| Notta Chin Chillar (née Fallar) | |
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First Appearance: |
June 14th, 1967 |
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Known Relatives: |
Unnamed Father (Deceased) |
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Known Associates: |
Mr. Bribery (Deceased) |
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Created By: |
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Notta Chin Chillar (née Fallar) was the wife of George Chin Chillar, an employee of Diet Smith Industries on the moon.
Notta had light blonde hair and a small blonde chin beard, and wore a black corset, yellow high heel boots, large dangling ball earrings, feathery necklace with matching bracelets, a dagger tucked into her bustier, a yellow belt around her waist, and an upswept hairdo.
Notta and George resembled each other, but they were not related outside of being married. George often called Notta, "baby" or "doll, and she reciprocated by calling George "baby."
Early Life
Notta’s complete first name was Notteema (2/6/1968). She claimed to be the daughter of a man who died in prison for killing a judge. Her mother died giving birth to her brother, Purdy Fallar, who was a year younger than she was (2/6/1968). Notta claimed to have raised two brothers, Purdy and Fuller. Her brother Fuller was shot to death in a gang war (2/6/1968).
When she was sixteen, Notta married George Chin Chillar (2/7/1968) and joined him when she and George went to work for Diet Smith Industries on the moon (7/2/1967). George had a criminal past (7/27/1967), as did she (2/7/1968). The couple was eventually contacted on the moon by Mr. Bribery. Bribery had been incarcerated, but he enlisted the Chin Chillars' aid in an attempt to recover $100,000 in cash that had been orbiting the Earth as a result of Bribery's aborted attempt to murder two Space Coupe pilots (7/3/1966).
Alliance with Mr. Bribery
The Chin Chillars stole one of Diet Smith's magnetic Space Coupes and used it to break Mr. Bribery out of jail (6/14/1967). They also attached a special wire net "bird cage" Bribery had constructed in the prison workshop, which they used to capture the floating bundle of cash (6/20/1967). Bribery drank too much champagne to celebrate their achievement and passed out from intoxication (6/23/1967). The Chin Chillars then returned Bribery to prison, dropping him through the roof from a great height (6/25/1967). Bribery died in the fall (6/26/1967).
On the Run in the Space Coupe
Mrs. Chin Chillar 7/9/1967
The theft of the Space Coupe and Bribery's escape did not go unnoticed by the police, and the Chin Chillars soon found themselves pursued by Diet Smith and Dick Tracy in another space coupe (6/28/1967). The Chin Chillars could not shake the pursuit, and they soon discovered that they had no food and were running low on water (7/4/1967).
Desperate to avoid capture, George threw the Space Coupe into a steep, high-speed dive into Earth's atmosphere (7/9/1967). This caused the wire net cage containing the money to catch fire. Debris from the disintegrating cage damaged Smith and Tracy's coupe, and they had to waylay their pursuit (7/15/1967). The Chin Chillars avoided capture, but the money was burned beyond recovery.
Desperate now for food and water, the Chin Chillars raided one of Diet Smith's moon supply stations (7/20/1967), and George subsequently decided that they needed to go into hiding. Against his wife's protests, George Chin Chillar piloted the Space Coupe to the farm of a former criminal associate, the mob boss Piggy Butcher (7/30/1967). The Chin Chillars pleaded with Piggy to to allow them to hide out on his farm, but Piggy instead took them prisoner, treating them like slaves and making them sleep in the stables (8/2/1967). Meanwhile the Space Coupe was hidden in plain sight, disguised as a silo.
Piggy Butcher's House Mother
Piggy enlisted George in a new armored car robbery scheme. He and his men forced Chin Chillar to pilot the Space Coupe under cover of darkness and carry an armored car to Piggy's secret underground smelting plant (8/26/1967), where it was stripped for parts and melted down for steel (9/2/1967). Piggy held Notta as hostage to insure Chin Chillar's cooperation.
During this time, Piggy took an increasing fancy to the flirtatious Notta (8/9/1967). He announced that her new role would be to serve as "housemother" for himself and his men (8/15/1967). In effect, Piggy took possession of Notta and made her his personal slave (he no longer addressed her as George's wife, but "our house mother"), and thereafter she was responsible to serve him beer, prepare his meals, and meet his physical needs, day and night. Notta and Piggy likely became sexual partners (8/10/1967 & 9/2/1967), though the exact nature of their relationship is subject to interpretation.
