''Helpful Henry'' was the name of two comic strips—one from the United States, the other from the United Kingdom.

American comic strip ''Helpful Henry'' (1922–1927)

''Helpful Henry'' was an American

gag-a-day A gag-a-day comic strip is the style of writing comic cartoons such that every installment of a strip delivers a complete joke or some other kind of artistic statement. It is opposed to story or continuity strips, which rely on the development of ...

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 ...

, created by cartoonist J. P. Arnot (Paul Arnot – Born: 16 September 1887 – Died: 2 December 1951). The series ran from July 17, 1922, until 1927 and was syndicated by International Feature Service. Despite its brief run actor

Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his c ...

, of ''

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...

'' fame, said the character was an inspiration for his own screen character. He described ''Helpful Henry'' as being big, fussy and self-important, but underneath it all, he was a very nice fellow.

British comic strip ''Helpful Henry'' (1938–1939)

''Helpful Henry'' was also a British

from the magazine ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'', also known as ''Beano'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it became the world's longest-runn ...

''. It first appeared in ''Beano'' issue 1, dated 30 July 1938, drawn by

Eric Roberts Eric Anthony Roberts (born April 18, 1956) is an American actor. His career began with a leading role in ''King of the Gypsies'' (1978) for which he received his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He was nominated again at the Golden Globes fo ...

. A similarly named character had also appeared in the first issue of ''The Wizard'' under the name Elpful 'Enery.'' The central character is Henry, a young boy who attempts to be helpful but ends up doing more harm than good – usually as a result of a misunderstanding or misinterpretation. He was also in ''

The Dandy Annual ''The Dandy Annual'' is the current name of the book that has been published every year since 1938, to tie in with the children's comic ''The Dandy''. there have been 78 editions. The Dandy Annual still continues to be published, even though t ...

'' 1939, which came out two months after ''Beano'' No. 1 – it is unknown whether the character moved comic or if this was a preview. However some characters, such as ''Marmaduke Mean the Miser'', only appeared in the annuals, so that could be the explanation. As well as this some early Dandy characters such as Podge appeared in the 1940 ''Beano'' annual so this could be the case of minor characters just appearing in any

DC Thomson DC Thomson is a media company based in Dundee, Scotland. Founded by David Couper Thomson in 1905, it is best known for publishing ''The Dundee Courier'', ''The Evening Telegraph'' and ''The Sunday Post'' newspapers, and the comics ''Oor Wull ...

annual. ''Helpful Henry'' reappeared in ''Sparky'' in issue 211 (dated 1 February 1969) drawn by Hugh Morren this strip lasted in Sparky until issue 230.The ''Sparky'' File http://crikey.forumotion.com/t148-the-sparky-file

References

American comic strips American comics characters 1922 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1922 1927 comics endings Gag-a-day comics Beano strips British comic strips British comics characters 1938 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1938 1939 comics endings Child characters in comics {{UK-comics-stub