Alvah Posen (October 2, 1894 - June 10, 1960) was an American cartoonist on several comic strips, but he is best known for his 1933-1960 comic strip ''Sweeney & Son'' and as co-producer of the now-lost Marx Brothers film, '' Humor Risk'' (1921).

Early life

Born in New York City, Posen served in the Army during World War I and worked for a film advertising agency when the war ended. He then travelled in the Orient as a member of a geological and mining expedition, spending a year in Siam and Yunan.

Comic strips

In 1922, with no formal training in art, Posen created the rhyming daily comic strip, ''Them Days Are Gone Forever'' (aka ''Them Days Is Gone Forever''). Distributed by United Features Syndicate, it was published in 1000 newspapers within a year, and continued until April 4, 1925. On April 19, 1926, Posen began another daily strip called ''Jinglet'', which used several rhymed words in a four-panel gag. (For example: "Pals / Gals / Luck / Stuck".) This ran until March 19, 1927. Posen followed it with another rhyming Sunday strip, the short-lived ''Ella and Her Fella'', from May 21 to September 30, 1933. This also featured a revival of ''Jinglet'' as the topper. ''Sweeney & Son'' debuted as a Sunday page on October 1, 1933, replacing ''Ella and Her Fella''. ''Sweeney & Son'' continued for more than 25 years, until August 21, 1960. ''Jinglet'' continued to be the topper strip from 1933 to 1950. In 1949, Posen created a new daily strip, ''Rhymin' Time'', which ran from January 17, 1949 to 1950. ''Rhymin' Time'' was a four-panel strip with lyrics set to " Turkey in the Straw'", such as: :My business is conducting polls :And, gosh, is my face red! :Since last election, everyone :Hurls insults at my head! :They used to think me wonderful. :"Infallible," they said. :Them Days Are Gone Forever. From 1950 to 1953, the daily strip ''Rhymin' Time'' became the Sunday topper for ''Sweeney & Son'', displacing ''Jinglet''. ''Jinglet'' returned in 1953, and ran as the Sunday topper for the rest of the run, ending in 1960. Posen also adapted his rhyming formats into comic strip advertisements for Bristol-Myers and companies. As a

National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...

member, he originated the idea of cartoonist shows for American servicemen and became the NCS Director of Overseas Shows. Posen, Gus Edson,

Bob Montana Robert William Montana (October 23, 1920 – January 4, 1975) was an American comic strip artist who created the original likenesses for characters published by Archie Comics and in the newspaper strip '' Archie''. Early life He was born in Sto ...

and other cartoonists participated in a USO cartoonists tour in October 1952. Posen was friends with ''

Smokey Stover ''Smokey Stover'' is an American comic strip written and drawn by cartoonist Bill Holman from March 10, 1935, until he retired in 1972 and distributed through the ''Chicago Tribune''. It features the misadventures of the titular fireman and ha ...

'' cartoonist Bill Holman, and the famed nonsense phrase "1506 nix nix" seen in ''Smokey Stover'' was an inside joke between the two cartoonists. The number 1506 was a reference to a hotel room where Posen stayed. Posen was a bachelor who liked to ski at Lake Placid, New York and vacation at a ranch in Wyoming."Them Days Return", ''Editor & Publisher'', January 15,1949.
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Awards

Posen received the National Cartoonists Society's Silver T-Square Award in 1956.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Posen, Al American comic strip cartoonists American comics artists American film producers 1960 deaths 1890s births Artists from New York City