`BEETLE BAILEY' TURNS 50 (SEPT. 4)

`BEETLE BAILEY' TURNS 50 (SEPT. 4)

STAMFORD, Conn. (Wireless Flash) -- Talk about soldiering on: Comic strip character Beetle Bailey turns 50 on Labor Day. On September 4, 1950, the Beetle Bailey strip made its debut in 12 newspapers. "Beetle" was originally named "Spider" and he was a college cut-up, not an Army private. But Bailey enlisted in the army in 1951 and the strip became a hit during the Korean War. Cartoon creator Mort Walker says the strip has always appealed to hawks and doves alike -- even during the Vietnam war when peaceniks thought the strip was anti-war and military supporters considered it a slice of life. Walker himself will turn 77 on Sunday (Sept. 3) and says he still oversees the comic strip eight hours a day, helped by a staff that includes six of his 10 children. According to Walker: "Old cartoonists never retire -- they just erase away."