The Ultimate Dennis the Menace Thread 3 3

[Wiseguy-migration]

You asked about other DTM artists.

The only other ones I sorta remember were Robert (Bob) Paplow and Bruce Ariss.

 

I maybe met Lee Holley once, so I don't remember him, other than he was not as smooth as the old man.

I guess Lee didn't get along with Al.

 

I found a faded newspaper article from the Monterey Peninsula Herald.

Dated Nov. 14, 1959.

The article mentions that my father and Fred Toole worked for Bob Barnes who ran an advertising agency in Santa Cruz, Ca.

Bob went on to create his own strip, "The Better Half", leaving Fred and Al to the agency.

 

 

I think my dad did some advertising work for Borden's Dairys. There was an "Elsie the Cow" character.

And some covers for the Monarch Match Company.

 

 

I am doing a search now for the photographer who took the photos of the Wiseman's and the Toole's in Hawaii in Aug of 1956.

The name on the back of the photo reads," Walts Photo Service"

2709-A Kalakaua Ave.

Queen Surf Grounds

Honolulu, Hi

If we have any readers who live over in Honolulu, does this place still exist?

 

 

I found some more goodies, that I will try and post in the coming days.

 

 

Jim

[Wiseguy-migration]

Got this from Bill. I had never seen it before.

[Wiseguy-migration]

In keeping with this thread, I am curious which DTM you read (re-read) the most?

 

Mexico (obviously) and Hawaii are my personal favorites.

 

Which is your favorite?

 

 

Jim

[ComicBookGuy]

In keeping with this thread, I am curious which DTM you read (re-read) the most?

Mexico (obviously) and Hawaii are my personal favorites.

Which is your favorite?

Jim

 

I have to say I love them all. But since you're asking, I would have to say the ones I keep going back to are the Hawaii, Mexico, California, Hollywood, Washington DC, and the Christmas specials. I've always been amazed that these comics have not been kept in print, and not only that, that they were edited down in later editions. The publishers were very smart to reprint these for a decade so new fans could read them and get hooked on the title.

 

By the way, I heard back from Bill Alger, and he said he is going to join into the conversation here in a bit, so this party is about to get bigger and better!

 

Joe

[Wiseguy-migration]

When Bill Alger shows up, I think he will have a few surprises.

I just went thru some more of the things he sent me.

I found the copy of issue #1, April 1975 of Cartoonews.

Nice photo of my dad and a bunch of DTM folks.

 

Round 'em up Joe!

 

 

Jim

[balger-migration]

Hey everybody,

Just joined up and haven't had a chance to read all the posts yet, but am looking forwards to going through them. Looks like fun.

 

Thanks Joe, for telling me about this board. And hello to Jim!

 

As someone previously mentioned, I've been gathering information about Jim's dad for some time and will be putting up a website called alwiseman.com. This seems like a good place to get feedback before the site is up.

 

In the meantime, here's a Wiseman cartoon from a 1955 issue of Saturday Evening Post (if I've attached it correctly)...

 

Best,

Bill

[ComicBookGuy]

 

Bill, welcome to the boards!

 

When Jim told us a few days ago you were starting a website, we were very happy to hear about it as there seems to be a real consensus here that Al Wiseman is long overdue for recognition from the comic collecting community.

 

Any information you have, please share! Also, I hope that we will have some information that will be useful for you as well.

 

I look forward to your posts!

 

Joe

[tth2]

In keeping with this thread, I am curious which DTM you read (re-read) the most?

 

Mexico (obviously) and Hawaii are my personal favorites.

 

Which is your favorite?

 

 

Jim

Hi Jim, Mexico is my favorite too! There is some laugh out loud funny stuff in there, particularly when Dennis takes a hammer to some delicate silver. But they're all great!

[tth2]

Hey everybody,

Just joined up and haven't had a chance to read all the posts yet, but am looking forwards to going through them. Looks like fun.

 

Thanks Joe, for telling me about this board. And hello to Jim!

 

As someone previously mentioned, I've been gathering information about Jim's dad for some time and will be putting up a website called alwiseman.com. This seems like a good place to get feedback before the site is up.

 

In the meantime, here's a Wiseman cartoon from a 1955 issue of Saturday Evening Post (if I've attached it correctly)...

 

Best,

Bill

Welcome to the boards, Bill! This thread just keeps getting better and better! Thanks to Joe for so actively generating interest in this thread. Now if Fred Hembeck and Matt Groening would only join in...

[balger-migration]

Thanks for the welcome Joe and tth2!

 

I felt a bit inspired after reading some posts and put together a design for the alwiseman.com homepage. I'll probably make some changes before it's put up, but this is the basic idea:

 

http://alwiseman.com/graphics/WiseHomePage.jpg

 

Bill

[BillyBatson4360]

My favorite has to be "Dennis the Menace in Hawai." I can't even begin to estimate the number of times I read that book as a kid. When I decided to get serious about re-assembling my Dennis collection as an adult, that was one of the first issues I tracked down.

 

In the regular title, I have already posted that one of my favorite stories is the one where Dennis' mom cleans him up and finally gets his cowlick under control - and nobody recognizes him!

 

The Christmas Specials also hold a special place in my heart becuase they were a holiday tradition of my childhood.

 

Great to see Bill Alger here. Bill, as I offered in my e-mail whatever help you may need, just ask. I'm sure your Wiseman collection is waaaaaay more extensive than mine, but I am a professional writer (my day job has me toiling in the fields of advertising) and would love to contribute to your site.

 

The best is still to come!

[Wiseguy-migration]

...........................................

 

In the regular title, I have already posted that one of my favorite stories is the one where Dennis' mom cleans him up and finally gets his cowlick under control - and nobody recognizes him!

 

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

 

I think they did that in an episode of "The Simpsons", where they clean Bart up and no one thinks it's him.

 

I hope Matt makes it here.

 

Jim

[balger-migration]

As much as I love the vacation comics, for some reason my favorite Dennis stories seem to be the ones where he falls sleep and dreams about being in the middle of some bizarre adventure. Especially the one where tiny bickering martians in flying saucers and teacups take him into outer space to help win an intergalactic war with his cap gun.

 

In the same vein, I also enjoyed the dream sequences about Dennis under the ocean annoying the fish, Dennis fighting pirates and Dennis becoming a cowboy. I thought these stories really allowed Toole & Wiseman to really let loose with thier imaginations and engage in some off-the wall humor.

 

Bill

[balger-migration]

 

Great to see Bill Alger here. Bill, as I offered in my e-mail whatever help you may need, just ask. I'm sure your Wiseman collection is waaaaaay more extensive than mine, but I am a professional writer (my day job has me toiling in the fields of advertising) and would love to contribute to your site.

 

 

Thanks BillyBatson4360 (or should I call you Jim?). Good to be in contact with you again. Your contributions would definately be appreciated since I'm not a writer and I'll be able to use all the help I can get. As far as my collection goes, I've concentrated on Wiseman items other than the actual comics, so I've got holes in my Dennis run. That's one area I'll need assistance. But I've got piles of Al Wiseman milk bottles, matchbook covers, self published books, posters, ads, obscure artwork and other stuff to finish cataloging.

 

Bill

[BillyBatson4360]

Actually Bill, my first name is Bill, too. Jim is "Wiseguy."

 

Like you, my primary interst is in Al Wiseman (although I do own the Ketchum autobiography and a fair number of the trade paperbacks and regular paperbacks that reprint the Dennis newspaper strip). I'm very excited to learn that we may finally be able to put together a comprehensive biography of this great comic book talent and have access to some of the work he created away from Dennis.

 

If you want to send me a personal message or reply to the e-mail I sent you through your website, let me know how I can help. I do have the entire run of Wiseman produced Dennis comics. Joe (aka ComicBookGuy) has them as well. Between the two of us, we could probably put together a fairly decent set of cover scans of high grade issues.

 

It would be interesting to learn how you first got interested in Al Wiseman and how you began assembling information about him as well as how you started tracking down his non-Dennis work.

[balger-migration]

Actually Bill, my first name is Bill, too. Jim is "Wiseguy."

 

Sorry about the name mix-up, Bill. I had recieved an email through my website from a Wiseman fan named Jim Fisher (is he on this board?) offering to help and thought that might have been you.

 

I'll contact you privately later today.

 

Best,

Bill

[balger-migration]

It would be interesting to learn how you first got interested in Al Wiseman and how you began assembling information about him as well as how you started tracking down his non-Dennis work.

 

When I was a kid I used to read the digest Dennis reprints and always loved Wiseman's art. There was just something oddly comforting about getting lost in the perfect 1950s world Al created. And then something incredibly satisfying watching this tranquil universe destroyed when Dennis decided to go all hyper-active and knock it all down like a house of cards. That's why the current Dennis holds no interest to me. Where's the pristine artwork? Where is the mayhem?!?

 

So anyway, I grew up and would still buy old copies of Dennis when I came across them. Then a friend of mine was collecting original comic art and was trying to get me hooked. I thought about it for a bit and said only if I could track down some Al Wiseman art. To which my friend relied "Who the hell is Al Wiseman?"

 

It ended up being harder than I thought but I managed to find a few stashes of cut-up Dennis panels and then a bunch of pages then finally a whole story. But out at the San Diego Con one year I found a stack of letters Al wrote to a friend of his in the 1950s. Some of the letters had cool drawings on them and mentioned Al's excitement about working on the Dennis comics.This started me wondering "Who the hell is this Al Wiseman anyway, and why doesn't anybody seem to know anything about him?"

 

In one of the letters Al mentioned his son Jim. So I went on the internet looking up people named "Jim Wiseman" in the part of California from which the letters were sent. Then I started calling their numbers, asking "Are you the Jim Wiseman whose father was Al Wiseman?" Obsessive, no? After about 8 calls I reached Al's son Jim, who replied (if I'm remembering correctly) "Wow! No-one's ever contacted us before."

 

Jim was incredibly nice and put me in touch with his sisters and mom. And they were amazingly helpful. I've got hours of tapes interviewing Jim's mom who gave me detailed information about Al's life. She was a wonderful woman. Jim's sister Jan is a wealth of knowledge also. And has a great sense of humor. She filled me in on many aspects of Al's work so I've been able to track down examples of his non-Dennis career. I still need to interview Jim in depth and also his sister Merrilee, but hopefully that will happen.

 

Through them I was able to speak with Hank Ketcham (though he didn't have much to say) and Fred Toole's Widow Molly before they passed away. And a bunch of other relatives and co-workers (including Eldon Dedini, George Crenshaw, Frank Hill and Lee Holley).

 

So anyway, I want to thank Jim for not hanging up on me all those years ago!

 

Bill

[ComicBookGuy]

It's fantastic that you did all this research while it could still be done. At this point the major players, Hank Ketcham, Al Wiseman, and Fred Toole have all passed away. I can't wait to read what information you have learned. Will it be in the form of a website only or are you planning a book? Whatever form it takes, I am looking forward to it!

 

As far as any information about Wiseman Dennis comics, Bill C. was correct when he said we could help you out with regard to any stories or issues you need info about.

 

Some information I am very interested in is exactly who drew which issues. There are clearly many different artists drawing the Dennis books, and some of the names you mentioned were artists. For example, on the inside cover of Dennis Bonus Magazine #88, Frank Hill is credited with drawing Dennis the Menace in London and Fred Toole with writing it. But little information is available elsewhere as to who drew which issues.

 

You mentioned that you attended the San Diego Con one year. I'm curious if anyone on this thread is planning to attend this year. I may: 50% chance. However, I know for a fact that I will be at the Wizard World Philly convention the first weekend of June. If anyone on here is planning to attend, please let me know as it would be nice to attach some faces to the names here. If no one else comes, I guess I'll just have to buy all the great Dennis stuff...

 

Joe

[ComicBookGuy]

While we're on the topics of favorite stories, here's one from Dennis the Menace #29 that really stuck out to me. There are lots of them, but I chose this one and will scan it in in its entirety:

 

[ComicBookGuy]

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