Beetle Bailey - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Beetle Bailey is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

set in a fictional United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

military post, created by cartoonist

Cartoonist

A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...

Mort Walker

Addison Morton Walker , popularly known as Mort Walker, is an American comic artist best known for creating the newspaper comic strips Beetle Bailey in 1950 and Hi and Lois in 1954. He has signed Addison to some of his strips.Born in El Dorado, Kansas, he grew up in Kansas City, Missouri...

. It is among the oldest comic strips still being produced by the original creator. Over the years, Mort Walker has been assisted by (among others) Jerry Dumas

Jerry Dumas

Jerry Dumas is an American cartoonist, best known for his Sam and Silo comic strip. Dumas is also a writer and essayist, and a columnist for the Greenwich Time.-Biography:...

, Bob Gustafson

Bob Gustafson

Robert D. Gustafson was an American cartoonist whose work includes eight years on Tillie the Toiler and a 27-year run on the Beetle Bailey comic books.-Background:...

, Frank Johnson and Walker's sons Neal, Brian and Greg Walker. The latter is currently credited on the strip.

Overview

Beetle was originally a college student named Spider at Rockview University. The characters in that early strip were modeled after Walker's fraternity brothers at the University of Missouri

University of Missouri

The University of Missouri System is a state university system providing centralized administration for four universities, a health care system, an extension program, five research and technology parks, and a publishing press. More than 64,000 students are currently enrolled at its four campuses...

. During the strip's first year, Beetle quit school and enlisted in the U.S. Army on 13 March 1951, where he has remained ever since.

Most of the humor in Beetle Bailey revolves around the inept characters stationed at Camp Swampy, (inspired by Camp Crowder, where Walker had once been stationed while in the Army). Private Bailey is a lazy sort who usually naps and avoids work, and thus is often the subject of verbal and physical chastising from his supervisor, Sergeant Snorkel. The characters never seem to see combat themselves, with the exception of mock battles and combat drills. In fact, they seem to be in their own version of stereotypical comic strip purgatory (initially basic training, they now appear to be stuck in time in a regular infantry division). The uniforms of Beetle Bailey are still the uniforms of the late 1940s to early 1970s Army, with green fatigues

Battledress

Battledress, or fatigues in the general sense, is the type of uniform used as combat uniforms, as opposed to 'display' dress or formal uniform worn at parades and functions. It may be either monochrome or in a camouflage pattern...

and baseball caps as the basic uniform, and the open jeep

Jeep

Jeep is an automobile marque of Chrysler . The first Willys Jeeps were produced in 1941 with the first civilian models in 1945, making it the oldest off-road vehicle and sport utility vehicle brand. It inspired a number of other light utility vehicles, such as the Land Rover which is the second...

as the basic military vehicle. Sergeant First Class Snorkel wears a green Class A Army dress uniform with heavily wrinkled garrison cap

Garrison cap

A Side cap is a foldable military cap with straight sides and a creased or hollow crown sloping to the back where it is parted. It is known as a garrison cap , a wedge cap , or officially field service cap, , but it is more generally known as the side cap.It follows the style which...

; the officers wear M1 helmet

M1 Helmet

The M1 helmet is a combat helmet that was used by the American military from World War II until it was succeeded by the PASGT helmet beginning in 1985. For over forty years, the M1 was standard issue for the U.S...

liners painted with their insignia

Insignia

Insignia or insigne pl -nia or -nias : a symbol or token of personal power, status or office, or of an official body of government or jurisdiction...

. While Beetle Bailey's unit is Company A, one running gag

Running gag

A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling....

is that the characters are variously seen in different branches of the Army, such as artillery

Artillery

Originally applied to any group of infantry primarily armed with projectile weapons, artillery has over time become limited in meaning to refer only to those engines of war that operate by projection of munitions far beyond the range of effect of personal weapons...

, armor

Armoured warfare

Armoured warfare or tank warfare is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of war....

, infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

and paratroops

Paratrooper

Paratroopers are soldiers trained in parachuting and generally operate as part of an airborne force.Paratroopers are used for tactical advantage as they can be inserted into the battlefield from the air, thereby allowing them to be positioned in areas not accessible by land...

.

Beetle is always seen with a hat or helmet covering his forehead and eyes. Even on leave, his "civvies" include a pork pie hat

Pork pie hat

A pork pie hat is a type of hat made of felt or straw. It is a type of fedora which has a cylindrical crown and flattish top. This style of crown is called a "telescopic crown", but the hat overall resembles the boater hat. It is short and has an indentation all the way around its top, allowing...

worn in the same style. He can only be seen without it once—in the original strip when he was still a college student. The strip was pulled and never ran in any newspaper. It has only been printed in various books on the strip's history. One daily strip had Sarge scare Beetle's hat off, but Beetle was wearing sunglasses.

One running gag

Running gag

has Sergeant Snorkel hanging helplessly to a small tree branch after having fallen off a cliff. While he is never shown falling off, or even walking close to the edge of a cliff, he always seems to hold on to that same branch, yelling for help. This gag may have spawned the segment of the children's show Between the Lions

Between the Lions

Between the Lions is a PBS Kids' puppet show designed to promote reading. The show is a co-production between WGBH in Boston and Sirius Thinking, Ltd., in New York City, in association with Mississippi Public Broadcasting, in Mississippi. The show has won seven Daytime Emmy awards between 2001 and...

featuring a person named Cliff Hanger, who, like Sergeant Snorkel, is hanging from a cliff in each feature.

Characters and story

Beetle Bailey is unusual in having one of the largest and most varied permanent casts of any comic strip. While many of the older characters are rarely seen, almost none have been completely retired.

Main characters

Private Beetle Bailey — the main character and strip's namesake; a feckless, shirking, perpetual goof-off and straggler known for his chronic laziness and generally insubordinate attitude. Slack, hapless, lanky and freckled, Beetle's eyes are always concealed, whether by headgear or, in the rare instance of not wearing any, by his hair. In early strips, it was revealed that he is the brother of Lois Flagston (from the "Hi and Lois" cartoon, which Mort Walker also drew for).
Sergeant 1st Class Orville P. Snorkel — Beetle's nemesis; introduced in 1951. Sarge is known to frequently beat up Beetle for any excuse he can think of, leaving Beetle a shapeless pulp (one of the most iconic images in the strip). Sarge is too lovable to be a villain, however. Obese, snaggle-toothed and volatile, Sarge can be alternately short-tempered and sentimental. He and Beetle seem to have a mutual love/hate relationship; much of the time there's an implied truce between them. They share an uneasy alliance that sometimes borders on genuine (albeit unequal) friendship. He's from Pork Corners, Kansas.
Private "Killer" Diller — the notorious ladies' man, and Beetle's frequent crony—introduced in 1951.
Otto — Sgt. Snorkel's anthropomorphi
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...

c, look-alike bulldog whom Sarge dresses up the same as himself, in an army uniform. Otto is fiercely protective of Sarge, and seems to have a particular antipathy towards Beetle. Originally he was a regular dog who walked on all fours, but Mort Walker finally decided to make him more human-like. As Walker put it, "I guess he's funnier that way." As the Sarge is often found hanging on a branch protruding from a cliff face, so once was Otto.
Cookie Jowls — the mess sergeant, who smokes cigarettes while preparing the mess hall's questionable menu (infamous for rubbery meatballs and tough-as-rawhide steaks). Except for the presence of cauliflower ear
Cauliflower ear
Cauliflower ear is a condition that occurs when the external portion of the ear suffers a blow, blood clot or other collection of fluid under the perichondrium...

s, a prominent heart tattoo, hairy shoulders and perpetual beard stubble, bears a striking resemblance to SFC Snorkel—and has also been known to occasionally beat up on Beetle. Like Sarge, he also loves food.
Brigadier General Amos T. Halftrack
Half-track
A half-track is a civilian or military vehicle with regular wheels on the front for steering, and caterpillar tracks on the back to propel the vehicle and carry most of the load. The purpose of this combination is to produce a vehicle with the cross-country capabilities of a tank and the handling...

