Skippy by Percy Crosby for March 14, 2013

Skippy’s parents are mighty rich.

Jeeze, he made out like a bandit didn’t he?

That train set would be worth a lot of money today.

But I have to confess, I don’t get the joke in this one.

Me neither

I’m not sure what “up brown” means…it may be an antiquated term for being a cheapskate. I think the joke is, Skippy is griping about a toy he didn’t get, among all the other stuff he did get, while his friend only got a post card.

Do it up brown: to do something just right or with great effect. Probably comes from the roasting of meat, yielding a brown color that is the result of thorough cooking

Oooooo, nice train! A Lionel, perhaps?

I’ve noticed that this strip does touch on social issues at times. Here we have the “haves” and the “have nots”. This is the mid-1920’s. The stock market bubble hasn’t burst yet. I hope Skippy invites his friend over for Christmas. Maybe Skippy can get him a new knife.

The way I read it, Skippy is afraid he won’t get everything he asked for, while his friend is thrilled to receive the postcard from his uncle.

We have urban slang dictionaries on line, I need an oldtimey slang dictionary.