Penny (comic strip)
Encyclopedia
Penny was a comic strip
about a teenage girl by Harry Haenigsen which maintained its popularity for almost three decades. It was distributed by the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate from 1943 to 1970.
Haenigsen had been doing a strip about a teenage boy, Our Bill, when he launched Penny on June 20, 1943. Comics historian Don Markstein
described the title character and her confused parents:
In 1955, Vladimir Nabokov
wrote the following description of Penny into his novel Lolita
: "Her eyes would follow the adventures of her favorite strip characters; there was one well-drawn sloppy bobby-soxer with high cheekbones and angular gestures, that I was not above enjoying myself."
The prolific cartoonist Bill Hoest
was Haenigsen's assistant on Penny. After an injury from a 1965 traffic accident kept Haenigsen away from the drawing board, Hoest took over most of the work, although Haenigsen still supervised and signed each Penny strip. In 1970, when Hoest left to start his own strip, My Son John, for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate
, Haenigsen chose to end Penny and retired.
In 1947, Nancy Blair of Lambertville, New Jersey
was the winner in a Penny look-alike contest staged by the New Hope Recreation Center in New Hope, Pennsylvania
.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
about a teenage girl by Harry Haenigsen which maintained its popularity for almost three decades. It was distributed by the New York Herald Tribune Syndicate from 1943 to 1970.
Haenigsen had been doing a strip about a teenage boy, Our Bill, when he launched Penny on June 20, 1943. Comics historian Don Markstein
Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Don Markstein's Toonopedia was a web encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation. Don D...
described the title character and her confused parents:
- Penelope Mildred Pringle had Katharine HepburnKatharine HepburnKatharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
's cheekbones and Dick TracyDick TracyDick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...
's jawline. She also took after them in personality, never gawky or shy, or for that matter, less than totally confident and self-assured. She had a best friend, Judy, but no long-term, steady boyfriend — still, she never had a problem getting dates. Her parents, Roger and Mae Pringle, were utterly mystified by her, but coped reasonably well. Inevitably, the strip was full of teenage slang, starting with that of the bobbysoxer era but moving with the times. Haenigsen (who was 43 when it started, by the way) kept up to date by hanging out at soda fountains in Lambertville, New JerseyLambertville, New JerseyLambertville is a city in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 3,906.Lambertville was originally incorporated as a town by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 1, 1849, from portions of West Amwell Township...
, where he lived and worked. He also had a trick to keep it sounding current — he'd occasionally make up his own expressions. That way he not only avoided sounding quaint — there was also a chance the reader may figure that if he'd never heard it before, it must be the newest of the new. Penny was drawn in a deceptively simple, yet highly distinctive style, anticipating the uncluttered look found in such 1950s strips as PeanutsPeanutsPeanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, continuing in reruns afterward...
, Miss PeachMiss PeachMiss Peach was a syndicated comic strip created by American cartoonist Mell Lazarus. It ran for 45 years, from February 4, 1957 to September 8, 2002....
and Hi and LoisHi and LoisHi and Lois is a comic strip about a suburban family. Created by Mort Walker and illustrated by Dik Browne, it debuted on October 18, 1954, distributed by King Features Syndicate.-Characters:...
.
In 1955, Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
wrote the following description of Penny into his novel Lolita
Lolita
Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
: "Her eyes would follow the adventures of her favorite strip characters; there was one well-drawn sloppy bobby-soxer with high cheekbones and angular gestures, that I was not above enjoying myself."
The prolific cartoonist Bill Hoest
Bill Hoest
Bill Hoest was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of the gag panel series, The Lockhorns, distributed by King Features Syndicate to 500 newspapers in 23 countries, and Laugh Parade for Parade...
was Haenigsen's assistant on Penny. After an injury from a 1965 traffic accident kept Haenigsen away from the drawing board, Hoest took over most of the work, although Haenigsen still supervised and signed each Penny strip. In 1970, when Hoest left to start his own strip, My Son John, for the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate
Tribune Media Services
Tribune Media Services is a syndication company owned by the Tribune Company.The company has two divisions, "News and Features" and "Entertainment Products"...
, Haenigsen chose to end Penny and retired.
In 1947, Nancy Blair of Lambertville, New Jersey
Lambertville, New Jersey
Lambertville is a city in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 3,906.Lambertville was originally incorporated as a town by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 1, 1849, from portions of West Amwell Township...
was the winner in a Penny look-alike contest staged by the New Hope Recreation Center in New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope, formerly known as Coryell's Ferry, is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, USA. The population was 2,528 at the 2010 census. The borough lies on the west bank of the Delaware River at its confluence with Aquetong Creek. A two-lane bridge carries automobile and foot traffic across the...
.
See also
- Aggie MackAggie MackAggie Mack was a newspaper comic strip about a teenage girl. Created by Hal Rasmusson, it was distributed by the Chicago Tribune Syndicate beginning in 1946. It had a 26-year run, with a title change to Aggie during the final six years....
- Freckles and His FriendsFreckles and His FriendsFreckles and his Friends was a popular American comic strip set in the peaceful small town of Shadyside where young Freckles McGoosey and his friends live...
- Harold TeenHarold TeenHarold Teen was a popular, long-running comic strip written and drawn by Carl Ed . Publisher Joseph Medill Patterson may have suggested, and certainly approved, the strip's concept, loosely based on Booth Tarkington's successful novel Seventeen. Asked in the late 1930s why he had started the strip,...
- TeenaTeenaTeena is a cartoon panel series and comic strip about a teenage girl, created by Hilda Terry. It ran from 1944 to 1966, distributed by King Features Syndicate....
- Zits