Polly and Her Pals — 1922-06-12

Cliff Sterrett launched *Polly and Her Pals* in 1912 for the New York Evening Telegram, making it one of the longest-running early newspaper strips. This daily shows Polly's father Paw and another man trudging on foot toward a real estate bungalow advertised as "a stone's throw from the station" — they've walked a mile already. The agent cheerfully confirms the ladies are sitting in the shade "a coupla miles back." The final panel delivers the punchline: show me the man who threw that stone and we'll call it square. Sterrett's loose brushwork, crosshatched suits, and expressive silhouettes typify the Hearst syndicate daily strip — compact four-panel gag structure, speech balloons carrying all the comedic weight, recurring cast anchoring reader loyalty across decades of newspaper funnies pages.