Dell Four Color ~ Smokey the Bear Nature Stories

issue #1214, August 1961. Please note, it is Smokey THE Bear, not "Smokey Bear" as all my less obsessive friends call him.

Here are a few pages...

Dell Four Color #535 ~ I Love Lucy

This typical Lucy/Ethel romp by Hy Rosen is one of several stories in the February 1954 issue from Dell.

 The Tv show ran from 1951 to 1957 and in reruns until the end of eternity. It was a modified version of her radio show which ran from 1948 to 1951. This in turn was based on the novels Mr. and Mrs. Cugat, the Record of a Happy Marriage (1940) and Outside Eden (1945) written by Isabel Scott Rorick, which had previously been adapted into the Paramount Pictures feature film Are Husbands Necessary? (1942), co-starring Ray Milland and Betty Field.

Dell Four Color goes out with a whimper..

There are a lot of missing numbers in Dell's Four Color series near the very end of it's run. Probably a lot of issues slated for those numbers were done under another title. As far as comic fans can ascertain , #1354 was the final issue, dated April-June 1962. It was an adaption of a TV cartoon flop called Calvin and The Colonel.

The series was an animated remake of Amos 'n' Andy  and featured the voices of Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll from the radio series (in fact, several of the original radio scripts by Joe Connelly & Bob Mosher were adapted for this series). Using animals avoided the touchy racial issues which had led to the downfall of Amos 'n' Andy. The show lasted 2 months on TV.

Additional research has revealed that Dell did a second issue, not in the Four Color Series, Dated July 1962.  the cover price dropped from 15 to 12 cents to be in line with the market standard.....which had just raised from 10 cents to 12.

Comic Book Short Story~ "RIPCORD" Dangerous Dive

From Dell Four Color # 1294, March 1962.

 RIPCORD was a TV series that ran from 1961 to 1963 (76 episodes).

The premise was a variety of adventures surrounding the then-new sport of skydiving. The men and their private aircraft were placed in unusual situations where the team's special skills and abilities were needed. This led them on weekly adventures from chasing criminals to performing daring, if not occasionally absurd, rescues.

The series starred Larry Pennell (who portrayed Dash Riprock on The Beverly Hillbillies) as Ted McKeever and Ken Curtis (who became famous as Festus on Gunsmoke) as Jim Buckley, his older mentor. Pilot Chuck Lambert, as played by Paul Comi, was replaced for the second season by Charlie Kern, portrayed by Shug Fisher (who also appeared on The Beverly Hillbillies as Shorty Kellems).

Guest stars included Harry Carey, Jr., Lee Van Cleef, Pat Conway, Richard Eastham, Lang Jeffries, Dayton Lummis, Tyler McVey, Denver Pyle, and the then little-known James Coburn.

The stuntmen performing the actual skydiving were Bob Fleming (a non-sked airline pilot) and Joe Mangione, who were both from Brooklyn, New York. Fleming also doubled as the pilot at the controls when not involved in the scene.

The show sponsored a popular Ripcord toy consisting of a large plastic parachute with a skydiver figure attached which could be thrown in the air and would float to the ground.- from Wikipedia

Art by Ray Bailey.

Comic Book Short Story~ The Trackdown

From Dell Four Color #1124, August 1960.

One hundred eleven episodes of this syndicated show were produced between 1956 and 1959, debuting in the US in January 1957. Chuck and P.T. own a helicopter company that is hired to perform all types of jobs.

Ray Bailey drew this comic book adaption. Here is one of the 2 stories, plus the InfoPages.