Happy 100th anniversary to the third comic strip to ever appear in the New York Daily News, Carl Ed's HAROLD TEEN!
The strip made its debut 100 years ago today, May 4, 1919 in the pages of the Patterson family owned Chicago Tribune (run by News publisher Joseph Medill Patterson's cousin, Robert R. McCormick) and joined Patterson's New York Illustrated Daily News on June 26th as a daily feature. From there it became one of the most influential strips ever on the popular culture of the roaring twenties.
The best portrayal of the feature's origins comes from author John Chapman, whose seminal "Tell it to Sweeney - The Informal History of the New York Daily News" recounts the trials and tribulations of the first 40 years of the country's first and most successful tabloid newspaper........
"The third comic in the News was "Harold Teen," drawn by Carl Ed - Carl Frank Ludwig Ed, who pronounces his last name Ead. No other strip had so wide an influence on the language, dress, and antics of American children.
Ed was born in Moline, Illinois, in 1880 and attended Augustana College at Rock Island, Illinois. He spent his early newspaper years on the editorial staff of the Rock Island Argus and was city editor when he resigned in 1917. In 1918 he went to the Chicago Evening American as a sports cartoonist. The same year he transferred to the Chicago Tribune and in 1919 he began "Harold Teen" as a daily and Sunday feature.
The comic made its debut in the News daily only, for there was no Sunday News. The News dropped "Harold Teen" in 1953 - for teen-agers had become a different breed of cat. During the 1920's, Harold Teen and his companions, including Shadow, either introduced or popularized such youthful phenomena as bell-bottom trousers, exaggerated plus fours, marked-up tin Lizzies, autographed sweat shirts, illustrated raincoats, broad-toed shoes, and the gedunk sundae, which was two scoops of ice cream in a glass of chocolate, to be taken with a bib. Teen's phraseology swept the land - "Fan mah brow!" "pantywaist," "lollypopsie," and "big hunk of stuff" being samples."
The HAROLD TEEN Sunday strip debuted in the New York Sunday News comics on November 3, 1923. For the sake of accuracy, research has revealed that HAROLD TEEN actually was dropped by The News in 1950, replaced with Dan Spiegle's HOPALONG CASSIDY, but sporadically appeared in 1950-51 coinciding with the expansion of the Sunday News "Country" Edition of the paper on September 17, 1950.
From the July 29, 1950 issue of EDITOR & PUBLISHER:
"In a bid for more pre-date sales, the New York Sunday News will add eight extra comic pages Sept. 17 for circulation outside the metropolitan area, Executive Editor Richard W. Clarke disclosed. The move will provide a minimum of a 24-page comic section for the country edition."
"The additional pages will include four Chicago Tribune - New York News Syndicate strips: "Timmy," by Howard Sparber, "Aggie Mack" by Hal Rasmusson, "Texas Slim" by Ferd Johnson; and "Harold Teen" by Carl Ed. The News had dropped "Harold Teen" to make room for the "Hopalong Cassidy," Los Angeles Mirror Enterprises comic. Two pages are being drawn especially for the expanded section: "Laughing Matter" by Salo, who does the daily panel for the syndicate; and "Rufus," new dog page by Jeff Keate."
I own a complete, unread, near-mint country edition collection of 1951 Sunday sections and I can report that the experiment appears to have been dropped following the January 14, 1951 section, leading to what I believe is the very last appearance of HAROLD TEEN in the New York Sunday News comics. The strip did carry on elsewhere until it petered out on November 18, 1959.
Allan Holtz reports additional facts in his indispensable tome, American Newspaper Comics.......
Running Dates: May 4, 1919 to November 18, 1959
Creator: Carl Ed
Syndicates: Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune - New York News Syndicate
Notes: Sunday started first, followed by Daily on 9/25/19.
Jeffrey Lindenblatt reports that an extra daily ran in the NY Daily News in their Sunday edition 5/1/21 - 4/16/22, 7/16/22 - 2/18/23. It is unknown if they were "new" dailies created for the News, or recycled.
Bob York assisted in the early 1930's
Jeffrey Lindenblatt reports that an extra daily ran in the NY Daily News in their Sunday edition 5/1/21 - 4/16/22, 7/16/22 - 2/18/23. It is unknown if they were "new" dailies created for the News, or recycled.
