‘Dick Tracy’ a Hit in Comic Creator’s Hometown

WOODSTOCK, Ill. —  Capt. Dick Tracy of the Chicago Police Department loved the movie. But he couldn’t solve the crime.

“I suspected somebody else,” said Tracy after watching the movie “Dick Tracy.” Judging from the gasps from the audience, very few people suspected the culprit.

Tracy--yes, that’s really his name--was among 500 guests at a preview of the movie here Wednesday night. Woodstock was the home of Chester Gould, who created the Dick Tracy comic strip. The movie opens nationally Friday.

“It was great,” said Tracy, who at 56 is just two years younger than the comic strip. “It had an interesting plot, lots of action. The scenes were uniquely done.”

The special showing culminated a week of Dick Tracy Days in this town 50 miles northwest of Chicago.

Disney officials were adamant that the real premiere, with stars, 3,000 invited journalists and all, be tonight at Florida’s Walt Disney World.

But Woodstock Mayor Jim Shoemaker said that showing won’t be the same. “You’ll see brighter red carpet, bigger celebrities, fancier limousines,” he told Jean O’Connell, Gould’s daughter, who planned to travel to Orlando for the premiere.

“The one thing that Orlando’s not going to have is 14,000 people who loved your dad. Dick Tracy, you’re finally home,” Shoemaker said, his voice choking with emotion.

Other Woodstock residents heaped praise on the movie.

“It was fabulous,” said Woodstock resident Betty Hamilton. “I was never a Dick Tracy fan, but now I am. I’m going to go back and read all the comic books.”

Guests paid $100 each for seats at the Woodstock Opera House. Proceeds will benefit the Chester Gould Memorial Library, a museum planned to commemorate the late cartoonist and his famous characters like 88 Keys, Mumbles, Breathless and Pruneface.