— the inept, frustrated, semi-alcoholic commander of Camp Swampy; introduced in 1951. Loves to golf, much to his wife Martha's dismay. Occasionally engages in harassment of his secretary, Miss Buxley. He's 78 years old, from Kenner, Louisiana
Kenner, Louisiana
Kenner is a city in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States, and a suburb of New Orleans. The population was 66,702 at the 2010 census....

—though according to Capt. Scabbard he was born in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

(April 28, 1971).
Miss (Sheila) Buxley — Halftrack's beautiful, blonde, buxom civilian secretary—and occasional soldier's date (as well as a constant distraction for Halftrack). She used to live in Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...

. She appears in every Wednesday strip, with the exception of November 4, 2009; February 16, 2011; March 2, 2011; and April 6, 2011; why on Wednesdays is unknown. (However, a possible prototype for Miss Buxley, a very similar-looking "new stenographer" for General Halftrack, appeared on January 22, 1970—a Thursday.) Miss Buxley has an apparent interest in Beetle, later becomes his girlfriend, but is constantly pursued by Killer.
Private Blips — Halftrack's competent, jaded, feministic, not-at-all-buxom secretary ("blips" are small points of light on a radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

screen). Resents Halftrack's constant ogling of Miss Buxley.
Lieutenant Sonny Fuzz — very young (with noticeably pointy eyebrows and very little facial hair), overly earnest, anal-retentive and "by the book", and highly susceptible to squeaky furniture. The apple-polishing Fuzz is always trying to impress uninterested superiors (especially Halftrack), and "rub it in the noses" of his subordinates. He was introduced in 1956. Mort Walker said he modeled the character and personality of Lt. Fuzz on himself, having taken himself too seriously after completing Officer Training.
Lieutenant Jackson Flap — the strip's first black character, often touchy and suspicious—but effortlessly cool, introduced in 1970. Originally wore an afro
Afro
Afro, sometimes shortened to fro and also known as a "natural", is a hairstyle worn naturally by people with lengthy kinky hair texture or specifically styled in such a fashion by individuals with naturally curly or straight hair...

hairstyle.
Private Zero — the buck-toothed, naïve farm boy who takes commands literally, and misunderstands practically everything. Despite all that, Zero is a surprisingly knowledgeable coin collector. In one strip, an anonymous soldier seemingly pulls a prank on Zero by selling him a penny for about ten dollars. Zero has the last laugh by revealing to the reader that it is, in fact, a rare coin worth many times that amount.
Private Plato — the Camp's resident intellectual (as Tom Lehrer
Tom Lehrer
Thomas Andrew "Tom" Lehrer is an American singer-songwriter, satirist, pianist, mathematician and polymath. He has lectured on mathematics and musical theater...

might say, "brings a book to every meal"); bespectacled, given to scrawling long-winded, analytical, often philosophical graffiti. Named after Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...

but reportedly based on Walker's pal, fellow cartoonist Dik Browne. Plato is the only character other than Beetle to evolve from the early "college" years of the strip.
Chaplain
Chaplain
Traditionally, a chaplain is a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, or imam or lay representative of a religion attached to a secular institution such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel...

Staneglass — "He's praying... he's looking at the food... he's praying again!" According to Mort Walker's Private Scrapbook, Walker based the chaplain on Irish actor Barry Fitzgerald
Barry Fitzgerald
Barry Fitzgerald was an Irish stage, film and television actor.-Life:He was born William Joseph Shields in Walworth Road, Portobello, Dublin, Ireland. He is the older brother of Irish actor Arthur Shields. He went to Skerry's College, Dublin, before going on to work in the civil service, while...

