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01/24/2011

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Sherwood

Oh thankyou thankyou thankyou! I had forgotten about "Out Our Way," and I'm so glad to have it back in my mind. It was one of my dad's favorites, and the reason why was pretty simple: his stories were very similar, both in tone and era, to the ones Williams showed so well and so economically. You might remember one of my dad's that illustrates the similarity I see: http://sherwords.blogspot.com/2007/07/what-man-and-two-boys-really-makes.html . "The Wrapper" could have been about Bob Ellwood if Wilbur's farm had been about 1500 miles west of where it was.

25 more panels (these from 1922) here: http://www.barnaclepress.com/list.php?directory=OutOurWay .

Thanks again, Mike. A welcome lift going into the work week.

Mike Peterson

The link to your father's story makes today's entry a two-fer, and I strongly urge everyone to click on it. And, though I've read it before, I never made the connection with JR Wiliiams, but how he would have loved that story!!!

Mary in Ohio

Didn't Williams also do a strip about a family named The Willetts? I have fond memories of that from my childhood. And my Uncle Frank, who had a machine shop, had a set of the machine shop panels in color. I suppose when he died they went in the trash. I was way too young to have any say in the matter. Thanks for the great links!

Mike Peterson

Mary -- check the Wikipedia link (his name, above). The strip was originally called "Out Our Way with the Willits" which would cover your memory. And the machine shop strips were wonderful stuff -- made me think of my ex-father in law, as well as the backshop guys I was working with back then.

D.D.Degg

Don't know if you've run across this new-to-me site that reproduces 66 panels of Out Our Way from the 1940s and 50s.
http://rolandanderson.se/OutOurWay/oowstrips.php

Mudduck

I think ""The Willets" was the Sunday strip. Out Our Way used to appear at the top of the comics page in our local paper, next to "Our Boarding House." "Boots and Her Buddies" and "Alley Oop" were among the ones below. "Freckles and His Friends" and "Red Ryder" were at the bottom. And these memories are from the 30s and 40s! I'd rank "Red Ryder" higher than you do. Fred Harmon was a real cowboy artist, and his character, Little Beaver, was popular. AND there was the Daisy air rifle tie-in. (Oh, yeah -- Roy Crane's Cap'n Easy was in there, too.)

DIANE BLONDEEL

I PURCHASED 2 BOXES OF JR WILLIAMS COMIC STRIPS I HAVE 3 OR 4 DIFFERENT ONES I AM INTERESTED IN SELLING THEM BUT DONT KNOW WHERE TO GO. THE COMIC STRIPS ARE IN GOOD CONDITION EXCEPT THE PAPER IS YELLOWISH I COULD REALLY USE SOME HELP FOR CONTACS TO BUY THEM

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