For a comic strip that has been around as long as it has, Arlo & Janis is blessed with a steady influx of new readers, especially on the Web. Occasionally, when events skip from the title characters to their son and his family, many of those new readers are left asking, “Who th’ heck are these people, and where is Arlo & Janis?” Now this will be a snooze for most of you, who’ve been reading A&J for a long time, but I thought it would be fun to take time on the blog today to introduce those other people in Arlo & Janis.
We must begin, of course, with Gene. Simply, Gene is the son of Arlo and Janis. For years in the strip, he was an almost daily presence, playing the role of the precocious little boy. But the characters age in A&J, if not in real time something close to it. Eventually, he went off to college, but he spent his summers working in a seafood restaurant “on the coast” that belonged to the family of a childhood friend. You might rightly ask, “What coast?” It’s never specified, but I grew up visiting the beaches of the northern Gulf Coast, from Gulfport to Apalachicola, so I suppose influence from that area is inevitable. You are free to insert the coast of your choice.
That childhood friend was Mary Lou. Mary Lou grew up on the beach, and she and Gene first met when they both were about 12 years old. They may have been the same age, but when it came to “precocious,” Mary Lou was far beyond young Gene. Yet, they bonded as friends. For several years, Gene would return to the beach with his vacationing parents and renew his acquaintance with Mary Lou. However, “Lou,” as she’s sometimes called, was destined for a life crisis of her own, and the two drifted apart briefly. The age of digital communication being what it is, though, they never lost touch completely, and by the time Gene the college boy arrived to work at her family’s restaurant, they were in love. Having weathered her crisis, Mary Lou played a large role in the day-to-day running of her father’s restaurant and initiated Gene into the demanding business of hospitality.
That “life crisis” was Meg, Mary Lou’s daughter. An intelligent and good-natured only-child, she literally grew up in the family business. She spent many hours doing homework and coloring in her grandfather’s cluttered office, and she sometimes lagged for quarters with the bus boys behind the restaurant. To further amuse herself, she would sit in a booth at slow times and bundle silverware and napkins. To be sure, she inherited the family work ethic, but the child in her took immediately to the child in Gene. They’ve been buds from the time they met. And, no, Gene is not Meg’s biological father, since it often is asked.
Gus is the patriarch of the coast clan, Mary Lou’s father and Meg’s grandfather. Starting from nothing, “Pop” has owned and operated a series of motels and restaurants along the coast. He owned the motel where Gene’s family stayed on several of their vacations, which is why Mary Lou was living at the beach when she and Gene met as children. Actually, Gus’ real business all along was real estate, as he sold one concern and purchased another. That beach property you wish you’d bought back when it was dirt cheap? Well, Gus did buy it, and he’s done quite well. After the kids married, Gus made Mary Lou and Gene partners in his popular restaurant, and when he sold the site to developers he rewarded their hard work generously. It was this largess that is bankrolling their current dream of living for themselves on their small farm. A no-nonsense man with an infinite love for his daughter and granddaughter, Gus is one of my favorite characters.
Well, that’s about it! I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief recap. I would like to remind everyone that there’s one more week in the Kickstarter campaign to resurrect the parsonage in Camp Hill. If you’re interested, click on the link below. If nothing else, check out the video! I worked a long time on that sucker, believe it or not!
133 responses to ““Who are these people?””
FYI:
\\http://www.startribune.com/red-tailed-hawk-family-finds-home-in-como-area/388261091/
Peace,
Looks like TIP BlogSpot is back to a favorite topic. These are in fact mermaids; you can see a tail, and hints of scales below water level. Waves conveniently obscure how we segue from mammal to fish.
http://thatispriceless.blogspot.com/
Peace,
emb, your TIP painting is here, along with many more on the same subject.
http://allaroundartsy.blogspot.com/2011/09/sea-nymph-sunday-and-mermaid-monday.html
Wait, he gave a mermaid a butt and tail and a small double chin? Ariel she isn’t?
We always said Baptists wouldn’t look over the cloud they were on, they denied anyone else was there with them.
Most entertaining comments as usual, and I need entertainment. Stuck in rehab after banging myself up in a fall. Not too serious but will take a while. I have an iPad now,nifty but hard to type on. More later. Love to all, Charlotte.
Since I’m Mormon and we’re supposed to abstain from alcohol:
Q: Why should you always take two Mormons with you when you go fishing and hunting?
A: If you only take one, he’ll drink all the beer.
Miss Charlotte, I could entertain you personally if you’d want to call me. Last night I was talking to Mark to assure him they had finally located my heart and I missed turn onto toll road, ending up on a dead end that turned into a dirt road into a wildlife preserve. I turned the truck around and backtracked.
