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513:. Having lost my eraser, I realized I could afford to make no more mistakes, so Scripps-Howard made the next one and hired me. For the next two years, I drew no crowds but plenty of drawings. My strip act laid an egg, the art editor threw it at me, and I was on my way to New York. After seven years of itch and drawing a kid comic for the
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To make a long Foo short, here is the dope, and I do mean me. I was born in the state of frenzy, but for present purposes let's make it
Indiana. At an early age my father died, and I was sent out into the world to make a living for my mother, one cat with a sore tail, and no kitten. This all happened
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advertisement. He wears conservative cut clothes with an Elk's head in his left lapel. In short, Holman is a ringer for the guy your older sister married. But it's his eyes that get you after a while. His left one practically laughs at you while you're talking to him. His right orb sparkles like that
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in
Nappanee, Indiana. My first job was running a popcorn machine for the local dime store. This is considered excellent training for a comic artist and no doubt accounts for a certain corny touch which so many of my gags seem to have. At 16, I was working in the art department of the
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and its "wholesome entertainment. Five other
Nappanee artists became nationally recognized cartoonists. Henry Maust and Francis "Mike" Parks drew newspaper editorial cartoons; Bill Holman's best was
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correspondence course. Dropping out of high school, he was 15 when he moved with his mother to
Chicago. There he took night courses at the Academy of Fine Arts and learned more about cartooning from
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at veteran’s hospitals. A promoter of U.S. Savings Bonds, Holman donated his time to draw booklets for local fire-safety campaigns. He was also involved in numerous children’s charities.
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We have often been buttonholed and asked, "What sort of guy is this Holman?" "Is he as nutty as his character Smokey?" Well, yes and no. He's of medium height, baldish and smiles like a
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comic strip, was a bachelor living in a hotel room, number 1506. I began using the phrase, a private joke between the two of us, as a warning to girls to stay away from Al's room."
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was not launched until
November 14, 1938. Holman loved word play, and all of his features percolated with puns. In his file cabinet, Holman kept thousands of puns. Readers of
615:, his most popular cartoon, ran from 1915 to 1973, syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association. In 1965, National Cartoonists Society honored Blosser on fiftieth year of
553:, the cat, seven daily cartoons and Foo. I have always liked firemen. And now that I'm being paid to draw about their adventures, I can tell you I'm just crazy about them.
472:, who drew a gag panel under a variety of titles, died in 1935, Holman stepped in as a replacement. In July 1935, Holman picked up where Williams had left off, but the
412:. With a perpetually bandaged tail, the firehouse cat Spooky lived with its owner, Fenwick Flooky, who did embroidery while sitting barefoot in a rocking chair.
576:, and he was the organization's president in 1961-62. He continued his close association with the Society after his 1973 retirement. Even after retiring from
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In 1941, Bill Holman gave his blessing to the Order of Smokey Stover, a social club created by the
Redmond Volunteer Firefighters Association in
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580:, Holman could not stop the flow of puns and verbal/visual ideas, and he produced stack of sketches for a possible syndicated panel he titled
517:, I entered the magazine field. The following five freelance years were happy and profitable. Hundreds of my drawings infested the pages of
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of London. This work drew the attention of the
Tribune-News Syndicate and I was asked to submit a Sunday feature. The outcome was
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For the USO, Holman made many trips abroad to entertain troops in the South
Pacific, Europe, Japan and Korea, in addition to his
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339:. He scored a success when he headed in a new direction, submitting his cartoons to a variety of different magazines, including
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Holman thought firemen were funny, "running around in a red wagon with sirens and bells," and he began doing
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title did not appear on the series until July 3, 1939. That same month, he began a
Thursday panel,
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In
Nappanee, Holman is cited on the Indiana Historical Bureau's Historical Marker, which reads:
468:, was syndicated by the Chicago Tribune - New York News Syndicate from the 1930s to 1970. When
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By 1939, when Holman was earning $ 1500 a month, he gave a humorous summary of his life to
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for six dollars a week. The position gave him the opportunity to hang out with the top
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was first Nappanee artist to gain national recognition as a professional cartoonist.
