Dixie Dugan was a fashion maven more glamorous than Winnie Winkle. She engaged in serious romantic drama before Mary Worth began her active meddling. Then why is Dixie largely forgotten today?

Dixie Dugan, Show Girl

Dixie Dugan’s creator was Joseph Patrick (J. P.) McEvoy (1897-1969). McEvoy was a successful writer of short stories for slick magazines such as Liberty and The Saturday Evening Post. For his next creation, McEvoy had the connections to role out a multi-faceted campaign in 1928 for an ambitious brunette flapper named Dixie Dugan. McEnvoy introduced the character in “Show Girl,” a sprawling 1928 saga first unveiled in serial installments in Liberty. “Hollywood Girl,” a sequel, followed several months later. The serials were then published in book form, Show Girl (1928) and Hollywood Girl (1929). Dixie Dugan was getting around.

But that wasn’t all.

McEvoy was a skilled promoter seeing that his creation crossed over into multiple media. His two novels were made into a silent movie Show Girl (released in September 1928) and an early talkie with five musical numbers, Show Girl in Hollywood (April, 1930). Alice White played the role of Dixie in both features. Show Girl had debuted on Broadway as a Broadway musical starring Ruby Keeler in the summer of 1929. McEvoy’s connections are clear: the musical was produced by Flo Ziegfeld with the music provided by the Gershwin brothers. However, none of the songs were featured in the second movie. (McEvoy wrote another musical named Americana which was revived at least twice.)

McEnvoy, fond of his character and eager to extend her fictional life, also agreed to feature Dixie in a comic strip. True to the franchise he envisioned, it was also titled Show Girl.

The choice of artist was a no-brainer. John H. Streibel, who had provided the illustrations for the serial installments in Liberty magazine. The two men had worked together on an unsuccessful comic strip named The Potters years before. Show Girl, the comic strip, first appeared in October of 1929, but in a matter of weeks was renamed Dixie Dugan. Perhaps the title Show Girl implied a racier product than the comics page in the newspapers allowed. Or perhaps Show Girl as a title had ceased to be a draw.

Just Another Struggling Working Girl?

Dixie’s early adventures chronicled her efforts at making it big in show business. They also revealed her to be overly interested in landing a wealthy suitor, much to the chagrin of her greeting card selling boy friend, Denny Kerrigan. His perennial complaint to Dixie, when his earnest, practical and frankly cheap methods of romancing her always fell flat, was a frustrated “No heart.”

As the shadow of the Depression grew ever longer, McEvoy made the wise decision that a money hungry show girl was no longer a heroine that readers would take into their heart. Dixie Dugan soon became a strip that had many similarities to the more popular Winnie Winkle. Dixie would also go from job to job and encounter handsome suitors that never quite worked out. Like Winnie, she shared her woes with a hard working mother, and picked up the financial slack for the family given a employment challenged father. Dixie did have a saxophone playing teen-aged brother named Sammy, but Sammy never was a big part of the narrative except for one notable exception. More on that soon.

Despite the change in focus, Streibel’s artwork remained elegant and charming. There was still something of the flapper in Dixie’s appearance. A high point of storylines in the 1930s is when Dixie’s attempt at establishing a small tea shop is challenged by the Fox, a sinister gangster in control of the neighborhood. The Fox is rendered just as handsome as Dixie is lovely.

As a working girl, Dixie’s relationships with her employers are often explored. Notable bosses include Edgerton Jeppworth, handsome would be novelist (1933-34), Mrs. Hacket, a persnickety wealthy widow (1937-38), Mr. Brudway, a successfully producer who gave up Hollywood to become a writer (1939-43), Ken Bradford, Mrs. Hacket’s business manager (1946-47), and Joanne D’Arcy, owner of an elite employment agency (1963-66). Dixie also worked as a school teacher in 1933, a self-employed model from 1950-51,a personal secretary in 1952, and a stewardness from 1955-1960.

Dixie Dugan and the Sunday Strip

A number of more comical characters inhabited the Dixie Dugan comic strip of Sundays, which were one-offs, lacking any continuing storylines. These characters included Imogene, Dixie’s mischievous niece; Wilbur Whiffle, a scrawny, bespectacled suitor; and Mazie, a beauty with more outrageous attitudes towards life and love than either Dixie or her friend Mickey. Pa Dugan’s antics graced both the daily and Sunday strips. A reoccurring joke was his devoted affection for a beaten up old easy chair. In the fifties, Deane DeGroff, the neighborhood veterinarian and canine appears periodically for Sunday gags involving dogs.