However, I saw possoms, lots, shunk.one, raccoons, lots, a fox, one, and something that looked like a large mink or small light colored otter. Normally I like to see deer but it was remote, dark and lightening, so glad not to meet Bambi nor his mother. I saw them the other night.
And here’s my view on the 2016 Presidential Election:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cWpYMDyW4TA/VzLTTEcpx5I/AAAAAAAAAR0/_eQtKDhVQp8YPf8mneyWgbfWbaOHPCZSACLcB/s1600/NoneOfTheAbove2016.png
Yes, I asked the question today what will happen if we abstain? I cannot force myself to vote for either one. I want to be able to truthfully say “Don’t blame me, I didn’t elect them!”
Just Googled Mrs. Trump’s nude photos and saw them described as “raunchy” which I agree with. So, I read the original GQ article where they appeared. GQ has thoughtfully put the original article online so we can make up our own minds.
Entire article is raunchy in truth. Prurient in fact. Think I got that right. She had not married Trump and I am not going into the hooked image conveyed.
But I think the other candidates deserve equal time and uncover age. Bill has taken off a lot of weight, I say we get to see him spread on a fur rug or in a good string too.
Dang Hal. He changes stuff as I press send. Hooker and uncoverage and g-string and I dare you, Hal!
Charlotte in NH, won’t Siri do voice to text for you? I got myself a Pebble Time Steel smart watch and it has one feature I am coming to like very much. I can reply to texts sent to my phone by pressing a button on the watch and dictating it. The watch shows me what the text looks like, and if I approve it, away the reply goes, without having to type anything. I like this watch because it is not trying to be smarter than me, nor to replace the smartphone. It’s just another tool. Sam’s had it for $99 plus tax/shipping, which is a good deal over the $249 list price.
Nah. Very few, if any, politicians would fall into the “would-like-to-see” category.
And Jackie, there are other candidates. And the write-in option.
I have a friend loyally working away for Bernie and his grass roots campaign. With her teenage daughter. Of course her husband and his family, friends of mine, are the most wonderful and principled individuals, people to admire because they believe and go their own way, not how someone says they should.
I admire people like that. They don’t just give up. Her in laws canoed down the Loire Valley, camping, in a canoe they built in France. We were to go but didn’t. Who do you think I admire?
We seem to have lost that spirit, most of us.
Glad to hear from you Miss Charlotte
Just keep on getting better –
Did I overhear you say you were over Manchester way – or farther North?
I don’t want to depress you but while shredding FIL old papers found a statement
from Clinic. Only ID is 1st&last name and town (no ZIP) Nov 1965
Clinic was in house on Main Street.
Hospital Care Out Patient
Repair laceration rt forearm $15.00
Office call $ 3.00
Office call remove stiches(sic) $ 3.00 week later
EKG Xray (sic) $35.50
I make no comment
I remember how excited I was to register to vote, it mattered to me. I tore down to the courthouse in that red convertible. And there were the armed Federal Marshalls and the lines of long roped off African Americans waiting to register to vote for the first time in my parish.
It wasn’t deliberate on my part, although no one would believe that because I was known to believe in equal rights and support intergration. But I have never forgotten that day. For me it was a simple act. They moved me rapidly in and rapidly out and said leave. But for others that act took courage and had been a long time coming.
I think of that when I am disinclined to exercise my right to vote.
How come the media ignore the other runners?
Saw one the other day – roughly-
“I try to balance my gaining election knowledge with losing my sanity”
GM Debbe
Sounds if the cooler unit is a little oversized if it is keeping cooler
AND packing room cool. You may want to close the cooler door a little more.
Not good going from cold to HOT.
Zen Wisdom wit a twist
5. Always remember that you’re unique. Just like everyone else.
B’ugs
Old Bear, isn’t that amount about equal to a month’s pay in 1965?
Jackie..who lost your heart?? Or is Hal playing jokes again? Either way I’m glad you’ve/they’ve found it.
🙂 hugs all around!
Oops, I am on a other computer. I gave up being anonymous. The cardiology hospital couldn’t find my heart. They thought they were hearing a new slushing sound and wanted a test done. After a long time tech admitted she couldn’t find my heart most of time which I knew already. So we ended up with an IV and a contrast dye, she found what she was looking for and we all went home. Except the janitorial staff.
🙂 I’m glad you are okay.
Men jumped into machinegun fire and landed in 10 feet of water while wearing 150 pounds of gear so that I could mark a ballot and stick it in the mail box. I can do that.
Good luck Charlotte.
Debbe 😉 So naturally they made a frickin’ ketchup commercial out of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDJ_Mz8ftqI
Carly wore some interesting dresses…must have been proud of her legs.