Dick Tracy by Mike Curtis and Charles Ettinger for December 20, 2011

Get out there with those axes, boys!

awwww, that’s so sweet

Do I even want to know what they decorate it with?

And you thought Harvey was crazy!Well, at least the boys have a “major award” on display.Now everybody, sing…!“Deck the halls with Boston Charlie, Walla Walla, Wash, and Kalamazoo…!”

Must be from Italy! It’s marked ‘Frageelie’!

I used to work with a guy who had a suit jacket like that. We used to kid him that he should be selling salt water taffy whenever he had it on.

Don’t we know archaic barrel,Lullaby, lily boy, Louisville Lou!

Sheesh! Ain’t nobody got no smarts ’round here? Gemme a tree, stat!

@NightShade9Trolley Molly don’t love Harold,Boola Boola Pensacoola View Halloo!!

@BellsAndMotley and ChrisRobinson – I never heard those lines before. Are they Walt Kelly’s like the first two lines?

Good morning all…

Don’t give him a BB gun, he’ll shoot his eye out!

Nice leg lamp. I wonder if he got it from Abner.

“All I want for Christmas is my upper plate….”

As I recall, it was alley-ga-roo.

Good morning Tracynatics … I think Mike and Joe have created an unusual holiday celebration for us.

Well, far be it from me to divert the Tracy board to begin this happy holiday chorus but even farther from that is my ability to resist taking Captain Kiddeo’s lead and running with one of Beauregard’s versions:

Bark us all bow-wows of folly, Polly wolly cracker n too-da-loo!

Donkey Bonny brays a carol, Antelope cantaloup, ’lope with you!

Hunky Dory’s pop is lolly gaggin’ on the wagon, Willy, folly go through!

Chollie’s collie barks at Barrow, Harum scarum five alarum bung-a-loo!

And to the best of my re-collections, the most famous verse indeed ends with “Hullabaloo.”

“Alley-garoo” after “Swaller dollar…” &c, and “Hullaballoo” after “Boola Boola…” &c. It’s that way in Ten Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed Years and Songs of the Pogo.

Which leaves me wondering where “View Halloo” came in, but I’m guessing it must have been one of Beauregard’s.

Carry on! Let nothing you dismay.

I believe it was a hungry Swamp Turtle that once sang:Dunk us all in bowls of barley, Hinky dinky dink an’ polly voo! Chilly Filly’s name is Chollie, Chollie Filly’s jolly chilly view halloo! But I may be wrong…

Nice to see Putty Puss has some Christmas spirit! But when the MCS busts in, do you suppose Sam might be a bit put out that there’s no menorah?

Indeed the Tracy team has awakened our holiday spirit ,and we’ve Pogo’d right along. Happy merry to all!

See yesterday’s Fred Basset for Pogo’s complete version of Deck The Halls.. in the comments section.

Deck us all with Boston Charlie,Walla Walla, Wash., an’ Kalamazoo!Nora’s freezin’ on the trolley,Swaller dollar cauliflower alley-garoo!

Don’t we know archaic barrelLullaby Lilla Boy, Louisville Lou?Trolley Molly don’t love Harold,Boola boola Pensacoola hullabaloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,Polly wolly cracker ‘n’ too-da-loo!Donkey Bonny brays a carol,Antelope Cantaloupe, ’lope with you!

Hunky Dory’s pop is lolly gaggin’ on the wagon,Willy, folly go through!Chollie’s collie barks at Barrow,Harum scarum five alarm bung-a-loo!

Dunk us all in bowls of barley,Hinky dinky dink an’ polly voo!Chilly Filly’s name is Chollie,Chollie Filly’s jolly chilly view halloo!

Bark us all bow-wows of folly,Double-bubble, toyland trouble! Woof, woof, woof!Tizzy seas on melon collie!Dibble-dabble, scribble-scrabble! Goof, goof, goof!

Fractured Christmas carols were a regular feature of Kelly’s holiday strips. Churchy LaFemme once came up with a version of “Good King Wenceslas” that went: “Good King Sauerkraut, look out! On your feets uneven…” No question about it, Kelly was a genius. The lyrics to "Boston

Someone get Putty Puss a tree before he decks the halls (or anyone else)

No crime lord’s lair is complete without a Chrismas tree this time of year… However the leg lamp is a good start. (Put it in the front window, It’s a major award!!!)_

Truly, what the strip needs now is a voice-over from Jean Shepherd: “Now, it was well known on our street that the Old Man yielded to no one in his mastery of the humble pine on Christmas! Within minutes, he had assembled a truly awesome collection of implements for cutting down the wily fir, plus thirty yards of stout jute twine, and summoned us all to our hardy Packard for a late-night expedition to the Forest Preserve in Cook County…”

But, alas…

“The gentle journey jars to stop.The drifting dream is done.The long gone goblins loom ahead;The deadly, that we thought were dead,Stand waiting, every one.”

(Walt Kelly, 1954)

So a crook and killer wants to keep Christmas, that’s a new one!

He’s ready to deck the halls. But don’t ask him to don his gay apparel.

Someone needs to ask Putty;.WHAT?!? Cry baby are you gonna cry now?Go on Cry Baby, Cry!!!