's priest character, from Going My Way
Going My Way
Going My Way is a 1944 film directed by Leo McCarey. It is a light-hearted musical comedy-drama about a new young priest taking over a parish from an established old veteran . Crosby sings five songs in the film. It was followed the next year by a sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's. This picture was...

(1944).

Supporting characters

Martha Halftrack — the General's formidable, domineering wife. She's 70 yrs. old and is from Morganfield, KY. (She has been known to sneak dates without Amos knowing.)
Bunny (originally "Buzz") Piper — Beetle's seldom-seen girlfriend.
Private Rocky — Camp Swampy's long-haired, disgruntled social dissident; a former biker gang member and rebel-without-a-clue, introduced 1958.
Private Cosmo — Camp Swampy's sunglass-wearing, resident "shady entrepreneur" and huckster. Loosely based on William Holden
William Holden
William Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...

's Sefton character from Stalag 17
Stalag 17
Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor...

; almost forgotten in the 1980s.
Captain Sam Scabbard
Scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, knife, or other large blade. Scabbards have been made of many materials over the millennia, including leather, wood, and metals such as brass or steel.-Types of scabbards:...

— hard-nosed, flat-top wearing officer, often as hard on Sarge as Sarge is on Beetle.
Major Greenbrass
Verdigris
Verdigris is the common name for a green pigment obtained through the application of acetic acid to copper plates or the natural patina formed when copper, brass or bronze is weathered and exposed to air or seawater over a period of time. It is usually a basic copper carbonate, but near the sea...

— straight man and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

partner to Gen. Halftrack.
Private Julius Plewer — fastidious fussbudget, who eventually became Halftrack's chauffeur
Chauffeur
A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine.Originally such drivers were always personal servants of the vehicle owner, but now in many cases specialist chauffeur service companies, or individual drivers provide...

.
Corporal Yo — the strip's first Asian character, introduced in 1990.
Dr. Bonkus — Camp Swampy's loopy staff psychiatrist, whose own sanity is questionable.
Specialist Chip Gizmo — Camp Swampy's resident computer geek
Geek
The word geek is a slang term, with different meanings ranging from "a computer expert or enthusiast" to "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts", with a general pejorative meaning of "a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp[ecially] one who is perceived to...

, was named by a write-in contest in 2002. The contest sponsored by Dell Computer Corp., received more than 84,000 entries. It raised more than $100,000 for the Fisher House Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides housing for families of patients at military and veterans hospitals.

Sergeant 1st Class Louise Lugg — hopes to be Sarge's girlfriend, introduced in 1986. Lt. Flap wondered why Lugg was sent to the camp; Halftrack commented that she showed up after he called the Pentagon to request an overseas assignment—"I asked them to send me abroad."
Bella — Sgt. Louise Lugg's female cat.
Chigger Bailey — Beetle's younger brother (a chigger
Chigger
A chigger or harvest mite is a mite in the family Trombiculidae that lives in North American forests and grasslands.Chigger may also refer to:...

, like a beetle, is a kind of arthropod, and commonly mistaken for an insect).

Retired

Canteen (early 1950s) — always eating.
Snake Eyes (early 1950s) — the barracks gambler, replaced by Cosmo, Rocky, and others.
Big Blush (early 1950s) — tall, innocent, and a great attraction to the girls; many of his characteristics incorporated into both Sarge and Zero.
Fireball (early 1950s) — neophyte who always seems to be in the way; forerunner of both Zero and Lt. Fuzz.
Bammy (early 1950s) — the southern patriot from Alabama who is still fighting the Civil war.
Dawg (early 1950s) — the guy in every barracks who creates his own pollution.
Ozone (late 1950s) — Zero's bigger, even more naïve friend.
Moocher (early 1960s) — stingy and always borrowing things.
Pop (1960s) — married private: gets yelled at by Sarge all day and goes home at night for more abuse from his wife.
Sergeant Webbing — variously described as being from either B Company or D Company. He somewhat resembles Snorkel, except that he lacks the trademark wrinkles in Snorkel's garrison cap, and has wavy hair and thick eyebrows. He has pointy teeth. On at least two separate occasions, Webbing engaged Sgt. Snorkel in a cussing
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...

