George Sixta (March 13, 1909 - January 7, 1986) was an American cartoonist, best known for his syndicated

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

, ''Rivets'', about a wire-haired terrier. It was syndicated by

Field Enterprises Field Enterprises, Inc. was a private holding company that operated from the 1940s to the 1980s, founded by Marshall Field III and others, whose main assets were the ''Chicago Sun'' and ''Parade'' magazine. For various periods of time, Field Enter ...

and its successor,

News America Syndicate The Field Newspaper Syndicate was a syndication service based in Chicago that operated independently from 1941 to 1984, for a good time under the name the Chicago Sun-Times Syndicate. The service was founded by Marshall Field III and was part of F ...

. He pronounced his name Sick-sta.

Biography

Born in Chicago, Sixta took night classes until 1927 at the

Chicago Academy of Fine Arts The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

, and he started his career by working with cartoonist Everett Lowry, who drew comic strips for the

McClure Syndicate McClure Newspaper Syndicate, the first American newspaper syndicate, introduced many American and British writers to the masses. Launched in 1884 by publisher Samuel S. McClure, it was the first successful company of its kind. It turned the marke ...

. At age 20, Sixta was hired by the ''

Chicago Daily Times The ''Chicago Daily Times'' was a daily newspaper in Chicago from 1929 to 1948, and the city's first tabloid newspaper. It is best known as one of two newspapers which merged to form ''Chicago Sun-Times'' in 1948. For much of its existence, the ...

'', where he did illustrations and sports cartoons. His syndicated strip ''Dick Draper, Foreign Correspondent'' came to an end when he joined the Navy in 1941.Sixta entry
Lambiek's Comiclopedia. Retrieved Aug. 13, 2020. Shipped from the Great Lakes to Washington, D.C., he held down a desk job, doing public relations for the Secretary of the Navy.

''Rivets''

During his Navy PR job, Sixta got the idea for ''Rivets'' when he saw many photos of Navy mascots. ''Rivets'' first appeared in ''

The Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely c ...

'' in 1944 and was syndicated from 1953 to 1985. Initially a Navy mascot, the dog later lived with a family with three children: Jamie, Virginia, and Steve. (These were also the names of Sixta's three children.) Merchandising of ''Rivets'' included magic slates, dolls and coloring books. The strip was collected in ''Rivets: A Cartoon Book'', published by Saalfield in the 1960s.

''Hit or Miss''

Sixta also drew two newspaper features, ''One for the Book'' and the sports humor cartoon series ''Hit or Miss'', which ran from November 1, 1948, to January 9, 1954. ''Hit or Miss'' featured the character Louella, as noted by comics historian

Allan Holtz Allan Holtz () is a comic strip historian who researches and writes about newspaper comics for his Stripper's Guide blog, launched in 2005. His research encompasses some 7,000 American comic strips and newspaper panels. In addition to his contribu ...

: :Sixta's ''Hit or Miss'' was the sort of feature that just sort of makes you shrug. It was workmanlike but never memorable. Sixta tried to inject a little more personality into the feature by adding the recurring character Louella, a big-boned, rather dim sports enthusiast. Presumably a Rubenesque gal who liked sports was supposed to be ludicrous... guess George never saw any roller derby. Louella appeared twice a week, with special billing in the panel, through much of the run.Holtz, Allan. Stripper's Guide, April 13, 2010.
/ref>

Personal life and death

Before World War II, Sixta met Jean Edwards of

Sierra Madre, California Sierra Madre (Spanish for "mother range") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, whose population was 10,917 at the 2010 U.S. Census, up from 10,580 at the time of the 2000 U.S. Census. The city is in the foothills of the San Gabriel Vall ...

, at Valley Ranch in

Santa Fe, New Mexico Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label=Tiwa language, Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. ...

. After they married in 1944, they lived in

Elmhurst, Illinois Elmhurst is a city mostly in DuPage County and overlapping into Cook County in the U.S. state of Illinois, and a western suburb of Chicago. As of 2021, the city has an estimated population of 47,260. History Members of the Potawatomi Native A ...

, with their three children and dogs Terry, Champ and Happy. Wire-haired terrier Terry was the original model for Rivets.National Cartoonists Society: George Sixta
/ref> In 1986, Sixta died in

Laguna Hills, California Laguna Hills (; ''Laguna'', Spanish for "Lagoon") is a city in south Orange County, California, United States. Its name refers to its proximity to Laguna Canyon and the much older Laguna Beach. Other newer cities nearby—Laguna Niguel and Lagun ...

, at the age of 76.

References

External links

Comic Strip Fan: ''Rivets''
1909 births 1986 deaths American comic strip cartoonists {{US-cartoonist-stub