appearance by a highly toontastic character.

    IMO, she looks like Leann Rimes, actually.

  15. Anne Nonymous
    August 22nd, 2005 at 6:52 pm [Reply]

    Hey, Dennis, a big, fat kiss for making COTW” Mmmmmwaaaahh!

  16. John James Audubon
    August 22nd, 2005 at 6:55 pm [Reply]

    Mark Trail’s Lynn recalls some long-ago Mexican spitfire actress… Katy Jurado?:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katy_Jurado

    Do all Sunday Mark Trail’s ignore the current storyline in favor of a pedantic nature documentary for some lost marketing logic? Does anyone actually syndicate Sunday Mark Trail but not the daily? Or do the creators think that the Sunday color funnies are the perfect spot for a biology lecture?

  17. Beasley
    August 22nd, 2005 at 7:17 pm [Reply]

    But just imagine what would happen if he knocked three times!

  18. Timothy Sandefur
    August 22nd, 2005 at 7:31 pm [Reply]

    Why are the cocktail waitress’ hands reversed? She appears to have a right hand where her left hand should be. Either her thumbs are all screwed up due to a tragic childhood accident with a mechanical rice-picker, or she’s related to Mr. McGreg!

  19. Occam
    August 22nd, 2005 at 8:41 pm [Reply]

    #16 John James Audubon: Our local paper carries the Sunday Mark Trail but not the daily Mark Trail strip. Since the majority of the Sunday comics aren’t funny, well, Mark Trail fits right in. Sunday’s Mark Trail is not particularly educational either, except for the “Run to higher ground” admonition–which is both educational and amusing.

  20. no tea
    August 22nd, 2005 at 10:08 pm [Reply]

    Someone really needs to put the guy who writes Gasoline Alley out of his misery.

  21. PizzaBagel
    August 22nd, 2005 at 10:52 pm [Reply]

    JJA, my local papers don’t carry Mark Trail, daily or Sunday. (Boo! Hiss!) I started following it online only after having discovered this esteemed site several months ago. Anyway, from what I understand MT is supposed to be a nature writer. So, for all it’s worth, I interpret the Sunday strips like Jerry’s interspersed stand-up monologues on “Seinfeld.”

  22. PizzaBagel
    August 22nd, 2005 at 11:11 pm [Reply]

    Re Josh’s post on Gasoline Alley’s occasional realistically-drawn characters: I’ve always assumed that it was a vanity thing in which Scancarelli sticks in a caricature of a relative or a friend. After many years of this practice, unless he has a ginormous family or a huge circle of friends, he’s now working on friends-of-friends, people he’s seen in his travels, folks who send in their photos to him, whatever. But I’d like to know who is the model for the realistically-drawn housekeeper/nurse of Walt, who has been appearing on a fairly regular basis for the last year or so, after Walt’s wife Phyllis passed away. She must be a really special gal to merit her extended appearance in this otherwise cartoony-looking strip. Theories, anyone?

  23. Lor
    August 22nd, 2005 at 11:35 pm [Reply]

    Huh, lots of theories on who the bunny-cocktail-waitress is … I favor a young Louise Fletcher, myself. Anyone check what’s really on that tray? That might be Nurse Ratched in disguise.

  24. PizzaBagel
    August 23rd, 2005 at 12:34 am [Reply]

    Nobody’s mentioned that the casino pit boss in the Gasoline Alley strip is none other than the late actor William Demarest.

  25. Mibbitmaker
    August 23rd, 2005 at 3:53 am [Reply]

    That realistically-drawn waitress is like a celebrity cameo in an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon.

    And that guy has a missing wallet? This strip is lousy with Wallets: Walt, Skeeziks….

  26. Mibbitmaker
    August 23rd, 2005 at 3:58 am [Reply]

    Has anyone seen the color Beetle Bailey for today (8/23)? They’re in this weird 3rd dimension where the color in their world just vanishes suddenly for no reason! Or maybe the colorist walked out mid-strip in principle (”I refuse to keep coloring characters in somebody else’s damn strip!”).

    Or channeling the “Technicolor ends here” gag from a Tex Avery cartoon….

