Editing Gasoline Alley (comic strip) (section)

==Skeezix arrives==
The early years were dominated by the character Walt Wallet. ''Tribune'' editor [[Joseph Medill Patterson|Joseph Patterson]] wanted to attract women to the strip by introducing a baby, but Walt was not married. That obstacle was avoided when Walt found a baby on his doorstep, as described by comics historian [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia|Don Markstein]]:
[[Image:skeezixandnina.jpg|right|thumb|220px|Promotional art by Frank King (''circa'' 1941), highlighting Skeezix's marriage proposal to Nina Clock.]]

{{blockquote|After a couple of years, the ''Tribune'''s editor, Captain Joseph Patterson, whose influence would later have profound effects on such strips as ''[[Terry and the Pirates (comic strip)|Terry and the Pirates]]'' and ''[[Little Orphan Annie]]'', decided the strip should have something to appeal to women, as well, and suggested King add a baby. Only problem was the main character, Walt Wallet, was a confirmed bachelor. On February 14, 1921, Walt found the necessary baby abandoned on his doorstep. That was the day ''Gasoline Alley'' entered history as the first comic strip in which the characters aged normally. ([[C. W. Kahles#Hairbreadth Harry|Hairbreadth Harry]] had grown up in his strip, but stopped aging in his early 20s.) The baby, named Skeezix ([[cowboy slang]] for a motherless calf), grew up, fought in World War II, and is now a retired grandfather. Walt married after all, and had more children, who had children of their own. More characters entered the storyline on the periphery and some grew to occupy center stage.<ref name=toon>[http://www.toonopedia.com/gasalley.htm ''Gasoline Alley''] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091016110501/http://www.toonopedia.com/gasalley.htm Archived] from the original on August 1, 2016.</ref>}}

Skeezix called his adoptive father Uncle Walt. Unlike most comic strip children (like the Katzenjammer Kids or Little Orphan Annie), he did not remain a baby or even a little boy for long. He grew up to manhood, the first occasion where real time was shown continually elapsing in a major comic strip over generations. By the time the United States entered [[World War II]], Skeezix was an adult, courting Nina Clock and enlisting in the armed forces in June 1942. He later married Nina and had children. In the late 1960s, he faced a typical [[midlife crisis]]. Walt Wallet himself married Phyllis Blossom on June 24, 1926, and had other children, who grew up and had kids of their own. During the 1970s and 1980s, under [[Dick Moores]]' authorship, the characters stopped aging. When [[Jim Scancarelli]] took over, natural aging was restored.<ref name=toon/>