Gasoline Alley Daily, 26 May 1920

Although most of the pre-Skeezix Gasoline Alley strips have not yet been reprinted (the earliest are scheduled to appear in book form in mid 2014), this is the earliest example I have ever seen of Walt Wallet's oft-used catch phrase about the merits of being single.

8-12-2015: it turns out that Walt had used this famous phrase several times before King drew this original. The first use of a form of the saying occurred on September 5, 1919, when he uttered "They say this is a free country. It is if you know when you're well off!" On September 13, 1919, in the middle of the first road trip sequence of Gasoline Alley, Walt used similar wording to the phrase which he eventually became known for during his time as a batchelor, but phrased it in the form of a question, "Do I know when I'm well off?" After using the question form one more time on September 25, 1919, King finally came up with the standard wording on October 17, 1919, "I'll say I know when I'm well off!"