Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for January 29, 2021

Good morning™, historians!

So, Aquarius has a real name, too. I like the looser painted style of the inking on the photograph to differentiate it from real life Tracy and Sam.

Well, well, well. Aquarius has a name. And Tim is not just a throwaway character?

Well, Tracy just added at least a generation to his age.

And again, they are squarely making this the Hitchcock/Daheim/Milbrook mansion – and its Timothy Leary inhabitants.

I don’t think you can call this an allegory anymore.

Good morning™, tricksters and tipsters !

Looks like a case of yin and yang. One lives the Hippie ideal while the other merely uses it as a cover/infiltration device.

Gotta love Tracy’s groovy yellow shirt!

Tim does bear a resemblance to Shaggy…..

Sam’s been doing some real live sleuthing!

Aquarius might be holding Auntie Bellum against her will. Might even be drugged.

Wow, the art today, well done guys!

Sam reported the police had no earlier reports of suspicious activity at the address. We should assume that the police aren’t keeping files, and candid photos, of every address in town. Sam did his homework and went to the files of the newspaper – which would be expected to have a fat file on a local eccentric heiress whose home was center of local avant garde arts for years.

Mmmph….saw this all the time, back in the day: a “wealthy” hippie, you know, wanted to “make the scene”, be “with it” and all that, but the instant the going got tough, could make a not-so-quantum leap back to “the breadbox”…..and thennnn, there’s (drum roll please)…….a “not wealthy” hippie: can hardly believe the “cool” clothes available in thrift stores, has real holes in his shoe-soles, zip $$$$ in his pockets, hair is Lord Of The Flies Kids scraggly but what the hell, it’s LONG, right, and probably smells not too good…..but, like his “wealthy” brother-in-arms, wants to “make the scene” and be “with it”, man!! He’s WILD, MAN!!……..

Tracy’s got serious ring around the collar today….

I really have to admit, I am thoroughly confused. Where is B.O. Plenty?

1-SAM: Oh, look Tracy…

2-…Here’s a family photo of me, Mom and my brother. We were younger then. DT: No sh-t.

SAM: Me and Mike were on our way to a Monkee’s concert. Mom made Mike take me. He had to get extra stoned to do it. Oh. I had just discovered my fondness for green but hadn’t narrowed it down to emerald yet. It wasn’t until…

DT: Fascinating. Can we get back to your boring history lesson about that house before I have to get extra stoned just to listen to it?

When I got out of graduate school, I got a job in Lakeland Florida as Artistic Director of a 2,400 seat theatre owned by the city. I was there for 2 years and took a job in Albany, Georgia as Artistic Director of a theatre there. I left that after a year (town too racist for me) and took a job in Tallahassee, Florida as Director of a theatre there and stayed for about 10 years before moving to Chicago.

In the case of every single theatre I have worked for, there have been those like Auntie Bellum. They are the wealthy socialite wives of rich Doctors or Lawyers or politicians or businessmen. They believe themselves to be all artsy-fartsy and try to associate themselves with the most Avant Garde “artistes” they can find (usually much younger than themselves and often having affairs behind their husbands’ backs). They are always willing to accept the latest fad.

Normally there were more than one of these wealthy women in the group competing for who could live the most vicariously through their artistic friends. Often, they would be Board Members of the theatre or Chair of some auxiliary group.

I know the type well. As Artistic Director of those theatre, I was expected to make appearances at many fund raisers and cocktail parties and such. These women were often the hostesses or sponsors. Of course I had to be nicer than nice and butter them up because they were usually generous donors to the theatre.

I got a lot of flirty propositions from these old gals but I never succumbed, just flirted back. This is all very familiar to me.

Er, Tracy, that device on your desk is called a computer. It’s hooked up to something called the internet. The internet has a feature called Google….

Aquarius comes from a privileged life ..yet he puts it on hold to order a guy thrown down the stairs into a cold space. Tiger Lily is going to develop health issues.

“Scattered pictures of the smiles we left behind….smiles we gave to one another…..for the way we were”..

when was tim in it? I guess I missed that

Alex “Aquarius” Bellum is the guy, apparently, and it now seems even more likely that Peggy has become “Auntie.” But what is her current condition? Is she a legitimate invalid? Is she being kept stoned by Aquarius so he can exploit her fortune? Is she The Power Behind the Throne who controls Alex?

The Mystery of Auntie Bellum deepens….

I’m enjoying seeing Sam and Tracy doing investigative work and that work adding a background to the story…

I don’t like “deus ex machina” stories…

Color newspaper photos!

Here’s a question in this meandering tale…just what is the “Major Crime” the MCU is investigating? Dope sales? Jeez, what a waste.

Have we already met Auntie Bellum?

Pickle Nose is on top of his game!