main image

MR. POLLY

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Normal human (post World War II era)

Occupation: Crimelord

Group Membership: Leader of his gang

Affiliations: Figaro (pet bird), his gang

Enemies: Captain America (Jeff Mace), Bucky (Fred Davis), Joan Chawson, Mr. Chawson (first name unrevealed), Betty Ross, Captain Salter (first name unrevealed)

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: None (see comments)

Base of Operations: New York, USA

First Appearance: Captain America Comics I#63/3 (July, 1947)

Powers/Abilities: The gaunt Mr. Polly is a ruthless crimelord, readily engaging in murder and hijacking to extort money. He has a parrot called Figaro that he has trained to deliver messages and aggressively swoop opponents. Mr. Polly is armed with a knife and can drive heavy trucks, but has little hand-to-hand combat skills. He is particularly fond of peanuts. A distinguishing feature is his enlarged convex "hawk" nose.

Height: 6'3"
Weight: 150 lbs.
Eyes: Dark brown
Hair: Black

History:

(Captain America Comics I#63/3 (fb) - BTS) - The ruthless crimelord Mr. Polly engaged in small-time organized crime around New York state with his gang and trained parrot Figaro.

(Captain America Comics I#63/3) - Mr. Polly targeted extorting more money for scarce timber supplies to Chawson Contractors, who were building the new wing for Lee School. However, this gained the attention of teachers Betty Ross and Steve Rogers (Jeff Mace, secretly Captain America), and student Bucky (Fred Davis, also the masked hero Bucky). At the docks, Mr. Polly forced cargo shipman Captain Salter to unload the lumber to his trucks, but then murdered Salter anyway. Mr. Polly's men loaded the lumber onto their trucks just as Joan Chawson, Ross, Rogers and Bucky turned up. Rogers and Bucky changed into their superhero guises, but were attacked by Figaro as Mr. Polly escaped with the stolen lumber. The next day, Mr. Polly sent Figaro with the message for Chawson to pay a much higher price. Chawson and Ross went to Mr. Polly's hideout led by Figaro; the women provided a distraction while Captain America and Bucky tackled Mr. Polly's thugs. Mr. Polly quickly levered timber over the heroic duo, hoping they would be crushed alive, but they survived. Captain America and Bucky knocked out the thugs before cornering Mr. Polly and punching him out. The criminals were tied up and driven off to be jailed.

Comments: Created by Otto Binder & Syd Shores.

The title of the story is "The Parrot Strikes!"; however, Mr. Polly is not referred to as the Parrot in-story, so I'm guessing they're referring to little Figaro the parrot, despite the creature's lesser threat.

Thanks to Grand Comics Database for credits info.

Profile by Grendel Prime.

CLARIFICATIONS :
Mr. Polly has no known connections to:

Joan Chawson

Joan Chawson was a former school friend of Betty Ross. Joan and her father were the contractors for building the new wing of the Lee School, where Betty Ross and Steve Rogers (Jeff Mace, secretly Captain America) taught, and student Bucky (Fred Davis, also the masked hero Bucky) attended. A shortage of building supplies delayed construction and led Joan, Ross, Rogers and Bucky to the docks to investigate. There they found the lumber being stolen by Mr. Polly and his thugs, but were unable to stop the theft. Later, Mr. Polly sent his pet parrot Figaro to deliver a message demanding a much higher price for the lumber. Joan and Betty went to Mr. Polly as a distraction while Captain America and Bucky successfully overcame the thugs and stopped Mr. Polly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

--Captain America Comics I#63/3

Figaro

Figaro was the trained parrot of crimelord Mr. Polly. It enjoyed the occasional peanut shared by Mr. Polly. The crimelord had trained the loyal Figaro to aggressively swoop opponents and provide distraction so that he could maneuver elsewhere or escape. Mr. Polly also trained Figaro to carry messages like a carrier pigeon. Otherwise, it was always seen perched on the shoulder of Mr. Polly.

 

 

 

 

--Captain America Comics I#63/3

images: (without ads)
Captain America Comics I#63/3, p3, pan7 (main image)
   p4, pan2 (headshot with parrot)
   p11, pan1 (dumping lumber, face from front)
   p2, pan5 (Chawson, headshot)
   p9, pan5 (Chawson, full shot)
   p1 (Figaro)

Appearances:
Captain America Comics I#63/3 (July, 1947) - Otto Binder (writer), Syd Shores (pencils), uncredited inker, Stan Lee (editor)

First posted: 03/12/2023
Last updated: 03/12/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com.

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix!

Back to Characters