Dixie Dugan as an Early Soap Opera Strip

Comic historians interested in who developed the more serious and glamorous soap opera comic strip need to give J. P. McEvoy and Dixie Dugan some serious consideration. Dixie’s romances with handsome young men in the mid and later thirties focused on romance more than melodrama and were told in a more serious tone than say Winnie Winkle. The more realistic artwork by Striebel might be seen as setting the stage for the even more photo realistic artwork of Mary Worth’s Ken Ernst. By the 1940s, the Dixie Dugan and Mary Worth comic strips were both covering somewhat similar ground.

The difference, of course, was that Mary Worth largely focused on a revolving set of lovely ingenues. Dixie was the ever present romantic heroine of her own comic strip. She only occasionally surrendered the romantic stage to her best friend Mickey or the more comical romantic conflicts between her parents.

During World War II, Dixie helps out Mrs. Hacket, who returns to the narrative after opening up her mansion as a place where wounded soldiers from the war might find a comfortable place to recover. Mrs. Hacket’s wounded son prompts this generosity. Dixie proves to motivate the recovery of a soldier who has fallen in love with her. A subsequent story revolves around Dixie befriending a silent GI who has his face bandaged after needed plastic surgery. The soldier turns out to Sammy, Dixie’s brother, who had been absent from the comic strip for several years.

From 1945 to 1949, Dixie is caught up in a romantic triangle between two suitors, the more extroverted and charming playwright, Jud Bradley, and the more circumspect but also more responsible businessman, Ken Bradford.

Renny McEvoy (1905-1987) may have been responsible for the focus on wounded veterans and the love triangle. The creator’s stepson, is reported to have taken over ghost-writing the comic strip sometime in the 1930s or 40s. He didn’t get actual credit until 1955 and there’s reason to think that’s when he really exerted complete control, as Dixie makes a major career change at that time (more on that later).

With the 1950s, complicated triangles and tangled soap opera were pushed to the sidelines. Stories, and the characters associated with them, were largely self-contained. A new ne’er do well character, “Uncle Lucky” was introduced. Uncle Lucky was Ma Dugan’s kid brother who made Pa look downright upright. (Uncle Lucky looks a great deal like the senior McEvoy!). Uncle Lucky’s first scheme was to start a modelling company with Dixie their top model of course.  And that’s how Dixie meets her longest lasting (and in some ways most unusual) boy friend.

The Mystery of Dixie’s Real Life Boy Friend

Dixie’s new boyfriend as of 1950 was Michael Darrin, a handsome male model , actor and singer who originally worked for a rival agency and signed on with the Dugans. He soon was under Dixie’s spell and the two dated for four years, Dixie deftly dodging Darrin’s marriage proposals. Michael Darrin was not a particularly compelling figure. The most intriguing thing about Darrin was that he was actually a model, actor and singer in real life!

Darrin (1917-1980) was a friend of Renny McEvoy. According to comic strip historian, Allan Holtz, Renny’s birth name was Reynold Wurnelle. His biological father was a Vaudeville performer, among other acts jumping over wooden barrels on roller skates. Renny had show business in his blood and gladly acted as stage manager for his stepfather’s 1926 Broadway musical, Americana, as well as writing one of its songs. Also an aspiring actor, Renny had “played parts of varying length” in ten different movies by 1951. He was also assisting his stepfather in the writing of Dixie Dugan.

Renny introduces himself into the narrative as an actor named none other than Reynold Wurnell in September of 1949. The fictional Wurnell is a Hollywood film actor who,when a rumor breaks that he’s engaged to Dixie Dugan, chooses to not dispute it and asks Dixie to do the same.

With that backdrop, we return to that other real life character, Michael Darrin. “Singer, actor, male model” just like his namesake, Darrin is initially in the employ of Sam Slabber, who fires him when he refuses to undermine Dixie’s rival model agency. Darrin then goes to work for the Dugan operation, ultimately becoming an equal partner with Dixie. He operates as Dixie’s boy friend until November 1954, though their relationship never narratively catches fire.

