A BIRTHDAY SALUTE to the great cartoonist…
By PETER BOSCH
Continuing where the 90th anniversary salute to Terry and the Pirates by Milton Caniff left off (on October 20, 2024), here is a look at Male Call, the special comic strip that Caniff wrote and drew (for free) from January 24, 1943 through March 3, 1946 for the U.S. military’s service members.
March 19, 1944
As previously mentioned, Caniff had developed a special once-a-week strip of Terry and the Pirates with its blonde femme fatale Burma interacting with the soldiers on military bases, but the wrath of a Florida newspaper publisher soon changed things. He was paying for the privilege of printing the regular Terry and the Pirates newspaper strip in his territory and he discovered a competitor was publishing the military version in a civilian newspaper for free. (This was not meant to be, as it was being ripped off from the soldiers’ newspapers.)
Military version strip of Terry and the Pirates with Burma. November 15, 1942.
Caniff did a quick fix by changing the service strip’s name to Male Call and exited Burma, replacing her with a new character, Miss Lace… who became mighty popular on her own.
The first Male Call strip, January 24, 1943. Out with Burma, in with Miss Lace.
Miss Lace was the darling of the troops… sassy, loving, and a staunch defender of the ordinary G.I. Joe. She called them “Generals” and “Admirals,” because to her they were worthy of that level of respect. It wasn’t that the real high-ranking military personnel did not rank highly with her, it was just that – as she explained it to officers – “It sounds sorta corny to tell it, but I’ve got a job to do till you all get back to striped neckties!… You brassies rate a salute from all E.M. – but Joe Gee often forgets that civilians would like to touch their caps to him, if they knew how!… I’m here to provide someone to salute him first!… Then he passes it on to you!”
In honor of Milton Caniff’s birthday (born February 28, 1907), here are some of Male Call’s best strips with Miss Lace (at least that we feel safe in showing, LOL):
Cover to a collection of Male Call strips from 1959.
Milton Caniff (standing), letterer Frank Engli, and Miss Lace model Dorothy Partington (ca. 1944).
August 1, 1943
October 10, 1943
February 6, 1944
February 20, 1944
March 26, 1944
June 18, 1944
December 24, 1944
March 3, 1946 — the last strip
Special drawing by Caniff for San Diego Comic-Con, 1982
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MORE
— TERRY AND THE PIRATES: A 90th ANNIVERSARY Salute to One of Comics’ Greatest Strips. Click here.
— 13 Fabulous FLASH GORDON STRIPS: An ALEX RAYMOND Birthday Celebration. Click here.
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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. (You can buy it here.) A sequel, American Movie Comic Books: 1930s-1970s — From the Silver Screen to the Printed Page, is due in 2025. (You can pre-order here.) Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.
March 1, 2025
I have loved Miss Lace since I stumbled on an old (I think!) Life Magazine article on her in the bound editions in my High School library about 1977 or so. I always wondered if Miss Lace might be actually a lot more innocent than she let on!