A pithy comic strip about life, love, lust and puthy cats.

Est. 1985

Extra, Extra!

Arlo & Janis, Uncensored!

By Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
Now that I have your attention, take a look at this old comic strip from 1985, less than six weeks after the debut of Arlo & Janis. Don’t the characters look weird? But that’s not why I’m showing you this particular strip. I’m showing you this strip, because it is the only A&J strip ever changed or rejected by syndicate editors because of risqué content. United Media editors in New York struck the words “without a bra.” Apparently, other cartoonists have groaning file drawers filled with material rejected by an editor for salaciousness, and the annoyed cartoonists take their revenge by publishing this forbidden material on their own Web sites, to the delight of readers. If you believe my reputation, you would think that I would have the groaningest file drawers of all. I am sorry to disappoint you. I am at a loss to explain this.

Recent Posts

Ghost of Christmas Past

This holiday Arlo & Janis comic strip from 2022 is similar in concept to the new strip that ran yesterday. I thought the latter ...

Spearhead

I have produced a number of comic strips related to Veteran’s Day. Especially in latter years, I have tried to emphasize the universal experience ...

Dark Passage

Remember: it’s that weekend. The return to standard time can be a bit of a shock in the late afternoon, but I rather enjoy ...

What’s old is old, again

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build a web site, but there are similarities. Everything needs to be just right, or ...

Back to the ol’ drawing board

I don’t have a lot of time this morning. I wasn’t going to post anything, but I’m tired of looking at that old photograph ...

Thursday’s Child

On Sunday, I teased you with the suggestion there are more changes coming here. There are. They will appear soon, and I think you’ll ...

266 responses to “Arlo & Janis, Uncensored!”

  1. Steve from Royal Oak, Mi Avatar

    Sand, this is a treasure Spot of anarchy. We do not need elections, taxes and more rules!

  2. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    “Sons of Anarchy”? Nope; already taken.

    The first rule, if we have any, would have to be “No Rules”.

  3. Ruth Anne in Winter Park Avatar
    Ruth Anne in Winter Park

    As I was cleaning out my office over the last few weeks, I got to the point of just throwing stuff in a box to be sorted later. A lot of that was folders of things I had kept to use on bulletin boards or laughs to share. I plan to share some of the better quotes here and post scans of some of the cartoons for the Facebook crowd. No surprise, my collection leans heavily to A&J and Funky Winkerbean.

    Here’s an odd bit that I cut out of an unknown newsletter – I wonder if/how much this has changed.

    “September 7, 1985 – An article by Giuliano Ferrieri in the Milan-based newsmagazine ‘Europeo’ reports that each year 300,000 Italians fall ill and 4,000 die from ’causes traceable to lack of hygiene.’

    The same article reveals that 18 percent of French citizens bathe less than once a week and that German men change their underwear on an average of once every seven days.”

  4. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    Ruth Anne, does the article mention Slavic women and their under garment proclivities? 😉

  5. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Fans of The Twilight Zone will know why I favor Willoughby. I am also possibly the only resident to have met Rod Serling.

  6. Sideburns Avatar

    Ghost, that picture’s from the opening of Petticoat Junction: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petticoat_Junction.

  7. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    Jerry in Fl, Willoughby would be good, for the reasons the star of that episode wanted to move there. Was the meeting with Mr. Serling an interesting one?

  8. Jerry in Fl Avatar
    Jerry in Fl

    Not really. I tried to engage him in conversation, but he was eating and so was I, so he mostly grunted. I can’t say he was overly friendly, but I understand that I was annoying him.

  9. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    I know, Sideburns, but the three young ladies were skinny dipping in a 20-foot deep water tank? Consider the logistics of getting out of and climbing down that ladder from the tank (while presumably naked, or at most wearing a petticoat) and then getting dressed. Bet that would make the train run late.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Jx2jEPvh88

    (Remember when it made sense for a network to announce that a show was being broadcast in color?)

  10. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    And yeah, the gals in the water tank scene is about the only thing I remember about the show. So sue me. 🙂

  11. Mark in Boston Avatar
    Mark in Boston

    The Petticoat Junction water tank is very isolated. They are in danger of being seen only when a train is around, and they can hear it coming a mile away.

    The three daughters are somewhat tomboyish, as you might expect with names like Billie Jo and Bobbie Jo.

    In the first episode, their mother expressed her disapproval of their habit. “One day the train is going to come and take all the water, leaving you high and dry and bare!”

  12. Galliglo in Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo in Ohio

    Ghost..… I always thought that the Petticoat Junction girls had just taken a cooling dip in the water reservoir.

  13. Galliglo in Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo in Ohio

    Oops! Should have read the rest of the comments before I posted! You are all ahead of me.

  14. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    So Mama in effect said that the girls (Betty Jo, Billie Jo and Bobbi Jo, as I recall, although I don’t recall them being particularly boyish, tom or otherwise) were skinny dipping in the tank. Good enough evidence for me. 😉

    Try to keep up, Gal. 🙂

  15. Mark in TTown Avatar
    Mark in TTown

    And which of the women hauled Benji up into the tank with them? That is the same dog which was in the first Benji movie. One man was training all the animals used on The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction and Green Acres. Remember Arnold Ziffel?

  16. TruckerRon Avatar

    Those three shows are deeply engrained in my unconscious, given how often I dream that I’m wondering through an episode. Mayberry also pops up on occasion.

  17. Galliglo in Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo in Ohio

    I try, Ghoast, but some of you guys are just too much for me!! LOL

  18. Galliglo in Ohio Avatar
    Galliglo in Ohio

    See, I can’t even spell Ghost! WHERE is that edit button?

  19. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    Wonder if a ghoast is a ghost that spent too much time in the sun.

  20. TruckerRon Avatar

    Like it or not, the powers that be will insist that we all end up in self-driving cars. Who will suffer? Well, if you’re at all susceptible to motion sickness…

    http://observer.com/2015/06/self-driving-cars-will-cause-motion-sickness-often-to-always-study-finds/

  21. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Airbus has basically been building self-flying airliners as a way of removing human error from the equation, making the air crew more nearly passengers than they are pilots. As part of that approach, the crew cannot overrule the aircraft’s computer, which has led to some spectacular fails and is why I would never ride on an Airbus.

  22. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Thought for the Day: I have noticed that it was much easier to get older than it was to get wiser.

  23. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Debbe 😉 More Hippie Chick music, hon. 🙂

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIoKr9VDg3A