Gasoline Alley August 23, 1920 by Frank King

Here is something I've been pining over for sometime, a pre-Skeezix Gasoline Alley. This one dates from 1920 so getting on 103 years old now. The strip started out in late November of 1918 with gags about a local group of car enthusiasts. Over time certain ones became more of the focus of the strip until Walt found Skeezix on his doorstep on Valentine's Day of 1914. Then the ride began and what a ride it was. It is the story of America. It is the great American novel.

This example is fun as we already see Walt's fastidious nature tempered with true compassion. He would show the same conscientiousness and loving forgiveness with Skeezix. Here he is giving Ivan a ride and the whole time he talks about the things Ivan might notice is wrong with the car but in a tone that is understanding and forgiving.

Walt is my hero.

This appears to have been given as a Christmas gift in 1959 with a nice signature by Frank. The year 1921 is written in by King. I assume that King knew this was a pre-Skeezix example but couldn't remember the date of it some 40 years later and took a guess at the 1921. I have the reference material and was able to find it having been published in August of 1920. The strip had been cropped tightly. The few other ones I have seen of this era have been similarly cropped but others have not. Also, in my quick search I found 2 others that were gifted by King for Christmas in 1959, a good year I suppose to be on the King Family Christmas card mailing list!