Tillie the Toiler

"Tillie the Toiler" was a newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Russ Westover and distributed by King Features Syndicate from 1921 to 1959.

The daily strip began on Monday, January 3, 1921, followed by the Sunday page on October 10, 1922.

The storyline followed the adventures of young working girl Tillie Jones, an attractive brunette employed as a stenographer, secretary and part-time model at the fashion salon of clothing mogul J. P. Simpkins. She usually was in the company of her pint-sized friend and co-worker, Clarence "Mac" MacDougall, who often got dumped when Tillie set her sights on various handsome and wealthy young men. During World War II, Tillie signed up for military service, but eventually returned to Simpkins. Tillie always was a stylish dresser in her eternal pursuit of different boy friends.

Cupples & Leon collected the strips into book form in 1925, followed by seven other books in that series. Dell Comics reprinted the strip in 14 issues between 1941 and 1949. "Tillie the Toiler and the Masquerading Duchess" was a novel published by Whitman in 1943.

Films

The comic strip inspired two films of the same name. "Tillie the Toiler" (1927), a silent film with Marion Davies in the title role, was reviewed in "The New York Times"::Tillie's toil consists of putting one piece of paper into a typewriter, after which she concentrates her efforts on capturing the attention of a millionaire named Pennington Fish, familiarly known as "Penny" Fish. Tillie is introduced as being beautiful but dumb. She is, however, quite aware of the susceptibilities of the male sex when it comes to a dainty figure and a pretty face. It is set forth in one of the subtitles that she wears two pairs of garters—"one pair to hold up her stockings and the other pair to hold up traffic."... Hobart Henley does exceedingly well in his direction of this fluffy subject. Ralph Spence, the title writer, is on the alert most of the time... Tillie's innocence is described as having taken years to acquire, and a greedy character is introduced as a "banana peel on the doorstep of progress." Tillie is first seen where she has some cigarette ash in her eye, and as men observe the ocular demonstration made by Tillie they take it for a wink. So it is not long before half a dozen men from all walks of life are following her as she trots along to Simpkins's office, where her humble hero, Mac, pores over figures. And it is this Mac, played by Matt Moore, who, while he has his misgivings concerning Tillie's affair with Fish, eventually succeeds in winning the audacious little flirt. Mr. Moore is sympathetic as Mac. Harry Crocker makes the most of the part of Fish. George K. Arthur, who was teamed with Karl Dane in "The Rookies," is delightful as the young poseur, Whipple. [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F00EFDE133FE03ABC4F53DFB066838C639EDE Hall, Mordaunt. "Tiller, the Spinner of Yarns," "The New York Times", June 7, 1927.] ]

Kay Harris portrayed Tillie in "Tillie the Toiler" (1941). Her last name was changed to Tompkins in the 1941 film.

References

External links

* [http://www.toonopedia.com/tillie.htm Toonopedia: "Tillie the Toiler"]