Henry King “Hank” Ketcham (1920–2001) was an American cartoonist. He was the Dennis the Menace comic strip’s creator, which daily chronicled the antics and misadventures of a blond, freckle-faced scamp perpetually “five-and-half” years old. The 50-year-old comic strip appeared in some 1,000 newspapers in 48 countries and 19 languages.
Born in Seattle, Washington, Ketcham discovered his desire to become a cartoonist when he was six years old; after watching a family friend draw some comic-strip characters, he asked to borrow the man’s “magic pencil.” He attended the University of Washington but quit to pursue his career. He hitchhiked to Hollywood to answer an advertisement by the Disney Studios.
Ketcham worked as an animator first for Woody Woodpecker creator Walter Lantz and then for Walt Disney. At Disney, he worked on animated films, including Fantasia (1940,) Pinocchio (1940,) and Bambi (1942.) During World War II, Ketcham served in the U.S. Navy. He drew cartoons to be used on posters and in material for training and war-bond-sales purposes. Following the war, he became a freelance cartoonist.
Ketcham’s inspiration for Dennis’s character came (1950) from his rambunctious son of the same name. Alice, Ketcham’s wife, complaining that Dennis had wrecked his room instead of taking a nap, exclaimed to Ketcham, “Your son is a menace!” The panel was released on March 12, 1951, in 16 newspapers.
Within five months, the strip was running in 16 newspapers. By 1953, 30 million readers of 193 papers in America and 52 abroad were enjoying it. Cartoon books, a television series (1959–63,) a musical, films, games, and toys followed. Ketcham ceased drawing the Sunday strips himself in the mid-1980s, and in 1994 turned the daily strips over to a team of artists and writers.
Fuelled by his success, Ketcham moved to Switzerland and took up oil and watercolor painting. Ketcham’s autobiography is The Merchant of Dennis the Menace (1990.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Hank Ketcham
Flattery is like chewing gum. Enjoy it but don’t swallow it.
—Hank Ketcham
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