Jimmy Hatlo
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James Cecil Hatlo (September 1, 1897 – December 1, 1963), better known as Jimmy Hatlo, was an American
cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...
who in 1929 created the long-running
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 ...
and gag panel ''
They'll Do It Every Time ''They'll Do It Every Time'' is a single-panel newspaper comic strip, created by Jimmy Hatlo, which had a long run over eight decades, first appearing on February 5, 1929, and continuing until February 3, 2008. The title of the strip became a popu ...
'', which he wrote and drew until his death in 1963. Hatlo's other strip, ''
Little Iodine ''Little Iodine'' is an American Sunday comic strip, created by Jimmy Hatlo, which was syndicated by King Features and ran from August 15, 1943 until August 14, 1983. The strip was a spin-off of ''They'll Do It Every Time'', an earlier Hatlo crea ...
'', was adapted into a feature-length movie in 1946. In an opinion piece for the July 22, 2013, edition of ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', "A Tip of the Hat to Social Media's Granddad", veteran journalist
Bob Greene Robert Bernard Greene Jr. (born March 10, 1947) is an American journalist and author. He worked for 24 years for the ''Chicago Tribune'' newspaper, where he was a columnist. Greene has written books on subjects including Michael Jordan, Alice C ...
characterized Hatlo's daily cartoons, which credited readers who contributed the ideas, as a forerunner of
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and
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. Greene wrote: "Hatlo's genius was to realize, before there was any such thing as an Internet or Facebook or Twitter, that people in every corner of the country were brimming with seemingly small observations about mundane yet captivating matters, yet lacked a way to tell anyone outside their own circles of friends about it. Hatlo also understood that just about everyone, on some slightly-below-the-surface level, yearned to be celebrated from coast to coast, if only for a day."


Biography

Hatlo was born in
East Providence, Rhode Island East Providence is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 47,139 at the 2020 census, making it the fifth-largest city in the state. Geography East Providence is located between the Providence and Seekonk ...
, on September 1, 1897. His father, James M. Hatlow, a printer, was an immigrant from the
Orkney Islands Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...
of
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. The original spelling of the family name became an inconvenience when, as a budding sports cartoonist, Hatlo fashioned a trademark signature with the "H" drawn as stylized goal posts and the "o" as a descending football. He shrank the "w" into a small apostrophe in the signature but otherwise dropped it entirely.


Early years

When he was a small child, the family moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. As a young man, Hatlo began doing incidental artwork and engravings for local newspapers during an era when
halftone Halftone is the reprographic Reprography (a portmanteau of ''reproduction'' and ''photography'') is the reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means, such as photography or xerography. Reprography is commonly used in catal ...
reproduction of photographs was still limited.


World War I

When the United States entered
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Hatlo went to
Kelly Field Kelly Field (formerly Kelly Air Force Base) is a Joint-Use facility located in San Antonio, Texas. It was originally named after George E. M. Kelly, the first member of the U.S. military killed in the crash of an airplane he was piloting. In ...
, hoping to become an aviator despite his poor eyesight. Instead he became a
Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...
casualty and missed the war entirely. He relocated to
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
following the war and worked for both the '' San Francisco Call & Post'' and the ''San Francisco Evening Bulletin''. The two papers later merged as the ''San Francisco Call-Bulletin'', part of
William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...
's publishing empire. Hatlo at first drew "travelogues" for automobile advertising. These illustrated maps promoted auto travel (and thus auto sales). On the strength of his talent, he soon managed to work his way into editorial cartooning and then sports cartooning. His sports cartoon for the ''Call-Bulletin'' was ''Swineskin Gulch''.


Tip of the Hatlo hat

His
break Break or Breaks or The Break may refer to: Time off from duties * Recess (break), time in which a group of people is temporarily dismissed from its duties * Break (work), time off during a shift/recess ** Coffee break, a short mid-morning rest ...
came when a shipment of panels from syndicated cartoonist
Tad Dorgan Thomas Aloysius Dorgan (April 29, 1877 – May 2, 1929), also known as Tad Dorgan, was an American cartoonist who signed his drawings as Tad. He is known for his cartoon panel ''Indoor Sports'' and comic strip ''Judge Rummy'', as well as the man ...
failed to arrive in the mail. Hatlo was pressed into service to create something to fill the space. What resulted was ''They'll Do It Every Time'', an instant hit with San Francisco readers. After several days, he began to run short on ideas. Various people—including Pat Frayne, Hatlo's managing editor at the time, and Scoop Gleason, his sports editor—later claimed credit for what happened next; even so, it may have been Hatlo himself, to adopt the tactic of asking readers to submit their own ideas for the cartoons. Whatever the source, this
gambit A gambit (from Italian , the act of tripping someone with the leg to make them fall) is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices with the aim of achieving a subsequent advantage. The word ''gambit'' is also sometimes used to describe simi ...
was a huge success. Hatlo picked the best submissions, and credited each contributor by name, in closing the such cartoon with a box that read, "Thanx and a tip of the Hatlo Hat to...", followed by the submitters's name.


