Thursday, July 31, 2014

Henry by Carl Anderson

Carl Thomas Anderson (14 February 1865 – 4 November 1948) was an American cartoonist best remembered for his comic strip Henry. He was born in Madison, Wisconsin, the son of Norwegian immigrants. Anderson initially worked in his Norwegian immigrant father's Madison planing mill, where he developed carpentry skills, became a cabinetmaker and invented a patented folding desk, which is still being manufactured today. Near the end of the 19th century, he traveled the United States, drifting to Omaha, San Francisco and Seattle, where he worked until the city's 1889 fire. 

Carl Thomas Anderson (from Wikipedia)
At the age of 25, he developed a strong interest in drawing and went to Philadelphia. In 1894, his first art job was with the Philadelphia Times where he earned $12 a week drawing fashion illustrations. He was hired by Arthur Brisbane for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World at the end of the 1890s. His strip "The Filipino and the Chick" ran on the Sunday page of the World, attracting the attention of William Randolph Hearst, who offered more money at his New York Journal. 

Anderson's attempts at creating amusing comic strips such as "Raffles and Bunny" did not catch on. He freelanced, sending cartoon submissions to the well-read magazines of the era. Unable to reach higher and more profitable levels of cartooning, he needed to find further ways to support himself. Anderson gave up on the big cities and moved back to Wisconsin. He took up teaching art at a vocational school. Success seemed a distant dream for Anderson.... until one evening as he gave his lecture to his cartooning class. He drew a pot-bellied, bald headed kid and named him Henry

His students liked the little fellow, so 67-year-old Anderson sent some drawings off to the Saturday Evening Post. The magazine editors snapped up the strip. Debuted on March 19, 1932 in the Saturday Evening Post, "Henry" appeared as a weekly feature. The main character didn't say much, relying on pantomime humour in a simple, minimalist style. Readers were captivated by the antics of "Henry." Two years later, a German magazine published the panel - silent humor was good in any language, after all. 
Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst promptly had Anderson signed to use the character in a newspaper strip for his King Features Syndicate. Transforming from a weekly into a daily strip, "Henry" debuted in his new format on December 17, 1934. Anderson's strip made it into the Sunday Funnies a few months later, taking the pages by storm in March 1935. 

At age 70, Carl Anderson finally reached the pinnacle of cartooning success. Enjoying the creation of his own successful strip, Anderson was forced by arthritis to pass the fate of characters - Henry, Henrietta, Butch the Bully, Dusty, and others - over to his assistants in 1942. Don Trachte took over the Sundays and John Liney created the dailies, both with little change to the classic strip. Carl Thomas Anderson passed away in 1948. Never married, there was no wife or children to survive him. 

"Henry" was in good hands. Liney drew the strip for nearly 40 years. On his death, cartoonists Jack Tippit and Dick Hodgins took over the pens. Trachte continued his part of the strip until retiring in 1993 when he was 78 years old.

Published by Dell Comics, "Henry" appeared in his own comic book from 1946 to 1961. The main character and his co-stars spoke in the comic books, with less reliance on pantomime. Still in repeat distribution under King Features Syndicate, "Henry" fans delight in the antics of "Henry" and his friends in about 75 newspapers.

Feel free to download an old "Henry" comics  and have a laugh-y reading....

Henry Story
Henry - Summer

(9.4 MB)

Henry (May-June)

(6.9 MB)


1 comment:

  1. kuntalda tal rakhte parchi na je ................ konta age porbo konta pore ............ gulie jache je ................ :):):):):)
    onek onek dhanyobad .............. sundar post gulir jonyo ................

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