duel. He also attempted to one-up Snorkel in anthropomorphizing dogs, leading to Otto's first appearance in uniform, and was most recently seen (recognizably, but not mentioned by name) in 1983.
Rolf (early 1980s) — civilian tennis instructor, very popular with the female cast (including both Mrs. Halftrack and Miss Buxley, much to the General's consternation). Originally introduced in response to complaints about the constant ogling of Miss Buxley by the male characters. First appearance was in the September 9, 1982 strip, and he disappeared completely by the mid-1980s.

The entire cast, except for Beetle, of the early strip was set at Rockview University (although both incarnations of the strip include a spectacled intellectual named Plato). Four characters from the original cast (Bitter Bill, Diamond Jim, Freshman, and Sweatsock) made at least one appearance, in the January 5, 1963 strip.

Extras, one-shots and walk-ons

Mr. & Mrs. Bailey, unnamed parents of Beetle, Lois & Chigger.
Chigger, Beetle's & Lois' younger brother.
Mr. & Mrs. Piper, Bunny's parents.
A camp doctor (Dr. Dormond Dingleberry) whose appearance is consistent, but who is apparently unnamed.
An unnamed officers' club bartender, frequent intermediary between the Halftracks.
An unnamed Secretary of Defence who has made numerous appearances.
Lois Flagston (née Bailey), Beetle's sister; she and her husband are the title characters of the Hi and Lois
Hi and Lois
Hi and Lois is a comic strip about a suburban family. Created by Mort Walker and illustrated by Dik Browne, it debuted on October 18, 1954, distributed by King Features Syndicate.-Characters:...

comic strips.
Hiram "Hi" Flagston, Beetle's brother-in-law and Lois's husband
Chip, Dot, Ditto, and Trixie Flagston, Hi and Lois's children, Beetle's Nephews and Nieces.
Popeye the Sailor once made an indirect appearance in the form of a Halloween mask worn by Zero.

Numerous one-shot characters have appeared over the years, mostly unnamed, including an inspector general

Inspector General

An Inspector General is an investigative official in a civil or military organization. The plural of the term is Inspectors General.-Bangladesh:...

who looks like Alfred E. Neuman

Alfred E. Neuman

Alfred E. Neuman is the fictional mascot and cover boy of Mad magazine. The face had drifted through American pictography for decades before being claimed and named by Mad editor Harvey Kurtzman...

, and various officers and civilians. Among the few to be given names is Julian, a nondescript chauffeur eventually replaced by Julius.

Censorship

"For the most part, Walker's relationship with the real-life U.S. Army has been cordial. But not always. During the early 1950s, the strip was dropped from the Tokyo edition of Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes (newspaper)

Stars and Stripes is a news source that operates from inside the United States Department of Defense but is editorially separate from it. The First Amendment protection which Stars and Stripes enjoys is safeguarded by Congress to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' interests,...

because it allegedly encouraged disrespect for officers. The civilian press made a huge joke of that, and the ensuing publicity gave the young strip its first big boost in circulation." (Source: Don Markstein's Toonopedia)

As with most other American comic strips, Beetle Bailey has been censored from time to time. In 1962, the comic strip was censored because it showed a belly button, and in 2006, the description of Rocky's criminal past was replaced with a non-criminal past.

Self-censoring

Sometimes Mort Walker censors the strips himself. This is done at the sketch stage, and those strips are never published in the USA. They "end up in a black box in the bottom drawer", according to Walker. These sketches are sometimes published in Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, however. In Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, they've appeared in the Norwegian Beetle Bailey comic book, Billy, with the cover of the comic marked to show it contains censored strips. To offset any possible negative reaction, the publisher experimented with "scrambling" the strips in the mid-1990s. To see them, the reader had to view them through a "de-scrambling" plastic card. This was discontinued soon afterwards, and the strips today are printed without scrambling.