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At age 83, Holman died February 27, 1987, in New York, survived by his wife Dolores.
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238:(March 22, 1903 – February 27, 1987) was an American cartoonist who drew the classic
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He once described himself as "always inclined to humor and acting silly."
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store, he developed an interest in art as a career and sent away for the
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Meyers, Al. "Smokey Stover Joins Daily Comics Brigade," November 1938.
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Schneider, Walter E. "Holman Renews Contract; To Do New Daily Panel,"
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According to Holman, more than 100,000 copies of Whitman's ten-cent
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Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index.
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434:. "1506 Nix Nix" was an inside joke on Holman's friend, cartoonist
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often sent him puns, sometimes with accompanying illustrations.
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1955-1991. Town, training, and careers connected these artists.
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Journalist Al Meyers described Holman in a 1938 feature story:
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from 1935 until he retired in 1973. Distributed through the
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for the Chicago Tribune Syndicate on March 10, 1935.
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He also inserted bizarre words and phrases, such as "
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49:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
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877:Mike Lynch Cartoons: "Unseen Bill Holman Comics"
699:. Better Little Book, Whitman Publishing, 1945.
693:. Better Little Book, Whitman Publishing, 1939.
687:. Better Little Book, Whitman Publishing, 1938.
661:. Better Little Book, Whitman Publishing, 1937.
400:One month later (April 7, 1935), to accompany
284:In 1920, he held a job as a copy boy at the
275:Landon School of Illustration and Cartooning
269:While working part-time at Nappanee's local
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817:Creator Gets Rich Turning Hogs Into Gold,"
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898:Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995.
572:Holman was one of the co-founders of the
323:, he headed for New York, where he was a
109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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665:Smokey Stover and the Fire Chief of Foo
319:(1922). After three years with NEA and
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697:Smokey Stover, The Foolish Foo Fighter
691:Smokey Stover: The False Alarm Fireman
327:staff artist and drew the child strip
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972:People from Crawfordsville, Indiana
761:The Encyclopedia of American Comics
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659:Smokey Stover: Fire Fighter of Foo
231:Dell Four Color #827 (August 1957)
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337:New York Herald Tribune Syndicate
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832:Canemaker, John. "Bill Holman",
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584:. This had no connection with
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992:20th-century American writers
987:People from Nappanee, Indiana
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633:ran 1934-1977; Max Gwin drew
262:, Holman lived as a child in
220:http://www.smokey-stover.com/
58:"Bill Holman" cartoonist
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292:cartoonists, including
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168:New York City, New York
151:Crawfordsville, Indiana
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853:Editor & Publisher
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335:(1923–1931) for the
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819:The Washington Post
775:Cleveland Magazine,
679:(November 30, 1941)
394:Redmond, Washington
16:American cartoonist
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705:. Introduction by
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813:Brinkley, Bill. "
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162:(1987-02-27)
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99:October 2013
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41:Please help
36:verification
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962:1987 deaths
957:1903 births
791:Bill Holman
720:Foo fighter
567:chalk talks
561:Bill Holman
302:E. C. Segar
298:Harold Gray
240:comic strip
236:Bill Holman
175:Nationality
124:Bill Holman
951:Categories
834:Millimeter
726:References
625:Fred Neher
586:Gene Ahern
415:The daily
189:Cartoonist
144:1903-03-22
69:newspapers
582:Wall Nuts
520:Collier's
489:Pepsodent
354:Collier's
309:Cleveland
210:Spouse(s)
714:See also
617:Freckles
436:Al Posen
258:Born in
178:American
929:Scoop:
886:Sources
802:Lambiek
408:strip,
348:Redbook
342:Liberty
290:Tribune
279:Carl Ed
253:Scat H.
214:Dolores
184:Area(s)
83:scholar
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551:Spooky
478:Zipper
410:Spooky
406:topper
372:Spooky
329:Junior
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538:Judge
381:as a
90:JSTOR
76:books
900:ISBN
637:for
541:and
532:Life
370:and
360:Life
357:and
331:aka
300:and
157:Died
138:Born
62:news
627:'s
588:'s
535:,
428:Foo
307:In
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