''The Hatlo Inferno''

''They'll Do It Every Time'' became a fixture in the ''Call-Bulletin''. It soon caught the attention of Hearst and was picked up by Hearst's
King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...
. His supplemental panel, ''The Hatlo Inferno'', which depicted life in
Hell In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...
, ran in tandem with ''They'll Do It Every Time'' for five years (1953–58).


Books

Hatlo's first ''They'll Do It Every Time'' collection, a 100-page softbound book, was published in 1939 by David McKay Company of
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. It was followed in the 1940s by two McKay hardcover collections. Avon paperback collections of ''They'll Do It Every Time'' followed throughout the 1950s. In his foreword to the 1943 McKay collection,
Damon Runyon Alfred Damon Runyon (October 4, 1880 – December 10, 1946) was an American newspaperman and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To ...
wrote that years earlier he had unsuccessfully tried to persuade 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 ...
'' to lure Hatlo away from San Francisco, adding: :It is my opinion, that Hatlo is today one of the greatest cartoonists the newspaper business has ever produced. Certainly he is one of the most human, and humanness is the element that makes a great cartoonist... Hatlo's forte is mirroring every day people. He has marvelous insight into the minds and souls of folks we all know. He has a great ear for the common speech of the day. He knows our men and women as they are in their homes, in the street and under all conditions, the result of mingling with them and rubbing elbows with them. Hatlo pictures people as they are, not as they ought to be, or as he imagines them... I have known the work of all the great cartoonists of the past 30 odd years in the newspaper business—I have known many of them personally, though that is not germane to an appraisal of their work, and I believe that Jimmy Hatlo rightly belongs in the first rank with them. I believe, too, that his cartoons represent a contribution to the entertainment of the American people at this time that is unsurpassed in any field.


Popularity

Hatlo's success also attracted imitators, and a rival syndicate (
McClure Newspaper 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 ...
) launched a clone cartoon by
Harry Shorten Harry Shorten (1914–1991) was an American writer, editor, and book publisher best known for the Comic strip syndication, syndicated gag cartoon ''There Oughta Be a Law!'', as well as his work with Archie Comics, and his long association with Arch ...
and
Al Fagaly Al Fagaly (January 5, 1909 – April 23, 1963) was an American cartoonist and creator of Archie Comics' Super Duck and the syndicated gag cartoon '' There Oughta Be a Law!''. Biography Born in Waynesburg, Kentucky, Fagaly later moved to Oreg ...
titled ''
There Oughta Be a Law! ''There Oughta Be a Law!'', or ''TOBAL!'', was a single-panel newspaper comic strip, created by Harry Shorten and Al Fagaly, which was syndicated for four decades from 1944 to 1985. The gags illustrated minor absurdities, frustrations, hypocrisies ...
''.Markstein, Don
"THERE OUGHTA BE A LAW!,"
''Toonpedia''. Accessed Oct. 22, 2018.
After
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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, Hatlo settled in
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California Carmel-by-the-Sea (), often simply called Carmel, is a city in Monterey County, California, United States, founded in 1902 and incorporated on October 31, 1916. Situated on the Monterey Peninsula, Carmel is known for its natural scenery and ric ...
, where he became part of a cartoonist community that included such artists as
Gus Arriola Gustavo "Gus" Arriola (July 17, 1917 – February 2, 2008) was an American comic strip cartoonist and animator, primarily known for the comic strip '' Gordo'', which ran from 1941 through 1985. Biography Gus Arriola was born in Florence, ...
,
Frank O'Neal Frank O'Neal (May 9, 1921 – October 10, 1986)
at the Eldon Dedini Eldon Dedini (June 29, 1921 – January 12, 2006) was an American cartoonist whose work appeared in ''Esquire'', ''The New Yorker'', ''Playboy'' and elsewhere. Life Dedini was born in King City, California, on June 29, 1921; his father was a d ...
and
Hank Ketcham Henry King Ketcham (March 14, 1920 – June 1, 2001) was an American cartoonist who created the '' Dennis the Menace'' comic strip, writing and drawing it from 1951 to 1994, when he retired from drawing the daily cartoon and took up painti ...
. At their peak, Hatlo's cartoons appeared in over 400 newspapers worldwide. ''
Little Iodine ''Little Iodine'' is an American Sunday comic strip, created by Jimmy Hatlo, which was syndicated by King Features and ran from August 15, 1943 until August 14, 1983. The strip was a spin-off of ''They'll Do It Every Time'', an earlier Hatlo crea ...
'', a spin-off comic strip featuring a mischievous little girl who had become one of Hatlo's stock characters, even got her own series of comic books and a 1946 movie adaptation. Hatlo's popularity was at its highest in the early 1950s. He was profiled in a 1952 feature article 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 ...
'' titled "He Needles the Human Race."


Personal life and death

Hatlo was a lifelong smoker, who once appeared in magazine and newspaper ads for
Lucky Strike Lucky Strike is an American brand of cigarettes owned by the British American Tobacco group. Individual cigarettes of the brand are often referred to colloquially as "Luckies." Throughout their 150 year history, Lucky Strike has had fluctuating ...
cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...
s, his favorite brand. He was troubled in his later years by
atherosclerosis Atherosclerosis is a pattern of the disease arteriosclerosis in which the wall of the artery develops abnormalities, called lesions. These lesions may lead to narrowing due to the buildup of atheroma, atheromatous plaque. At onset there are usu ...
. In late November 1963, Hatlo was hospitalized for a
kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...
condition. He died of a stroke early on December 1, 1963, at the age of 66.


Awards and cultural references

Hatlo was recognized for his work with the
National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
's Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1957 and 1959. The Banshees gave Hatlo their Silver Lady Award. The
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
cartoonist
Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. A ...
reminisced about Hatlo's work in his graphic novella ''
It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken ''It's a Good Life, If You Don't Weaken'' is a graphic novel by Canadian cartoonist Seth. It appeared in a collected volume in 1996 after serialization from 1993 to 1996 in issues of Seth's comic book series ''Palookaville''. The mock-autobiog ...
''. The 2016 centennial of Carmel-by-the-Sea celebrated Hatlo as one of the noted cartoonists who were part of the town's history. Hatlo had moved with his wife and young son from Carmel to neighboring Pebble Beach in 1953, taking with him the name he had given to his house on Monte Verde Street—"Wit's End"—and transferring it to his new home on the 17 Mile Drive. The Monte Verde Street home was subsequently bought by Tom McCrea, brother of actor
Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he beca ...
, and converted into a small hotel, the Tally Ho Inn.


Bibliography

* ''They'll Do It Every Time'', David McKay: 1943. * ''They'll Do It Every Time Book Number Two'', David McKay: 1945. * ''They'll Do It Every Time'', pocket book, Pocket: 1945. * ''They'll Do It Every Time'', paperback edition, Avon: 1951. * ''Little Iodine'', coloring book, Whitman: 1951. * ''The New Jimmy Hatlo Book'', Avon: 1952. * ''Jimmy Hatlo—Calendar for 1954'', comics, King Features: 1954. * ''Brand New Cartoons by Jimmy Hatlo'', Avon: 1955. * ''Cartoons by Jimmy Hatlo'', Avon: 1955. * ''Hatlo Cartoons'', Avon: 1956. * ''Little Iodine'', Dell: 1955. * ''Another New Jimmy Hatlo Book'', Avon: 1957 * ''Jimmy Hatlo's Office Party'', Grosset & Dunlap: 1957. * ''Little Iodine: All Brand-New Stories'', Dell: 1957. * ''More They'll Do It Every Time'', Avon: 1957. * ''The Newest Jimmy Hatlo Book'', Avon: 1959. * ''Office Hi-Jinks'', Avon: 1961.


References


External links


''They'll Do It Every Time''
Toonopedia
NCS Awards


Syracuse University (primary source material) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hatlo, Jimmy 1897 births 1963 deaths American comic strip cartoonists People from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California