ComicBookGuy

Here's the back cover with the contents of the album. I have never heard this since I don't have a record player. Anyone remember this? I mentioned this record to Gene Carpenter of All-American Comics, and he was familiar with it but said he had never heard it and was aware of its rarity.

Here's the rare JN solo album, made possible by his fame playing Dennis. This is one of the rarest of all Dennis-related collectibles. It is KEM Records LP 27. I have seen this on eBay a total of two times. I'm without a digital camera lately, so this is all that will fit in my scanner:

Here is another Dennis record, which apparently reprints three previous records all onto one disc. Since I've never listened to the records I can't say whether this is re-issuing anything except the "I Hate Spelling" record I posted earlier. I haven't owned a record player since the mid-1980s, so I can really only look at the covers. This says "1961" on the cover, but I think this was released much later and I distinctly remember having this record lying around our house in the 1970s.

The book was also reviewed positively at The Fourth Rail.

Scrooge, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Here is the review from the link:

HANK KETCHAM'S COMPLETE DENNIS THE MENACE VOL. 1 HC

Fantagraphics Books

Writer/Artist: Hank Ketcham

Editor: Gary Groth

Price: $24.95 US

I know what you're thinking. Dennis the Menace? Isn't that the dorky strip that ran in the papers and spawned a mediocre-looking movie in the mid-'90s? Yes. It is also one of the funniest and most inventive comics that I've read this year, because Fantagraphics is going back to the beginning and reprinting the early strips in deluxe hardcover editions, ala their successful Complete Peanuts series. In these pages, Dennis isn't just a lovable scamp with toothless humor, but an outright rebellious hell child with a touch of precociousness and long-suffering parents, teachers and barbers who handle his temperament with bitter sarcasm and dry wit. Dennis is a likable character, but he's also a terror, and so his "antagonists" are also just as likable and just as funny. As with anything that is produced on such a hectic schedule, every strip here isn't gold, but there are a stunning number of laugh-out-loud cartoons to be found in this book, not to mention some interesting insights into parenting and being a kid.

Ketcham's approach to Dennis was clearly different than that of Charles Schulz to Peanuts. In the introduction and foreword by Brian Walker and Patrick McDonnell, respectively, we learn that Ketcham often used art assistants and gag writers, and the origins of Dennis seem as much a commercial necessity as a creative indulgence. However, as if to provide a counter-argument to the common wisdom that nothing good comes from commercial pressures, I think I might actually like the early Dennis the Menace better than the early Peanuts. Part of that might be that while Peanuts was Schulz's window into the world, and often as much about a philosophy and worldview as the gag, Dennis was meant to serve up laughs every time.

Indeed, Dennis the Menace is much funnier than I remembered it being when reading the comics as a kid. Ketcham gets a lot of mileage out of Dennis as precocious mischief-maker, fully aware of the nature of beer, dad's flirtation or mom's sexy allure, but at the same time Ketcham maintains Dennis's childlike innocence. In some strips, Dennis seems like he was legitimately trying to help, such as when he can't understand why his mother is unhappy that he "saved them money" by giving himself a haircut, or unaware of the adult connotations to his behavior, as when he invites friends in to visit his mother in the bath. At other times, he gleefully tells his mother about the pretty women that his dad was flirting with or seems fully aware of his behavior, as when he asks his mother "Gee whiz! How did you get downstairs so fast?" when caught with his hand in the cookie jar. This isn't inconsistency, it actually gives Dennis a little more depth. He's neither a deliberate monster nor a precocious innocent, but a blend of both, making him a perfect target of ire in some strips and heroic protagonist in others. He's a figure of rebellion, which is always something easy to root for.

Not that Dennis is the only character of importance in the Dennis the Menace strips. Dennis's father has a flirtatious nature with attractive women and a sarcastic sense of humor, both of which help to humanize him. The latter reminds me quite a bit of the way that Calvin's father (from Calvin & Hobbes) deals with his child, and it's nice to see that the adults, rather than being portrayed as dolts, are allowed to use their greater experience and sharper senses of humor to deflect some of the madness that Dennis inflicts on their life, even if their inability to fully comprehend the inner workings of his childlike mind means he sometimes gets the better of them. Dennis's mother is just as interesting a figure, played up as someone still sexy and desirable (including by other men, something Dennis loves pointing out to his father), someone who is stern and the true ruler of the household. In some ways, she's the quintessential '50s mom, doing all the home chores and being concerned with clothes, appearance, that kind of thing, but there's no doubt in reading the strips that of the two parents, Dennis's mom is probably the smarter of the two, and definitely the one who can more easily enforce the rules upon her child. Ketcham's work here comes out of the '50s, and so there's a certain amount of time-displaced gender roles, but really, the relationship between father, mother and child is fairly progressive for its time.

