Because Publisher George Baker Longan has a snake phobia, it is many a long year since the Kansas City Star has printed news of reptiles (TIME, Aug. 18, 1930). When references to snakes are unavoidable, the Star generally compromises by identifying them as "moving objects." Last week Star editors were horrified when a syndicate comic strip, "Moon Mullins," revealed Uncle Willie's wife Mamie as a onetime snake charmer, showed her performing in a freak show with a huge serpent coiled around her neck. Hastily the resourceful Star substituted non-serpentine "Moon Mullins" strips from 1927 and 1929.
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