Bob York assisted in the early 1930's
Rick Fletcher reports he was an assistant sometime before 1950.
Alberto Becattini cites Bill Perry as an assistant on the strip (confirmed by John Chapman in "Tell it to Sweeney", p.152)
Carl Ed's obituary states the last strip would be published on 11/18/59 but nothing has been found past 9/26/59.
I currently have scanned in my files 183 samples of Carl Ed's HAROLD TEEN Sundays and 42 dailies which spans the years 1919, 1924-1951 in the NY Sunday News comics. I will present this below and keep the archive open as I continue to scan and add samples ongoing. The debut Sunday below from May 4, 1919, is from the Chicago Tribune and courtesy of my pal John Wells.
*** (I also have 9 samples of Carl Ed's short-running topper strip JOSIE, that rarely ever ran in the NY Sunday News comics. In fact, I've only seen 9 examples "ever", eight in the News, one in the Chicago Tribune. On both occasions, it ran as a separate strip on another page. Four samples of another topper is also below, THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR, in 1931 and 1933) ***
*** (I also have 9 samples of Carl Ed's short-running topper strip JOSIE, that rarely ever ran in the NY Sunday News comics. In fact, I've only seen 9 examples "ever", eight in the News, one in the Chicago Tribune. On both occasions, it ran as a separate strip on another page. Four samples of another topper is also below, THE ABSENT-MINDED PROFESSOR, in 1931 and 1933) ***
May 4, 1919
November 3, 1923 - (New York Sunday News comics debut)
January 17, 1924
April 20, 1924
May 4, 1924
May 18, 1924
May 25, 1924
October 3, 1926
October 31, 1926
August 10, 1930
October 5, 1930
May 17, 1931
June14, 1931
September 27, 1931
May 10, 1933
October 5, 1930
May 17, 1931
June14, 1931
September 27, 1931
April 1, 1932
April 7, 1932
May 14, 1932
October 29, 1933
February 25, 1934
March 11, 1934
January 4, 1935
January 18, 1935
January 19, 1935
February 3, 1935
March 3, 1935
May 5, 1935
May 26, 1935
June 23, 1935
July 28, 1935
August 4, 1935
March 3, 1935
May 5, 1935
May 26, 1935
June 23, 1935
July 28, 1935
August 4, 1935
September 15, 1935
November 10, 1935
December 8, 1935
December 15, 1935
March 31, 1936
October 18, 1936
January 3, 1937
February 7, 1937
March 14, 1937
March 21, 1937
April 4, 1937
December 15, 1935
March 31, 1936
July 12, 1936
July 26, 1936
September 20, 1936
October 18, 1936
January 3, 1937
February 7, 1937
March 14, 1937
March 21, 1937
April 4, 1937
April 11, 1937
May 9, 1937
June 6, 1937
September 5, 1937
January 2, 1938
January 16, 1938
January 23, 1938
February 6, 1938
February 13, 1938
February 27, 1938
March 13, 1938
March 20, 1938
March 27, 1938
April 3, 1938
April 17, 1938
May 1, 1938
May 22, 1938
June 6, 1937
September 5, 1937
January 2, 1938
January 16, 1938
January 23, 1938
February 6, 1938
February 13, 1938
March 6, 1938
March 13, 1938
March 20, 1938
March 27, 1938
April 3, 1938
April 17, 1938
May 1, 1938
May 8, 1938
May 22, 1938
June 5, 1938
June 12, 1938
June 12, 1938
June 19, 1938
June 26, 1938
July 3, 1938
July 10, 1938
July 17, 1938
August 7, 1938
August 14, 1938
September 4, 1938
September 11, 1938
September 18, 1938
October 2, 1938
October 16, 1938
October 30, 1938
November 6, 1938
November 13, 1938
November 20, 1938
November 27, 1938
December 18, 1938
December 25, 1938
January 1, 1939
April 9, 1939
May 28, 1939
April 9, 1939
May 28, 1939
June 11, 1939
July 23, 1939
