"Brenda Starr" Comic Strip to End After 70 Years

[Brian Damage]

The worst thing to happen to journalists since the recession has officially happened: Ace reporter Brenda Starr — and thus, the Brenda Starr comic strip — is hanging up her hat, not long after two other comic heroines (Annie and Cathy) also retired. The strip, created by Dale Messick, will take its final bow Jan. 2, more than 70 years after it first debuted. And though, admittedly, Brenda Starr was always a comic I grazed past while making my way to One Big Happy or Zits, I’ll still contend that its mere presence will be greatly missed. (And that her strip subliminally convinced me to become a journalist. Her fashion! My sweatpants!) Because, you see, the funnies page is a little like Jenga: Remove one piece, and the whole thing will never look quite the same. Heck, can you imagine how empty you’d feel seeing a newspaper without Doonesbury or Family Circus? (And that’s coming from someone who hates the Bil Keane strip more than Garfield hates Mondays.)

It’s especially sad to see Brenda Starr go, considering how much she’s accomplished in pop culture. Syndicated in over 250 newspapers in the 1950s, Brenda Starr even inspired a late-’80s movie starring Brooke Shields as the fabulous (snaps!) journalist. Sure, the film was no instant-classic — EW’s own Owen Gleiberman gave the film an F, calling it “one of the worst movies ever made” — but being the basis of the worst movie about journalism ever made is a distinction nonetheless, right?

So, let’s salute the fiery legend that is Ms. Starr, even if we spent the majority of our childhoods skipping her in order to get to The Far Side. What’s your favorite Brenda Starr memory, PopWatchers?

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/12/09/br...3A+PopWatch%29

[TV Knowledge Fan]

...as the last newspaper to publish it in my area, the Newark STAR-LEDGER, discontinued carrying it several years ago. I don't even know who's writing and drawing it these days! "{Little Orphan} Annie", by Jay Maeder & Ted Slampyak, was discontinued this past June because not enough newspapers were carrying her strip, either- but the New York DAILY NEWS, her "flagship paper", continued to publish it until the end, yet they dropped "Brenda Starr", years before. I can only hope the recent strips are published in some permanent form- paperback or hardcover- so people can see, at least, how the storyline ultimately wrapped itself up...or didn't?

[tv star collector]

Most memorable moment: her marriage to her longtime "mystery man," Basil
St. John, of course!

A brief history of the strip: Eternally 23 years old, the saucer-eyed girl
reporter Brenda Starr has spent seven decades solving murders, capturing
jewel thieves, hunting polar bears and foiling spies. At the age of 28, Dale
Messick left her hometown of Hobart, Indiana, and struck out for New York
and a career in the comics. Her qualifications: a year at Chicago's Art Institute and a summer spent painting bathing beauties on oilcloth tire covers.
During her first months in New York, she designed greeting cards. Then the
Chicago Tribune asked her for a trial comic strip. She decided a girl reporter
would be exciting. Messick, who started the strip on June 30, 1940, decided
to marry off Brenda, in January, 1976, after going through old strips and
noticing how many times the wedding had been postponed.

"Brenda Starr" first came to the movie screen in the forties, in a Columbia
production, a slightly above average crime yarn enlivened somewhat by Kane
Richmond as the cop in love with Brenda.

Brenda Starr also appeared in comic books, between 1947 and 1963, published
by 4 Star, Superior, Charlton, and Dell.

In 1976, Jill St. John portrayed Brenda Starr in an ABC-TV movie. In the film,
the intrepid newspaperwoman becomes involved in voodoo, extortion and
strange doings in the jungles of Brazil. But it's all played too straight to be
fun in this below average TV-movie.

In 1978, Sherry Jackson played the lovely comic strip heroine in a slightly
better half-hour syndicated TV pilot.

Then, in 1986, Brooke Shields starred in a motion picture version of "Brenda
Starr" (whose release was delayed), co-starring Timothy Dalton as her
mystery man, Basil St. John (a strange dude who wears an eyepatch and
depends on a black orchid serum to stay sane). To play the part, Brooke had
to dye her brown hair red and had to learn to type and take shorthand. She
has always been a fan of the comic strip, and she read more of the strips to
prepare herself for the part and to further understand the character. Although
Brooke had a stunt double (Cheryl Wheeler) for the picture, she insisted on
doing many of her own stunts, including swinging on a trapeze to escape
Russian agents, riding a fake alligator down the St. John's River, rescuing co-
star Tony Peck from a boa constrictor in a jungle pit and galloping a horse into
the belly of a C-123 transport plane (accompanied by Timothy Dalton). Much
of the film was shot in Puerto Rico, with a $15 million budget.

In 1995, Brenda Starr was one of 20 classic comic strips to be commemorated
on a U.S. postage stamp.

[catlover79]

I had no idea it was even still around!!

[biffbronson]

The shrunken size now forced on strips in print format has really hurt the episodic comic strips -- there just isn't much room for action and story, or to catch the reader's attention. Other "gag-a-day" strips can do OK in miniature, but soap opera strips and others with realistic, continuing storylines are being squeezed out.

As for comic strips in general, newspapers over the past few decades have deemphasized them in various ways -- and then they wonder why they aren't attracting young, new readers. It used to be that the comics drew the very young people into the newspaper habit. Papers have cut off the roots of their own tree, so to speak.

[tv star collector]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

The shrunken size now forced on strips in print format has really hurt the episodic comic strips -- there just isn't much room for action and story, or to catch the reader's attention. Other "gag-a-day" strips can do OK in miniature, but soap opera strips and others with realistic, continuing storylines are being squeezed out.

As for comic strips in general, newspapers over the past few decades have deemphasized them in various ways -- and then they wonder why they aren't attracting young, new readers. It used to be that the comics drew the very young people into the newspaper habit. Papers have cut off the roots of their own tree, so to speak.

Exactly! Our local paper hasn't run a daily serial strip in years (or decades),
and the only serious strip in the Sunday edition is Prince Valiant. Of
course, many of those strips are available now online (which is probably where
most youngsters spend much of their free time anyway).

[Schmoopie]

It's sad what's happened to comic strips these days. Peanuts is the best IMO, but some of the newer comics just aren't funny, or else they leave me scratching my head. It's very rare that I see the older ones any more. Wow, 70 years is a long time. Too bad it's come to an end.

[Marvo301]

Thank God Brenda Starr hung around long enough to have Brooke Shields play her in a movie!! Now that I think of it that might have been the beginning of the end for Ms. Starr!!

[tv star collector]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

Thank God Brenda Starr hung around long enough to have Brooke Shields play her in a movie!! Now that I think of it that might have been the beginning of the end for Ms. Starr!!

I have that movie on VHS. It's actually not too bad. Brooke did admit to being a fan of the comic strip, and Timothy Dalton was perfectly cast as
Basil St. John. For some reason, the film's release was delayed (and even
then only had a limited distribution). Still, it offers some good escapism,
plenty of adventure, and (by the way) Shields did most of her own stunts.