We presented two later versions of this tale HERE and HERE...
...Now here's the story that started it all!
(Note: all three tales are by the same writer!)
The biggest difference is that the teacher isn't a science instructor, but a history teacher, but many of the elements (including the perfume store, and of course, the punchline) are the same!
Freelance writers like Mendelsohn were dependent on producing
volumes of work to pay the bills, since comics (and pulp magazines) weren't high-paying gigs back then.
It was strictly "work for hire", a one-time payment
only!They didn't get reprint fees, nor payment (not even a credit/acknowledgement) if their stories were re-used on radio/tv/movie versions of the characters, which they ofter were!
So it's not that unusual for writers to reuse storylines for stories for different publishers!
(We presented a kool example of this during our last year's annual Halloween blogathon starting with
THIS TALE, and continuing through the links...)
Illustrated by George Frese, Mendelson's story from
Archie's Ginger #1 (1951) was a continuation of the character's strip which premiered in
Zip Comics in 1943, continued in the back of
Suzie Comics, and finally got it's own title in 1951!
Ironically, the mid-1950s "Seduction of the Innocent" scandal involving horror and crime comics that caused numerous publishers to close and the surviving companies to reduce their output, doomed the wholesome character's book to end at #10 in 1954 when
Archie cut back their line!
She disappeared until the early 2000s, when Archie began reprinting her stories in their numerous digest-sized titles, introducing her to a new audience who weren't even alive when she first appeared!
Happy April Fool's Day!
Be Back Next Wednesday for More Amorous Education!
The writer of this never-reprinted tale from St John's Teen-Age Diary Stories #4 (1949) is unknown, though it's suspected to be Dana Dutch.
