Sunday, July 5, 2009

Bangola

Pogo, as published 45 years ago today, is written only as Kelly could write it. Bizarre and funny.

The sound effect of 'Bangola' is too similar to 'payola' to think that isn't what Kelly was referring to. But it seems to be an oblique reference. For debaffling sake, here is a summary of 'payola', as found on the internet:

Payola -  The paying of cash or gifts in exchange for airplay.

"Payola" is a contraction of the words "pay" and"Victrola" (LP record player), and entered the English language via the record business. The first court case involving payola was in 1960. On May 9, Alan Freed was indicted for accepting $2,500 which he claimed was a token of gratitude and did not affect airplay. He paid a small fine and was released. His career faltered and in 1965 he drank himself to death. 

Before Alan Freed's indictment, payola was not illegal, however, but commercial bribery was. After the trial, the anti-payola statute was passed under which payola became a misdemeanor, penalty by up to $10,000 in fines and one year in prison.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

another nice Sunday page. and a nice story. charlie

Dave said...

Do you suppose all those captions with arrows on them are a little jab at Chester Gould's overuse of that device in Dick Tracy around this time?

Thomas Haller Buchanan said...

Yes, in fact there were other Sundays when the strip was a direct parody of Dick Tracy and Orphan Annie from 1963, with Trick Dacey and L'il Halfananny. I will make a special post of those sometime soonish.