Characters and Story
- Moon Mullins: with his big eyes, plaid pants, perpetual cigar and yellow derby hat; Moon is an amiable roughneck amid a cast of roughnecks. He haunts saloons, racetracks and pool halls, mangles the English language with Jazz Age slang, and gets into endless scrapes looking for an easy buck or a hot dame. Moon himself is a low-rent but likeable sort of riff-raff, involved in get-rich schemes and bootleg whiskey, crap games and staying out all night with disreputable friends. None of the roughhousing was fatal or even particularly threatening, however. Indeed, the gentleness of the situational humor behind all the characters' rough edges kept the strip on an even keel. The name "Moonshine" referenced Mullins as a drinker and gambler during Prohibition.
- Kayo: Moon's street urchin kid brother, who sleeps in an open dresser drawer—one of the strip's most iconic images. Kayo is usually clad in suspenders, polka dot pants and a black derby. Pint-sized Kayo (a play on "K.O.," sportswriters' shorthand for a knockout punch) is wise beyond his years and even a bit of a cynic. His plain-speaking, matter-of-fact bluntness is a frequent source of comedy. Full of mischief and bad grammar, Kayo is a good deal more of the ruffian than Moon.
- Emmy (Schmaltz) Plushbottom: the nosy, lanky, spinsterish landlady who likes to put on airs. All the characters take turns receiving their comeuppance, and Emmy certainly gets her share. She finally married on October 6, 1933 and became Lady Plushbottom. She says "My stars" and "For pity sakes" a lot, but her trademark line—always delivered after a (frequent) putdown—is "I'll smack your sassy face!"
- (Uncle) Willie: introduced in 1927; Moon's long lost, no-account uncle wears a checkered suit and is perpetually unshaven. Willie, who would disappear for months at a time, prefers the hobo life—despite being married and half-domesticated. His only occupation seems to be the avoidance of physical labor and confrontations with his formidable wife, Mamie.
- (Aunt) Mamie: Miss Schmaltz's burly, no-nonsense washwoman and cook; her rolled-up sleeves reveal a conspicuous star tattoo. She's the only featured character of the working class cast who actually works. Mamie is usually tolerant of her errant husband, but she can be dangerous when riled—much to Willie's dismay.
- Lord Plushbottom: (aka "Plushie," as Moon calls him.) Willard introduced him because Patterson thought tossing a well-bred Englishman into that shabby crowd had great comic possibilities. Plushbottom initially appeared as a man of wealth, whom Emmy pursued for ten years before their marriage. Afterwards he moved in, in apparently reduced circumstances, but never discarded his evening clothes, spats and top hat for everyday wear.
- Egypt: Emmy's beautiful flapper niece with the bobbed Louise Brooks coiffure, and Moon's sometime girlfriend.
- Mushmouth: Moon's pal and much-maligned step-and-fetch-it.
- Kitty Higgins: was the star of Willard's "topper" strip about a precocious little girl and her maid, Pauline. Kitty eventually joined the Moon Mullins cast as Kayo's girlfriend.
After Johnson took over, other colorful characters were added to the cast, including:
- Professor Byrrd: an erudite, tweed-suited academic
- Myna Byrrd: the Professor's lovely brunette daughter
- Miss Swivel: a sexy blonde stenographer, frequently pursued by Moon
- Mr. Doodle: an eccentric, temperamental artist
- Joke: a cab driver
The strip was reviewed by Dr. Hermes in Dr. Hermes Retro-Scans:
| “ | It was never so hysterical that you felt you just had to clip it and show it to everyone you knew, but Moon Mullins was always enjoyable and funny in a low-key way. Frank Willard's art was better than it's given credit for, very smooth and subtle; but his real strength was in the amusing personalties he gave his characters. (Longtime assistant Ferd Johnson took over after Willard's death in 1958. "Moonshine" Mullins, as his name hinted, was a shady sort of rogue, always in trouble and often in jail. His little brother Kayo was a tough guy in a derby and turtleneck; everyone remembers him as the kid who slept in a pulled-out dresser drawer. Running the boarding house was sour ol' Emmy Schmaltz (she later married insubstantial Englishman Lord Plushbottom.) Rounding out the continuing cast were the cook Mamie and her less than industrious husband Willie. Moon Mullins is not likely to be adapted into the new big Broadway musical (although you never know), but I always liked it and would like to see it remembered. | ” |
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“What makes literature interesting is that it does not survive its translation. The characters in a novel are made out of the sentences. That’s what their substance is.”
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