WINNIE WINKLE 1924 Original Comic Strip Art BRANNER NR

• WINNIE WINKLE, THE BREAD WINNER
  
• Martin Branner
  
• March 7, 1924
  
• Original Comic Strip Art
• Ink on Illustration Board
  
• Daily (21" x 7")
  
• Chicago Tribune
  
• Certificate of Authenticity (COA) from The Cricket Gallery
  
• Black Ink on Illustration Board
• "Winnie Winkle, Breadwinner" printed on back
  
• Written on front in pencil: "Fri, Winnie Winkle  Fri Mar. 7, 1924, Winnie gets an earlful."
  
  

Winnie Winkle was an American comic strip which appeared over a 76-year span from 1920 to 1996. Created by Martin Branner, who wrote the strip for over 40 years, Winnie Winkle was one of the first comic strips about working women. The main character, Winnie, was a young woman who had to support her parents and adopted brother, serving as a reflection of the changing role of women in society. The strip ran in more than 100 newspapers for several decades, and translations of the strip's Sunday pages (focusing on her little brother and his gang) were made available in Europe.

The comic strip Winnie Winkle was created in 1920 for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate and debuted on September 20, 1920. It was called Winnie Winkle the Breadwinner until 1943. The idea for the comic was conceived by Joseph Medill Patterson, but the stories and artwork were all done by Branner, who had made two unsuccessful comic strips earlier. The eponymous character Winnie Winkle was a young, unmarried woman who had to support her parents, making it the first popular comic strip about working women. It was a reflection of the new role of women in society, as could also be seen in comics like Tillie the Toiler from 1921.

During its first years, the daily Winnie Winkle comic strip evolved from a gagstrip into a soap opera. A new character was introduced in the form of Perry, a little boy from the backstreets, whom the Winkles adopted in 1922. The focus of the Sunday pages then shifted to the adventures of Perry at home, school and on the streets. Although compelled to wear a duffel coat and fancy clothes, he continued to frequent his old neighborhood gang the Rinkydinks, who, in contrast, still wore torn and patchy clothing and were regarded by Winnie as "loafers." One member of the Rinkydinks was the dunce, Denny Dimwit, who popularized the catch phrase, "Youse is a good boy, Denny."

Other major plot elements were the marriage of Winnie with engineer Will Wright in 1937, and the disappearance of Will during World War II, leaving a pregnant Winnie behind. Even this realistic and unfortunate situation was still too risqué for some newspapers: The Baltimore Sun dropped the comic strip early in 1941 because of the pregnancy of Winnie.The comic strip changed significantly over the years; with Winnie working in the fashion industry after the war, seemingly as a widow, until her husband returned after a few decades. She took on various other jobs and endeavors over the years, including a stint in the Peace Corps.

Winnie Winkle ended on July 28, 1996, after 76 years, one of the longest runs in American comic strip history. Tribune Media Service, the syndicate that distributed the comic strip, decided to end the comic strip because they "felt that the Winnie Winkle character was not recognized as a contemporary role model for the '90s." At the time, the strip was carried by only a handful of newspapers. {from Wikipedia}