On 12/20/50, The Long Beach Press Telegram did a puff piece on how singer Michael Darrin, “New Boy Friend of Dixie Dugan Visits Long Beach” to perform at the Wilton Hotel Sky Room. After providing the necessary details, the writer raises the question “How did Michael get into Dixie Dugan’s love life?” The answer follows.

“Well, Renny McEvoy, who writes the Dixie Dugan strip, also does a lot of entertaining in veteran’s hospitals. It was while entertaining at the Veteran’s Hospital in Long Beach that he met Michael, who also like to entertain veterans. Renny and Michael became close friends, and since Michael is a pretty good looking guy it was just natural that he should get into the Dixie Dugan story.” (p. 11)

While brief appearances of real life celebrities in comic strips of this era were fairly common (Joe Palooka was full of them), four year stints by minor personalities were not. In the 12/02/50 episode of Dixie Dugan, McEvoy wrote that the fictional Darrin was so charming he “could sell an Eskimo an icebox.” In 1950, the time of his introduction into the strip, Darrin was 33 and McEvoy was 45. Both were aspiring actors and neither had achieved great success in films. The timing of possible marriages for either man is not currently clear to me from my research, though a grandson of McEvoy has commented on him on the internet so it appears that McEvoy at least did marry. The saga of Michael Darrin remains an odd little side note to the Dixie Dugan story.

Dixie Dugan, Stewardess

By 1955, the junior McEvoy was ready to take the strip in another, more glamorous direction. As more and more commercial airplanes took flight, stewardess was the new “ultimate adventure” vehicle for a working girl. When Dixie moves to the big city, she encounters “Milly” Miller,  a spunky young woman down on her luck. The two decide to room together and not long after enroll in stewardess school after meeting handsome, but arrogant pilot Norman Nestor.

Milly remains a stewardess and Dixie’s best friend even after Dixie gives up the friendly skies circa 1960. But not before McEvoy scores a merchandising deal, with Dixie and Milly being featured in a box of four paper dol flight attendants and fifty full color wardrobes and accessories. The Sunday Dixie Dugan strip had long featured more flimsy paper dolls of Dixie and her friends and fashions for them submitted for them.

Dixie and the Go-Go Sixties

By the sixties, Dixie Dugan’s popularity is waning. Her glory days of two motion pictures in 1928 and 1930 and another in 1943 have long since passed. A romance with a race car driver Go-Go Slope stalls out and one with special investigator Dan Wells doesn’t do much better. In 1966, Dixie Dugan’s comic strip is cancelled mid-story. It was a very slow fade.

Today, Dixie is a largely forgotten feature, likely because her comic strip disappeared way back in 1966. Yet it was a beautifully drawn strip in the thirties and had some engaging storylines in the forties. It deserves more attention than it gets. Here’s why.

J. P. McEvoy may have created a soap opera comic strip before Allan Saunders’ Mary Worth. Dixie Dugan also represents an interesting engagement with the concerns of veterans and shows how non-adventure comic strips handled the concerns of our servicemen.

Readers today may also want to dig deeper into the strip as a prime example of a working girl strip (see also Winnie Winkle, Brenda Starr and the Girls of Apartment 3-G). A deeper look at what such strips say about changing attitudes towards women is a study just waiting to happen. While the 1930s strips are hard to find—I subscribe to newspapers.com and look them up one daily episode at a time—the 1940s version is on display online in scanned versions of Big Shot Comics and two short-lived Dixie Dugan comic books.

Mark Carlson-Ghost

Dixie Dugan’s Family

Timothy Dugan. Dixie’s father and unsuccessful entrepreneur.

“Ma” Dugan. Dixie’s mother, onetime seamstress for the theatrical productions of Jud Bradley. Ma is far more sensible than her husband.