Something notable about this book is that Ketcham worked pretty much entirely in one-panel cartoons. Occasionally the panels were divided so that you got effectively a two- or three-panel story, but mostly these are one-panel strips. There's a lot of storytelling going on in these single panels, as Ketcham (or his assistants) chose just the right moment to capture that encourages the reader to imagine the past and future of the strip, even though we're only seeing the present. When we see Dennis's dad chatting up a pretty girl in the living room, and Dennis is peeking in saying "Mom wants to see you in the kitchen. And right now!" we know what's been happening and what's going to happen. When we see Dennis battling another boy and saying "Dennis. And what's your name?" the whole story, and the joke behind it, is there. It's as if Ketcham had a window into the lives of these characters, that they were running all the time, and he just pulled out the funny moments.

The Complete Dennis the Menace is more than just a beautifully-designed chunk of comics history. It is not something to be bought just for "indy cred" or to broaden your knowledge of the history of the medium. It's not just interesting for the influences it clearly had on a variety of creators. It is, viewed objectively alongside work being produced today, an often laugh-out-loud collection of humor cartoons with polished art and perfect timing. One of the best collections of the year, to be sure.

I have seen a couple of reviews so far, both positive:

Newsarama

ComicBookResources (near the end).

Newsarama review:

JOURNEY INTO COMICS: DENNIS & WALLY REMIXED

by Michael San Giacomo

More than 50 years ago a harried father named Hank Ketcham created a comic strip about every parent’s nightmare, a menace named Dennis.

His little cartoon, inspired by his own son, lasted until 1994 and continues today under the pen of his assistant.

Dennis The Menace 1951-1952 (Fantagraphics Books, $24.95) is the first in a long series of books that will collect every, yes every, Ketcham Dennis The Menace cartoon panels in 600-plus page volumes, starting at the beginning.

Just as the company has taken on the Herculean task of reprinting every Charles Schulz “Peanuts” collection, which will take more than 12 years to complete at a rate of two volumes a year, Fantagraphics is doing the same for durable Dennis.

The thick, hardbound books will be published twice a year for the next 11 years and reprint every Dennis newspaper strip drawn by Hank Ketcham from 1951 to his retirement in 1994. That’s more than 11,000 single panel cartoons.

But the cartoons in the first edition are more than 50 years old. Can they possibly still be funny today?

The answer is a resounding yes, but check a few out for yourself. Your local bookstore won’t mind some browsing.

Like the one where an angry Dennis stands, hands on hips, and tells his mother, “Don’t shout at me. I’m not your husband.” Or the one where he is sitting in a corner complaining to his dog, Ruff, “You’re lucky you’re an orphan.”

Ketcham, who looks remarkably like Dennis’ dad, drew on the universal problems of parenthood and raising a kid that he both loved and, at times, wanted to toss to the wolves. Except that it would be cruel to the wolves.

Though Dennis was just a kid, he never surrendered to the adults, at least not without a fight. Dennis appeals both to kids and their parents in the wonderful series of one-panel joke after joke.

Though the little guy has lost his luster over the years as fads come and go, seeing the cartoons collected in one place is heartening.

ComicBookResources review:

HANK KETCHAM'S COMPLETE DENNIS THE MENACE 1951-1952 by Hank Ketcham, 590 pg b&w hardcover (Fantagraphics;$24.95)

On the heels of their very successful PEANUTS reprints, Fantagraphics is giving the high end reprint treatment to another iconic American comic strip, DENNIS THE MENACE. These earliest strips are real eye openers. The Dennis here, reportedly based on Ketcham's own 4 year old son, isn't yet quite iconic - he only slowly morphs into the now-familiar character, doesn't yet always wear his trademark overalls and striped T, hasn't yet accumulated his supporting cast and, horrifying to the later Dennis, already shows an interest in girls - but Ketcham's work is: both sleek and chaotic, pure and economical, invisibly incorporating an encyclopedia of techniques. Ketcham was a master of facial expression and body language - every figure beautifully tells a story - and I don't think anyone else in any medium or any era has come anywhere near him in capturing, in equal portions, the innocence, malice and raw intelligence of small children. The book includes all the daily panels for almost two years, and on top of everything else, they're still funny as hell. Fantagraphics deserves special commendation for their production and packaging, and this package is terrific. Don't miss it.

