| Added by |
 Bart Perdieus
|
| General Description : | Sjors & Sjimmie (George & Jimmy) is a Dutch adaptation of US-comic Perry Winkle. The difference between the original and the Dutch adaptation is that Sjors (Perry) forms a duo with Africa-born Sjimmie. They're raised by Sally and the Colonel. The Colonel regularly finds himself on the receiving end of their pranks. In return Sjors & Sjimmie are outsmarted by their scheming classmate Dikkie, although they manage to stay the best of friends. The comic began life in 1902 as the US newspaper-cartoon Buster Brown. Its success triggered a huge amount of publicity about the boy stuff, like clothes, toys and whiskey. Because of this success, Perry Winkle's comic was published in Dutch newspapers and eventually given a Dutch-made version (Sjors en de Rebellenclub by Frans Piët) after the original US comics shifted back focus on Perry's sister Winnie. After a publication stop during WW II, the protagonist Sjors found a companion in Sjimmie, an African boy who was part of the visiting circus. Sjimmie originally had blackface stereotypical features such as broken language. In 1969 Jan Kruis took over the comic from the retired Frans Piët; he made Sjimmie look like a normal teenager and speak proper Dutch. Kruis produced two 44-page stories before deciding that he couldn't meet the demand; he went on to find fame with his one-page comic Jack, Jacky and the Juniors in which Sjors & Sjimmie were given one cameo-appearance. Jan Steeman continued Sjors & Sjimmie during the first half of the 1970s. In 1975 the Sjors and Pep magazines merged to Eppo; Sjors & Sjimmie were re-invented as one-page gags drawn by Robert van der Kroft. Initial responses were tepid, but changed when scriptwriter Patty Klein was replaced by Wilbert Plijnaar and Jan van Die. Collectively known as Wiroja, the threesome turned the comic into one of Eppo's household names. During the 1980s Sjors & Sjimmie grew into teenagers pursuing like-minded interests (soccer, computer-games) and chasing girls with varying results, while modern-day trends, celebrities and political developments were ridiculed. For example; Sjors & Sjimmie were huge fans of "Michael Claxon" and Madonna, and preferred off-time lunches at McMickey's over mundane cheese-sandwiches (which they fed to a decreasing number of ducks). In 1988 Eppo magazine was renamed "Sjors & Sjimmie" after its most successful comic. It lasted until 1999 and contained multi page stories besides the regular one-pagers. Wiroja couldn't cope with the amount of work and had themselves offloaded by a Spanish art studio. They stayed on hand for cover-designs and quality-control. Wiroja gained a new audience by producing the gag strip Claire for women's magazine Flair. In 1992 Sjors & Sjimmie appeared in an animated rap-video for the No Shobo-campaign, detesting showoff-behaviour. The magazine was revived in 2009 as Eppo; Sjors & Sjimmie are not included in the roster of household names from the past. Robert van der Kroft divides his time between the Netherlands and Italy; he still works on new Claire-gags with Jan van Die and Evert Gerets. The latter replaces Wilbert Plijnaar who lives and works in Los Angeles since 1999. |
| Face value | 160 Cent |
| Catalog code (Michel) | BL 65 |
| Stamp colour | multicolour |
| Stamp use | Souvenir Sheet |
| Issue date | 23/09/2000 |
| Designer | Harald Slaterus |
| Height | 50.00 mm |
| Width | 108.00 mm |
| Catalog prices | No catalog prices set yet |
