Evening star., 1950-01-08
lust Between
Yourselves
BY Philip H. Love

"'''H sss ASFS
In last Sundays Letters to The
Star" column. Reader Eva Meyer
son tagged the daily Pogo" conis
strip as wonderful" and added:
I'VE have not yet been able to
identify the dialect. but we find
ourselves greeting it with exuber-
ant delight. 'Caterpiggles.' partic-
ularly, are wonderful"
Well. the dialect is pure Flor
ida-Georgia cracker" I'm assured
by Robert M. Hall, president of the
Post-Hall Syndicate, Inc, which
distributes Pogo"
The swamp in which Pogo Pos
sum and his pals cavort is the
Okefenokee. in Georgia. That's
why they called their Christ
mas carolers the "Okefenokee Glee
and Pilau Society,"" Pilau, to save
you the trouble of looking it up in
dictionary, is a dish made of rice
or cracked wheat boiled with meat,
fish or fowl and spices.
Cartoonist Walt Kelly created
Pogo. Howland Owl, Porkypine,
Rackety Coon and the other
swamplings for a comic book. then
made them into a daily strip for
the New York Star. When that
newspaper suspended publication,
he was deluged with letters de.
manding that the comic be con-
tinued in some other paper. He
took the letters and samples of
the strip to Mr.. Hall, who became
convinced that Pogo was one DOS.
sum with future.
X X *
Pogo no sooner began appearing
in this newspaper than letters Of
commendation began coming Ia
from readers. wonderful de
lightful'' and delicious" were
among the adjectives used. Now
hardly day passes that some one
doesn't write or phone to exclaim
over Pogo. Reader Meyerson's
note was but one Of four received
that same week. and there were
three phone calls, besides.
While the Okefenokee Glee and
Pilau Society was doing its CAROL
ing. man phoned to chortls:
That Pogo! Ha-ha! Deck me out
in Boston Charlie whatever that
is! It's wonderful! Ha-ha!"
For such an enthusiastic eus-
toner, I should have said some
thing clever, I suppose. But the
best I could manage was q bit Of
assistance on the last ha-ha. That
must have satisfied him, however,
because he hung up.
So far. only two people have
told me they don't like Pogo. Both,
regret to say, are members Of
The Star staff. One buttonholed
me to demand: Say. what dimwit
around here irresponsible for our
having that awful comic, Pogo?"
II guess I am" I confessed.
"We-w-well," he stammered,
maybe it's better than 1t looks.
II haven't really read 1t. Just
looked at 1t. y'know. Something
like Donald Duck, isn't it?"
mo. it isn't the least bit like
Donald Duck or any other comic.
You ought to read it."
yes" he conceded. still some
what red-faced, "I guess ought
to-"
The other anti came to the door
OF my Office carrying that days
Star. opened to the comics pages.
This Pogo" he said. holding out
the paper, SIS no good to begin
with, and today It's thee all time
low in comics. Read it."
Midway through it, started to
laugh. Strangely enough, he
laughed. too. Then q nasty sus-
Ipicion entered his mind. You're
ha -ha-ribbing me-" he charged.
mo, I'm not" I insisted. ITO me,
it's-ha- -ha-very funny" We both
laughed some more.
Another member Of the STAN
strolled by. Bet know what
you're laughing at" she ventured.
Pogo! Isn't 1t simply hilarious"
Well, anyway, fellow members
Of the Okefenokee Glee and Pilau
Society. Pogo and his pals viii ap-
pear in The Star on Sundays. too.
starting three weeks from today
r