AP Newsfeatures
Encyclopedia
AP Newsfeatures, aka AP Features, was the cartoon and comic strip division of Associated Press
, which syndicated strips from 1930 to the early 1960s.
In February 1930, I.M. Kendrick, executive assistant to AP president Kent Cooper, announced a March 17, 1930, launch for the Associated Press Feature Service, with an initial nine units, including a daily news cartoon, various comic strips and several panels. With the expansion of the Associated Press Feature Service to include a comprehensive comic strip and cartoon service for evening papers, AP that April announced plans to provide a similar service for morning papers. Cooper commented:
in a daily three-column panel by Dick Dorgan (brother of the cartoonist Tad Dorgan; Scorchy Smith, an aviation-adventure strip by John Terry (who also worked on animated cartoons); Rollo Rollingstone, a daily strip by Bruce Barr; Modest Maidens, a two-column pretty girl panel by Don Flowers
; a news cartoon by Lance Nolly (formerly of the Austin American and the Dallas News); a three-column village life feature by Oscar Hitt and a two-column cartoon by Aleyn Burtis.
The AP service eventually made a full page of daily strips available, including Dickie Dare
and Oaky Doaks
. Other strips carried by AP included C. Mozier's Junior's Viewpoint (1935), Aldine Swank's panel Beautyettes (1935), Frank Stevens' Li'l Chief Hot-Shot (1945-46), Ed Sullivan's The Nerve of Some People (1945-46), George Wunder
's See for Yourself (1946), Rome Siemon's Little Moonfolks (1952) and Sylvia Robbins' panel, Don't Do That (1950-56). How Christmas Began, which first appeared in 1951 and ran annually for five days each Christmas week, was drawn in an outline form, minus blacks or shadows, so children could color the panels.
Flowers also created Oh, Diana!, which was continued by Bill Champi and Phil Berube after Flowers left AP for King Features
. Virginia Clark was drawing Oh, Diana! in 1947. Flowers' other AP creation, Modest Maidens, was taken over by AP staff artist Jay Alan.
AP carried a set number of strips, so a new strip was not added until one was dropped. When the Oaky Doaks daily debuted on June 17, 1935, it replaced Harold Detje's Be Scientific with Ol' Doc Dabble which ran from June 6, 1932 until June 15, 1935. In a similar fashion, when Milton Caniff
learned of an opening while he was working on AP spot illustrations, he spent the weekend drawing samples, and Caniff's strip career was launched when his Dickie Dare began in 1933. The following year, Dickie Dare was taken over by Coulton Waugh
.
In 1944, Charles Elsworth Honce became the assistant general manager of all AP special services, overseeing AP Newsfeatures and World Wide Photos, and that same year M. J. ("Joe") Wing stepped in as the general editor of AP Newsfeatures.
The strips variously carried the tag "AP Newsfeatures," "AP Features" or in some cases, "The A.P."
s on March 7, 1942 in the New York Post
. The initial line-up:
AP sports cartoonist Tom Paprocki's Sport Slants began with the Sunday strips in 1942 and continued until March 6, 1955. Fred Locher worked with Rand Taylor on Homer Hoopee, and Phil Berube drew the strip's final three years (1953-56). Hank Barrow wrote and drew Things to Come, an AP Sunday feature focusing on speculative technology. The title derived from H. G. Wells
science fiction novel, The Shape of Things to Come
(1933). When Barrow departed in 1949 or 1950, the feature was taken over by Jim Bresnan.
The Associated Press discontinued distribution of comic strips in 1961.
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, which syndicated strips from 1930 to the early 1960s.
In February 1930, I.M. Kendrick, executive assistant to AP president Kent Cooper, announced a March 17, 1930, launch for the Associated Press Feature Service, with an initial nine units, including a daily news cartoon, various comic strips and several panels. With the expansion of the Associated Press Feature Service to include a comprehensive comic strip and cartoon service for evening papers, AP that April announced plans to provide a similar service for morning papers. Cooper commented:
- The Associated Press activities today in the feature service field are a natural outgrowth of what used to be the daily mail letter, which the Associated Press called the supplemental mail service. I held that since there was matter going out by mail it might as well go out in the best possible way that we could produce it, which, of course, meant the inclusion of illustrations, regular columns, etc.
The 1930 launch
The first nine features: Gloria, a daily pretty girl strip with continuity, by Julian Ollendorf (who also worked on the animated Topics of the Day and Sketchographs); Homer Hoopee, a daily family strip by Fred Locher (former creator of Cicero Sapp for the New York Evening World); Colonel Gilfeather, an imitation of Our Boarding HouseOur Boarding House
Our Boarding House was a long-running, American gag-panel comic strip created by Gene Ahern in 1921 and syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association. Set in a boarding house run by the sensible Mrs...
in a daily three-column panel by Dick Dorgan (brother of the cartoonist Tad Dorgan; Scorchy Smith, an aviation-adventure strip by John Terry (who also worked on animated cartoons); Rollo Rollingstone, a daily strip by Bruce Barr; Modest Maidens, a two-column pretty girl panel by Don Flowers
Don Flowers
Don Flowers was an American cartoonist best known for his syndicated panel Glamor Girls. Flowers was noted for his fluid ink work, prompting Coulton Waugh to write that Flowers displayed "about the finest line ever bequeathed to a cartoonist...
