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High Pressure Pete is a lesser known creation by George Swanson, who signed his work and is credited as "Swan." Swanson is better known for his earlier strip Salesman Sam. How Pete came about is very similar to how Gene Ahern's Room and Board did (see an earlier post for more info on that strip): King Features Syndicate wanted Swanson to do Salesman Sam for them, though they couldn't use that title or the characters. Therefore, Charles Small continued to do Salesman Sam at the Newspaper Enterprise Association, and Swanson moved to King Features and created High Pressure Pete, which had the same characters with different names and the same overall theme. It lasted for about 10 years, and ended around the same time Salesman Sam did.

In this strip, Pete is the one on the far left in the first panel, and the fuming one on the far right is his boss, Hank Hookem. I imagine Hank is upset because the gift implies that he has no hair. It seems well-meaning, though, as it's probably meant to help him grow some of it back. As someone who has lost quite a bit of hair myself, I would be very appreciative of such a gift, or at least the thought behind it.