The Ultimate Dennis the Menace Thread 3 3

[00comics]

Next up is my rain covers theme. I have a lot of comic covers and original art pages that feature rain. My DtM rain covers are #76, #107, and #108.

 

...but what I really wanted to post is my original Sunday page from 4-5-87(featuring rain) that I have. The top picture is, I guess, a color guide and the bottom 2 are the original art. Sorry for the blurry pics... I can't take a good photo... :-(

 

Here is the dialog:

panel 1: Sounds like rain!

panel 2: Looks like rain!

panel 3: It IS rain!

panel 4: DENNIS! ; Hi mom, It's raining!

panel 5: Have you lost your mind? ; No, but I can't find the Sunday paper.

panel 6: Nevermind the paper, JUST GET IN HERE! ; are you yellin' at me?

panel 7: GET IN THIS HOUSE! ; It's not rainin' hard, mom.

panel 8: Dennis, I'm going to count to ten. ; Aw, that's easy!

panel 9: You're gonna get WET, mom! ; And you're going to get TANNED!

panel 10: STOP THAT RUFF!

panel 11: ALICE! What's going on out there?

panel 12: You should SEE this, George... the whole Mitchell family is running around in the rain in their PAJAMAS! ; I always said that kid would drive 'em nuts.

 

Sunday color guide

 

[ComicBookGuy]

Awesome Sunday page, 00Comics! That is one beautifully rendered piece of art. And...

WELCOME TO THE BOARDS!!!

 

I'm willing to bet this thread has lured more people to the cgc forums than any thread yet. Just a theory. I'm not sure why, but I think it's cause there's next to nothing out there on Dennis comics, and we are turning up in a ton of google searches at this point. Every time I do research for the thread I see our stuff all over the place. It's a good feeling. Thanks to EVERYONE who has contributed and added to the fun and the learning going on here!

 

Bill C., hope you're enjoying your trip!

 

Just to let everyone know, I emailed artist Frank Hill and artist Vic Lockman and hope to hear back from them. I am dying to hear some stories from the guys who worked on these comics. That Lee Holley interview was extremely informative and gave us some good hard facts, and I hope to get some more similar information to share soon.

 

Joe

[KevinG-migration]

Sorry- I'm posting a larger version now. Years of using Yahoo hs got me conditioned to thinking that no post could be larger than 1mb so I stupidly shrunk all the Dennis scans before I first posted them.

What issus of the Wiseman run still need to be scanned?

[escape-migration]

Sorry- I'm posting a larger version now. Years of using Yahoo hs got me conditioned to thinking that no post could be larger than 1mb so I stupidly shrunk all the Dennis scans before I first posted them.

What issus of the Wiseman run still need to be scanned?

 

Welcome Kevin!!!

 

(And thanks for the larger scans over on a.b.p.c)

 

Here's a list of the Wiseman issues still needing to be scanned from the regular series:

 

#2-7, 9-14, 17, 18, 24-26, 27, 29, 33, 34, 37, 39, 40, 43-46.

 

I own (and plan to scan) #11, 17, 18, 25, 29, 37, 44, 46.

 

On a related note, anyone not able to access Usenet/newsgroups to download these complete issues, but DESIRING to, here's a link to a zip file I made of Dennis the Menace #8.

 

http://s3.youshareit.com/files/52c6b2645a4fce372a3507baa150b21e.html

 

Just click on the link, and download the zip file. Should take about 2 minutes on a cable connection. If anyone finds this way of sharing helpful, please let me know.

 

escape

[Jon-migration]

Welcome Kevin!!!

 

And thanks for the larger repost of #28

 

Escape has told you what's needed and what he plans to scan. I own and will scan #11, 18, 24, 33. (A small overlap there.) And I think ComicbookGuy said he had lower quality copies of all issues below #11 he was planning on scanning (#1 & 8 have been posted). So I guess that leaves us needing 12-14 26-7 34 39 40 43 45

 

Jon

Edited May 8, 2005 by Jon

[Jon-migration]

Jerro welcome aboard. A quick question. Is Jerro your actual name? No need to answer that of course, but I just wondered as Jerro is the name of the merboy that Supergirl had as a sometimes boyfriend in the early 60s so it could easily be a chosen posting name.

