Sunday Funnies
Back in the late thirties and forties
there was no television. There were some afternoon radio
serial programs of super heroes like the “Lone Ranger” and
“Terri and the Pirates”, and we had comic books. No
entertainment for children was more special than the Sunday
funnies. They were in color and consumed a large part of
the paper.
A great delight was the Sunday morning radio show that read
the Sunday funnies while we followed along at home. This
part of the paper was not thrown away. We kept the funnies
for several days into the week. As a preschool boy my
greatest anticipation of going to school was to learn to
read so I could read the funnies.
I was very excited that first day of school. I came with my
Blue Horse tablet and a new #2 pencil ready to start
reading. I had been told that when I started to school I
would learn to read and I took that to mean immediately.
After a few comments from the teacher, she had us follow
her with our tablet and pencil as she drew two circles, one
on top of the other, on the blackboard. She continued by
putting ears, tail, eyes, nose, and mouth on the drawing.
This was fun and I liked cats, but it didn’t seem to relate
to reading.
After this we went outside for about thirty minutes. When
we came back to the classroom we were told to put our heads
on our desks and rest. Surely reading would come next. Then
the principal came in and welcomed us to school. On our
first day at school we were dismissed early.
We hadn’t had any reading. I thought that maybe I had
learned to read and just didn’t know it. As soon as I
arrived home, I got the funnies out to see, but I still
couldn’t read a word and I started to cry. Mother comforted
me and explained that it would take a little time to reach
my goal.
Soon I got my first reading book and I began to read. Boy!
Could that baby run!