Tillie the Toiler
Tillie the Toiler is a newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Russ Westover who initially worked on his concept of a flapper character in a strip he titled Rose of the Office. The daily strip began on Monday, January 3, 1921, followed by the Sunday page on October 10, 1922. Westover retired in 1951 with his assistant Bob Gustafson then doing most of the writing and drawing.
Tillie the Toiler
Template:Bob Gustafson · Public domain
- Creator
- Russ Westover
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Documentary summary
Tillie the Toiler is a newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Russ Westover who initially worked on his concept of a flapper character in a strip he titled Rose of the Office. The daily strip began on Monday, January 3, 1921, followed by the Sunday page on October 10, 1922. Westover retired in 1951 with his assistant Bob Gustafson then doing most of the writing and drawing.
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wikidata · Q17013732 · wikipedia · Tillie the Toiler
In this article
The object
The object
After Westover departed completely three years later, Gustafson's signature appeared on the strip beginning October 4, 1954. The daily strip ended March 7, 1959, with the last Sunday eight days later on March 15.
This is a photograph of a uniform set of 9 (of 10) " w:Tijuana bibles " released simultaneously ca. 1935-1936, and sold in the US in barber shops, tobacco shops, pool halls, etc. All in this series were drawn by the unidentified artist known as "Mr. Prolific". Only the front covers of these 8-page comics are shown.
anonymous ("Mr. Prolific", unidentified 1930s US comic artist)
In1926, Jack Lait wrote a book called All the Funny Folks, whose premise was that all the characters from comic strips lived in the same world together.
Louis Biedermann
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Tillie the Toiler • Author — Russ Westover • First — January 3, 1921 • Last — March 15, 1959 • Syndicate — King Features Syndicate • Illustration — This 1939 Russ Westover page was reprinted in the Dell Four Color Comic Tillie the Toiler #22.
Characters and story
Characters and story
Stylish working girl Tillie was employed as a stenographer, secretary and part-time model. An attractive brunette, she had no problem finding men to escort her around town. Comics historian Don Markstein described the story situations:
Toppers
Toppers
For the Sunday page, Westover produced a series of topper strips, starting with Kitty Change-Her-Mind (Jan 10–March 14, 1926) and The Counter Kids (March 21–May 2, 1926). On May 9, 1926, Westover began a topper series that would run for two decades – first called The Van Zippers (May 9–Aug 15, 1926), then The Van Swaggers (Aug 22, 1926 – June 26, 1938) and finally The Van Swaggers Starring Aunt Min (July 3, 1938 – 1943?) A paper-doll panel, Tillie the Toiler's Fashion Parade, appeared next to the topper from April 24, 1932, until 1951.
Reprints
Reprints
Cupples & Leon collected the strips into book form in 1925, followed by seven other books in that series. Dell Comics reprinted the strip in 14 issues between 1941 and 1949. Tillie the Toiler and the Masquerading Duchess was a novel published by Whitman in 1943.
Radio
Radio
The comic strip was also the basis for a short-lived radio series, also titled Tillie the Toiler. The series featured Caryl Smith as Tillie, with Billy Lynn as Mac MacDougal, John Brown as Simpkins and Margaret Burlen as Tillie's mother. The show ran on CBS Radio from April 11 to October 10, 1942.
Course of the series
Dated record
Course of the series
The full dated record · 1 entries
1928
Tillie the toiler (2 catalogued editions) (1928) is digitised and catalogued by Open Library.
Films
The comic strip inspired two films of the same name: Tillie the Toiler (1927), a silent film with Marion Davies in the title role, and Tillie the Toiler (1941), starring Kay Harris.
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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