Animation

A TV version of the strip, consisting of 50 animated cartoon

Animated cartoon

An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot...

shorts produced by King Features Syndicate

King Features Syndicate

King Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers worldwide...

, was animated by Paramount Cartoon Studios in the USA and Artransa Film Studios in Sydney, Australia, and was first broadcast in 1963. The opening credits included the sound of a bugle reveille

Reveille

"Reveille" is a bugle call, trumpet call or pipes call most often associated with the military or summer camp; it is chiefly used to wake military personnel at sunrise...

, followed by a theme song specifically composed for the cartoon:

He's the military hero of the nation / Though he doesn't always follow regulation

At the sound of reveille / He is here for you to see

And we know you'll laugh at Private Beetle Bailey—

(Beetle Bailey!)

As the General, Colonel, Major and the Captain,

The Lieutenant and the Sergeant and the Corporal,

They will tell you with a shout / They would gladly live without

A certain Private by the name of Beetle Bailey—

(Beetle Bailey!)

Beetle was voiced by comic actor and director Howard Morris

Howard Morris

Howard Morris was an American comic actor and director who was best known for his role as Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show.- Life and career :...

with Allen Melvin as the voice of Sarge. Other King Features properties, such as Snuffy Smith and Krazy Kat

Krazy Kat

Krazy Kat is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George Herriman, published daily in newspapers between 1913 and 1944. It first appeared in the New York Evening Journal, whose owner, William Randolph Hearst, was a major booster for the strip throughout its run...

, also appeared in the syndicated series, under the collective title: Beetle Bailey and His Friends.

Beetle Bailey episodes

Home Sweet Swampy (1962)
Hero's Reward
Psychological Testing
Et Tu, Otto?
A Tree Is a Tree Is a Tree
Beetle's High Horps (1963)
Labor Shortage
Don't Fiddle with the Brass
The Sergeant's Master
The Bull of the Ball
60 - Count 'em - 60!
Grab Your Socks
Grab Your Socks
Grab Your Socks is a 1963 animated short film made by King Features Syndicate and stars Beetle Bailey. The short centers on Sergeant Snorkel's obsession with being up early for an inspection by The Pentagon.-The plot:...
The Blue Ribbon
Go Yeast, Young Man
We Love You Sergeant Snorkle
Is This Drip Necessary?
A Christmas Tale
For Officers Only
Bye-Bye Young Lovers (1964)
A Pass Is a Pass Is a Pass
Leap No More My Lady
Tattoo-Tootsie Goodbye
Welsh Rabbit
Cosmo's Naught
Camp Invisible
Camp Invisible
"Camp Invisible" is an animated short film released in 1964 by King Features Syndicate and stars Beetle Bailey. The short is about the hijinks that ensues when Camp Swampy becomes invisible.-Plot:...
"V" for Visitors
Shutterbugged
Little Pooch Lost
Halftrack's Navy
Don't Give Up the Swamp
Hoss Laffs
The Red Carpet Treatment
Lucky Beetle
Sweet Sunday
Operation Butler
Bridge on the River "Y"
The Secret Weapon
The Diet
The Diet (cartoon)
The Diet is a 1963 animated short from King Features Syndicate that stars Beetle Bailey.-The plot:The short is about Sergeant Snorkel's attempt to diet. It starts with a bugle boy blowing the chow music and every single major character running for chow. Sgt. Snorkel and Otto run right past them...
The Heir
Breaking the Leash
The Spy
The Jinx
Courage Encourager
Sgt. Snorkle's Longest Day
Everything's Ducky
The Play's the Thing
Geronimo
Son of a Gun of a Gun
Zero's Dizzy Double Date
Dr. Jekyll and Beetle Bailey

Licensing

Over the years, Beetle Bailey characters have been licensed for dolls, T-shirts, salt and pepper shakers, toys, telephones, music boxes, handpuppets, coffee mugs, cookie jars, neckties, lunchboxes, paperback books, games, bobblehead nodders, banks, lapel pins and greeting cards. The Multiple Plastics Corporation manufactured a 1964 Camp Swampy playset, a tie-in with the cartoon TV show, with character figures accompanying the usual MPC toy GIs and military vehicles.