Sammy Dugan. Dixie’s younger adolescent brother, also called Sammy. He first appears in the narrative in jail after hanging out with a gang. Due to Dixie’s show business connections, Sammy is discovered to have a beautiful singing voice and a “mike presence” and has some brief success in that area. Upon meeting Mickey Mackey, Dixie’s best friend in 1931, he immediately becomes infatuated. Throughout the later thirties, Sammy is occasionally seen playing the saxophone or football. After graduation, he leaves home to adventure around the world. Early in 1940, Pa Dugan notes that Sam has been sending some money home to help the family. Later in 1940, after Dixie hears a thud on the roof, she is reunited with her brother who has parachuted out of a plane onto the house. Dixie learns that Sam has been traveling the word, enrolling as a cadet to become a pilot. When next we hear of Sam we learn he has joined the war effort. As an adult, Sam sustains some facial injuries in World War II and shows up as a heavily bandaged mystery man in Mrs. Hacket’s home for wounded soldiers. Surprisingly, Dixie is unable to discern his identity at first. Sam’s face heals in time for him to fall for an unworthy, if beautiful performer named Miss “Tee.” Sam surprises his family, after being released from the military, coming home disguised as Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, 1945. He is briefly seen around the Dugan household thereafter before disappearing from the narrative entirely. 1/30-x/30, 3/30/31-4/36…, (5/40 ref.), 8/40, (1/25/41 ref.), 9/28/42-11/14/42, 2/44-5/44, 12/24/45-1/2/46, 4/46.

Red-Devil Dugan. A famous pilot and adventurer, Pa Dugan’s more daring and wealthy brother. 7/30-9/30.

Imogene Dugan. Dixie’s mischievious niece, usually featured in individual humorous Sunday strips. Circa 2/33-x/xx.

“Uncle Lucky” Miller. Ma  Dugan’s ne’er do well kid brother. When Lucky first meets Dixie, he convinces her to be the chief model in an agency he forms with Pa Dugan. When the business begins to fail, he leaves his portion to Dixie and leaves to seek more “manly” pursuits. Lucky, who is anything but, returns every few years thereafter. He is always pursuing an ill advised get rich scheme. He often returns to the narrative destitute and has spent time as a homeless hobo. In his final appearance, Lucky thinks he has found true love with a scheming beauty named Phoebe. He is drawn by Dixie cartoonist, —-McEnvoy, to be the artist’s spitting image. Despite the same last name, he appears to not be any relation to Dixie’s new friend, Milly Miller. 2/19/50-5/50, 10/50-11/50, 3/16/53-4/53, 12/57-1/58, 11/58, 9/59-11/59, 8/60-10/60, 5/30/61-1/62.

Dixie’s Friends, Employers and Romantic Interests

Denny Kerrigan. Dixie’s handsome first boy friend who makes a modest living selling greeting cards. (His last name and profession is taken from the Show Girl novels.) Denny is always trying to save money on dates for the time when he hopes they will be married. Dixie is bored by such conservative ways. Of Denny, Dixie mused on 12/12/29, “Well he hasn’t much brains but he has nice shoulders and after all, if you want brains you can always join the circulating library.” Of Dixie, Denny’s perennial lament is “No heart.” 10/22/29-4/30.

Montmorency Gastorbilt. Immensely wealthy young man who woos Dixie against his mother’s wishes. He buys Waffleheimer’s Department Store in order to secretly offer Dixie the employment she badly wants. But Gastorbilt soon loses his interest and sells off the store. Dixie manages to keep her job despite it all. 11/03/30-1/31.

Myra “Mickey” Mackey. Dixie’s best friend who she meets as a fellow employee of Waffleheimer’s Department Store in 1931. Upon meeting her in late March that same year, Dixie’s kid brother Sam immediately becomes infatuated with her. Mickey is blonde and beautiful and is a bit more impetuous than Dixie. Over time a mystery develops around Mickey’s background. Mickey was orphaned at infancy and adopted by the kindly Dr. Brown and his wife. Dixie and then boy friend Edgie Jeppworth discover in early 1934 that a scoundrel named Jonah Trappmire went to extraordinary lengths to cheat her out of considerable sum of money by seeing that as an infant, Mickey is thought dead by her biological family. Whenever she has the need, she is kindly taken in by the Dugans. Her most notable early romance is with lumberman Bud Hale in 1941. Their impending wedding is thwarted when Bud is drafted. Mickey fades from the narrative in 1944, only returning late in 1945 seemingly pressed to get money for reasons she won’t reveal. Dixie is suspicious that the aspiring novelist Russell Raymon may be taking advantage of her. It turns out that Russell and Mickey have been secretly married for months and that Mickey only sought the money to give him time to finish the novel. Early in 1945, Jud Bradley updates Dixie that Russell’s novel is to be published and Mickey and Russell are “living happily in Forest Hills.” Mickey is not heard from again until 1954. Dixie and she have apparently fallen out of touch, as Dixie is surprised to find she has a young son named Michael who appears to be about four. Mickey’s husband (now named Jack) is to wrap a two year military stint in Korea when he seemingly disappears. It all turns out to be a scheme to surprise her with a house and Mickey and her young family get a happy ending and leave the narrative for good. 1/7/31-4/44, 10/6/45-12/22/45, 4/12/54-6/2/54.

