Penny (comic strip)

Last updated
Penny
Haenigsenpenny12151.jpg
Harry Haenigsen's Penny (January 21, 1951). To see this image at full resolution, go to I Love Comix Archive [ dead link ].
Author(s) Harry Haenigsen
Bill Hoest (1965–c. 1968)
Current status/scheduleConcluded Daily & Sunday strip
Launch dateJune 27, 1943
End dateOctober 25, 1970
Syndicate(s) New York Herald Tribune Syndicate
Genre(s)Teens, Humor

Penny was a comic strip about a teenage girl by Harry Haenigsen which maintained its popularity for almost three decades. It was distributed by the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate from June 27, 1943, to October 25, 1970. [1]

Contents

Publication history

Penny began because Helen Rogers Reid, the wife of the New York Herald Tribune publisher Ogden Mills Reid, wanted to see a girl as the central character of a new comic strip. [2]

Haenigsen had been doing a strip about a teenage boy, Our Bill (1939-1963), when he launched Penny as a Sunday strip on June 27, 1943. [1] A daily strip debuted September 3, 1945. [1]

The prolific cartoonist Bill Hoest was Haenigsen's assistant on Penny. After an injury from a 1965 traffic accident kept Haenigsen away from the drawing board, Hoest took over most of the work, although Haenigsen still supervised and signed each Penny strip.

In 1968, Hoest left to start his own strip, The Lockhorns , for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate. Haenigsen chose to end Penny in 1970 and retired.

Characters and story

Comics historian Don Markstein described the title character and her confused parents:

Penelope Mildred Pringle had Katharine Hepburn's cheekbones and Dick Tracy's jawline. She also took after them in personality, never gawky or shy, or for that matter, less than totally confident and self-assured. She had a best friend, Judy, but no long-term, steady boyfriend — still, she never had a problem getting dates. Her parents, Roger and Mae Pringle, were utterly mystified by her, but coped reasonably well. Inevitably, the strip was full of teenage slang, starting with that of the bobbysoxer era but moving with the times. Haenigsen (who was 43 when it started, by the way) kept up to date by hanging out at soda fountains in Lambertville, New Jersey, where he lived and worked. He also had a trick to keep it sounding current—he'd occasionally make up his own expressions. That way he not only avoided sounding quaint—there was also a chance the reader may figure that if he'd never heard it before, it must be the newest of the new. Penny was drawn in a deceptively simple, yet highly distinctive style, anticipating the uncluttered look found in such 1950s strips as Peanuts , Miss Peach and Hi and Lois . [3]

Reception

In 1947, Nancy Blair of Lambertville, New Jersey was the winner in a Penny look-alike contest staged by the New Hope Recreation Center in New Hope, Pennsylvania. [4]

In 1955, Vladimir Nabokov wrote the following description of Penny into his novel Lolita : "Her eyes would follow the adventures of her favorite strip characters; there was one well-drawn sloppy bobby-soxer with high cheekbones and angular gestures, that I was not above enjoying myself." [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Mary Worth</i> American comic strip

Mary Worth is an American newspaper comic strip that has had an eight-decade run from 1938. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, this soap opera-style strip influenced several that followed. It was created by writer Allen Saunders and artist Dale Connor, initially appeared under the pseudonym "Dale Allen". Ken Ernst succeeded Connor as artist in 1942.

<i>Miss Peach</i> American comic strip by Mell Lazarus

Miss Peach was a syndicated comic strip created by American cartoonist Mell Lazarus. It ran for 45 years, from February 4, 1957, to September 8, 2002.

Male Call is an American comic strip series created and drawn by Milton Caniff on a volunteer basis, exclusively for US military publications during World War II. The strip began January 24, 1943. Caniff continued Male Call until seven months after V-J Day, bringing it to a conclusion on March 3, 1946.

<i>The Lockhorns</i> Comic strip

The Lockhorns is a United States single-panel cartoon created September 9, 1968 by Bill Hoest and distributed by King Features Syndicate to 500 newspapers in 23 countries. It is continued today by Bunny Hoest and John Reiner.

<i>Harold Teen</i> American comic strip

Harold Teen is a discontinued, long-running American comic strip written and drawn by Carl Ed. Publisher Joseph Medill Patterson may have suggested and certainly approved the strip's concept, loosely based on Booth Tarkington's successful novel Seventeen. The strip ran from 1919 to 1959. Asked in the late 1930s why he had started the strip, Ed answered, "Twenty years ago, there was no comic strip on adolescence. I thought every well-balanced comic sheet should have one."

