Ching Chow
(1927-1971) by Sidney Smith, and later Stanley Link and Will
Henry
(1975-1980) by Rocco Lotito, Will Levinson and Henri Arnold
From the Toon Encylopedia:
Ching Chow, a daily newspaper panel, is the sort of syndicated cartoon feature
that isn't likely to be duplicated today, for two reasons. First and most obvious,
it displayed a severe racial stereotype.. But even if were
modified to eliminate that, it was a type of cartoon that was popular a long
time ago, but has fallen entirely out of favor — a single newspaper column
wide, with a single character, wise in the ways of homespun philosophy, dispensing
one-liners purporting to impart words to live by. The genre started in 1904
with Kin Hubbard's Abe Martin, and the form was picked up by Aunt Het, Flapper
Fanny and more. Ching, who started in 1927 and was seen at least as recently
as 1980, was its longest-lasting practitioner.
Sidney Smith was the "name" partner in the team that created Ching,
because he was famous as the man behind The Gumps, one of the most popular comics
of the time. The other, Stanley Link (the "produce the content" partner),
worked as his assistant, but later became known for creating the popular Tiny
Tim. The panel was distributed by The Chicago Tribune/New York Daily News Syndicate,
which also did even more popular comics, including Dick Tracy, Gasoline Alley
and Terry & the Pirates.
With a round face, a long queue sticking straight up from his head and a hugely
toothy grin, Ching Chow was the very epitome of a stereotyped Chinese from
right about then. He imparted his wisdom-packed one-liners in the style of
a fortune cookie, but sometimes with what passed at the time for a slightly
more "Asian-ized" accent. Often, they were prefaced by "It is
truly written", "It is wisely said", or some similar faux attribution.
Sometimes he self-effacingly took credit himself with "In my useless opinion" or
spread it around widely with "Who can deny …".
Ching wasn't quite so visually static as a stereotype with a word balloon.
He was usually shown in the middle of doing something out of the ordinary — rolling
downhill in a barrel, holding a balloon shaped like his own head, staring down
a bear, even being crushed under a rock. But with only one panel, readers saw
neither how he got into that situation, nor how it came out.
Smith signed the cartoon until his death in 1935. Without a noticeable change
in style, Link then began signing it, and continued to do so until his own
death in 1957. After that it was signed by Link's former assistant, Will Henry,
who isn't known for other work in comics. It ended in 1971, but was revived
in '75 by Rocco Lotto and Will Levinson, who are similarly uncredited elsewhere
in the field. Over the years, especially after Link's tenure, Ching Chow gradually
took on a more modern, mainstream Asian look.
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