Wilbur Whiffle. Comic relief suitor of Dixie’s, he is short, slightly built, with a pinched nose and round glasses. He is almost entirely featured on Sunday pages. …4/35-6/61…

Edgerton “Edgie” Jeppworth. Wealthy young businessman passionate about becoming a novelist. Exceptionally handsome, Dixie breaks things off with him because she feels he is “married” to his writing and she would always take second place to that. 10/33-12/7/34.

Laddy. A mysterious talking baby that Dixie finds in a box that she thought contained a doll. 12/17/34-7/35.

Wesley Richard. Initially a handsome young man who appears to be shadowing Dixie, he turns out to be a struggling playwright named Richard Wesley. It ultimately turns out that he is the famous and wealthy playwright, Wesley Richard. His plays are typically produced by the rather short but good-humored Brudway. 1/36-9/19/36.

Brudway. Originally a powerful Broadway producer and talent scout, Brudway shifts his career ambitions in 1939 to writing after he moves next door to the Dugans. Brudway hires Dixie and Mickey to type his various manuscripts. This arrangement lasts for four years. 5/36, 8/36-9/36, 8/39-4/40, 1/41-2/41, 4/41-5/41, 8/41-11/41, 11/42, 7/43. Various appearances reprinted in Big Shot 22, 28-30, 37, 39.

Mazie. More impulsive and self-absorbed friend of Dixie and Mickey. Mazie often is featured in more humorous Sunday strips. …4/37-6/52…

Mrs. Hacket. An elderly, wealthy and opinionated widow who hires Dixie to work for her. The two soon become friends though Mrs. Hackett can be intrusive. In 1943, with her son Stephen is wounded in the war, she turns her mansion into a home for injured GIs. In 1946, she enlists Kenneth Bradford’s help in deciding all to to dispose of her land. After telling Dixie of the recent news of her son’s death (6/28/46), Mrs. Hacket decides to have her land developed into low cost lots for returning GIs and their families to live on. This plan is opposed by her wealthy neighbor, Nero Lafton. Mrs. Hacket appears briefly in 1947 when it appears that Dixie will be marryng Bradford. After a long absence from the narrative, Dixie is informed in 1959 that Mrs. Hacket has died. Dixie and Mrs. Hacket’s two adult children arrive for the reading of her will. It all turns out to be a scam by Mrs. Hackett to see how children react to her death and a promised fortune. Mrs. Hackett does end giving Dixie the deed to an empty urban lot, a mystery which leads into Dixie’s next adventure. 1/12/37-1/38, 4/38-5/38, (referenced 5/39), 9/43-3/44, 12/44, 5/17/46-11/46, 10/47, (referenced 5/50), 4/59-5/59. The 1943 story reprinted in Prize’s Dixie Dugan v4/#1, the 1946 story is reprinted in Dixie Dugan .

Steve Hacket. Spoiled and unhappy son of Mrs. Hacket, Dixie helps him become more responsible. Steve returns years later in 1943 an upright, wounded GI. Once healed, Steve returns to combat. He is reported killed in action, a detail forgotten when he returns in 1959 for the reading of his “late” mother’s will! 5/37-1/38, (referenced 5/38), 9/43-11/43, 2/44, 3/59-5/59. His wartime recuperation is told in Prize’s Dixie Dugan v4/#1.

Charlie Drake. Handsome but rather shallow actor who flirts with both Dixie and Mickey, but never very seriously. To his credit, at Dixie’s request, Charlie is willing to distract Marcia Muljoy, who had set her sights on Bud Hale. During Dixie’s 1947 kidnapping, not knowing, he apparently called on Dixie socially. 1/41-11/41, (referenced 11/47, 2/48).

