''Joe Palooka'' was an American comic strip about a heavyweight

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

champion, created by cartoonist

Ham Fisher Hammond Edward "Ham" Fisher (September 24, 1900 (some sources indicate 1901) – December 27, 1955) was an American comic strip writer and cartoonist. He is best known for his long, popular run on '' Joe Palooka'', which was launched in 1930 and ...

. The strip debuted on April 19, 1930 and was carried at its peak by 900 newspapers. It was cancelled in 1984. The strip was adapted to a 15-minute CBS radio series, 12 feature-length films (chiefly from

Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation was an American film studio that produced mostly low-budget films between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram was among the smaller studios in ...

), nine

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one ...

film shorts, a 1954

syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

television series (''The Joe Palooka Story''),

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 panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. ...

s and merchandise, including a 1940s

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a ...

, a 1947 New Haven Clock & Watch Company wristwatch, a 1948 metal lunchbox featuring depictions of Joe, Humphrey and Little Max, and a 1946

Wheaties Wheaties is an American brand of breakfast cereal that is made by General Mills. It is well known for featuring prominent athletes on its packages and has become a cultural icon in the United States. Originally introduced as Washburn's Gold Meda ...

cereal box cut-out mask. In 1980, a mountain in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

was named for the character.

Publication history

In his home town of

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in th ...

, Fisher devised the character in 1921 after he met a boxer, Pete Latzo, outside a poolroom. As Fisher explained in an article in ''

Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter F. Collier, Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened i ...

'': Many rejections followed before Fisher's strip was finally syndicated by the

McNaught Syndicate The McNaught Syndicate was an American newspaper syndicate founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt (who gave it his name) and Charles V. McAdam. Its best known contents were the columns by Will Rogers and O. O. McIntyre, the ...

after Fisher, while employed as a McNaught salesman, sold it to over 20 newspapers. It debuted April 19, 1930, and by 1948, it was ranked as one of the five most popular newspaper comic strips. After Fisher committed suicide in 1955, his assistant Moe Leff drew the strip for four years. Leff had been ghosting on the strip's art since the late 1930s; his first credited strip was September 17, 1956.

Lank Leonard Frank E. Leonard (January 2, 1896 – August 1, 1970), better known as Lank Leonard, was an American cartoonist artist who created the long-running comic strip '' Mickey Finn'', which he drew for more than three decades. Biography Early life and ...

recommended Tony DiPreta, who stepped in starting September 7, 1959, to illustrate scripts by

Morris Weiss Morris S. Weiss (August 11, 1915 – May 18, 2014) was an American comic book and comic strip artist and writer. Active from the 1930s through the mid-1970s, he created the teen- comedy character "Margie" for Timely Comics, the 1940s predecess ...

(early 1960s to early 1970s) and Ed Moore (mid 1970s on). DiPreta stayed with the strip for 25 years until it ended its run November 24, 1984, when it had dropped to only 182 newspapers. DiPreta then moved on to draw ''

Rex Morgan, M.D. ''Rex Morgan, M.D.'' is an American soap opera comic strip, created May 10, 1948 by psychiatrist Dr. Nicholas P. Dallis under the pseudonym Dal Curtis. History The name for the strip was inspired by the real life Rex S. Morgan Sr., the U.S. Arm ...

Toppers

The ''Joe Palooka'' Sunday page had many different toppers over the course of the run. One of the early toppers was ''Fisher's Looney Legends'', which ran from January 10, 1932 to August 27, 1933. During this run, the strip had many alternate titles, including ''Fisher's Dopey Dramas'', ''Fisher's Foolish Fables'', ''Fisher's Historical Hysteria'', ''Fisher's Neolithic Narratives'', ''Fisher's Nursery Rhymes'' and ''Fisher's Poet's Corner''. This was replaced by three longer features: ''Fisher's History of Boxing'' (Sept 3, 1933 – June 20, 1937), ''Joe Palooka's Boxing Course'' (June 27, 1937 – May 1, 1938) and ''Joe Palooka's Album'' (May 8, 1938 – Nov 14, 1943). From 1943–1946, the topper strip rotated between a variety of different features. The most often used titles during this period were ''War Time Anecdotes'' aka ''Fisher's Wartime Whoppers'' (Nov 21, 1943 – Sept 9, 1945), ''Miss Jones'' aka ''The Estimable Miss Jones'' (March 12, 1944 – Nov 11, 1945), ''After It's Over'' (April 8 – Oct 7, 1945), ''Sidewalks of Manhattan'' (Nov 18, 1945 – Feb 24, 1966), ''Charlie the Cook'' (Oct 15, 1944 – Sept 23, 1945), and ''Lady De Van'' (March 3 – July 7, 1946). Other titles used during this period include ''The Atom Age'', ''Captain Tommy'', ''Could Be'', ''Guy Who Married a WAC Sergeant'', ''Fisher's Follies'', ''How To Be Popular?'', ''Letter From Home'', ''Mebbe I'm Wrong'', ''Now That It's Over'', ''Smythe the Murp's Ex-Butler'', and ''Two Thousand A.D.''

Characters and story

Fisher originally changed the appearance of Palooka to fit each reigning real-life champ – until the coming of African-American

Joe Louis Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed the Brown Bomber, Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He re ...

in the 1930s, at which time the image of the cowlicked blond Palooka remained unchanged. Though his adventures were mostly low-key, he was pumped up by a supporting cast led by girlfriend Ann Howe, boxing manager Knobby Walsh, his mute orphan sidekick Little Max, Smokey, his black valet and later sparring partner and lovable giant Humphrey Pennyworth, a smiling

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

who wielded a 100-pound (45 kg) maul. Like Ozark Ike McBatt in baseball, ''Joe Palooka'' was intended to exemplify the sports hero in an age when uprightness of character was supposed to matter most. The character was part of an effort among top newspaper cartoonists to sell

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

-era Series E bonds to the public as a wartime financing initiative. The strip garnered much publicity when cheese heiress Ann Howe and Joe were married on June 24, 1949. The engraved invitations for the event, sent to a select list of celebrities, read: "Mr. Ham Fisher requests the honour of your presence at the marriage of Ann Howe to Mr. Joe Palooka on the afternoon of June 24th in your favorite newspaper." Fisher received formal acceptances from Chief Justice

Fred M. Vinson Frederick "Fred" Moore Vinson (January 22, 1890 – September 8, 1953) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th chief justice of the United States from 1946 until his death in 1953. Vinson was one of the few Americans to ...

, General

Omar Bradley Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893April 8, 1981) was a senior officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army. Bradley was the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and over ...

and Attorney General Tom C. Clark. At the time, the strip was carried in 665 American newspapers and 125 foreign papers.

Etymology

Of uncertain origin, the word ''palooka'' was found in print as early as 1923 and widely used to mean a lout or an inept fighter.

Comic books

Over decades, ''Joe Palooka'' appeared in comic books from several comic book publishers. Early comic books offered strip reprints, but eventually the character was seen in original comic book stories. Secondary characters Little Max and Humphrey Pennyworth each had their own

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 Alf ...

series.

Joe Antonacci Joe Antonacci (ring announcer) (born August 9, 1960 in Ridgewood, New Jersey) is a noted boxing ring announcer and emcee famous for his televised boxing ring appearances in a tuxedo on ESPN's Friday Night Fights, NBC Sports Network, CBS Sports, ...

owns the trademark to and has recreated Joe Palooka. A brand new comic book version of the character created by Antonacci and his creative team was published by

IDW Publishing IDW Publishing is an American publisher of comic books, graphic novels, art books, and comic strip collections. It was founded in 1999 as the publishing division of Idea and Design Works, LLC (IDW), itself formed in 1999, and is regularly re ...

in 2012. Palooka is reborn as a

Mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

(MMA) fighter. Antonacci's team has also created a sister series of MMA-themed comic books entitled ''Legion of Combat''.

Radio series

On radio, ''Joe Palooka'' was broadcast on CBS from April 12 to August 18, 1932. With

Teddy Bergman Alan Reed (born Herbert Theodore Bergman; August 20, 1907 – June 14, 1977) was an American actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on '' The Flintstones'' and various spinoff series. He also appeared in many films, includ ...

in the title role,DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 223. the 15-minute series was heard on Tuesdays and Thursdays, sponsored by Heinz Rice Flakes. Elmira Roessler, Elsie Hitz and

Mary Jane Higby Mary Jane Higby (May 29, 1909 - February 1, 1986)DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 129. was an American actress in the era of old ...

played Ann Howe. Knobby Walsh was portrayed by Frank Readick and Hal Lansing. Others in the cast: Karl Swenson and Norman Gottschalk. The announcer was Harry von Zell.

Films and television

Joe Palooka made his film debut in '' Palooka'' (1934) with

Stuart Erwin Stuart Erwin (February 14, 1903 – December 21, 1967) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Early years Erwin was born in Squaw Valley, Fresno County, California. He attended Porterville High School and the University o ...

in the title role,

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs ...

as Knobby,

Lupe Vélez María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez (July 18, 1908 – December 13, 1944), known professionally as Lupe Vélez, was a Mexican actress, singer and dancer during the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. Vélez began her career as a performer in Mexican ...

as Nina Madero, and Marjorie Rambeau as Mayme Palooka. Now in the public domain, the film can be seen online. ''Palooka'' was followed by a series of nine two-reel

shorts (1936–37) starring Robert Norton as Joe and

Shemp Howard Samuel Horwitz (March 11, 1895 – November 22, 1955), known professionally as Shemp Howard, was an American actor and comedian. He was called "Shemp" because "Sam" came out that way in his mother's thick Litvak accent. He is best known as the ...

as Knobby. He returned to feature-length films in 1946, when

launched a series of 11 low-budget films starring Joe Kirkwood, Jr. as Joe,

Leon Errol Leon Errol (born Leonce Errol Sims, July 3, 1881 – October 12, 1951) was an Australian-American comedian and actor in the United States, popular in the first half of the 20th century for his appearances in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in film ...

as Knobby and Elyse Knox as Ann Howe. The first in the series was '' Joe Palooka, Champ'' (1946); the series ended 1951, with ''Joe Palooka in Triple Cross''. ''The Joe Palooka Story'', popularly known simply as ''Joe Palooka'', was a 1954 syndicated television series starring Kirkwood and featuring former boxing champion

Maxie Rosenbloom Max Everitt Rosenbloom (November 6, 1906 – March 6, 1976) was an American professional boxer, actor, and television personality. Nicknamed "Slapsie Maxie", he was inducted into '' The Ring's'' Boxing Hall of Fame in 1972, the International J ...

as Humphrey Pennyworth.

Cultural legacy

South of

on the way to the town of Mountain Top, Pennsylvania is Joe Palooka Mountain, named in the early 1980s by the Mayor of Wilkes-Barre. A granite monument with the likeness of Joe Palooka is located at the base of the mountain at the intersection of PA 309 and PA 437 between Wilkes-Barre and the town of Mountain Top. In September 1948, a limestone Joe Palooka statue (in a flowing cape) was erected on a hill overlooking

Indiana State Road 37 State Road 37 (SR 37) is a major route in the U.S. state of Indiana, running as a four-lane divided highway for 110 miles of its course. At one time, the route ran from the southwest corner of the state to the northeast corner. In the pre- ...

