Playworms Week: Who Are ... The Playworms?

There are very few teetotalers in Del Monte. 

The joyful imbibition of alcohol is part of Gordo's general theme of bonhomie. His is a world of music, dance, art, romance, good company, good food, and leisure -- and where those things are to be found, there is very often also booze. Even Gordo's iconic jitney bus, El Cometa Halley, spurns gasoline for a tank full of hard liquor.

But no creature on two legs ever walked (or wiggled) as askew, and as much in their cups, as Panchito y Porfirio -- those bantering borrachos, those gallivanting gusanos, those Playworms...

Porfirio and Panchito dub themselves The Playworms on February 26, 1967.

From the late Sixties onward, Gus Arriola developed a bifurcated cast of characters for his strip. 

On the one side, you had the human characters -- Gordo, his nephew Pepito, their friends Juan Pablo and the Poet -- and, on the other, the world of nature, populated with a vast expanse of nameless, wisecracking birds, butterflies, crickets, snails, fish, ants, bees and whatever other wee beastie had most recently captured Arriola's imagination.

Beginning January 9, 1967, Arriola has an earnest pair of itinerant earthworms come wiggling into the dramatis non-personae. 

The debut of Porfirio and Panchito (tho yet unnamed) from January 9, 1967

Arriola finds the Playworms' voices quickly. The meandering repartee, the cocktail club comedy, and -- by Friday -- the fact that they like to get loaded.

In their fifth appearance, Arriola has hit on the star-making notion of having the literally-legless duo desperate to -- figuratively speaking, of course -- bend an elbow: 

The worms enjoy a snort, from January 13 1967.

Excepting a single Sunday strip appearance, Panchito and Porfirio aren't given the spotlight again until most of the year has passed. When New Year's Eve rolls around, the worms return in style, sporting both their gadabout gear and a message about responsible partying which they'll be called upon to repeat periodically in the strip's remaining years.

The 'worms second appearance in the dailies begins with this strip from December 30, 1967

Part of the appeal of the Playworms, to Arriola's perspective, was the relative simplicity of the illustration. Working without an assistant for most of his career, he was as keen to experiment with time-saving techniques as he was with color, line and abstraction. A pair of wisecracking worms without detailed anatomy, backgrounds or wardrobe gave him a golden opportunity to pull back on an increasingly overwhelming workload:

A typically minimalist strip from April 18, 1969.

This gag told almost exclusively in silhouette from July 30, 1969.

A trifecta of labor-saving visual devices from September 1, 1972.

Naturally, the Sunday strips were where the Playworms truly shined. The full-color weekend strips typically utilized a bold and flexible palette to the same minimalist effect as the black-and-white strips, creating additional visual interest for a modest investment of time and energy. 

A drastically-changing palette defines this strip from August 13 1972.

While the circumstances couldn't be less analogous, the names "Porfirio" and "Panchito" are inspired by two prominent figures from the Mexican Revolution-- dictator Porfirio Díaz, and rebel hero Pancho Villa. Perhaps Arriola was suggesting that a few drinks might've eased the tension.

José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (l) and Francisco 'Pancho' Villa (r)

Speaking of names, Porfirio and Panchito were rarely referred to as "Playworms" in the strip. They called one another by name, while other characters would call them lushes, drunks and winos.

When Nitty Gritty Publications released eight Gordo-themed strip books in 1972, Porfirio and Panchito scored their own volume -- "Those Playworms," which was a collection of Sunday strips featuring the pair.

Cover to "Those Playworms, Porfirio and Panchito" by Gus Arriola, Nitty Gritty Prod. (Concord, CA)

The Playworms remained a fixture of Gordo up through the final two-week arc in February, 1985, just prior to Arriola's retirement. 

As Gordo and Tehuana Mama are making plans to escape the latest scheme of The Widow Gonzales, Gordo's pets and several of Del Monte's wild critters are depicted as audience to end of the feature. Porfirio and Panchito make their last appearance in this February 26, 1985, strip: