Martha Arguello, 1917-2008



The San Francisco Chronicle has reported that Martha Arguello, who as "Marty Links" enjoyed a 35-year run on the feature Bobby Sox (later Emmy Lou), passed away in San Rafael on Sunday. She was 90 years old.

Arguello was born in Oakland and raised in San Francisco, where she lived the majority of her life. She attended the city's Fashion Art Institute and worked as mural painter and advertising artist before becoming a cartoonist. She would marry her high school sweetheart, Alexander Arguello, and stay married to him for 25 years until his death in the mid-1960s. Their two daughters would provide fodder for Arguello's cartoon efforts.

Legend has it that the idea for her strip, one of a growing number of entertainment offerings of its time to focus on the phenomenon of teenaged life, came from a rejected fashion drawing assignment featuring teens. In fact, Arguello was a successful local cartoonist for the Chronicle for almost a half-decade before being syndicated. Her recurring character "Mimi" can be seen as a definite precursor for the Emmy Lou to come. The Chronicle estimates that between 1940 and 1946, Arguello drew nearly 600 cartoons for the publication. I love this photo, but can't simply republish it here in good conscience.

Bobby Sox began its run in 1944, from Consolidated News Features. It became a successful if not overwhelmingly popular strip, picking up 100 clients back when that meant something, and was marked by a kind of gently wry look at the foibles of its protagonists. The character proved appealing to television producers, with a segment on Shirley Temple's Storybook, an attempted spin-off from Mr. Ed called The Trials and Tribulations of Emmy Lou Harper that didn't take, and a slot in the Filmation animated series The Fabulous Funnies.

The term "Bobby Sox" indicated a specific fashion element of short socks and clunky shoes, and would be retired as a title (either in the early or late '50s according to different sources) when the fashion faded, in favor of being named for its lead, Emmy Lou. While many read Emmy Lou in its later years as a kind of nostalgic take on elements of life remaining from simpler times, it also seems that Arguello was sensitive to not becoming totally anachronistic. When she quit the feature in 1979, she gave the columnist Herb Caen one of the best quotes in comics history: "Everything I know about teenagers today is unprintable."

After retirement from comics, Arguello had a successful second career in greeting card design. She retired from that field eight years ago, but continued to paint until her passing.

She is survived by two daughters and six grandchildren.

A reception in her honor will be held at the Cartoon Art Museum from 5-8 p.m. on Saturday. Several of her comics can be seen by searching "Marty Links" at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco site.

caption to top: "I know they're our boyfriends' initials..."
 
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