Bud Hale. Handsome lumberman who clashes with Dixie and Mickey while they’re on assignment for Brudway to research the lumber industry. Bud and Mickey fall in love but Bud is totally out of his element when he shows up in ill fitting clothes at a party with Mickey’s more sophisticated friends. Nonetheless, the two are soon engaged but Bud is drafted before the two can be married. In 1948, during Dixie’s disappearance, Bud apparently called on Dixie socially. But in another reference in late 1949, Dixie is told that Bud has married a girl named Betty Dorr. 6/41-11/41, 10/44s, (referenced 2/48, 12/49). His romance with Mickey is reprinted in by Columbia’s Big Shot 40-51.

George Shipley. One of Ma’s high school sweethearts who Pa beat out to marry her. When Shipley returns for a visit, still handsome with gray hair, he takes Ma out dancing and to the theater. His motives are ambiguous but Pa gets jealous and buys Ma numerous gifts, especially endearing himself to her with the gift of a much wanted sewing machine. Shipley returns in 1942, shortly after Pa’s high school sweetheart, Rosamund Randal comes to town.  Dixie and Mickey ssuccessfully cheme to spark a romance between the two. 4/41-6/41, 5/42-6/42. First story reprinted in Big Shot 37-39.

Jud Bradley. Playwright and suitor of Dixie, Jud enters the narrative when he hires Ma Dugan to produce the wardrobes for a musical he’s producing. Flip, but charming, Jud falls for Dixie but she is making plans to marry Ken Bradford. Desperate to win her over, Jud kidnaps Dixie on her wedding day, but he is never threatening and ultimately releases her when he comes to his senses. He appears one final time in the narrative in 1949, but by the end of the year Dixie learns he is dating a starlet and is out of her life. 2/3/45-3/46, 3/26/47-6/18/47, 11/47-1/48, 5/48-7/48, 4/49-9/49, (referenced 12/49). His early encounters with Dixie are reprinted in Prize’s Dixie Dugan v3/#1 and v4/#2.

Ken Bradford. A widowed ex-GI who is managing the business affairs of Mrs. Hackett. Ken and Dixie fall in love but for a few months in 1947, Dixie believes he’s engaged to another woman, Barbara Kemper when she overhears them describing wedding plans. Actually the woman is the fiancé of his best friend. The final obstacle to their happiness seemingly removed, Dixie and Ken plan their wedding. But on her wedding day a limosine arrives to whisk her away, but not as it turns out to the church! It turns out that Jud Bradley kidnapped Dixie to prevent the marriage. By the time Jud comes to his senses and let’s Dixie go, Ken has discovered his “late” wife is still alive, a nurse who lost both of her legs in the war. Ken and Dixie agree he needs to return to his wife, who not knowing that her husband isn’t intending to marry, has left him. And with the promise of complications yet to come, Ken nonetheless is never again seen in the narrative. 6/46-3/47, 6/47-11/47, 1/48-2/48. His initial meeting with Dixie and their subsequent engagement are told in Prize’s Dixie Dugan v3/#2 and v4/#2-3.

Hazel “Hazy” Short. Tall, lanky and freckled young woman who likes to stir up trouble but essentially has a good heart. Hazy’s taken in by the Dugans when she first comes into town but appears to have something of a shady background. 3/49-12/49.

Deane DeGroff. Vetinarian who specializes in dogs. As Dixie has had several dogs as pets, “The Deane of Dogs” gets calls surprisingly often in the narrative though seems to have little extended involvement in the narrative. He is said to be a neighbor of the Dugans. Occasionally he appears to have asked Dixie out and yet on another occasion in 1951 references “Margo and the kids. Often pops up on the Sunday pages. 8/49, 8/50, 9/51, 11/51, 10/52, (referenced 3/53), 8/54, 1/55, 5/61, others?

Reynold Wurnell. Hollywood film actor who when a rumor breaks that he’s engaged to Dixie Dugan chooses to not dispute it and asks Dixie to do the same. 9/17/49-x/50.

Michael Darrin. “Singer, actor, male model” initially in the employ of Sam Slabber, who fires him when he refuses to undermine Dixie’s rival model agency. Darrin then goes to work for the Dugan agency, ultimately becoming an equal partner with Dixie when Pa and “Uncle Lucky” decide to give up their share in the venture. Charming, it was once said that Darrin “could sell an Eskimo an icebox.” In the meantime Darrin has fallen in love with Dixie. On more than one occasion Darrin seeks to protect Dixie from danger. Dixie, on the other hand, typically puts off Michael’s proposals of marriage. 10/23/50-9/51, 12/51-3/52, 9/52, 1/53-3/53, 11/53, 10/54-11/54.

