Smokey Stover
|
|
Smokey Stover was a semi-surreal newspaper comic strip drawn by Bill Holman from March 10, 1935 until he retired in 1973, and distributed through the Chicago Tribune. It featured Smokey the firefighter, in his two-wheel firetruck called "The Foomobile", his wife Cookie, with the questionmark pompadour, odd bits of philosophy, and recurrent signs reading "Notary Sojac" and "1506 Nix Nix". T, for example. Holman described the phrase "Notary Sojac" as Gaelic for "horsecrap" and as Gaelic for "Merry Christmas".[1] (http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=2413&si=126) "Foo" was one of these recurring nonsense words and was taken up by World War II's "Foo Fighters". Smokey Stover wore a completely non-functional hat with a hole in the bill--probably a pun-ish reference to Bill Holman.
Smokey's truck may be of special interest to modern technologists as it is somewhat similar to to but substantially predates the modern Segway personal transporter.
External links
- Toonopedia: Smokey Stover (http://www.toonopedia.com/smokey.htm)
- A brief homage to Smokey Stover. (http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=2413&si=126)
- The Straight Dope: "What's the origin of 'notary sojac'? (http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/msojac.html)