Thanks for the great preview, Allen. The panels you showed look great and show Dennis being a menace as opposed to the tamer modern version. The smoking one reminds me of the Jackson Island scene from Tom Sawyer, when Huck introduces Joe and Tom to smoking. I have yet to receive my book though I pre-ordered it on August 31 on Amazon.

Thanks to you and Scrooge for posting those reviews. I will paste them up in case the links die on us as I want to preserve all this stuff for the future.

Joe

Here's a 78 rpm from 1960 that has the Dennis theme song and one called "Ka-Pow! Ka-Pow! Ka-Pow!" Nothing interesting on the back except an ad for Golden Records not worth scanning.

Here's a scan of the back. Contents on the record just say "Dennis the Menace Part 1" with "Part 2" on the back. Interestingly enough, one record is yellow and the other is black with a blue label. Different printings? They both say Copyright 1959. I wonder if there's anyone who knows the answers to all the questions about the Dennis universe...

Joe, do you own a copy of this record?

This is the one I owned as a kid. I loved this record! It has a Dennis the Menace "theme" song that bears no relation to the one used on the Jay North TV series (I believe this record preceded the TV show by a year or so).

Bill, sorry to take so long to respond to your question. I've been installing a new computer, scanner, etc., plus school's back in, and I've been caught up in the hurricane coverage. Glad to see you survived it in Florida.

I actually have two copies of this record and will be glad to send you one for free if you want it. Just pm me with your address if you want it. Here's a scan of mine:

Allen, how is the new Dennis book? Any thoughts?

In the meantime, here's another Dennis root beer ad I picked up, different from the one we posted before:

Thanks for sharing. I hope you have a great vacation, Linda!

Here is an image of the other savings bond printing block.

Also from 1960, Jay North entered a double career as a singer. This 45 of him singing "Little Boy Blues" does not come around too often. Jay North actually appeared for a singing gig on the Ed Sullivan show. He had an album out as well, and I will post a scan of that soon.

There are a lot of these Golden Records. Here's one from 1960:

Here is the record out of the sleeve. This record is a 45, unlike the other, which is a 78:

Here's another 1954 Dennis record issued by Columbia, Catalog #J 4 - 728. This is called Crash! Bang! (He's Out of Bed Again). The singing is by Jeffrey Clay and Claire Segrave.

Here is the record out of the sleeve. This appeared on eBay once and I was outbid at $70-something dollars.

No problem - I was just logging in to start posting some Dennis stuff - the first in a long time.

Myriad Dennis the Menace records have appeared over the decades. The earliest ones I've seen are from 1954. The first one is issued by Columbia Records, Catalog #403 PV, and is a 78 rpm. Singing is by Jeffrey Clay and Claire Segrave.

Hey, Tim - that little blurb tells it like it is. The UK Dennis the Menace is a completely different character by a completely different guy. When the American Dennis the Menace appears in print over in the UK, he is called several different names: Dennis, Just Dennis, and even The Pickle. I have some English reprints I could make scans of if you're really interested. So the answer is that the American Dennis that is the subject of this thread is obviously an American creation, and the other is a British. To see what I'm talking about, go to eBay, put "Dennis the Menace" in as a search, and about 500 items typically appear - about two-thirds are the US Dennis, and one-third the UK Dennis. My understanding is that they both were copyrighted so close to each other in the early 1950s that neither would appear in the other country unless it was under a different name.

Here is the UK guy, which we never see in the US due to copyright agreements and the obvious popularity of our own Dennis character:

Hope this settles it.

Joe

50s books rock!!!

I agree. Gotta love those GI Combats, none of which I've ever seen.

Joe

Glad to see people are still hanging around here. I've been caught up in a lot of cool stuff this summer: selling one of my houses off, traveling, catching up with friends, spending tons of time with my girlfriend, writing, working out, etc. I really thought I'd be working hard at the Dennis stuff during my two months off, but I actually did very little. Summer is just too good a thing to spend behind a computer. Got some cool stuff on eBay, though, that I want to share and have noticed a marked increase in Dennis collectors on eBay that is astonsihing. I'm wondering if this thread has gotten people into it. If it has, I have cost myself a lot of money! I am working on indexing the regular series still. Now that I'm back at work after two months off, I'm back in the "work mode," so will be back to posting lots shortly. I said I had years worth of stuff to post at one point, and I meant it. After I finish this message, I am going to log into Amazon to order the Dennis book. I also intend to write a review on Amazon about it when I'm done with the book.

Hope all is well with everyone.

