The Life and Times of Russ Johnson and Mister Oswald
Russ Johnson set Mister Oswald in the fictitious town of Dippy Center. There were many reoccurring characters during the 82 years of the strip’s run, some of which you’ll see in the complete strips in the gallery, but these eight characters were the main ones. Mr. and Mrs. Oswald were in the monthly feature from beginning to end, while the other six characters were vital to the Mister Oswald during different parts of the strip’s long life.
Mister Oswald, our intrepid hero and long-suffering owner of Oswald's Hardware store in Dippy Center
Mrs. Oswald, the long-suffering wife of Mister Oswald
Miss Phitt, an early hardware store office worker, who left during the early days of WWII for a better paying job
Herschel, another early hardware store employee, who left when he joined the Army during WWII. He played a more minor role than Miss Phitt and Kenny
Kenny was the last of the early hardware store employees. He left the store to work at a defense plant during WWII
Herman Hammers joined the Oswald Hardware store during WWII, when employees were hard to find. Mister Oswald didn't take to Herman right away.
Pearlie Gates replaced Miss Phitt as the office worker in the hardware store, though it took some doing to find her
Jonny Potts was an employee that Mister Oswald unscrupulously hired away from the drug store