Obscurity of the Day: Classified Ad-Ventures


Here’s an example of a strip genre that came on like gangbusters in the 1930s, matured by the 50s and was all but gone by the 60s. Many strips and panels that touted the wonders of classified advertising were created, though few did particularly well. I’d say that the most popular was Larry Reynolds’ Quickies. Other popular features include Howard Baer’s Too Late To Classify and Want-Ad Wonders, yet another Believe It Or Not imitator.

Classified Ad-Ventures had a short run (as far as I know) but is distinguished with excellent art by Ben Stahl, much in the Milton Caniff/Noel Sickles chiarascuro style. Unfortunately the nice details on the strip are all but lost in this scan from a microfilm newspaper. I have found runs of the strip from 1937 and 1940. I don’t recall any other ‘want ad’ strips that mined the adventure strip genre. Neat stuff!

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