Help Locating Torchy Brown in From Dixie to Harlem

[JGray]

Hello! I run a site called the Golden Dames Project. We present complete (and public domain) comic stories featuring empowered female characters or from female creators with commentary.

High on my list of characters/creators I want to spotlight is Torchy Brown. Torchy Brown is probably the first African-American, female lead of a comic strip and was created by Jackie Ormes who was either the first female African-American comic creator or one of the first. Torchy Brown appeared in two comic strips. The first, Torchy Brown in From Dixie to Harlem ran in the Pittsburgh Courier from 1937-1938 and tells the tale of a young woman moving from the south to the north to perform at the Cotton Club. The second was Torchy in Heartbeats which ran from 1950 to 1954.

My research suggests the first comic, From Dixie to Harlem, is in the public domain. I'd very much like to spotlight it but am having a devil of a time finding more than a handful of strips out there. I was hoping someone on this forum might be able to help me. Torchy Brown and Ms. Ormes occupy an amazing and important place in comic history and they deserve to be spotlighted.

Thanks!

[Yoc]

Hi J,
This is the first I've heard of the character.  I just looked it up on the Library of Congress catalogue and they don't have anything either.  That was likely the best change of getting it here.
I'd suggest using Google to check their newspaper archives and maybe you can find the Pittsburgh Courier pages you need.

Good luck on this,
-Yoc

[JGray]

Unfortunately, the Courier's archives are only available via a pay service and I can't see any guarantee that it contains actual images of the comics - or images I could use if they were there.

[Yoc]

Would contacting them and asking perhaps confirm it was worth the price?  You might be the only person that will ever look into the subject.

Good luck!

[JGray]

Success! I found a site that archives newspapers (and happens to give a free seven day trial). They archived the Pittsburgh Courier which only published on Saturdays at the time. I grabbed each comic page so I now have a complete archive of From Dixie to Harlem. The reader who requested I spotlight the comic will be quite happy.

[Yoc]

Wow!
That's wonderful news J!

If you wanted to share them in a file on DCM please feel free to contact me with a private message.
Click the word balloon under my avatar.

[KaineZ]

If you find yourself looking for more strips this is the book you want to consult:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0472117564/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_img?_encoding=UTF8&colid=1QY3BHIH8KS1B&coliid=I2OX4TTXA49VWO

It's been on my Amazon wish list for a year now (the cost has been holding me up), but the author has told me it should have virtually every strip every made referenced in it as well the newspapers that first carried the strips.  He's pretty arrogant in my opinion and won't answer questions that are covered in his book, but if you can come up with something obscure (like I've done a couple of times!) he'll answer.

[Yoc]

Ouch!  That's not a cheap book is it?  Neat cover though. 

[KaineZ]

Here's what the encyclopedia's author has to say in a post about Torchy Brown:

http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/search?q=torchy+brown

I'm missing a few Nemo's and that #28 with the reprint is one I'm missing 

[JGray]

Awesome! Thanks, Kaine.

The book is interesting. I have a long list of books I'd love to get. Maybe someday, when I have a few extra hundred dollars.

I was lucky enough to get all of the Torchy Brown, From Dixie to Harlem strips. Fortunately, you can get access to scanned newspaper archives these days.

Which specific Nemo in Dreamland are you missing? #28 of which book?

[KaineZ]

No, Nemo was a fanzine published in the late 80s dedicated to newspaper comic strips covering all genres and all times form the 1800s to the present.  Issue 28, which I was saying I didn't have in my collection, was the issue dedicated to "Ethnic Images in the Comics".  I just procured a digital copy and see that the last 10 pages of the issue ran two black + white strips per page of "Torchy in Heartbeats".  Each issue would run multiple pages of a particular strip, sometimes an obscure strip (eg. Torchy in Heartbeats) and sometimes something much more common (eg. Prince Valiant).

Here's a link to the one page bio of Jackie Ormes that Nemo ran as well as the best photo of her that I've seen: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/1278016/Nemo_28_56.jpg.

[JGray]

Awesome. I appreciate it the link. Thank you!