Napoleon

Napoleon and his owner Uncle Elby first appeared in Clifford McBride’s pantomime comic that was usually printed in various newspapers’ Sunday magazine. Napoleon was a large and clumsy, but extremely clever dog of undermined breed. His playfulness led to all kinds of misadventures, but he was just as apt to save a child or protect a small defenseless animal. Many of the strips were pantomime; as McBride explained in the first strip, there’ll be little conversation. I hate lettering.” That first Napoleon daily strip appeared on June 6, 1932. It was distributed by LaFave Newspaper Features a minor syndicate. A Sunday strip was added in 1933. Napoleon moved to the McNaught Syndicate enabling it to reach a wider audience. In the late 1940’s McBride was ill and many strips were created by pasting panels of old strips together and rewording them. Much of the art was also handled by McBride’s assistant, Roger Armstrong. After McBride’s death in 1951, his second wife Margot wrote the strip with art by Armstrong. The strip switched syndicates again in 1952, this time to Mirror Enterprises Syndicate. Joseph Messerli took over the art at this point. He was followed by Ed Nofziger. The Sunday strip ended in 1955; the daily continued until 1960. In 1970, the strip was revived by Margot McBride and artist Foster Moore. It was distributed by a fourth syndicate, Al Smith Service.