. In 1984, the nine-foot high, ten-ton statue and its base were moved and rededicated to the Town Hall in Oolitic, Indiana. In ''

The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor ''The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor'' (original Spanish-language title: ''Relato de un náufrago'') is a work of non-fiction by Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez. The full title is ''The Story of a Shipwrecked Sailor: Who Drifted on a ...

'', sailor Luis Alejandro Velasco refers to a "Joe Palooka" tavern at a port in Mobile, AL, United States, where he and his shipmates, while on leave, went to drink whisky and threw a fight from time to time. In '' Sometimes a Great Notion'',

Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. Kesey was born ...

skewers one of his characters with this paragraph: "' Tsk, tsk,' said Brother Walker. And, as he had learned the comment from ''Joe Palooka'', it came out 'tisk tisk', the way he assumed it was pronounced." In the 1977 film ''

Smokey and the Bandit ''Smokey and the Bandit'' is a 1977 American road action comedy film starring Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jackie Gleason, Jerry Reed, Pat McCormick, Paul Williams and Mike Henry. The directorial debut of stuntman Hal Needham, the film follo ...

'', after having been drawn into a fight and taking a beating, character Cledus "Snowman" Snow (

Jerry Reed Jerry Reed Hubbard (March 20, 1937 – September 1, 2008) was an American singer, guitarist, composer, and songwriter as well as an actor who appeared in more than a dozen films. His signature songs included " Guitar Man", "U.S. Male", " A Thi ...

) tells his friend Bo "Bandit" Darville (

Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor, considered a sex symbol and icon of 1970s American popular culture. Reynolds first rose to prominence when he starred in television series such as '' ...

) over the

CB radio Citizens band radio (also known as CB radio), used in many countries, is a land mobile radio system, a system allowing short-distance person-to-many persons bidirectional voice communication among individuals, using two way radios operating o ...

, "Look, you ain't gonna believe this, but I just did my imitation of Joe Palooka."

Filmography

#'' Palooka'' (1934) #'' Joe Palooka, Champ'' (1946) #'' Gentleman Joe Palooka'' (1946) #'' Joe Palooka in the Knockout'' (1947) #'' Joe Palooka in Fighting Mad'' (1948) #'' Joe Palooka in Winner Take All'' (1948) #'' Joe Palooka in the Big Fight'' (1949) #'' Joe Palooka in the Counterpunch'' (1949) #'' Joe Palooka Meets Humphrey'' (1950) #'' Joe Palooka in Humphrey Takes a Chance'' (1950) #'' Joe Palooka in the Squared Circle'' (1950) #'' Joe Palooka in Triple Cross'' (1951)

Vitaphone two-reelers

(made for

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

) #''For the Love of Pete'' (March 14, 1936) #''Here's Howe'' (June 6, 1936) #''Punch and Beauty'' (August 6, 1936) #''The Choke's on You'' (September 12, 1936) #''The Blonde Bomber'' (November 28, 1936) #''Kick Me Again'' (February 6, 1937) #''Taking the Count'' (April 24, 1937) #''Thirst Aid'' (June 12, 1937) #''Calling All Kids'' (November 20, 1937) All directed by Lloyd French and starring Robert Norton and

(except the last two with Beverly Phalon and

Johnny Burkes Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John (given name), John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly ...

References

External links

* * {{Webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030308175530/http://www.radiolovers.com/pages/joepalooka.htm , title=Free Old time Radio Shows - Joe Palooka
''The Incredibly Strange Story of Ham Fisher''

at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on October 8, 2016. 1930 comics debuts 1932 radio programme debuts 1984 comics endings American comics adapted into films American comic strips American radio dramas Boxing comics CBS Radio programs Comics adapted into television series Comics adapted into radio series Palooka, Joe Palooka, Joe Palooka, Joe Palooka, Joe Palooka, Joe American film series Harvey Comics titles Harvey Comics series and characters IDW Publishing titles Radio programs based on comic strips Vitaphone short films Warner Bros. short films Comic martial artists Martial arts comics