Joe

just to note that the 1980 Dennis the Menace and the Bible Kids were drawn by Bill Williams, who was the regular Dennis comic book artist at the time (Williams had a comic book and strip career from the mid 40s to the Marvel Dennis comics).

 

Owen Fitzgerald - moved over from DC to take over DTM from Wiseman.

I particuarly like Fitzgerald's mid 40s work for the Sangor Shop

 

Lastly, some of the Dell material credited to Al Wiseman is possibly that of Lynn Karp - who when he was inked by one of the regular Western Pub guys, made him look very much like Wiseman -- and for years I thought it was. Karp is another guy who started doing comic books in the mid40s - he is generally overshadowed by the fame of his brothers. Karp actually assitated Wiseman at one time - and has his name on the cover with all the other names that Wiseman did.

 

steven rowe

Steven, welcome to the boards!

You clearly have a lot of background knowledge about the artists and comics we've been discussing. As I'm sure you read here, there is very little specific information around about Dennis artwork. I am certainly curious what the source of your information is and definitely look forward to hearing any other information you feel like sharing.

Joe

It's interesting you guys are having this discussion about Bethlehems. I just received four Bethlehem comics in the mail today from Keith Contarino. All four have date stamps on the front, and all lack the telltale Bethlehem stamp on the back cover that most of my older Bethlehems have. One comic has a date stamp with no letter prefix. One has an "E" in front of the date stamp; one has a "C", and the fourth has a "D." Pretty odd. I have no idea what it means, but I have no doubt these are Bethlehems.

Joe

I agree with you guys that it looks like the master, at least Dennis and Margaret do. There is something un-Al-Wiseman-like about it, though, and I couldn't put my finger on it, but looking at it closer, I noticed the backgrounds were not the finely-drawn, detailed backgrounds AW did. I wonder if he just drew the characters and an assistant did the backgrounds. All just speculation.

I received an interesting email this morning. As I've mentioned before, 1970s Dennis artist Frank Hill has visited this thread, as has current Dennis artist Ron Ferdinand. Fred Hembeck also is a regular reader and has us linked on his site. I am looking forward to the day when they post. Well, the email I received was from Malcolm Ater, Jr., the son of the man who wrote and produced two of the Dennis giveaways. We wrote back and forth today, and he gave me permission to print his first email, which follows. I look forward to hearing further from Malcolm and hope he feels welcome to post here:

Hi ComicBookGuy,

I came across a posting you did about my father, Malcolm Ater, who's known as the father of political comics. I think you also referred to him as the man behind the Dennis the Menace giveaways. You're right. My Dad often said the Dennis the Menace Takes a Poke at Poison was either the largest or second largest produced comic in history (25+ million from 1961-1992). I have that book along with Dennis the Menace Coping with Family Stress. I also have the original artwork for both comics, along with the Printer's Film and negatives, and color proofs. Both comics were done in English and Spanish, and I have both versions. I also have the original -script for Taking a Poke at Poison, which includes handwritten corrections by both my father and Hank Ketcham to be sure the dialouge was consistent with the way Dennis would talk. The -script also contains a little doodle of Dennis that Hank Ketcham had apparently drawn as he went over the -script. I also have the original contract between Field Newspaper Syndicate giving my father the right to produce the Dennis the Menace comics, with my father getting 50% of the net profits and Hank and the syndicate each getting 25%. I have just started selling my Dad's collection (he had tons of memorabilia ranging from mint comics he produced to original art and correspondence, mostly with politicians.) So far I have sold 18 of my Dad's comics on eBay since May (and 2 others he had in his collection but didn't produce). I only put up 2 or 3 of his original comics each week (he was the largest producer of educational, promotional, and political comics in U.S. history). I sell under the name malcomics and my comics can be found by doing a search under "giveaway" comics. I have 2 comics up this week if you want to check them out (Al Loveland for U.S. Senate and From Ball Game to Ball Room). Would you, or do you know some collectors, that would be interested in the Dennis the Menace artwork, scripts, etc? ... Thanks!

Malcolm Ater, Jr. (malcomics)

Scan 4 of 4:

The art on this is very tight, and my first guess would be Al Wiseman is the artist, or possibly Ketcham. We've all commented before on how similar their two styles are during the mid-1950s. I think it's too early for Lee Holley. I love the "smoke" effect as Dennis runs, and I don't think I've seen so many question marks in so few panels before. Overall I see this as a typical 1950s Dennis, with Dennis being a menace with much more edge than he would have in later years as his image softened. It's really a shame these Sundays are rarely, if ever, reprinted.

Scan 3 of 4: