Harry Kane (illustrator)

Last updated

Harry Kane (Kirchner) (July 2, 1912 - March 1988) was a twentieth century American illustrator and artist who was born Harry Kirchner and was of Russian/Jewish descent. Primarily known for his work on the children's books, "The Three Investigators", he had a career that spanned over 50 years, doing work on paperback covers, advertising art, men's adventure magazines, movie posters and much more.

Contents

Early life

Kane was a self-taught artist who was born in Philadelphia in 1912. When he was younger he would go to the zoo and draw animals. He was extremely knowledgeable about art history and contemporary art and his thirst to better his skills led him to books by Howard Pyle and NC Wyeth, which he studied closely. Kane's career began during the great depression when he and a few of his artist friends left Philadelphia for New York City. It was difficult to find employment during this time. However, Kane's talent was getting noticed and around 1930 and eventually opened the door to Street & Smith. One of his first paying jobs, drawing for Western Story Magazine. Kane eventually married his wife Minna and they lived in Greenwich Village. When World War II began and Kane was drafted and sent to Hawaii to be a map maker. In 1941, Harry and his wife had their first child, a son they named Eugene. They soon realized that their son was handicapped. Eugene would spend much of his life in an institution. As Kane was stationed in Hawaii, Minna was left to raise Eugene on her own. She petitioned the army to release Kane early to help with Eugene but to no avail. The war ended in 1945 and Kane returned home. Upon returning from the war, Harry and Minna saw the birth of their next child Hadiya in 1946, with another daughter, Janice, coming along not long after. In 1970 he and his wife Minna divorced. Harry spent much of his free time with his disabled son.

Professional years

When Harry returned from the war he found his job was no longer waiting for him, so he began taking freelance jobs. He did work for Seagrams, Schlitz beer, Calso Gasoline Company, Phillip Morris and much more. In the mid-1960s Random House hired Harry to work on a new set of children's books called Alfred Hitchcock and The Three Investigators. Harry worked on most of the covers and interiors of the first 16 books and the series proved to be very popular selling millions of copies.

Later years

In the 1980s Kane was semi-retired and living quietly until poor health forced Kane to move to a nursing home. Kane died of an aneurysm in March 1988.

Bibliography

"Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators" books drawn by Harry Kane:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred Hitchcock</span> English filmmaker (1899–1980)

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 feature films, many of which are still widely watched and studied today. Known as the "Master of Suspense", he became as well known as any of his actors thanks to his many interviews, his cameo roles in most of his films, and his hosting and producing the television anthology Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955–65). His films garnered 46 Academy Award nominations, including six wins, although he never won the award for Best Director despite five nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Lorre</span> Hungarian and American actor (1904–1964)

Peter Lorre was a Hungarian and American actor, first in Europe and later in the United States. He began his stage career in Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, before moving to Germany where he worked first on the stage, then in film in Berlin in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Lorre caused an international sensation in the Weimar Republic-era film M (1931), directed by Fritz Lang, in which he portrayed a serial killer who preys on little girls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ron Goulart</span> American historian (1933–2022)

Ronald Joseph Goulart was an American popular culture historian and mystery, fantasy, and science fiction author.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wally Wood</span> American comic strip cartoonist and illustrator (1927–1981)

Wallace Allan Wood was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, and MAD Magazine from its inception in 1952 until 1964, as well as for T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and work for Warren Publishing's Creepy. He drew a few early issues of Marvel's Daredevil and established the title character's distinctive red costume. Wood created and owned the long-running characters Sally Forth and Cannon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herb Kawainui Kāne</span> American Hawaiian artist, historian, and author

Herbert Kawainui Kāne, considered one of the principal figures in the renaissance of Hawaiian culture in the 1970s, was a celebrated artist-historian and author with a special interest in the seafaring traditions of the ancestral peoples of Hawaiʻi. Kāne played a key role in demonstrating that Hawaiian culture arose not from some accidental seeding of Polynesia, but that Hawaiʻi was reachable by voyaging canoes from Tahiti able to make the journey and return. This offered a far more complex notion of the cultures of the Pacific Islands than had previously been accepted. Furthermore, he created vivid imagery of Hawaiian culture prior to contact with Europeans, and especially the period of early European influence, that sparked appreciation of a nearly forgotten traditional life. He painted dramatic views of war, exemplified by The Battle at Nuʻuanu Pali, the potential of conflicts between cultures such as in Cook Entering Kealakekua Bay, where British ships are dwarfed and surrounded by Hawaiian canoes, as well as bucolic quotidian scenes and lush images of a robust ceremonial and spiritual life, that helped arouse a latent pride among Hawaiians during a time of general cultural awakening.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gil Kane</span> Latvian-born American comic book artist

Gil Kane was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alex Toth</span> American cartoonist

Alexander Toth was an American cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but he is also known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Fantastic Four, Space Ghost, Sealab 2020, The Herculoids and Birdman. Toth's work has been resurrected in the late-night, adult-themed spin-offs on Cartoon Network’s late night sister channel Adult Swim: Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021 and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Kaluta</span> Comics artist and illustrator

Michael William Kaluta, sometimes credited as Mike Kaluta or Michael Wm. Kaluta, is an American comics artist and writer best known for his acclaimed 1970s adaptation of the pulp magazine hero The Shadow with writer Dennis O'Neil.

