...struggling artist Peg Manton couldn't find a profitable venue for her talent.
Broke and starving, she encountered George Jessup, an average guy who recognized her artistic ability, and suggested she try her hand at doing a comic strip!
With his guidance, she created "The Loves of Lorna Lee", basing Lorna on herself!
The innovative strip was snapped up in record time by a newspaper syndicate!
While Peg reveled in her new-found professional success, George professed his love for her.
But Peg didn't feel the same way, and George accepted his fate as a close friend, continuing to offer suggestions about the strip...which had started losing readers due to a lack of a compelling male co-star to match the female lead.
With George's help, Peg created an extremely-manly character..Greg Gallant...who proved so popular that he stole the stip's title as well as his creator's heart as she began having erotic fantasies about her own creation!
A major studio bought the rights to the strip and came up with the idea to cast an unknown actor to play the part...with Peg making the final decision!
Wow!
All that in a 13-page story!
These days, it'd be a full-length Graphic Novel!
Writer/editor Richard E Hughes and illustrator Ogden Whitney presented an extremely idealized version of what goes into creating and marketing syndicated comic strips, as well as offering a beautiful and talented woman who looked past the physical to choose a guy who, though less handsome than his rival for her affections, possessed intellectual and emotional attributes she wanted in a "significant other"!
A most appropriate tale for Valentine's Day, eh?
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