 

I found this panel interesting:

 

panel 9: You're gonna get WET, mom! ; And you're going to get TANNED!

 

I'm a bit surrpised there was a spanking reference in Dennis as late as 1987. I haven't read the Sunday regularly in years, but I thought in these PC days spanking would not be mentioned particualrly since Dennis never seemed to get spanked much even back in the 50s when it was still quite common to see such references in comics. For example in all the covers posted here there is no indication of spankings, though they were not uncommon on Superboy covers -- a seemingly much less likely place for them.

 

Jon

[Wiseguy-migration]

From Billy:

 

... This is a question for Jim: is it possible that your dad was helping with the newspaper version during the years when he shared a studio with Ketcham, but became "comic books only" once he started working from home? Or did your dad specifically tell you that he never had anything to do with the newspaper strip?

 

**********************************************************

 

Bill Alger sent me a copy of a letter from my dad to Joseph Adams.

Dated Aug 20 '53.

Maybe Bill could scan it.

In the letter, my father states he was doing most of the Sunday strips and advertising that had HK's sig.

Should be interesting to see the old strips re-printed.

 

Please remember that Bill Alger has a lot of material on AW, and I don't want to step on toes.

 

 

JRW

[00comics]

Jon

 

Real name is Jerry. When I started thinking about collecting themes, yes I thought of Jerro the Merboy(ONE of Supergirl's boyfriends) as an online posting ID. Also I use Jsub7 for email cause I thought that (if this works?) J₇) looked like Jerry written real fast. Tho with my 20yrs in the Navy, everyone always thought it was a reference to submarines.

 

[00comics]

Re: the "get TANNED" panel.

 

The one I thought might be a little off was the one where Dennis says "Are you yellin' at me?" Talking back to a groundup/parent back in those pre-political correct days of not slapping kids I thought was an odd statement for Dennis?

[00comics]

D'oh....lost part of the post.

 

...J₇ looks like Jerry written out fast.

[Wiseguy-migration]

With many thanks to my wife Teresa, for typing this up.

 

 

 

*************************************************************************************************

 

Peninsula Life, Monterey Peninsula Herald - Saturday, Novermber 14, 1959

 

 

Artistry of Two Men Creates Dennis Comic Books

 

 

Two million readers soon will be chuckling over the Christmas adventures of that loveable 4-1/2 year old moppent, Dennis.

 

 

Meanwhile, the two men who write the -script and draw the wispy-haired, freckled Dennis encased in comic books, will have completed another 100 page book, Dennis in Hollywood, that is to delight readers the world over during the summer of 1960. And, in all probability, when the Christmas book hits the newsstands, the two artists will be in Mexico, writing new -script and drawing new Dennises for the edification and entertainment of Moenace fans in a book designed for the later part of 1960.

 

 

The artists: Al Wiseman, who failed his high school art course, and Fred Toole, who wrote gags in his spare time from long ago jobs with the phone company and on a chicken ranch.

 

 

Creation of Dennis the Menace comic books is a seroius, time-consuming profession in which Al and Fred insist upon maintaining a standard that has won them Congressional Record mention (“wholesome interest and entertainment value”); and outstanding citation award from the Boys Club of America; a seven year record of never having had a single page rejected by the Comic Code Authority for containing any objectional material; innumerable and enthusiastic endorsements from educators; the Spanish translation, ”Daniel El Travieso“, is used for extra reading material by the Spanish department at the Army Language School; “Dennis in Hawaii” gets classroom perusal by sixth graders at La Mesa School; plus grateful letters from hundreds of parents.

 

 

One of their prize possessions, though, is the letter from an 18 year old in Santa Fe, New Mexico, who describes himself as an avid comic book reader, “I was amazed,” Norman Van Tubergen wrote, “that all this educational material included without sacrificing any of the characteristic wholesome humor that I always expect (and receive) in a Dennis comic... It is publications such as this that raise the comic book in the eye of the public from a level of indifference or disgust to one of esteem and admiration...“

 

 

Al, who draws the comic book Dennis (the daily cartoon continues to be done by Dennis' originator, Hank Ketcham), works in his Carmel studio-home. A stickler for accuracy, Al works early (sometimes at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning) AND late to translate into drawings the Dennis antics described in the -script written by Fred Toole.

 

 

Al's interest in cartooning began at just about the same time Al did. it's been a life-long passion and that bit about failing art in high school resulted from the fact that his instructor wouldn't let him draw cartoons. “Uncle Al” (that's how he is known to his fans) now probably has more of his work viewed by the public than almost any other artist, with the exception of Dennis' creator, Hank Ketcham.

 

 

Al's teammate, Fred Toole, came west from Brooklyn at the instigation of Bob Barnes, now a Carmel Valleyite turning out his own comic strip but then owner of an advertising agency in Santa Cruz. When Bob went East to sell his syndicated feature, Fred took over the agency and he and Al, its art director, began an association that continues successfully today.

 

 

Fred has his home in Del Rey Oaks but works from the 61-acre Carmel Valley ranch that houses Hank Ketcham's home and the cabana-studios in which Fred turns out -script and handles public relations and correspondence. (There, too, work Lee Holley, who does the Sunday Dennis cartoon strip, and Arch Garner, who devises the Dennis toys, games and puppets.) Since he and Al conceived the Dennis comic book idea in 1953, Fred has accepted only two outside suggested stories for use in the books. The 40th has just been published and Fred has No. 43 practically completed.

 

 

The Wiseman-Toole team turns out six 36-page Dennis comics every year, several 100-page “extras” each year, plus occasional specials (such as the book campaigning for Safety at the behest of the national Safety Council and one entitled “dennis and Dirt” -- no strangers, they -- for the Soil Conservation Society of America).

 

 

The two man team recently was upped to three when Bruce Ariss joined Al at the Carmel studio. Artist, writer, editor -- Bruce's career has covered every phase of the arts. he has written, edited, illustrated magazines; he has served as art director for advertising agencies in San Francisco; he has designed and written for radio and TV; he has written, directed and acted in plays. And he has done production designing for the movies in Hollywood, work that he finds closely parallels his present job with Al Wiseman.

 

 

While his uncles Al, Fred and Bruce bend over their steaming typewriters and drawing boards Dennis capers through colorful pages in all corners of the world, emitting his embarrassingly honest observations in french, Afrikkans, Spanish, Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Italian, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Japanese. And English.

 

*******************************************************************************************

*******************************************************************************************

and from the

 

San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune, Saturday, Nov. 20, 1968

 

 

 

 

Al Wiseman and family - Dennis the Menace's 'ghost' thrives here

 

By Elliot Curry

 

 

 

 

The attractive new home at 2830 Flora St., in San Luis Obispo, is not a haunted house but it has more hosts than a Halloween charade.

 

 

The name on the mailbox says “Al Wiseman” and if you just an ordinary mortal that probably doesn't mean much to you. If you were a professional cartoonist or if you were Dennis the Menace, however, it would mean a lot to you, for Al Wiseman is one of America's most productive comic strip artists and has been “ghost cartoonist” to Dennis for 13 years.

 

 

Inside the Wiseman home, one room is set aside for a studio and here the ghosts really come alive. Dennis peeks out from all sides, angelic, sweet and menacing. Henry and Alice, the Mitchells, Ruff, the baby sitters and all the other life-like ghosts that come from the pen of ghost artist Al Wiseman materialize in this room and go marching out to millions of homes all over the world.

 

 

Not all the people who live at 2830 Flora are ghosts, however. There's Mrs. Wiseman, she's Kiira, and three teen-agers and two dogs. Glen goes to Cuesta Junior College and Jim and Jeannette are in Junior High. Suzie and Cassius are the dogs, a pair of privileged characters who are right at home in the world of Dennis the Menace.

 

 

Dennis was the creation of Cartoonist Hank Ketcham in 1051 and his name is the only one that ever is signed to a Dennis cartoon. Ketchum now lives in Geneva, Switzerland, and still draws the daily panels. Drawing the Sunday Dennis material is Owen Fitzgerald, who lives in Arkansas.

 

 

Wiseman has worked on all phases of the Dennis production during the past 13 years, but now is drawing only the comic books. He turns out six regular comic books during a year and as many special books as time and demand permit. There is, for example, a special Christmas book each year and he will soon be going to work on one of these. That will be Christmas, 1966.

 

 

As one of the Dennis artists, Wiseman works with the Hall Sndicate of New York, which distributes the daily panel to over 750 newspapers and handles the sale of many Dennis by-products. Wiseman, however, is not tied down to the Dennis material alone by any means. His name may not be well known to the public but it is well known to cartoonists and syndicates, who frequently call on him for special jobs. A phone call day or night will send Wiseman to his drawing board to turn an idea into a black and white reality, and within hours the finished illustration will be on its way to the editor's desk.

 

 

Wiseman has no complaint at the role of a ghost, but at the same time he keeps toying with ideas and characters for a panel of his own. Some day some new ghosts may come to life from the Wiseman studio.

 

 

Wiseman creates neither the story nor dialog for the Dennis books. These come from Fred Toole of Monterey. Virtually all Dennis material is written by professional writers who specialize in this type of material, Wiseman said. Ketchum gets thousands of suggesttions in the mail for Dennis strips but purchase of material from this source involves problems which he does not care to get into.

 

 

The Wiseman family moved to San Luis Obispo from California Hot Springs near Porterville, last June. Prior to that they had a home in the Monterey area for several years. Wiseman is no stranger to San Luis Obispo, however, Bakersfield was his boyhood home and his father also had a ranch at Morro Bay at one time. When time permits he wants to look into the hunting and fishing around here -- in fact wants to give it some very close attention.

 

 

Wiseman says he was a kind of “Dead End” kid in school, but he nevertheless showed enough talent in drawing to win the constant encouragement of his art teacher, Mrs. Ruther Emerson. One year he entered a package of his work in the state fair at Sacramento and won seven first place awards. This began to open his eyes to the possibility of cartooning.

 

 

There comes a time of service in the CC camps during the depression and then Wiseman enrolled in the Frank Wiggins Trade School in Los Angeles. There he became on of a group of the most talented prospects from various schools who were given an opportunity to work with professional artists. Again he was getting some first class training and he began to make some sales. The war came along and he invested in the Navy. Before he could get through boot camp, the Navy discovered he could draw snatched him out of the ranks to do drawings for a training manual.

 

 

By the time the war was over, Wiseman's skills were ready. He freelanced in New York for a few years, then returned to the West Coast. Friday night he was honored guest of a sizable group who make up the Northern California Cartoon adn Humor Association and was their principal speaker. Said the announcement to members: “Our Guest: Talented Al (Hacker) Wiseman, cartoonist, commercial artist, golfer, woodsman, teacher and all-Aound Good Guy ... come, meet the 13-year-old Ghost, who has drawn enough Dennis cartoons to reach from Saucelito to Suisserland... and keeps pumpin 'em out“.

 

 

Can you tell the work of one artist from another in the Dennis drawings? If you study them closely, yes. The most noticeable difference is that Wiseman draws for color printing, which requires that he put in more detail than for the daily black and white panels.

 

 

Another point, notice the comic book backgrounds. If you see a Rileys store, Al's TV Shop or perhaps a Kiira's Dress Shop, you can be sure that it is a Wiseman job. Background scenes and names often come from true life. (printed beside in Al's printing - “Watsonville”)

 

During his years in the Monterey area Wiseman sometims taught classes in drawing and he takes a real interesst in professional standards for the craft. His work has won many awards and he has never had a single panel turned down because of bad taste.

 

 

You can see that anybody who draws Dennis the Menace would have to be fond of children.

 

 

 

 

Or would he? (printed at the end in Al's printing - “...Yep!”

 

*******************************************************************************************

*******************************************************************************************

 

 

There are photos from the articles.

 

 

JRW

[ComicBookGuy]

This is great stuff, JRW! Thanks for digging this out and thanks to your wife Teresa for typing it up!

The info in here goes right along with the info in the Lee Holley interview, and it's great to gain more insight into the behind-the-scenes story of these under-appreciated creators. One question: In the second article, the date at the top says 1968, and in the article it said he was working on the 1966 Christmas special. Considering you said your dad was done with Dennis in 1966, I assume the "1968" was a typo that should have read "1966"? That minor question aside, this was FANTASTIC to read. If you have anything else like this, please keep it coming. I am learning so much here and LOVING it!

Joe

[BillyBatson4360]

Kudos, Jim.

 

The pieces of the puzzle are starting to fall into place for us longtime Wiseman fans.

 

From the letter that Bill Alger shared with you as well as the two articles you reprinted, I am definitely thinking that your dad made contributions to the early days of the daily strip as well as the Sunday pages.

 

We haven't heard from Mr. Alger in a while. Hopefully, he will check back in and perhaps starting filling in some of the gaps.

 

Joe - If you notice, there are two newspaper articles that Jim's wife transcribed for our pleasure. The first, mentioning the Christmas, Hollywood & Mexico specials came from 1959. The second lists 1968 as its date. This is the second reference to that year that we've seen. The last Dennis Giant with new art is "Way Out Stories' (# 48). Without having my copy at hand, I believe that Giant was published in 1967.

 

So, it appears the split between Ketcham and Wiseman ocurred some time in 1967, not 1966.

[Wiseguy-migration]

The article from the San Luis Obispo paper should have been 1966.

My father and I moved to Tacoma Wa. around January or February of '66.

He stayed in Washington, I moved back to Monterey in the summer of '66 to complete my last year in high school.

I still think the split from HK was in 1966.

 

JRW

Edited May 9, 2005 by Wiseguy

[ComicBookGuy]

Thanks for clarifying, JRW! Again, great articles. I look forward to more of the same when you get the chance. At one point you mentioned a cartoon magazine from the 1970s with a picture of lots of Dennis people. I'd love to see that.

 

By the way, I too have missed Bill A's posts. I hope he returns soon. And, incidentally, does anyone know the launch date for his site? I really am looking forward to that.

 

Joe

[Wiseguy-migration]

Thanks for clarifying, JRW! Again, great articles. I look forward to more of the same when you get the chance. At one point you mentioned a cartoon magazine from the 1970s with a picture of lots of Dennis people. I'd love to see that.

 

Joe

 

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

 

April, 1975.

Cartoon News

Issue #1

Published by Jim Ivey and Bill Sheridan.

 

The cover and centerfold are AW's work

Thanks B.A.

 

 

JRW

[Wiseguy-migration]

 

Hank, Alice, Al and Vadis 1946. Note on the back says Alice pregnant with Dennis.

 

 

JRW

Edited May 10, 2005 by Wiseguy

[Wiseguy-migration]

my dog Ruff

 

JRW

Edited May 10, 2005 by Wiseguy

[Wiseguy-migration]

 

From the Monterey Peninsula Herald article. Picture of Bruce Ariss, Fred Toole and Al Wiseman.

sorry about the resolution.

 

JRW

Edited May 10, 2005 by Wiseguy

[Wiseguy-migration]

In the above pic of Hank, I think he looks like Harold Ramis in Ghostbusters.

But that is just me.

 

JRW