Mager, Gus

Gus Mager is most well known to comic strip fans for his Sherlocko the Monk strip, which later became Hawkshaw the Detective. The name change occured because A. Conan Doyle & Co. didn't like Mager's use of Sherlock in his Sherlock Holmes-inspired strip.

Lesser known to cartoon fans, but maybe even more important, was the role of Mager's characters in creating the names of four icons. Mager always used characters whose names ended in "o". Their names were sort of Hawthornian, in that they revealed something about their personalities: Henpecko, Tightwaddo, Forgetto, Boneheado, etc. You get the point. Well, back in the days of vaudeville, there was an act made up of four brothers named Arthur, Herbert, Leonard and Julius. They were given livlier nicknames by a fellow trouper (Art Fisher. Thanks Glen G.) during a card game. His influence for the names wasMager's "Sherlocko the Monk". Those vaudevillians were: Harpo, Zeppo, Chico and Groucho Marx.

While I own one lovely, early Sherlocko the Monk original, I was also lucky enough to purchase a sketchbook that belonged to Mager. The sketches date from the 50s and some of them are really quite charming. I believe this to be Mager's last sketchbook before he passed away in 1956.