Albert Lewis Kanter (April 11, 1897March 17, 1973) was the creator of ''

Classics Illustrated ''Classics Illustrated'' is an American comic book/magazine series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as ''Les Misérables'', '' Moby-Dick'', ''Hamlet'', and '' The Iliad''. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication ...

'' and ''

Classics Illustrated Junior ''Classics Illustrated Junior'' is a comic book series of seventy-seven fairy and folk tale, myth and legend comic book adaptations created by Albert Lewis Kanter as a Spin-off (media), spin-off of his flagship comic book line ''Classics Illustrate ...

''. Kanter began creating ''

Classic Comics ''Classics Illustrated'' is an American comic book/magazine series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as ''Les Misérables'', ''Moby-Dick'', ''Hamlet'', and ''The Iliad''. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication in 1 ...

'' with "

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' (french: Les Trois Mousquetaires, links=no, ) is a French historical adventure novel written in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is in the swashbuckler genre, which has heroic, chivalrous swordsmen who fight ...

" in October 1941. His renditions of classic novels in

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

form popularized classic tales for a younger audience.

Life and work

Early life

Kanter was born in

Baranovitch Baranavichy ( ; be, Бара́навічы, Belarusian Latin alphabet, Łacinka: , ; russian: Бара́новичи; yi, באַראַנאָוויטש; pl, Baranowicze) is a city in the Brest Region of western Belarus, with a population (as of ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and immigrated to the United States in 1904. He then lived in Nashua, New Hampshire, for some time. He left high school at the age of sixteen, and worked as a traveling salesman for years. He married Rose Ehrenrich in 1917 and moved to

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later t ...

. They had three children, named Henry (Hal), William, and Saralea.

Career

Kanter worked in

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, but the Great Depression put an end to it, and Kanter moved his family to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He worked for Colonial Press and then

Elliot Publishing Company The Gilberton Company, Inc. () was an American publisher best known for the comic book series ''Classics Illustrated'' featuring adaptations of literary classics. Beginning life as an imprint of the Elliot Publishing Company, the company became in ...

(which may have been an imprint of Malverne Herald). Elliot got into the comics market in 1941; one of their first titles was ''Double-Up Comics'', which was made up of remaindered superhero comics from other publishers (like

Harvey Harvey, Harveys or Harvey's may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Harvey'' (play), a 1944 play by Mary Chase about a man befriended by an invisible anthropomorphic rabbit * Harvey Awards ("Harveys"), one of the most important awards ...

's ''Pocket Comics'' and ''Speed Comics''). Recognizing the appeal of early comics, Kanter believed he could use the burgeoning medium to introduce young and reluctant readers to " great literature". In October 1941, with the backing of two business partners,Jones, Jr., William B
"Albert Lewis Kanter (1897-1973),"
Jack Lake Productions (2004). Accessed July 6, 2010. he created ''

''. The title became a huge success, proven by the demand for reprints of issues 1, 2, 3, and 5; something never seen before in the comic book industry. (Eventually, all 169 titles of ''Classic Comics'' were reprinted, some up to 25 times.) The comics' success opened classic novels to a large audience of young people for decades. By the time of ''Classics Illustrated'' #4, in 1942, the title outgrew the space it shared with Elliot, and Kanter moved the operation to different offices, creating the corporate identity

Gilberton Company, Inc. The Gilberton Company, Inc. () was an American publisher best known for the comic book series ''Classics Illustrated'' featuring adaptations of literary classics. Beginning life as an imprint of the Elliot Publishing Company, the company became in ...

''Classic Comics'' later became ''

'' in March 1947, with the release of "

The Last Days of Pompeii ''The Last Days of Pompeii'' is a novel written by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. The novel was inspired by the painting ''The Last Day of Pompeii'' by the Russian painter Karl Briullov, which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. It culminates in ...

", the 35th issue. In addition to ''Classics Illustrated'', Kanter presided over its spin-offs ''

'', ''Specials'', and ''The World Around Us''. Between 1941 and 1962, sales totaled 200 million. The publication of new titles ceased in 1962 for various reasons. In 1967, Kanter sold his company to

Twin Circle Publishing Co. Patrick Joseph Frawley, Jr. (1923–1998) was a Nicaraguan-American business magnate whose portfolio included Paper Mate, Schick, and Technicolor, Inc. A devout Catholic, he was a leading American conservative figure from the late 1950s onward. ...

and its

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

publisher

Patrick Frawley Patrick Joseph Frawley, Jr. (1923–1998) was a Nicaraguan-American business magnate whose portfolio included Paper Mate, Schick (razors), Schick, and Technicolor, Inc. A devout Catholic Church, Catholic, he was a leading American conservative f ...

, whose

Frawley Corporation Patrick Joseph Frawley, Jr. (1923–1998) was a Nicaraguan-American business magnate whose portfolio included Paper Mate, Schick, and Technicolor, Inc. A devout Catholic, he was a leading American conservative figure from the late 1950s onward. ...

brought out two more titles but mainly concentrated on foreign sales and reprinting older titles. By the early 1970s, ''Classics Illustrated'' and ''Junior'' had been discontinued.

References

1897 births 1973 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople Comic book company founders Comic book publishers (people) American magazine publishers (people) Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States {{comics-creator-stub