Harry William Haenigsen (July 14, 1900 – 1990) was an American illustrator and cartoonist best known for '' Penny'', his comic strip about a teenage girl. He also illustrated for books, magazines and advertising.
Biography
Born in New York City, Haenigsen grew up in New Jersey, where he became interested in electricity and cartooning. He began to draw cartoons for a local paper while still in high school. He first studied to become an engineer. In 1917, he took Eugene Zimmerman's correspondence course in illustration. Although he was invited to attend
Rutgers University
Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
on a scholarship, he followed the advice of the '' New York Evening World'' sports cartoonist Thornton Fish and enrolled at the
Art Students League
The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists.
Although artists may stu ...
in New York, since Fish promised him a job at the ''New York World'' when there was an opening. Following employment at the Bray animation studios in 1918, he began illustrating for the ''World'' in 1919.Guide to the Harry Haenigsen Papers 1920-1970
Northwest Digital Archives Archives West is an online catalog of descriptive information about the archival collections at various institutions in the western United States (Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Alaska, Utah and Washington). It was established in 2005, and is a program of ...
Some of his ''World'' illustrations were designs for constructing radio sets, and in 1922, he drew for the ''World'' his first comic strip, ''Simeon Batts'', about radios and radio listeners. In 1930 he was drawing a humorous round-up of fake news stories comic strip called ''The News''. When the ''World'' folded in 1931, he moved to the ''
New York American
:''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal''
The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...
George M. Cohan
George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer.
Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudev ...
and as a soloist with
John Philip Sousa
John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to dis ...
. The couple returned to the Solebury-New Hope area in 1939 and lived in
Lambertville, New Jersey
Lambertville is a city in Hunterdon County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 3,906,New York Herald Tribune'' publisher Ogden Mills Reid, wanted to see a girl as the central character of a new comic strip. Haenigsen launched ''Penny'' on June 20, 1943, working with writer Howard Boughner (1908–1990). Comics scripter
Kurt Busiek
Kurt Busiek ( ) (born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer. His work includes the '' Marvels'' limited series, his own series titled ''Astro City'', a four-year run on '' The Avengers, Thunderbolts'' and '' Superman.''
Early lif ...
described Haenigsen's art approach with this strip:
:''Penny'' was a gag strip about the life of a confident, self-assured teenage girl, her oft-mystified parents and her friends, dates and such. It was amiably, breezy, funny—comfortable rather than edgy in any way—but the thing that made it stand out was the art. Harry Haenigsen, who also drew ''Our Bill'', gave Penny Pringle the cheekbones of Katharine Hepburn, a chin that could cut glass, and a stylized coltish charm that just arrested the eye. Penny was fluff, but the graphics of it were bold and engaging, whether Penny's sprawling upside down in an armchair as she gabs on the phone, in a raccoon coat cheering on her school football team, wearing bluejeans in the bath to make sure they shrink right, or whatever else she did. The strip is a charming portrait of mid-century suburbia and teen-agia, light as a meringue and crisp as autumn leaves.Busiek, Kurt. May 2, 2010. /ref>
Haenigsen's ''Jive's Like That: Being the Life and Times of Our Bill'' was published by Procyon Press in 1947, and there were several ''Penny'' collections in 1953 and 1954, published by Prentice-Hall and Simon and Schuster. In 1956, Haenigsen was a contributor to the Famous Artists Cartoon Course.
The prolific cartoonist
Bill Hoest
William Pierce Hoest (February 7, 1926 – November 7, 1988) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of the gag panel series, '' The Lockhorns'', distributed by King Features Syndicate to 500 newspapers in 23 countries, and ''Laugh ...
was Haenigsen's assistant on ''Penny''. After an injury from a 1965 traffic accident kept Haenigsen away from the drawing board, Hoest took over most of the work, although Haenigsen still supervised and signed each ''Penny'' strip. Haenigsen was also the director of the Bucks County Playhouse and the Playhouse Inn in
New Hope, Pennsylvania
New Hope is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The population was 2,612 at the 2020 census. New Hope is located approximately north of Philadelphia, and lies on the west bank of the Delaware River at its confluence with Aquetong Creek. ...
.Harry W. Haenigsen Bucks County Artists, James A. Michener Art Museum
With the death of Bobby Haenigsen in a 1968 car crash, Harry Haenigsen lost interest in his comic strip. In 1970, when Hoest left to start his own strip, ''My Son John'', for the
Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate
Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media Se ...
, Haenigsen chose to end ''Penny'' and retired.
He married Ellen A. Hall in 1977. In 1981, he was director of the first Lambertville Art Shad Festival, and that same year he published a shad cookbook. He also contributed a recipe to ''The Cartoonist Cookbook'' (1966).
A founding member of the National Cartoonists Society, Haenigsen was also a member of the
Society of Illustrators
The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition.
History
Founding
The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...
, the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, the Museum of Modern Art, the New York City Club and the New York City Coffee House.
In 1969, he was named to ''Who's Who in America'', Volume 35. He died in 1990 at the Warminster General Hospital in
Warminster, Pennsylvania
Warminster Township (also referred to as Warminster) is located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It was formally established in 1711. The township is 13.7 miles north of Philadelphia and had a population of 32,682 according to the 201 ...
.
See also
*
Marty Links
Marty Links (September 5, 1917 – January 6, 2008) was an People of the United States, American cartoonist best known for her syndicated comic strip ''Emmy Lou''.
Biography
Born Martha B. Links in Oakland, California, she moved with her family ...
*
Hal Rasmusson
Hal Rasmusson (January 11, 1900 – 1962) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip ''Aggie Mack'', about a teenage girl.
Born in Crookston, Minnesota, Rasmusson grew up in Minneapolis, where he attended the Minneapolis School o ...