July 23, 1939
August 13, 1939
January 14, 1940
January 21, 1940
January 28, 1940
January 14, 1940
January 21, 1940
January 28, 1940
May 12, 1940
May 19, 1940
June 2, 1940
June 9, 1940
June 16, 1940
June 23, 1940
June 26, 1940
July 7, 1940
July 14, 1940
July 7, 1940
July 14, 1940
July 21, 1940
July 28, 1940
August 4, 1940
August 11, 1940
August 18, 1940
August 22, 1940
September 8, 1940
September 8, 1940
September 15, 1940
October 13, 1940
June 1, 1941
June 22, 1941
July 20, 1941
August 3 1941
November 23, 1941
December 7, 1941
December 8, 1941
December 14, 1941
March 13, 1942
May 31, 1942
June 7, 1942
June 14, 1942
June 21, 1942
December 21, 1941
December 28, 1941
March 13, 1942
May 31, 1942
June 7, 1942
June 14, 1942
June 28, 1942
July 12, 1942
July 19, 1942
August 21, 1942
October 11, 1942
October 18, 1942
October 21, 1942
October 11, 1942
October 18, 1942
October 21, 1942
October 25, 1942
December 5, 1942
December 13, 1942
January 23, 1943
March 7, 1943
July 26, 1943
December 13, 1942
January 23, 1943
March 7, 1943
August 24, 1943
September 4, 1943
December 5, 1943
December 21, 1943
January 23, 1944
January 29, 1944
February 6, 1944
February 27, 1944
April 16, 1944
June 4, 1944
June 6, 1944
June 7, 1944
July 13, 1944
April 8, 1945
April 30, 1945
August 5, 1945
August 7, 1945
August 8, 1945
August 9, 1945
August 14, 1945
August 15, 1945
August 18, 1945
August 27, 1945
October 14, 1945
December 16, 1945
March 17, 1946
May 12, 1946
July 21, 1946
August 25, 1946
September 19, 1946
October 20, 1946
December 21, 1946
February 23, 1947
April 13, 1947
May 18, 1947
August 26, 1947
November 23, 1947
December 28, 1947
January 11, 1948
June 6, 1948
December 28, 1947
January 11, 1948
June 25, 1948
August 8, 1948
August 16, 1948
August 17, 1948
August 17, 1948
October 10, 1948
October 17, 1948
October 24, 1948
November 7, 1948
November 14, 1948
November 28, 1948
December 5, 1948
December 12, 1948
January 9, 1949
January 16, 1949
January 23, 1949
February 6, 1949
February 20, 1949
March 6, 1949
March 12, 1949
October 17, 1948
October 24, 1948
November 7, 1948
November 14, 1948
November 28, 1948
December 5, 1948
December 12, 1948
January 9, 1949
January 16, 1949
January 23, 1949
February 6, 1949
February 20, 1949
March 6, 1949
March 13, 1949
March 20, 1949
March 27, 1949
April 10, 1949
May 8, 1949
May 31, 1949
June 19, 1949
July 3, 1949
July 20, 1949
September 4, 1949
September 11, 1949
October 9, 1949
October 16, 1949
October 23, 1949
October 30, 1949
November 13, 1949
November 20, 1949
December 17, 1950
January 7, 1951
January 14, 1951
Josie topper running as a separate feature:
September 11, 1949
October 9, 1949
October 16, 1949
October 23, 1949
October 30, 1949
November 13, 1949
November 20, 1949
October 15, 1950
October 29, 1950
January 7, 1951
January 14, 1951
Josie topper running as a separate feature:
July 3, 1938
August 21, 1938 (Chicago Tribune)
October 30, 1938 (Chicago Tribune)
December 25, 1938
January 1, 1939
July 30, 1939
July 20, 1941
December 25, 1938
January 1, 1939
July 30, 1939
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July 20, 1941
December 28, 1941
May 31, 1942
SOURCES:
- The Vassallo collection of The New York Sunday News comics sections spanning 1924-present.
- Chapman, John; Tell it to Sweeney (1961), Doubleday & Company, Inc.
- Editor & Publisher, July 19, 1950
- Holtz, Allan; American Newspaper Comics (2014), University of Michigan Press