  27. Chris
    August 23rd, 2005 at 6:37 am [Reply]

    So has Liz gone to the police yet?

  28. Chris
    August 23rd, 2005 at 6:43 am [Reply]

    Regarding “Beetle Bailey”: This is the one in which Mort is using the same gag that he used in “Sam’s Strip” 40 years ago. If you don’t believe me, check out Brian Walker’s “The Comics: 1945-Present”

  29. WoodrowFan
    August 23rd, 2005 at 6:46 am [Reply]

    Gasoline Alley is perhaps the number one strip on the “needs to be retired” list, before even BC and the “Wizard of Id” and even before “Momma.”

  30. Moesy
    August 23rd, 2005 at 8:57 am [Reply]

    Back in the day, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch carried only the Sunday Mark Trail & I never read it ’cause I thought it was stupid. I’ve since moved away & started reading the weekly strip (because of Josh & this site) but still can’t force myself to read the Sunday strip.

  31. rich24
    August 23rd, 2005 at 8:57 am [Reply]

    Oh my god, Mary Worth’s people are onto us! Did you see today’s strip? She’s wearing ANOTHER amoeba blouse. And this one really IS an amoeba! She’s flashing it in panel one, and virtually winking at us (or giving us the cold staredown) in panel two!

  32. MaryAnnTheRest
    August 23rd, 2005 at 9:45 am [Reply]

    You know what would be a really good comics crossover? If Mary Worth would send her ugly amoeba blouses to the Dominican Republic so we wouldn’t have to see them anymore.

  33. Cottontail
    August 23rd, 2005 at 10:15 am [Reply]

    Agreed, but even people in impoverished third world countries have better fashion sense than to wear something that hideous.

  34. Nom du Jour
    August 23rd, 2005 at 10:15 am [Reply]

    If MW did send her ugly amoeba blouses to the Dominican Republic, the people would take a look at it and say, “we are poor, but we do have our dignity. rags suit us much better.”

  35. Dingo
    August 23rd, 2005 at 10:18 am [Reply]

    Okay, I’m a very confused dingo. Whene’er I try to read Mary Worth at home I can’t see it onscreen. That’s ANYWHERE! I get a “no referrer” message. Today, the semester began and I checked out the online version of the Washington Post and got to read both it AND 3G!!! What gives on that?

    Oh, and Satcheen Littlefeather called. She wants the headband back. The blue camel toe slacks you can keep.

  36. Dennis Jimenez
    August 23rd, 2005 at 10:24 am [Reply]

    RE: Posts 32, 33, 34 – Kinda reminds me of the Sienfeld, “Muffin Stumps” episode….

  37. Lee
    August 23rd, 2005 at 11:18 am [Reply]

    Chris (re: #27),

    Liz won’t be going to the police for a while. For reasons only Lynn can understand (which automatically means they’re really stupid reasons), this week’s strips are focusing on April on a farm, being happy and homesick.

    This just screams for a “More loose ends, mule!”

  38. Irina
    August 23rd, 2005 at 12:00 pm [Reply]

    So who just got posted to Gene’s chat complaining about FBOFW?

  39. RBF
    August 23rd, 2005 at 12:42 pm [Reply]

    WTG Dennis for COTW! Good luck at that initiation “welcoming” meeting!
    And I agree with comment #36 – was thinking along those lines too.

    “We may glow in the dark, but keep your old-lady clothes!”

    And before the corrections start flying in, I realize that lead doesn’t REALLY glow in the dark.

  40. Dennis Jimenez
    August 23rd, 2005 at 12:55 pm [Reply]

    How to make a miter out of the funny pages:

    http://a444.g.akamai.net/7/444/703/20021220204129/www.marthastewart.com/images/pdf/tvs7666_bishopshat.pdf

  41. The Burg
    August 23rd, 2005 at 2:18 pm [Reply]

    Pizza Bagel, re: #22, I looked at Josh’s link to that old strip with Nurse Gertie and thought, “Count Basie?” Which would be about the right vintage for the strip, even though it’s the wrong gender, I guess.