; a news cartoon by Lance Nolly (formerly of the Austin American and the Dallas News); a three-column village life feature by Oscar Hitt and a two-column cartoon by Aleyn Burtis.
The AP service eventually made a full page of daily strips available, including Dickie Dare
Dickie Dare
Dickie Dare was a comic strip syndicated by AP Newsfeatures. Launched July 31, 1933, it was the first comic strip created by Milton Caniff before he began Terry and the Pirates....
and Oaky Doaks
Oaky Doaks
Oaky Doaks was a popular newspaper comic strip distributed by AP Newsfeatures for more than 25 years. lt was illustrated by veteran magazine cartoonist Ralph Fuller and scripted by AP Newsfeatures comics editor William McCleery.-Characters and story:...
. Other strips carried by AP included C. Mozier's Junior's Viewpoint (1935), Aldine Swank's panel Beautyettes (1935), Frank Stevens' Li'l Chief Hot-Shot (1945-46), Ed Sullivan's The Nerve of Some People (1945-46), George Wunder
George Wunder
George S. Wunder was a cartoonist best known for his 26 years illustrating the Terry and the Pirates comic strip....
's See for Yourself (1946), Rome Siemon's Little Moonfolks (1952) and Sylvia Robbins' panel, Don't Do That (1950-56). How Christmas Began, which first appeared in 1951 and ran annually for five days each Christmas week, was drawn in an outline form, minus blacks or shadows, so children could color the panels.
Flowers also created Oh, Diana!, which was continued by Bill Champi and Phil Berube after Flowers left AP for King Features
King Features Syndicate
King Features Syndicate, a print syndication company owned by The Hearst Corporation, distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editorial cartoons, puzzles and games to nearly 5000 newspapers worldwide...
. Virginia Clark was drawing Oh, Diana! in 1947. Flowers' other AP creation, Modest Maidens, was taken over by AP staff artist Jay Alan.
AP carried a set number of strips, so a new strip was not added until one was dropped. When the Oaky Doaks daily debuted on June 17, 1935, it replaced Harold Detje's Be Scientific with Ol' Doc Dabble which ran from June 6, 1932 until June 15, 1935. In a similar fashion, when Milton Caniff
Milton Caniff
Milton Arthur Paul Caniff was an American cartoonist famous for the Terry and the Pirates and Steve Canyon comic strips.-Biography:...
learned of an opening while he was working on AP spot illustrations, he spent the weekend drawing samples, and Caniff's strip career was launched when his Dickie Dare began in 1933. The following year, Dickie Dare was taken over by Coulton Waugh
Coulton Waugh
Frederick Coulton Waugh was a cartoonist, painter, teacher and author, best known for his illustration work on the comic strip Dickie Dare and his book The Comics , the first major study of the field.His father was the marine artist Frederick Judd Waugh, and his grandfather was the Philadelphia...
.
In 1944, Charles Elsworth Honce became the assistant general manager of all AP special services, overseeing AP Newsfeatures and World Wide Photos, and that same year M. J. ("Joe") Wing stepped in as the general editor of AP Newsfeatures.
The strips variously carried the tag "AP Newsfeatures," "AP Features" or in some cases, "The A.P."
AP Sunday comics
Over a decade passed before AP finally introduced Sunday stripSunday strip
A Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
s on March 7, 1942 in the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
. The initial line-up:
- The Adventures of PatsyThe Adventures of PatsyThe Adventures of Patsy is a newspaper comic strip which ran from 1935 to 1954. Created by Mel Graff, it was syndicated by AP Newsfeatures....
- Dickie DareDickie DareDickie Dare was a comic strip syndicated by AP Newsfeatures. Launched July 31, 1933, it was the first comic strip created by Milton Caniff before he began Terry and the Pirates....
- Homer Hoopee
- Modest Maidens
- Neighborly Neighbors
- Oaky DoaksOaky DoaksOaky Doaks was a popular newspaper comic strip distributed by AP Newsfeatures for more than 25 years. lt was illustrated by veteran magazine cartoonist Ralph Fuller and scripted by AP Newsfeatures comics editor William McCleery.-Characters and story:...
- Scorchy SmithScorchy SmithScorchy Smith was an American adventure comic strip created by artist John Terry that ran from 1930 to 1961.Scorchy Smith was a pilot-for-hire whose initial adventures took him across America, fighting criminals and aiding damsels in distress...
- Sport Slants
- Strictly Private
- Things To Come
AP sports cartoonist Tom Paprocki's Sport Slants began with the Sunday strips in 1942 and continued until March 6, 1955. Fred Locher worked with Rand Taylor on Homer Hoopee, and Phil Berube drew the strip's final three years (1953-56). Hank Barrow wrote and drew Things to Come, an AP Sunday feature focusing on speculative technology. The title derived from H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...
science fiction novel, The Shape of Things to Come
The Shape of Things to Come
The Shape of Things to Come is a work of science fiction by H. G. Wells, published in 1933, which speculates on future events from 1933 until the year 2106. The book is dominated by Wells's belief in a world state as the solution to mankind's problems....
(1933). When Barrow departed in 1949 or 1950, the feature was taken over by Jim Bresnan.
The Associated Press discontinued distribution of comic strips in 1961.