ELMO THE SPY

Elmo the Spy is a freelance agent.

This is an assumption based on very little data but it seems a sound one as the two escapades we follow him on certainly look like he is an operative of opportunity rather than under orders for some particular organization. In the first he is approached by a would-be overthrower of an Indian sub-continent region to help oust the sitting ruler. In the second, it is a get-rich-quick scheme involving extortion that occupies his attention. While these two cases take place in the mid-50s when the Cold War was becoming especially chilly, there is no indication that Elmo works for 'the other side'

Elmo is a natty-dressed man with a pencil-thin mustache in the first adventure and a shortish handlebar mustache in the second. Most importantly to the image of his being a no-good-nik, he favors a monocle on his left eye. He always sports a fedora which sort of kills the ominous vibe. He is clean-shaven with a long pointy nose and a chin that follows that trend.

We are presented these two missions through the good graces of a young pesky, annoying youngster with the name of Winky Dink. We do not know if Winky is a nickname for this little fellow with star-shaped pointy blond hair or his real first name - he does have a female cousin he calls Twinky.

To say that Dink is a buttinsky is to be kind. In the pages of the dossiers we are shows of him, he gets involved in all sorts of troubles and shenanigans totally unconnected with Elmo the Spy. This is mentioned only to show that Dink is always being a scamp somewhere and it is just the misfortune of Elmo that he runs into Dink.

Back on Elmo the Spy - this man is devious and creative and all-around seemingly a very resourceful and experience operative. Which makes one wonder why it is that someone like Winky Dink - whom statements show is already well known to Elmo and vice-versa - can cause him so much trouble!

The two tales of Winky Dink versus Elmo the Spy are meant, obviously, for young readers and looking at the two comicbooks, I would add the adverb 'very' to the description. The artwork is super-simplistic and meant for a very young audience. I might have tempted to just ignore this pretty inconsequential espionage agent since he was not the star of the comicbook, just an opponent in a couple of the stories. Except ...

Winky Dink and You was a CBS children's television show which aired on Saturday mornings at 10:30 am. Created by Harry W. Prichett and Edwin Brit Wyckoff, it ran an impressive four years. It has been described as the first interactive TV show because kids could purchase a "magic drawing screen", a piece of vinyl which they would put on the actual television screen and draw or trace with crayons contained in the kit. What was drawn would help Winky Dink finish whatever he was involved in. It is said that the show would be pulled from the airways because of this feature as the worry about too much radiation from cathode ray tube screens was a concern. Considering how close to the screen the children would have to sit to do the drawing, it was understandable. That and the fact that apparently kids who did not have this vinyl plastic sheet were still doing the requested drawing - just now it was directly onto the actual screen which the parents did not appreciate.

Having as an opponent for the hero Winky Dink someone whose occupation was a 'spy' was quite uncommon back in the 50s. I do not know if Elmo made it to an episode of the television short or not as I could find no listing of episodes. I personally do not remember it because, though I was the right age for the desired viewership, we did not yet have a television in our house. So whatever prompted my fascination with spy adventures [okay, it was Ursula Andrews in Dr. No!] it was not Elmo the Spy courtesy of Winky Dink.