As their physical relationship intensified, Piggy became increasingly obsessed with his "little housemother," though he didn't like her beard (9/13/1967). He eventually ordered his men to shave her, but he stopped them when she cried out in pain (9/25/1967), leaving her with twin beards on either side of her chin (9/27/1967). Piggy found this quite amusing, but Notta was heartstricken. Seeing that his wife had been humiliated, George Chin Chillar swore to kill Piggy someday (9/29/1967).
Meanwhile, the police were able to track the Space Coupe to Piggy's farm (9/5/1967). The Chin Chillars spotted Tracy and Sam doing surveillance in air cars, and the couple tried unsuccessfully to flag them down (9/8/1967). Later, they tried a second time to get Tracy and Sam's attention, and this time they succeeded (9/17/1967). By this point, the Chin Chillars preferred the prospect of jail over their miserable existence in Piggy's service. They pleaded with Tracy for help and agreed to work for the police to spy against Piggy. Tracy gave the couple a wrist TV to communicate with them, but Piggy's henchman soon discovered the device and reported it to Piggy (10/4/1967) -- yet not before the Chin Chillars provided Tracy with the information needed to raid Piggy's hideout (10/1/1967).
With Moon Maid's help and the intelligence provided by the Chin Chillars, the police successfully raided Piggy's farm. During the raid, one of Piggy's men blew up a hidden bomb that destroyed the steel mill and killed almost two dozen criminals that Piggy had kept as human slaves. Piggy was lasered by Moon Maid in the raid and was taken into custody (10/15/1967), but he was soon released on bail (11/12/1967). The Chin Chillars were also taken into custody, and were eventually released on bond (12/22/1967). They were determined to get revenge on Piggy.
Revenge of the Chin Chillars
Piggy had suffered a string of losses and had descended into alcoholism and depression. The Chin Chillars found Piggy drunk and nearly unconscious on the street one night (1/17/1968) and dragged him to their basement apartment home (1/19/1968). They put a noose around Piggy's neck and hoisted him onto a table, intending to torture him before finally killing him (1/20/1968). Meanwhile, Sam and Tracy had tracked down the couple for questioning, but this set off George, who began shooting wildly through the apartment door (1/21/1968). Return shots were fired, and George was killed (1/22/1968). Piggy died as well, and Notta was taken into custody (1/24/1968).
Notta's Brother
Following an unprecedented murder on the Moon, Notta was consulted for background information about her brother Purdy Fallar (2/4/1968), who was a suspect. Notta informed the police of her family background and insisted that Purdy was the good one in the family (2/7/1968). She passed the time in prison by singing and playing the guitar. Purdy visited Notta in jail and was able to slip her some narcotics, to which she had apparently become addicted (3/15/1968).
Purdy became a central player in a gold smuggling operation and froze to death while attempting to escape police custody on the Moon. A scientist named Dr. Klippoff later attempted to revive Purdy from his frozen death. Purdy did seem to revive at least partially, enough to convince Tracy to allow him to meet with Notta to see if her presence might spur further progress (7/13/1968). Upon seeing her brother, Notta’s initial response was to slap his face (7/14/1968). She then broke down, crying and apologizing, only to conclude that Purdy was in fact dead after all (7/16/1968).
The revival of Purdy Fallar was deemed a failure, and Notta Chin Chillar was returned to jail, where she mourned her brother’s passing (7/21/1968).
The Return of Notta
Notta Chin Chillar made a return appearance in the spring of 2013, in connection with the unfolding "Moon Maid" storyline. She was shown to be out of prison and holding a grudge against Dick Tracy. Additionally, Notta was caring for her brother Purdy, who was shown to be alive but in a persistent vegetative state.
Notes
- Notta's birth name was "Notta Fallar," a play on words since she was the only daughter of a family that already had a son (thus making her "not a feller"). Purdy would be born later, further adding to the joke.
- For most of her appearances in the strip, Notta was referred to only as "Mrs. Chin Chillar". Her maiden name was not revealed until she had appeared in strip for more than 7 months (2/6/1968).
- In a 1968 NBC television documentary, Chester Gould identified Mrs. Chin Chillar as one of the most popular characters in the history of the Dick Tracy strip. She appeared regularly in the story for more than a year, from 6/14/1967 until 7/23/1968.
- Notta was the subject of a pair of original artworks by the pinup/good girl artist Al Rio.
- In 2012, a number of Dick Tracy fans of the strip speculated that Notta was the mysterious "new" Moon Maid, due to Notta's Moon connection, Notta's history of dressing similarly to the original Moon Maid, and the "new" Moon Maid's habit of covering the lower part of her face (presumably to cover Notta's beard). The identity of the "new" Moon Maid was eventually revealed to be Glenna/Mindy Ermine.