The Museum Theft

The Museum Theft
Start date:	August 30, 1954
End date:	October 9, 1954
# of strips:	36 (6 weeks)
Writer:	Lee Falk
Artist:	Phil Davis
Preceded by:	"The Deep Sea Mystery"
Followed by:	"The Enchantress"

"The Museum Theft" is the 78th Mandrake daily story. The story was written by Lee Falk and drawn by Phil Davis.

Plot Summary

Some thieves have stolen some valuable paintings from a museum. But famous paintings are hard to sell.

Appearances

Recurring characters

• Mandrake
• The Police Chief

One-time characters

• Slug, a thief.
• Tiny, a thief.
• Louie the Fence, a fence.
• Mr. Kern, owner of the paintings.
• Mouthpiece, a lawyer.

Locations

• New York
  • Municipal Museum
  • XZ Storage Co.

Behind the scenes

• The title for the story is lifted from the plot (Strip of August 30, 1954 indicate the title as: Next Week: The Fine Arts).

Reprints

This story has been published in the following publications:

Argentina

• "Las Bellas Artes", Gran Bonete #10 (1955)

Australia

• "The Art Lovers", Mandrake Annual Xmas 1956 (1956)

Brazil

• "no title", Almanaque do Mandrake (1956)
• "Os Quadros Desaparecidos", Mandrake #176 (1971)
• "O Roubo do Museu", Mandrake #289 (1980)

Finland

• "Tauluvarkaat", Sarjakuvalehti #11 (1962)
• "Tauluvarkaus", Mustanaamio #14 (1977)
• "Tauluvarkaus", Sarjakirja #1/1988 (1988)

France

• "Vol au musée", Mandrake #9 (1963)
• "Les arts", Mandrake le Magicien (Collection Clair de lune) Volume 2 - 1953 à 1957 (2012)

Italy

• "Furto al museo", Il Vascello #9 (1959)
• "Furto al museo", I Classici dell'Avventura #1 (1962)
• "Furto al museo", Super Albo - Mandrake #112 (1964)
• "Furto al museo", Mandrake - New Comics Now #306 (1993)

Norway

• "Malerityvene", Serie-pocket #138 (1988)

Portugal

• "O Roubo dos Quadros", Condor Popular Vol. 5 #3 (1955)

Spain

• "Robo en el Museo", Mandrake #24 (1997)

Sweden

• "Tavelstölden", Fantomen #5 (1977)

United Kingdom

• "The Great Art Museum Mystery", Mandrake the Magician #12 (1961)

Yugoslavia

• "Оживеле слике" (romanized as "Oživele slike"), Politikin Zabavnik #1420 (1979)