The History of Undertoad Comics

Chapter 4: UT Takes the US

After regrouping and restarting the company in early 1919, Clara and Aloysius quickly proved to be an outstanding partnership. With Clara taking full artistic control of all comics and with the then 20-year-old Aloysius taking over all business and advertising responsibilities, Under Toad entered a golden age that was to last most of the next twenty years. Never before or since (with the possible exception of the present resurgence) has Undertoad proven so universally acclaimed or unwaveringly popular.

a shot from Big City Heartache 5

Clara began writing powerful new stories, expressing and externalizing the pain of losing her husband and her father under such circumstances. She also took on the task of providing her own photos for the stories, eventually far surpassing her father’s solid but unimaginative work. She quickly began experimenting with photography in a variety of ways. Inspired largely by the famed motion studies of Eadweard Muybridge and later the surrealism of Man Ray, the comics took on a unique look, readily identified for their languid pacing, strange staging, and atmospheric panels.

It was during this period that she created such all-time classic stories as The Lugubrious Lady; Wisconsin Ave. Fog; Tall Building/Small Heart; and Big City Heartache Parts 1-3, 5, 9, and 12-19.

Meanwhile, Aloysius showed a true flourish for advertising that brought Clara’s work, already a Milwaukee staple, to millions of readers from coast to coast. His imaginative ads (including mocked up pictures of famous stars and fictional characters happily reading the latest adventures) and dogged persistence got the company into the eyes of the public at large. The logo was everywhere from pins to posters, buildings to bulldozers, on the radio and at the market. The comic even earned the spotlight in a brief Sunday supplement to the fledgling Milwaukee Journal. Unfortunately, this was short-lived.

Aloysius with "Cow" Whitley
c. 1926

Following a long series of punctuation errors by a drunken, (supposedly) unpaid and unsolicited sky-writer by the name of Anthony “Cow” Whitley, the term Undertoad became one word in the minds of much of the public. Aloysius took to this, even doing a series of print ads in which a comic book surfaced on the shore of a crowded beach, inspiring attractively posed people to snap the classic catchphrase, “Don’t You Dare Avoid the Undertoad!” This of course was also the title of a much beloved and terrifically popular song in 1927 for the “medical musician” Dr. 88 and his Gold-Tone Lady-Killer Swinging Singing Sultans.

This in turn led to a brief craze for a dance step coined “The Undertoad” which itself was later a major influence on the animators of the beloved cartoon classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Aloysius was also able to grab a large number of top movie stars from the period including Mary Pickford, Fatty Arbuckle, Janet Gaynor, Douglas Fairbanks, James Murray, and the beauteous Lillian Gish (though there is more about her to come). Certainly the most notable (and arguably the most talented) actress to transition to comics was Holly Bell, a favorite of both Clara and of Aloysius. She appeared in over 40 comics throughout the twenties and early thirties before she retired and disappeared. Inspired by her numerous appearances, current Undertoad writer and artist Charlie Beck created one of his most famous and best-respected features, Good Night Holly, using archived photos of the silent starlet along with newly shot pictures.

Even Charlie Chaplin is rumored to have posed for a comic in the mid-20s. Legend has it that he was not satisfied with the results and demanded that all negatives be destroyed in front of him. In later years Clara refused to comment on the alleged episode while the notoriously unreliable Alloysius vehemently confirmed it. At any rate, the anecdote is an amusing and appropriate yarn in the jumbled history of Undertoad.

By 1932, Undertoad Comics had reached the peak of its success with millions of readers and unprecedented profit. Clara and Aloysius were nationally known celebrities, invited to important parties and featured on the covers of a variety of popular magazines. Unfortunately, a series of unfortunate scandals were still to shake the company to its knees.