Uncle Art's Funland facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Uncle Art's Funland |
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|---|---|
| Author(s) | Art Nugent (1933–1974) Art Nugent, Jr. (c. 1971–1991) N. A. Nugent (c. 2009–present) |
| Current status/schedule | Current weekly strip |
| Launch date | 1933; 1950; c. 2009 |
| End date | 1933; 1991 |
| Alternate name(s) | Funland Uncle Nugent's Funland (1950–1972) |
| Syndicate(s) | Bell-McClure Syndicate (1950–1972) United Feature Syndicate (1972–1991, c. 2009–present) |
| Publisher(s) | Playmore |
| Genre(s) | Puzzles |
| Preceded by | Puzzlers |
Uncle Art's Funland (also known as Funland and as Uncle Nugent's Funland) is a long-running syndicated weekly puzzle and entertainment feature originated by Art Nugent (1891–1975). Featuring jokes, riddles, and paper-and-pencil word games, math challenges, nonograms, connect-the-dots art, crossword puzzles and anagrams, Funland has appeared in newspapers and comic books since 1933, and has been syndicated regularly since 1950.
Nugent credited Uncle Art's Funland's ongoing success "to its being one of the few newspaper features created exclusively for children. 'Some cartoons aren't really meant for children,' Nugent says. 'The language is too complicated and the jokes are too hard for them to understand.' With Uncle Art's Funland, however, toddlers enjoy coloring the pictures, while older children work the puzzles."
Comic books
Essentially the same concept as Uncle Art's Funland, the single-page feature was published in many Golden Age comics under a variety of titles:
- Famous Funnies #1–162 (Eastern Color Printing, 1934–1948) — as Funland and occasionally Funland Everybody's Playmate
- Popular Comics #1–35 (Dell Comics, 1936–1938) — as Nugent's Originals or Real Magic
- The Comics (Dell Comics, 1938) — as Comics Puzzles or A Page for Little Artists
- The Funnies #1-27 (Dell Comics, 1936–1938) — as Home Magic or Everybody's Playmate
- All-American Comics #1–24 (All-American Publications, 1939–1941) — as Real Magic to Mystify Your Friends or Nugent's Original Puzzles, Games, Tricks & Comics
- Champ Comics (Harvey Comics, 1940–1943) — as Champ Puzzlers
- All-American Comics, Sensation Comics, and Wonder Woman (DC Comics, 1943–1944) — as Victory Puzzles
- All-Flash, All-American Comics, and Detective Comics (DC Comics, 1943–1945) — as Detective Puzzles
- Sparkling Stars #13–33 (Holyoke Publishing, 1946–1948) — as Puzzle Page
- Felix the Cat (Toby Press, 1953–1955) — as Play Fun or Puzzle Page
Books and collections
The Oakland Press published a collection of Funland puzzles (created by Art Nugent, Jr.) in The Oakland Press Funny Book (October 8, 1978).
Funland: Super-Packed with Puzzles, Jokes, Amazing Facts and Lots more Exciting Fun!, by Art Nugent and Leo White, is a 132-page paperback collection published by Playmore in 1982.
