Alfred Harvey (born Alfred Harvey Wiernikoff; October 6, 1913 – July 4, 1994), was the founder of

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 ...

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfr ...

and the creator of the comic book characters Little Dot, Richie Rich, and Adam Awards. He was born to Russian Jewish immigrants in Brooklyn, New York. Alfred Harvey's company, Harvey World Famous Comics, produced comic books and cartoons featuring

Wendy the Good Little Witch Wendy the Good Little Witch is a fictional comic book character from Harvey Comics. Like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Hot Stuff the Little Devil, Wendy is an opposite-type character, a girl witch who does good deeds. Publication history Wendy ...

Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost Spooky the Tuff Little Ghost is a fictional character that appeared in titles published by Harvey Comics. Spooky first appeared in ''Casper the Friendly Ghost'' #10 (June 1953). He is Casper's cousin, although their exact relation is never specif ...

Casper the Friendly Ghost Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a pleasant, personable and translucent ghost, but often criticized by his three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio. T ...

Baby Huey Baby Huey is a gigantic and naïve duckling cartoon character. He was created by Martin Taras for Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios, and became a Paramount cartoon star during the 1950s. Huey first appeared in ''Quack-a-Doodle-Doo'', a ''Novel ...

Little Audrey Little Audrey (full name: Audrey Smith) is a fictional character, appearing in early 20th century folklore prior to starring in a series of Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios cartoons from 1947 to 1958. She is considered a variation of the better- ...

, and Little Dot. It also published ''

Sad Sack ''Sad Sack'' is an American comic strip and comic book character created by Sgt. George Baker during World War II. Set in the United States Army, ''Sad Sack'' depicted an otherwise unnamed, lowly private experiencing some of the absurdities and ...

'', the military comic strip, which was created by George Baker.

Career

Early career

Beginning his career at the age of 15 drawing advertising cartoons each week for 5 dollars, he then took a job at

Fox Comics Fox Feature Syndicate (also known as Fox Comics, Fox Publications, and Bruns Publications, Inc.) was a comic book publisher from early in the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor S. ...

in the winter of 1939 with

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the ...

and

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gr ...

, and eventually became managing editor. He then quit in 1940, moving to the NYAD advertising agency. He then joined

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in 1941 at

The Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

with Kirby, and he noted Harvey as an "eager type". Harvey supervised ''War Victory Comics'', the first government-sponsored comic book.

Harvey Comics

In 1940, he was tired of working for the company and soon founded his own company first called Alfred Harvey Publications, then Family Comics, then Home Comics. He served as president, eventually employing his twin brother Leon as vice president and editor, and his older brother Robert as vice president and business manager. The three brothers renamed their company, again, to Harvey Comics Publications, Inc. Harvey released their first comic series in 1941 called ''Pocket Comics'', which introduced their star and acrobat superhero heroine, The Black Cat. But then as the decade progressed, superheroes began to go out of style, and by the end of the decade, their superheroes completely faded out and they introduced their ''Comics Hits Revival'' series. Due to the Comic Code, the comics were aimed towards children and the characters were acquired from

Famous Studios Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contro ...

, which made them popular in the 1950s due to the rise of

baby boomers Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. Th ...

. Alfred Harvey retired in 1982, and his company was sold to HMH Communications and in 1989 it was renamed to Harvey Comics Entertainment. He was in a coma since 1989 and he died at age 80 on July 4, 1994 from

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...

, according to his sons Alan and Russell at a

New Rochelle New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...

Hospital, and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in

Hastings-on-Hudson, New York Hastings-on-Hudson is a village in Westchester County located in the southwestern part of the town of Greenburgh in the state of New York, United States. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of midtown Manha ...

.Hastings-on-Hudson, New York: Comical Grave of Alfred Harvey (Roadside America)
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Personal life

He has four surviving sons and a daughter: Alan, who was born in

Larchmont Larchmont is a village located within the Town of Mamaroneck in Westchester County, New York, approximately northeast of Midtown Manhattan. The population of the village was 5,864 at the 2010 census. In February 2019, Bloomberg ranked Larc ...

, Russell, who was born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, Adam, who was born in

Mamaroneck Mamaroneck ( ) is a town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 31,758 at the 2020 United States census over 29,156 at the 2010 census. There are two villages contained within the town: Larchmont and the Village of M ...

, Eric who was born in Manhattan, NY and Susan Bush, who was born in Brooklyn. He had two wives. His second wife, Elsa Victoria Lorne Harvey, died in March 1994

References

Comic book database

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harvey, Alfred American comics artists American publishers (people) 1913 births 1994 deaths Harvey Comics Jewish American artists People from Brighton Beach Businesspeople from New Rochelle, New York 20th-century American businesspeople