Francis W. Dahl was a cartoonist for the Boston Herald Traveler from 1930 well into the 1950s. He died in ’73.

When my family moved to the Boston area in the late 1960s, collections of Dahl’s cartoons could be found at every public library and at every used book sale. They were the quickest and funniest way to get a handle on the manners and morals of that great old city.

I just picked up two different Dahl books at two different used book stores last week. (One of them was signed.)

These two theater-based strips are from Dahl’s Brave New World, published by Atlantic Monthly Press/Little, Brown and Company, 1947.