Freckles and His Friends
| Freckles and His Friends | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Merrill Blosser (1915-1966); Henry Formhals (1935-1971) |
| Current status / schedule | Complete |
| Launch date | August 16, 1915 (Dailies), December 31, 1933 (Sundays) |
| End date | August 28, 1971 (Dailies), August 22, 1971 (Sundays) |
| Syndicate(s) |
English: Newspaper Enterprise Association |
| Genre(s) | Humor, Children, Teens, Adults |
Freckles and his Friends was an American comic strip set in the peaceful small town of Shadyside where young Freckles McGoosey and his friends lived. Although the long-running strip, created by Merrill Blosser, is remembered for its continuing storyline involving a group of teenagers, it originally featured a child at the age of six or seven in gag-a-day situations.
Illustrated by Blosser and later by Henry Formhals (1908-1981), Freckles and His Friends was ghostwritten by Fred Fox (1903-1981). A gagwriter for Groucho Marx and Judy Canova, Fox scripted for radio, television and films. Widely syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association, Freckles and His Friends had a long run through much of the 20th Century.
In May 1915, 23-year-old Merrill Blosser began working for the Chicago syndicate Newspaper Enterprise Association, initially drawing cartoons based on news events. That summer he began drawing five comics features. One of these, titled Freckles, began as a one-column daily gag panel on August 16, 1915. that expanded into a full comic strip and was retitled Freckles and His Friends on September 20, 1915. One by one, Blosser dropped each of the other single-panel comics, and in July 1916, he began another strip, Miniature Movies, which soon became Chestnut Charlie, continuing until early in 1918. At that point, Blosser then dedicated himself exclusively to the production of Freckles and His Friends.
The daily strip gained readers through the 1920s and into the 1930s when a Sunday strip was added on December 31, 1933. By 1939, according to Editor & Publisher, the Sunday strip was published in 130 newspapers, while the daily strip appeared in more than 500 papers. During the World War II years, Blosser's creation was seen by some 60,000,000 readers.
...
Wikipedia