Bernie Heyman. Police officer and friend Dixie and the Dugans call when in need of help. 4/49, 5/51, 6/51, (12/51 referenced), 10/52, 3/53, 3/54, 5/54, 1/55, 3/55, 4/55.

Norman Nastor. Hot-shot and cocky pilot, initially works for his uncle’s firm, then becomes a commercial pilot. He and Dixie enjoy an feisty chemistry. 8/6/55-8/56…

“Milly” Miller. When Dixie comes to the big city, she encounters Milly a spunky young woman down on her luck. The two decide to room together and not long after enroll in stewardess school. Milly remains a stewardess and Dixie’s best friend even after Dixie gives up the friendly skies. 10/1/55-5/65…

Ted Arlington. Handsome young millionaire who first meets Dixie posing as a crewman on a yacht and has to work especially hard to regain her trust and affection after the deception. 4/58-7/58.

Jack Jentz. Highway patrol officer who Dixie initially mistakes for a murderer. Jentz is not put off and pursues a romance with Dixie that ultimately results in affection but not commitment. 7/62-12/62.

“Rockabye” Johnson. Lightweight boxer and part-time taxi driver. Dixie helps mends his relationship with his anxious girl friend. 12/31/62-4/63, 11/63.

Joanne D’Arcy. The often imperious owner of Joanne Darcy, Inc., an employment agency and Dixie’s boss. Her agency’s slogan is “A girl Friday for everyday special assignments.” 1/3/63-4/63, 11/63, (referenced 1/64, 11/64 (letter), 8/65-9/65.

“Go-Go” Slope. Charming but reckless race car driver who juggles the affections of his wealthy and jealous sponsor, Catherine Mace and Dixie. Dixie entertains a brief flirtation with Catherine’s handsome bearded brother, Mannix Mace, head of Mace Motors, Inc. 11/63-4/64.

Dan Wells. Special prosecutor. Dan and Dixie love each other, but first his overly protective mother and then Leatha Romney get in the way of their romance. While Dixie is away on an assignment, Leatha romances him and the two are engaged when Dixie returns. By the time Dan realizes his mistake and breaks thing off with Leatha, Dixie has already headed out West on a new assignment. The narrative ends before that assignment is completed so the outcome of Dan and Dixie’s romance is never settled. 2/65-8/65, 1/66-2/66, 7/66-8/66.

Dixie Dugan’s Adversaries

“Arms” Garnett. Conman who tries to bilk Dixie in her efforts to set up a community youth center. 1/53-3/53.

Beetle. Corrupt owner of a dress manufacturing company, he schemes to ruin Ma Dugan’s booming dress making business in part by stealing some of her designs in hopes of mass producing them. x/44-1/45.

“The Fox” Maringle. Ganglord described in the narrative as “strikingly handsome, educated, polished; but hate and venom pumped through his hear … he had risen in the ranks of bullies, cheats, crooks and criminals because in every department of their crime he was their superior. The “Fox” was sentimental; no one ever sent a larger wreath to the funeral of an enemy … If he ever loved, it was but one person—‘Fox’ Maringle.” He crosses paths with Dixie when her tea shop is doing such good business it is taking business away from one of his businesses. He sets out to charm her and then destroy her business. 12/28/31-3/32.

Hait. The mad king of Siam who Dixie and Milly encounter as stewardesses on a special mission to Asia. 2/57-4/57.

Helen Hacket Gruntley. Mrs. Gruntley’s estranged daughter who is jealous of the closeness that her mother and Dixie enjoy. 2/37, 11/37-12/37, 3/59-5/59.

J. Wheezy. Unscrupulous real estate man, the elderly Wheezy sells the Dugans a farm that he later tries to cheat them out of. It later emerges that it was never his to sell, as a distant relative had willed it to Ma years before without anyone knowing it. 9/39-11/39. Reprinted in Big Shot Comics 24-26.

Jonah Trappmire. Conniving older man who attempted to keep Mickey Mackey from her inheritance and even knowledge of her heritage. He succeeded for all of Mickey’s life until her friends help to discover the truth about her parents. 11/33-4/34.

Leatha Ramsey. “Dixie’s arch enemy” the narrative declares. She steals Dixie’s boy friend, Dan Wells, while Dixie is off on an assignment she helped arrange. 12/65-2/66, 7/66-8/66.

