The Story of JANE (or a reasonable facsimile, thereof...)

[cartoonjoe2004]

Y'know, folks, I've been curious about Norman Pett's Jane comic strip ever since I saw an example of the strip in Mort Walker's book Backstage at the Strips (1975), which reprinted the oft-seen episode where Jane, while taking a bath, falls out of the tub and into a cafe filled with horny (and APPRECIATIVE) British soldiers.

Most comic strip histories, if they discuss the British newspaper strips at all, generally concentrate on Jane's popularity with the soldiers during World War Two, and most of the strip's reprint volumes, particularly the huge Jane at War (1976) omnibus, which reprints every strip produced between 4 September 1939 and 14 August 1945 bear this out (indeed, the most recent reprint volume, The Misadventures of Jane {2008} re-presents three continuities already printed in that earlier volume!!)

My curiosity was about those strips published prior to the start of WWII, and since no one has as yet done a detailed search (of course that could be because, until fairly recently, relatively few historians have had access to copies of The Daily Mirror, the newspaper that published Jane for the entirety of its run), I thought I'd take a whack at it, myself!

Jane's Journal, or "The Diary of a Bright Young Thing" first saw the light of day on 5 December 1932, and, from the beginning, was a somewhat dull affair, as Jane Gay, a somewhat dizzy young socialite, got into the usual business of fashions, parties and suitors, situations indistinguishable from most other pretty girl series of the era.

Her one distinguishing characteristic, however, was in the strip's presentation as pages in her actual diary, with her handwritten entries superimposed over the somewhat scratchy illustration style of cartoonist Norman Pett, who depicted his heroine as tall and slender, with an almost boyish physique (not that were were able to see; except for the standard dressing table/dressing gown scene, we rarely saw Jane in anything more revealing than gym shorts in those first couple of years).

But, of course, you all out there are wondering: "Yo, when do she start takin' her clothes off?!"

It was an slow process, to be sure, but the earliest example I could find was on 28 April 1936 (fig. 1), in which Jane, while collecting rent from some rather burly tenants, comes away from the incident with her clothes in tatters, though revealing little more than bare shoulders, but, still, you've got to start somewhere.

A more notable event occurred some four months later, on 19 August 1936 (fig. 2), in which our Miss Jane, while swimming in the sea, gets her legs tangled in seaweed and is rescued by a passing boatman who, in attempting to ffect said rescue, inadvertently removes Jane's top.

But the strips turning point happened in the spring of 1937, which finds our Jane on holiday (that's vacation to the rest of us) showing off her newly voluptuized figure in a succession of swimsuits, which for 1937 were pretty skimpy, indeed. One strip from this era (24 April 1937 {fig. 3}) shows Jane's earliest Embarrassed Undressed Female, or EUF moment, when she accidentally shows a crowd of people her half slip.

The biggest moment in Jane's history is yet to come. Stay tuned.

[cartoonjoe2004]

[B]Throughout the late spring and early summer of 1937, Jane continued her adventures by the seaside, continuing to have more and more embarrassing situations in the bargain (Jane's little dog Fritz gets into a fight with another dog over Jane's dress; she ends up leaving the scene in tatters; Jane shows off her new beach wrap to her friends, but neglects to put on her bathing suit underneath; Jane puts on her daring new swimsuit upside-down, etc.)...but the ultimate embarrassment was just around the corner.

In early August of 1937, Jane and Fritz take a hiking trip through the English countryside (not the first time she's done this; she took a similar excursion in 1935), encountering a number of increasingly comical eccentrics along the way.

On Saturday, 28 August 1937, The Daily Mirror published for the first (but not last) time, a full-page Jane's Journal episode, titled "She Goes Nudist" (fig. 4), in which Our Jane, for the very first time, strips off ALL HER CLOTHES in the woods to take a bath...and has her clothes promptly stolen by an escaped convict. Completely and utterly naked, our Jane dons a discarded newspaper (possibly the Mirror), and tries to infiltrate a nearby nudist colony, only to be barred from entry for "cheating", after which, in an episode printed on the opposite page (fig. 5), she is just as promptly arrested by the local cops.

Th flood gates were open, ladiers and gentlemen, and thank the Lord for Norman Pett for turning the valve!![B]

[cartoonjoe2004]

For the remainder of 1937, and into 1938 and beyond, Jane would continue to be thrust into a myriad of situations where she (and in th coming years, some of her accquaintances) would find themselves in increasingly embarrassing states of undress.

Figure 6 (2 September 1937) is a direct sequel to the events of late August, and would lead to Jane embarking on a career as an artist's model, a trade that would serve her well during the war years.

Figure 7 and 7a (11 September 1937) finds Our Jane dealing with uninvited guests while she's in the bath, something that happens to her a *lot* during this early period, and incrasing in frequency into the war years and beyond.

Our next illustration (Fig. 8, 2 October 1937) finds one of Jane's friends in the midst of a striptease act---AT A CHURCH!! Even though our Jane is fully dressed, she stills suffers extreme embarrassment in this situation.

(I've also included page 20 of The Daily Mirror for 2October{fig. 8a} to show how the paper oriented their comics in those days, with perrennial childhood favorite Pip, Squeak and Wilfred at the top, and the increasingly saucy Jane's Journal at the bottom, a rather jarring juxposition...kinda like playing Barney and Friends back-to-back with Sex and The City, don't you think?)

[cartoonjoe2004]

More Jane's Journal strips from 1937-38.

[nothere]

This is a great series. Thanks for the history.

[cartoonjoe2004]

Originally Posted by nothere

This is a great series. Thanks for the history.

The pleasure is all mine, nothere...Jane is a big inspiration on my own strip, For the Love of Miss Truth, as well as many other comics, cartoons, movies and TV programs far too numerous to mention. This is just my way of paying tribute.

[Lotfw]

Excellent work Joe

I knew there was more to see than what was printed in the mentioned books....

[cartoonjoe2004]

Indeed there is, Lotfw...the Jane's Journal strips actually get funnier after 1933 or so. For example, Jane's little dog Fritz actually has a personality in these mid-30s continuities, and Jane herself becomes a rather resourceful young lady, sort of like Fritzi Ritz before she got saddled with Nancy.

I'll post more info on Jane in the next few days.

Thank you for the kind words!

[johnnycancer]

This is really, really fascinating. I am really glad that you took the time to compile all of these strips and post them. Thank you.

johnnycancer

[apeyboy]

Haha, good shit! Thx!