Dixie Dugan: From Showgirl to Comics Icon

Here is something to look forward to..... Classic Comics Press have announced the forthcoming release of Dixie Dugan: From Showgirl to Comics Icon. No author is give except for the comic strips original authors, J. P. McEvoy and John H. Striebel. No date is given for the book's release date, though the book is listed as "currently in production." 

In fact, little else is known about this title. For example, what span of time will this volume cover: will it include the Sunday comics, or just the daily's, or both? Nevertheless, the book's release is something to look forward to. I have emailed the publisher, but have yet to hear back.

 

As is well known, Louise Brooks was the inspiration for the long-running "Show Girl" (later renamed "Dixie Dugan") comic strip. (The strip ran from the late 1920s to the early 1960s.) A related property from the time, the Show Girl novels by J. P. McEvoy, were recently republished via a successful kickstarter project. I was a supporter of that project, and hope to support this one as well in whatever way I can. 

THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2026. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.  

Kickstarter for the Louise Brooks - inspired Dixie Dugan novels

I realize this is last minute, but longtime Louise Brooks Society supporter Beth Ann Gallagher just alerted me to an incredible Kickstarter campaign to bring three Louise Brooks-inspired Dixie Dugan novels by J.P. McEvoy back into print. More about this Kickstarter campaign, which runs through January 18th, can be found HERE.

As Brooks' devotees may know, Show Girl was the first novel to feature a major character or story-line inspired by the actress. First serialized in Liberty magazine in 1928 (and quickly published in book form by Simon & Schuster), Show Girl told of the life and adventures of a character named Dixie Dugan. That novel and its two follow-up books, Show Girl in Hollywood and Show Girl in Society, proved especially popular. So much so that they spawned a long-running comic strip which lasted into the 1960s, "Dixie Dugan," as well as a stage play, Show Girl, and two movies which unfortunately did not star Louise Brooks.

Here is a wonderful newspaper ad for the novel's serialization in Liberty magazine, when the visual identity of Dixie Dugan was closely aligned with the look of the actress. (A few of these illustrations, as well as some of the early comic strips, were based on films stills from Brooks' first films, such as The American Venus.)

Nevertheless, I pledged $29.00 toward this worthy campaign, for which I will receive a copy of the book and have my name listed on an acknowledgements page. I already own vintage copies of these books, including one signed by McEvoy, but am looking forward to receiving this omnibus edition. Yowza, yowza, yowza.

Here is some more information about this Kickstarter campaign from it's page.

"Between 1928 and 1932, J. P. McEvoy published six ingenious novels that unfold solely by way of letters, telegrams, newspaper articles, ads, telephone transcriptions, scripts, playbills, greeting card verses, interoffice memos, legal documents, monologues, song lyrics, police reports, and radio broadcasts. Three of them, collected here for the first time, record the wild career of a jazz baby named Dixie Dugan (modeled on actress Louise Brooks, whom McEvoy knew). The best-selling Show Girl tracks Dixie's zigzagging path to success on Broadway; in Hollywood Girl, she heads out West for further risqué adventures, and impulsively marries a rich playboy; in Society, Dixie mingles with high society both in Europe and the U.S. before returning to Hollywood to resume her show-biz career."

"Beneath the novels' hellzapoppin' energy and jazzy lingo, however, McEvoy exposes the dark underside of the times: sexual predation, tabloid journalism, political corruption, the rise of religious fundamentalism, and the fatuous lifestyles of the rich and famous. But it's the blend of humor and bite, of success and failure, of ridicule and irony—shaken and stirred with linguistic and formal ingenuity—that makes The Dixie Dugan Trilogy "a madcap, mordant masterpiece," as critic Steven Moore writes in his informative introduction. Out of print since the 1930s, these "avant-pop" novels deserve a revival."

 THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society  (www.pandorasbox.com). Original contents copyright © 2024. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Dixie Dugan - reader of books

Here is a multi-panel Dixie Dugan Sunday strip from 1932. (By comparison, the daily strip was usually three or four panels.) By this time in the evolution of the Dixie Dugan comic strip, Dixie's hair had evolved away from the Brooks-influenced shingled bob depicted in the 1929 / 1930 strips to something a little longer and more Thirties style. I like this particular strip because it suggests Dixie/Louise was something more than just a "dumb showgirl" = she read books!

Vintage Hollywood comic books, including Dixie Dugan and Buck Jones, at Digital Comics Museum

The Digital Comics Museum is a wonderful online resource. The site says it is "the best site for downloading FREE public domain Golden Age Comics," and it may well be true. To start downloading, register an account and enjoy reading a great assortment of vintage comic books. The Digital Comics Museum does not charge per download, with the stated goal of the project to archive these comic books online and make them widely available.

There are comic books dating, mostly, from the late 1930s through the early 1960s. Among them are a couple associated with the career of Louise Brooks, as well as many others relating to Hollywood and the movies.

The Digital Comics Museum has a couple of issues of the Dixie Dugan comic book. As fans of Brooks will recall, the actress was the inspiration for this long-running comic strip / comic book character. The early incarnation of the strip, circa 1930, featured a look-alike character, scenes set in the entertainment world, and even a few panels lifted directly from film stills. Follow this link to see these later-day Dixie Dugan comics - http://www.digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?cid=244

The Digital Comics Museum also includes a half-dozen issues of a Buck Jones comic book. As fans of Brooks will also recall, Brooks was featured in Empty Saddles, a 1936 Western starring Jones. He started in the silent era, a remained major star throughout the 1930s. Sadly, Jones was one of the 492 victims of the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston, Massachusetts, dying two days after the November 28th blaze. For years, legend held that Jones's fatal injuries were the result of his going back into the burning building to save victims, but it is now known that he was one of many trapped in the fire. Follow this link to see the Buck Jones comics, which date from the early 1950s, a number of years after Jones' death - http://www.digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?cid=632

And speaking of Western films featuring Louise Brooks, the Digital Comics Museum also has issues of John Wayne Adventure Comics. As fans of the actress will recall, Brooks was featured in an early John Wayne film, Overland Stage Raiders (1938). These comics date, I think, from the early 1950s.

The Digital Comics Museum has numerous other Hollywood-related comic books from the 1940s and 1950s, some of which harken back to the silent and early sound era.

They have runs of Johhny Mack Brown, Bill Boyd Western, Motion Picture Comics, Tom Mix Western, Hollywood Diary, Hollywood Secrets, Abbott and Costello Comics, Three Stooges, Famous Stars, and others. And of course there are many non movie or celebrity related comics.

But wait, there is more! The Digital Comics Museum also has very early issues of Little Nemo (circa 1906 - the year Brooks was born) and Capt. Billy's Whiz Bang (from the early 1920s). As fans of the actress will also recall, Brooks appeared in the cover of this humor journal in the late 1920s.

Louise Brooks / Dixie Dugan

A rather interesting letter from, and picture of Louise Brooks, has shown up on eBay. "These items were acquired with a collection of Brooks items saved by Fritzi Striebel who was the wife of John H. Striebel (artist and illustrator) who used Louise as his model for Dixie Dugan -  famous comic strip character he created in 1928."