  42. Zorba the Geek
    August 23rd, 2005 at 2:21 pm [Reply]

    So, wouldn’t Uncle Walt be about 120-or-30 years old by now? They finally killed off Phyllis- when is Walt going to shuffle off?

  43. Zorba the Geek
    August 23rd, 2005 at 2:23 pm [Reply]

    BTW, Dennis, I neglected to congratulate you for garnering COTW honors- way to go!

  44. Smitty Smedlap
    August 23rd, 2005 at 2:38 pm [Reply]

    Welcome to the club, Dennis. Well deserved.

    I used to date a girl who looked very similar to our realistic-waitress friend. She dumped me after hooking up with a married doctor while they were both in Afghanistan on a “Doctors Without Borders” trip, circa 1989.

    I hate Doctors Without Borders. But probably not as much as a certain doctor’s ex-wife.

  45. Notary Sojak (gnome de blog)
    August 23rd, 2005 at 4:30 pm [Reply]

    In the story about Phyllis (Auntie Blossom) Wallet’s death, it came out that Walt Wallet is 105. You’d think that a good, dignfied way to wind up “Gasoline Alley” would be to send the old boy on his way.

    I liked GA for a long time. It celebrated real people with real and often trivial problems. However, it’s been on life support for decades.

  46. PizzaBagel
    August 23rd, 2005 at 6:54 pm [Reply]

    Smitty, if it’s any consolation to you, I understand that there are a lot of land mines in Afghanistan. Ka-BOOM!

  47. Chris
    August 23rd, 2005 at 6:57 pm [Reply]

    #27… sorry, but I must ask this every day until Lynn resolves this, or somebody e-mails her and says, “Will you make this guy stop asking the same question over and over?”

  48. Chris
    August 23rd, 2005 at 7:58 pm [Reply]

    #45 I liked GA for a long time. It celebrated real people with real and often trivial problems. However, it’s been on life support for decades.

    I totally disagree. I remember the first time I saw GA, I thought, “Boy, these people seem really stupid.” You know how old I was? Seven.

    I thought in hindsight maybe I was prejudging them with the way they talk, but then… no, they really seemed sick in the head.

  49. Beth
    August 23rd, 2005 at 8:26 pm [Reply]

    Boy I feel dumb. I was trying to figure out what the hell the 8/12 right about the drinks meant, and then I realized it was the date.

  50. PizzaBagel
    August 23rd, 2005 at 10:24 pm [Reply]

    Walt Wallet is 105?!!! Actually, he looks pretty darn good for a centenarian, but if this strip is supposed to be realistic shouldn’t he have shifted off the mortal coil some time ago?

    The other thing about Gasoline Alley: Again, it has been noted that this strip is a relative rarity in that its characters age in real time. (Hey, Blondie! Where’s your Dorian Gray-style picture?) So why is it that there are a few characters – Rufus and Joel jump immediately to mind – who never seem to get older?

  51. jamison
    August 23rd, 2005 at 10:58 pm [Reply]

    you know “yellow submarine,” with the cutout figures of people? i swear she looks just like one!

  52. methodan
    August 24th, 2005 at 2:57 am [Reply]

    Have Respect for Gasoline Alley. Hip, edgy comics have their place but so does Scancarelli. He rewards the close viewer; take a second look and see. Since the demise of Liberty Meadows its the best drawn strip on the page.

  53. Gradioc
    August 24th, 2005 at 6:20 pm [Reply]

    My paper got rid of GA years ago and I was not sad; it had gotten lame. But thirty years ago,when I was a teen,that strip was one of the best. There is still a bit of GA in my vocabulary. I fix things for a living, and when it starts to go bad, I’ll say, “Rufus! Fetch the sledge.” Sadly,hardly anyone gets it any more. Grady

  54. Monkey
    October 4th, 2005 at 4:25 pm [Reply]

    AND NOW SHE”S DEAD! THAT HALO IS GONNA COME IN HANDY! R.I.P, LIL! R.I.P.!

  55. Tethys
    March 13th, 2006 at 11:51 am [Reply]

    I think it’s Sheryl Lee from Twin Peaks.

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