After 28 years Dan Gola has retired his weekly Claude & Ernie comic strip due to ill health.
© Dan Gola
In a note to readers of the Echo Journal Dan says:
To all the readers who shared some laughs with me and “Claude and Ernie” for the past 28 years:
You are the reason it caught on and remained for so long. I thought it would be around for a while because when I went to Keith and Martha Anderson (owners of the Lake Country Echo at the time); their son, Pete (the publisher at the time); and Lou Hoglund (the editor at the time) in the fall of 1992, I had enough material for the next two years.
Lots and lots of readers sent in funny stuff to help me out, and the “bob of the bobber” idea came from a cartoonist named Jimmy Hatlo, who published in the 1950s and ’60s. He gave people credit by giving them a tip of the “Hatlo Hat.”
So the last “bob of the bobber” goes to my wife, Barbara, for taking over during my hospital stays, my faithful readers, the staff at the Echo Journal, Claude Schmidt and the late Ernie Musolf.
Read Dan’s entire farewell message at the Echo Journal.
The newspaper’s note:
Dan Gola is the cartoonist behind Claude & Ernie, which was published weekly in the Echo Journal for the past 28 years. Gola recently announced he would no longer publish the cartoon because of ill health. The Echo Journal thanks him for his years of providing this great cartoon.
Claude & Ernie
Fall 1992 – Fall 2020 (Dec. 3?; December 10?)
weekly strip
Lake Country Echo/Pine and Lakes Echo Journal
