Frans Piët (

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

, 17 February 1905 - 5 January 1997) was a Dutch comics artist, most famous as the original creator of the longest-running Dutch comics series of all time: ''

Sjors & Sjimmie ''Sjors & Sjimmie'' (''George & Jimmy'') is a Dutch adaptation of the comic strip ''Winnie Winkle'', specifically the character Perry Winkle from that strip. The difference between the American original and the Dutch adaptation is that Sjors (Perr ...

''.

Biography

He was born in 1905 as the son of a butcher. Originally Piët aspired to become a musician and learned to play violin and saxophone. He even performed in

The Blue Ramblers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

, headed by

Pi Scheffer The number (; spelled out as "pi") is a mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, approximately equal to 3.14159. The number appears in many formulas across mathematics and physics. It is an i ...

. Near the end of the 1920s he applied for a job at publishing company De Spaarnestad, where he drew patterns for sewing. In 1932 he was asked to draw comics for the children's magazines issued by De Spaarnestad. At the time Martin Branner's ''

Perry Winkle Perry, also known as pear cider, is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally the perry pear. It has been common for centuries in England, particularly in Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire. It is als ...

'' was very popular under its Dutch translation of ''Sjors'' and even inspired his own eponymous magazine. When the original American comic strip gradually started to put more focus on Perry's sister, Winnie Winkle, business deals were made with King Features syndicate to create a local version of Branner's character, ''Sjors'', to let the popular series continue with its focus on Sjors. In 1938 Piët became the creator of ''Sjors van de Rebellenclub'' (''Sjors of the Rebel's Club''), as the series was popularly titled. Gradually ''Sjors'' would become more its own thing, with storylines set in the Netherlands and a new cast of characters which replaced the original creations of Branner. After World War II the series was retitled ''

Sjors en Sjimmie ''Sjors & Sjimmie'' (''George & Jimmy'') is a Dutch adaptation of the comic strip '' Winnie Winkle'', specifically the character Perry Winkle from that strip. The difference between the American original and the Dutch adaptation is that Sjors (Per ...

'' (''Sjors and Sjimmie'') when Sjors met his black friend Sjimmie, who'd become his sidekick. Piët would draw ''Sjors and Sjimmie'' until he retired in 1969, after which Jan Kruis continued and modernized the series. In 1974 Piët made a celebrity comic strip based on the popular children's TV series '' Tita Tovenaar''. He died in 1997 at the age of 91, from an intracranial hemorrhage.

Sources

External links

Lambiek Comiclopedia article.

Page on dbnl.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piët, Frans Dutch comics artists Dutch illustrators Dutch humorists 1905 births 1997 deaths Artists from Haarlem