Ella Cinders is an American syndicated comic strip created by writer Bill Conselman and artist Charles Plumb. Distributed for most of its run by United Feature Syndicate, the daily strip was launched June 1, 1925, and a Sunday strip followed two years later. It was discontinued on December 2, 1961. Chris Crusty ran above Ella Cinders as a topper strip from July 5, 1931 to July 6, 1941.
Publication history
Ella Cinders was launched in 1925 by the Metropolitan Newspaper Service (MNS). In the summer of 1925, Max Elser, Jr., the president of MNS, introduced
Ella Cinders and Conselman to the readers of
Cartoons & Movies magazine:
United Features acquired MNS in 1930, taking over syndication of Ella Cinders.
The credited artists on the strip were creator Charles Plumb (June 1, 1925 - May 13, 1950), Fred Fox (May 15, 1950 - 1960) and Roger Armstrong of Scamp (1960 - December 2, 1961).
However, the comic strip had numerous ghost writers and ghost artists. Comic strip historian Allan Holtz notes, "Zombie strip - though they were usually involved in some capacity." The ghosts included children's book author Hardie Gramatky, Morton Traylor, Henry Formhals (of Freckles and His Friends) and Texas artist Jack W. McGuire. His son, Jack W. McGuire, Jr., recalled:
- His first strip was Jane Arden in 1934, followed by Bullet Benton, a cowboy boxer similar to Joe Palooka; then the Red Knight. After the Red Knight in 1943, Dad began drawing Ella Cinders as a ghost artist for the original artist, Charles Plumb. He drew this strip until he died in December 1945.
[ Red Knight]
Characters and story
Initially, as the name implies, the strip presented a variation on the classic
Cinderella story, but then it diverged into other plotlines, as noted by comics historian Don Markstein:
Film adaptation
The prolific Alfred E. Green directed the film adaptation
Ella Cinders, starring
Colleen Moore, produced by Moore's husband John McCormick, and released by First National Pictures on June 6, 1926.
Books
Ella also turned up in Big Little Books and
comic books, including early issues of
Tip Top and
Sparkler Comics, plus her own title in 1948–1949.