Polly and Her Pals — "Pa Wants Music With His Meals"

Cliff Sterrett's *Polly and Her Pals*, launched in 1912, follows the household of Paw Perkins, whose comic frustrations drive nearly every gag. Here, four panels trace a simple arc: Paw overhears Maw rhapsodizing about opera, dismisses it with "Now for the eats," then rejects a suggestion of cabaret music before storming off demanding *some* music — dawgone it. Sterrett's draftsmanship is exceptional; his figures bend and compress with rubber-limbed energy, while his crosshatching gives depth unusual in daily strips. Sterrett was among the newspaper cartoonists — alongside McManus, Dirks, and Outcault — whose recurring characters and standardized panel grids directly shaped what the 1930s would package and sell as the comic book.