In 2000, Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics
Dark Horse Comics is the largest independent American comic book and manga publisher.Dark Horse Comics was founded in 1986 by Mike Richardson in Milwaukie, Oregon, with the concept of establishing an ideal atmosphere for creative professionals. Richardson started out by opening his first comic book...

issued two collectible figures of Beetle and Sarge as part of their line of Classic Comic Characters—statues #11 and 12, respectively. In honor of the strip's 50th anniversary, DHC also produced a boxed, PVC figure set of seven Beetle Bailey characters; (Beetle, Sarge, Gen. Halftrack, Miss Buxley, Otto, Lt. Flap and Cookie.)

BCI Eclipse has released 20 episodes of Beetle Bailey as part of Animated All Stars, a 2-DVD set (BCI 46952). Rhino Home Video also released a DVD containing 10 episodes, along with a couple of Hagar the Horrible
Hägar the Horrible
Hägar the Horrible is the title and main character of an American comic strip created by cartoonist Dik Browne , and syndicated by King Features Syndicate. It first appeared in February 1973, and was an immediate success. Since Browne's retirement in 1988 , his son Chris Browne has continued the...

and Betty Boop
Betty Boop
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She has also been featured in...

cartoons. In 2007, Beetle Bailey: The Complete Collection was released to DVD, containing all 50 shorts grouped randomly into 13 episodes, plus a previously un-aired 1989 TV special.

Beyond the strip

Beetle Bailey also successfully appeared in comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

s, from 1953–1980. The first series was published by Dell Comics
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium...

, then Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...

, King Comics
King Comics
King Comics, a short-lived comic book imprint of King Features Syndicate, was an attempt by King Features to publish comics of its own characters, rather than through other publishers. The line ran for approximately a year-and-a-half, with its series cover-dated from August 1966 to December 1967...

and Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1985, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut...

. Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics
Harvey Comics was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfred Harvey in 1941, after buying out the small publisher Brookwood Publications. His brothers Robert B...

ran a much later second series, from 1992–1994.

The comic strip Hi and Lois
Hi and Lois
Hi and Lois is a comic strip about a suburban family. Created by Mort Walker and illustrated by Dik Browne, it debuted on October 18, 1954, distributed by King Features Syndicate.-Characters:...

, co-created by Mort Walker and Dik Browne, is a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...

from Beetle Bailey. (Beetle's sister is Lois Flagston.) Hi and Lois, also syndicated by King Features, debuted in 1954. Characters from one strip occasionally make guest appearances in the other.

A Beetle Bailey parody in Mad
Mad (magazine)
Mad is an American humor magazine founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman and publisher William Gaines in 1952. Launched as a comic book before it became a magazine, it was widely imitated and influential, impacting not only satirical media but the entire cultural landscape of the 20th century.The last...

from the late 1960s portrays Sarge and Captain Scabbard finally wresting the cap off Beetle's face—revealing the words "Get Out of Viet Nam!" tattooed on his forehead.

Beetle and Sarge guest-starred in the 75th anniversary party of Blondie
Blondie (comic strip)
Blondie is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Chic Young. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, the strip has been published in newspapers since September 8, 1930...

and Dagwood in 2005.

An animated segment featuring Beetle Bailey and the rest was on Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...

.

A life size bronze sculpture of Beetle designed by Mort Walker with his son Neal assisting in the sculpting was unveiled at Walker's alma mater the University of Missouri on October 23, 1992.

External links

Beetle Bailey at King Features
BeetleBailey.com
Mort Walker's site
Toonopedia
NCS Awards
The TV version at IMDB
Mort Walker Collection at the University of Missouri (primary source material)

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