Polly and Her Pals — 1922-01-10

And Pa Decides, Too — In four compact daily panels, Clifford Sterrett works a single running gag with mechanical precision: a young suitor, seeking Pa's blessing on his marriage to Polly, deflects every parental question — when's the wedding? where will you live? — with a cheerful "That's for Polly to decide, Sir!" or "That's for Mrs. Perkins to decide, Sir!" Pa, cigar in hand, is left sputtering. Sterrett's linework is confident and economical, his figures rubbery and expressive. *Polly and Her Pals*, launched in 1912 for the New York Evening Telegram, was among the earliest strips to develop consistent recurring characters across years — exactly the serialized, panel-based visual storytelling that manufacturers would soon bind into pamphlets and call comic books.