Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Summer of Davy Crockett – 1955 – Part 2

 

Jim Bowie (with his famous knife) is greeted by Davy Crockett at the Alamo
For a limited edition comic strip, In the Days of Davy Crockett does a nice job of condensing the stories of  Jim Bowie, Sam Houston, William Barret "Buck" Travis and Andrew Jackson to make them easy to understand for young readers. The stories are generally accurate and portray each man as an American hero. The artwork is excellent, with appealing composition and masterful use of shadows. Writer William Ritt and artist Alfred J. Buescher did a great job.

While I was unable to collect the entire set of strips (some were missing in the available papers), there are enough presented here to give you a good idea of what the youngsters were reading. The story of Jim Bowie and his famous knife kicked off the four-week long series. I like how the narrator gives the young reader credit for knowing "all about Davy Crockett," and notes that "Now I'd like to tell you about some of Davy's friends, like Jim Bowie."
June 6
June 7
June 8
June 9
June 10
June 11
I thought the imminent death of Jim Bowie in the strip was depicted pretty tastefully. 

Next up: Sam Houston. The first strip apparently ran on a Sunday, so the Journal (which didn't publish on Sunday back then) didn't carry it. The June 14th strip handles the fall of the Alamo and the death of all its defenders very quietly.
June 13
June 14
June 17
June 18
The story of William Barret "Buck" Travis began with the June 20th strip. The inclusion of Travis is understandable, as he died at the Alamo with Crockett and Bowie. 
June 20
June 23
June 24
On June 27, the Journal printed two strips, one atop the other (below). The top comic includes Travis' famous drawing of a line on the ground for volunteers to cross, as well as his death at the Alamo. 
The bottom panel kicks off the story of President Andrew Jackson. Jackson was somewhat of an odd choice to be part of this series. Jackson was hardly a 'friend' of Crockett, since during the time the frontiersman was serving in Congress, he vehemently opposed many of President Jackson's policies.
June 27
June 30
July 1
The series concluded with this strip on July 2.

July 2
But the Lorain Journal was not quite done with Crockett that summer. A brand new series, this time focused directly on the man, not his friends, began on July 25, 1955. Here's the short promo that appeared on the front page on July 22nd.
And here is a small selection of the Davy Crockett strips, beginning with the first. Unlike the brisk pace of the other comic strip series, unfortunately this one plodded along like a turtle. 

July 25
July 29
Aug. 1
Aug. 15
Aug. 8
Aug. 9
Aug. 14
Oct. 3
Nov. 1
Apparently the recovering Crockett staggered away and right out of the Journal pages in the Nov. 3, 1955 strip. It was the last to appear in the paper that I could find.
Maybe it was just a case of frontier fatigue.