Polly and Her Pals — 1922-03-30

Cliff Sterrett's *Polly and Her Pals* ran as a Newspaper Feature Service daily strip from 1912 onward, becoming one of the most formally inventive comics of its era. This four-panel strip follows Polly's domestic circle: a friend consoles Alice, two older characters gossip about a father who was 'possessed to marry her off' to a miser, and the final panels reveal the grouchy son-in-law the father must now support financially. Sterrett's draftsmanship here is relatively early and loose compared to his celebrated 1920s Cubist-influenced Sunday pages, yet the comic timing — deflating the miser gag across four beats — is precise. His work pioneered sophisticated page design and abstract background patterning that directly shaped how visual comedy was constructed in American print.