Merry Christmas! Here is a collection of all our Christmas comic strips!
This first Christmas strip was originally published in 2011 and is based on the classic script first performed by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff in 1933.
The painting is called “Foller th’ East Star” and is adapted from an intaglio print I did in a graduate-level printmaking class at the University of Texas at Tyler in 1984.
It also turned up as the cover of the first December edition of the National Lum and Abner Society’s publication The Jot ‘Em Down Journal also in 1984.
Writer/artist: Donnie Pitchford
1933 Lum and Abner script: Chester Lauck & Norris Goff
Music: Chris McPherson playing the Alabama Theatre Wurlitzer,
courtesy of the National Lum and Abner Society.
Additional audio from the 1946 Lum and Abner Christmas broadcast.
2021 announcer: Dr. Joe Oliver.
This second Christmas strip is also based on the classic script first performed in 1933. This time the illustrations are ones I produced for the December 1986 issue of the National Lum and Abner Society’s publication The Jot ‘Em Down Journal. These ink-and-wash drawings were used to illustrate an adaptation by Tim Hollis of the classic radio episode. Composer-musician Marc Ridgeway provided special music this year.
Writer/artist: Donnie Pitchford
1933 Lum and Abner script: Chester Lauck & Norris Goff
Music: Marc Ridgeway.
Additional audio from the 1946 Lum and Abner Christmas broadcast.
2021 announcer: Dr. Joe Oliver.
The third Christmas strip is based on a cartoon by Chester Lauck from the 1930s! The character design is my own, to reflect that of the ongoing comic strip. Rather than pen and ink, I opted to paint the image in acrylics on canvas board. Special music is again performed by Marc Ridgeway!
Writer/artist: Donnie Pitchford
Image based on a cartoon by: Chester Lauck
Music: Marc Ridgeway.
2021 announcer: Dr. Joe Oliver.
Our fourth Christmas comic strip takes you back to Christmas Eve 1953 for the misadventures of Lum and Abner attempting to decorate the schoolhouse Christmas tree! The illustrations were produced in 1989 for a comic book-style adaptation published in The Jot ‘Em Down Journal by The National Lum and Abner Society. Special music is again performed by Marc Ridgeway!
Incidentally, the “back… back… back…” time machine audio effects were ones I built in 1992 when I hosted a local radio show called The Time Machine which featured vintage music and classic Old Time Radio!
Writer/artist: Donnie Pitchford
Original script (probably by): Carl Herzinger
Vintage audio: Lum and Abner, December 24, 1953.
Music: Marc Ridgeway.
2021 announcer: Dr. Joe Oliver.
The fifth Christmas strip is based on a Lum and Abner broadcast from 1947. The illustrations were produced in 1991 for a printing of that radio script which was published in The Jot ‘Em Down Journal by The National Lum and Abner Society. I chose to base the style of the drawings on that of Chester Lauck as he drew the characters in 1932.
Special music was performed by Marc Ridgeway!
Writer/artist: Donnie Pitchford
Original script (probably by): Roswell B. Rogers
Music: Marc Ridgeway.
2021 announcer: Dr. Joe Oliver.
Click here for Part 2!
Lum and Abner Comic Strip 