<i>Smitty</i> (comic strip) American comic strip by Walter Berndt

Smitty was a newspaper comic strip created in the early 1920s by Walter Berndt. Syndicated nationally by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate, it ran from November 27, 1922, to 1974 and brought Berndt a Reuben Award in 1969.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Hoest</span> American cartoonist

William Pierce Hoest was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of the gag panel series, The Lockhorns, distributed by King Features Syndicate to 500 newspapers in 23 countries, and Laugh Parade for Parade. He also created other syndicated strips and panels for King Features.

<i>Mr. Mystic</i> Comics series created by Will Eisner

Mr. Mystic is a comics series featuring a magician crime-fighter, created by Will Eisner and initially drawn by Bob Powell. The strip featured in four-page backup feature a Sunday-newspaper comic-book insert, known colloquially as "The Spirit Section". It first appeared in 1940, distributed by the Register and Tribune Syndicate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Post</span> American cartoonist

Howard Post was an American animator, cartoonist, and comic strip and comic book writer-artist.

<i>Aggie Mack</i> American comic strip

Aggie Mack was a newspaper comic strip about a teenage girl. Created by Hal Rasmusson, it was distributed by the Chicago Tribune Syndicate beginning on September 2, 1946, and concluding on January 9, 1972. It had a 26-year run, with a title change to Aggie during the final six years.

<i>Agatha Crumm</i> American comic strip by Bill Hoest

Agatha Crumm is a newspaper comic strip created by the cartoonist Bill Hoest and distributed by King Features Syndicate. The strip ran from October 24, 1977, until 1997. Agatha Crumm was Hoest's third strip, following Bumper Snickers (1974).

<i>Etta Kett</i> Comic strip by Paul Robinson

Etta Kett is a long-running comic strip created by Paul Robinson, which ran from December 7, 1925 to November 9, 1974.

<i>Friday Foster</i> American comic strip

Friday Foster is an American newspaper comic strip, created and written by Jim Lawrence and illustrated by Jorge Longarón. It ran from January 18, 1970, to February 17, 1974 and was notable for featuring one of the first African-American women as the title character in a comic strip. Jackie Ormes' Torchy Brown predated it, although it saw a more limited release in the Afro-American newspaper Pittsburgh Courier.

<i>What a Guy!</i> American comic strip by Bill and Bunny Hoest

What a Guy! is an American comic strip created by Bill Hoest and Bunny Hoest, the team responsible for The Lockhorns and Agatha Crumm. It began in March 1987, just over a year before Hoest's death in 1988.

Little Joe was a 1933-1972 Western comic strip created by Ed Leffingwell and later continued by his brother Robert Leffingwell. Distributed by the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, this Sunday strip had a long run spanning four decades. It was never a daily strip.

<i>Teena</i> (comic strip) Comic strip about a teenage girl, created by Hilda Terry

Teena is a comic strip about a teenage girl, created by Hilda Terry. It ran from July 1, 1944, to 1963, distributed by King Features Syndicate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Haenigsen</span> American cartoonist

Harry William Haenigsen was an American illustrator and cartoonist best known for Penny, his comic strip about a teenage girl. He also illustrated for books, magazines and advertising.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hal Rasmusson</span> American cartoonist, 1900-1962

Hal Rasmusson was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip Aggie Mack, about a teenage girl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sol Hess (writer)</span>


Sol Hess was a comic strip writer best known for creating the long-run strip The Nebbs with animation artist Wallace Carlson.

The New York Herald Tribune Syndicate was the syndication service of the New York Herald Tribune. Syndicating comic strips and newspaper columns, it operated from c. 1914 to 1966. The syndicate's most notable strips were Mr. and Mrs., Our Bill, Penny, Miss Peach, and B.C. Syndicated columns included Walter Lippmann's Today and Tomorrow, Weare Holbrook's Soundings, George Fielding Eliot's military affairs column, and John Crosby's radio and television column. Irita Bradford Van Doren was book review editor for a time.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press. p. 306. ISBN   9780472117567.
  2. ↑ Reynolds, Moira Davison. Comic Strip Artists in American Newspapers, 1945-1980. McFarland, 2003.
  3. ↑ Markstein, Don. Toonopedia: Penny
  4. ↑ "Most Like Penny", Nashua Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire), August 13, 1947.
  5. ↑ Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.