The Three Investigators is an American juvenile detective book series first published as "Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators". It was created by Robert Arthur Jr., who believed involving a famous person such as movie director Alfred Hitchcock would attract attention. Random House is the U.S. publisher and still has some of the rights to the books. Other rights are possessed by the heirs of Robert Arthur, Jr. and the German publisher Kosmos. The characters known as the "Three Investigators" are three boys named Jupiter Jones, Peter Crenshaw and Bob Andrews. As the series has become very popular in Germany, several stories have been produced directly for the German market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernst Ludwig Kirchner</span> German expressionist painter (1880–1938)

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th-century art. He volunteered for army service in the First World War, but soon suffered a breakdown and was discharged. His work was branded as "degenerate" by the Nazis in 1933, and in 1937 more than 600 of his works were sold or destroyed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Evans (cartoonist)</span> American cartoonist

George R. Evans was an American cartoonist and illustrator who worked in both comic books and comic strips. His lifelong fascination with airplanes and the pioneers of early aviation was a constant theme in his art and stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dick Sprang</span> American artist (1915–2000)

Richard W. Sprang was an American comic book artist and penciller, best known for his work on the superhero Batman during the period fans and historians call Golden Age of Comic Books. Sprang was responsible for the 1950 redesign of the Batmobile and the original design of the Riddler, who has appeared in film, television and other media adaptations. Sprang's Batman was notable for his square chin, expressive face and barrel chest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernie Chan</span> Chinese-American comic book artist

Ernesto Chan, born and sometimes credited as Ernie Chua, was a [-Filipino]-American comics artist, known for work published by Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including many Marvel issues of series featuring Conan the Barbarian. Chan also had a long tenure on Batman and Detective Comics. Other than his work on Batman, Chan primarily focused on non-superhero characters, staying mostly in the genres of horror, war, and sword and sorcery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Arthur Jr.</span> American writer (1909–1969)

Robert Arthur Jr. was a writer and editor of crime fiction and speculative fiction known for his work with The Mysterious Traveler radio series and for writing The Three Investigators, a series of young adult novels.

<i>Jamaica Inn</i> (film) 1939 film by Alfred Hitchcock

Jamaica Inn is a 1939 British adventure thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and adapted from Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel of the same name. It is the first of three of du Maurier's works that Hitchcock adapted. It stars Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara in her first major screen role. It is the last film Hitchcock made in the United Kingdom before he moved to the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaspar Saladino</span>

Gaspar Saladino was an American letterer and logo designer who worked for more than sixty years in the comic book industry, mostly for DC Comics. Eventually Saladino went by one name, "Gaspar," which he wrote in his trademark calligraphy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rog Phillips</span> American novelist

Roger Phillip Graham was an American science fiction writer who was published most often using the name Rog Phillips, but also used other names. Of his other pseudonyms, only Craig Browning is notable in the genre. He is associated most with Amazing Stories and is known best for short fiction. He was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 1959.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Slesar</span> American novelist

Henry Slesar was an American author, playwright, and copywriter. He is famous for his use of irony and twist endings. After reading Slesar's "M Is for the Many" in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock bought it for adaptation and they began many successful collaborations. Slesar wrote hundreds of scripts for television series and soap operas, leading TV Guide to call him "the writer with the largest audience in America."

Harry Frank Sahle was an American comic book artist who drew for such publishers as Archie Comics—helping create the defined look of Archie Comics' breakout character, Archie Andrews—Quality Comics and the Marvel Comics precursor company Timely Comics during the 1930s-1940s period historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books.

Harry Shorten (1914–1991) was an American writer, editor, and book publisher best known for the syndicated gag cartoon There Oughta Be a Law!, as well as his work with Archie Comics, and his long association with Archie's publishers Louis Silberkleit and John L. Goldwater. From the late 1950s until his 1982 retirement, Shorten was a book publisher, overseeing such companies as Leisure Books, Midwood Books, Midwood-Tower Publications, Belmont Tower, and Roband Publications.