Dick Tracy: Laffy Trivia Quiz

Answer: his constant laughing

Although all of these things were true about the doctor, the laugh was what Tracy remembered most. "Laughs like a fool! Laugh, laugh. I think he's nuts!"

Of course this is not Dr. Dyne but Laffy Smith, and the reader soon finds that Dr. Dyne, who has returned unexpectedly from vacation has been killed by Laffy, who is using stolen prescriptions for his drug ring.

Answer: a scalpel

The ever suspicious Tracy calls Dr. Crawford only to find Dr. Dyne was away on vacation. As they enter Dr. Dyne's office, Laffy has just left. They discover Dyne's body with a scalpel in his heart only to be held at gunpoint by a masked Laffy, who has forgotten his prescriptions. Laffy locks them in the next room and leaves, laughing. Dick Tracy recognizes the laugh, as does Dr. Crawford who tells police that Laffy used to be a janitor in the building.

Answer: punched a hole in the tire

Laffy used a punch on his pocket knife to poke a small hole in the tire. He quickly got Needles drunk while pouring his own drinks out. As they drove to Laffy's secluded cabin, the tire had to be changed. While the intoxicated Needles changed the tire, Laffy pushed him underneath and kicked the jack away, breaking Needles' neck.
Although Gould doesn't say so in the comic strip, it seems likely the ankle injury was also what caused Laffy's later problems.
Also his pocket knife will be used later in the story.

Answer: the daily newspaper

Ziggy, a short, fat jowled cigar smoking man with big spectacles drops her daily paper outside the door. Dick Tracy orders coffee, which the bellboy spills on her paper. Tracy trades papers with her and discovers the small packet of 'snow' encased in a corner of the paper.

He confronts Lois with the evidence just as her mother arrives. Lois is distraught and threatens suicide by standing on the building ledge.

Answer: diner

Gould had a vivid imagination and used it in the many devices the underworld needed to keep out of the eye of police. Laffy politely returned his dinner claiming he had ordered boiled potatoes, not mashed. The cook washed the mashed potatoes off the jewels, calculated their value and slipped a $500 bill under the crust of a piece of mince pie Laffy had for desert. Very ingenious.

Answer: laughing

Laffy is laughing at Lois' dilemma and his jaw locks open. Ziggy rushes him to a doctor for treamtment.

Answer: an uppercut to the jaw

The blow both closes Laffy's mouth and knocks him out. He then goes into the next room to call police. Ziggy enters the room, hears the conversation, and holds the doctor and nurse at gunpoint. Ziggy and Laffy lock them in a closet and Laffy uses his pocketknife to open a can of chloroform and put it under the door to knock the two out.
On the cab ride back to their room, Laffy's jaw locks closed. He spends the rest of the story slowly losing weight due to starvation. He is afraid to go to another doctor because he's "always had bad luck at the doctor's".

Answer: his pocketknife

Dick Tracy found an inscription on the knife and traced it to Laffy's girlfriend. She denied knowing Laffy, but Tracy followed her to Laffy's room and arrested him.
Ziggy had been arrested at a doctors office trying to get medicine for Laffy.
By now Laffy is so thin and frail he needs help walking.

Answer: an army typewriter punctuating Japs

This is a tear jerking scene as we see the emaciated Laffy saying "Can't eat plum pudding and turkey this Christmas - can't get my teeth apart." between Kirk trying to tell him who he is.
Dick Tracy knows Laffy is faking. After Kirk leaves he says "You sounded very convincing, Laffy. Very convincing."
"I tried to. Why should I wreck his life?"

Laffy died soon after with a clipping of brother Kirk's reception by the mayor clutched in his hand.

Answer: Flattop

In four panels we see the death of one villain and the wrapping up of the story, then the entrance of the next. Chester Gould was at the top of his game during the 1940's as one story flowed easily into the next. Many Tracy fans say 1944 is his greatest year with only three major criminals: Flattop, The Brow and Shaky. Gould's imagination also comes to life with many memorable secondary characters which he used for years.