True Love Comics Tales: John J Anthony

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Advice d'Amour MR ANTHONY'S LOVE CLINIC "That's Why I Cry--"

We've met "Mr Anthony" before...

...when he offered advice on his top-rated radio talk show!

Now, he even offers advice while wandering through the park!

Illustrated by John Prentice, this never-reprinted story from Hillman's Mr Anthony's Love Clinic #5 (1950) is something of a moralistic downer.

It's definitely not the typical upbeat happy ending we're used to seeing!

Next Week...

Our Final Busybody Who Believes He/She Knows What's Best for Our Love Lives!

You'll Cry Your Eyes Out If You Miss It!

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The Golden Age of Romance Comics

Wednesday, April 28, 2021

MR ANTHONY'S LOVE CLINIC "If Only You'd Grow Up"

You think today's 18-30 crowd has problems "adulting"?

It ain't a new phenomenon, as this never-reprinted tale from Hillman's Mr Anthony's Love Clinic #1 (1949) proves!

You may well ask: "Who the hell is this Dr Phil wannabe?

To start with, he wasn't actually "John J Anthony".

His name was Lester Kroll.

He wasn't a doctor,...or even a licensed therapist!

In fact, he was a high school dropout!

But he had a great voice, so he became a radio disc jockey!
He suffered clinical depression and sought out therapy...which gave him an idea.
Utilizing his sons' names (John and Anthony) he created the persona of "John J Anthony" and his show dropped the music format, creating what many historians consider the first interactive "talk radio" show!
If you're wondering why people accepted him without question as an authority on such things, he claimed he was the director of the Institute of Martial Relations on the campus of Vassar College...then a women-only university!

His top-rated radio show became the basis for a licensed romance comic from Hillman in 1949.

But the show's name (Good Will Hour, then The John J Anthony Hour, wasn't dramatic enough!

So the comic was given the catchier title Mr Anthony's Love Clinic!

The comic seems to have been based on actual situations drawn from episodes of the radio show, but since so few of them survived to the present in any form, there's really no way of knowing!