Nero Lafton. Piggish appearing villain obsessed with fire and seeking to undo Mrs. Hackett’s plans of developing a charitable use of her land for low cost housing for returning GIs and their families. Dixie and Ken Bradford stand against him. Charmed by Dixie, he proposes to her after an uncomfortable dinner together—trying to tempt her with his wealth. When Lafton burns down his own estate, he gets his butler Jitters to take the rap for him. But he ultimately confesses when he thinks Jitters is being beaten to get the truth out of him. Before he is sent off to jail, Lafton asks if she will see that some of his funds get to Jitters so he is taken care of. 7/46-10/46.

Reynaldo Richo. A womanizing con man who luxurious hair and gleaming teeth both turn out to be fakes just like him. 10/40-12/40.

Sid Slabber. An overweight and noxious head of a rival model agency who hopes to put Pa Dugan and Dixie’s model agency out of business. His handsome associate, Michael Darrin, ends up betraying Slabber and helping Dixie. 10/50-1/51.

Dixie Dugan Timeline

1929    Dixie tries a career as a showgirl despite boy friend Denny’s concerns.

1930    Kid brother Sam is jailed. Wealthy Montmorency Gastorbilt woos Dixie.

1931    Working at a department store, Dixie meets best friend Mickey Mackey.

1932    The Fox, elegant gangster chief, is out to destroy Dixie’s Tea Room.

1933    Dixie meets “Edgie” Jeppworth and together they uncover Mickey’s past.

1934    Dixie falls for Edgie but ultimately breaks up with him.

1935    Dixie and Mickey care for Laddy, an unnerving talking baby, or so it seems.

1936    A man shadowing Dixie is actually playwright Wesley Richard. Enter Brudway.

1937    Dixie brings joy to Mrs. Hacket and her son, Steve, but vexes daughter Helen.

1938    Dixie enlists Mrs. Hacket’s help in redeeming the mysterious Mr. Panda.

1939    Brudway moves next door and hires Dixie and Mickey as typists.

1940    Reynaldo Richo’s hypnotic good looks are a fraud. He’s actually bald.

1941    George Shipley is an old beau of Ma’s. Lumberman Bud Hale falls for Mickey.

1942    Dixie and Mickey match Ma’s old sweetheart with Pa’s. Sam’s a war hero.

1943    Mrs. Hacket’s wounded son prompts her to open her house to wounded vets.

1944    Dixie’s brother returns with a scarred face. Mickey fades from the scene.

1945    Dixie is intrigued by charming producer and playwright, Jud Bradley.

1946    Dixie works for war vet Ken Bradford, money manager for Mrs. Hacket.

1947    Ken and Dixie are to be married but Jud kidnaps her on her wedding day.

1948    Dixie briefly becomes a coed at Miami U. Jud tries to make amends.  

1949    Troublemaker Hazy is taken in by the Dugans. Jud Bradley returns a final time.

1950    Uncle Lucky enters Dixie’s life, starting a modelling agency with Pa Dugan.

1951    Male model Michael Darrin falls in love with Dixie.

1952    Dixie goes to work for Thomas Townley. Michael worries over her safety.

1953    Uncle Lucky, Pa Dugan and Dixie all go to work for Gobby Glass Company.

1954    Mickey Mackey returns married with a young son and a missing husband.

1955    Dixie meets pilot Norman Nestor, Milly Miller and enrolls in stewardess school.

1956    Dixie and Milly begin work as stewardesses. Norman and Dixie circle each other.

1957    Dixie and Milly encounter the Mad King of Siam on a special flight mission.

1958    Millionaire Ted Arlington has to work hard to woo Dixie.

1959    Dixie joins the Hackets for the reading of Mrs. H’s will. Uncle Lucky returns.

1960    Dixie quits working as a stewardness, and meets Milly’s cousin, Peter Blake.

1961    Uncle Lucky falls in love with the devious Phoebe.

1962    Dixie mistakes handsome patrolman Jack Jentz for a murderer.

1963    Dixie goes to work for Joanne D’Arcy and befriends boxer Rockabye Johnson.       

1964    Race car driver Go-Go Slope fails to charm Dixie.

1965    Dixie and special investigator Dan Wells fall in love, but there are obstacles.

1966    Scheming Leatha Romney steals Dan away, but then Dan rejects her. Too late?