''Little Iodine'' is an American Sunday comic strip, created by

Jimmy Hatlo James Cecil Hatlo (September 1, 1897 – December 1, 1963), better known as Jimmy Hatlo, was an American cartoonist who in 1929 created the long-running comic strip and gag panel ''They'll Do It Every Time'', which he wrote and drew until his d ...

, which was syndicated by

King Features 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, editorial ...

and ran from August 15, 1943 until August 14, 1983. The strip was a spin-off of ''

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 pop ...

'', an earlier Hatlo creation.

Publication history

From August 14, 1943 to February 13, 1966, ''Little Iodine'' was written and drawn by Hatlo, who said, "I tried to make her the embodiment of all the brats I knew... I tried to make her naughty as hell—and still likable."

Al Scaduto Alvaro Scaduto (July 12, 1928 – December 8, 2007), better known as Al Scaduto, was a cartoonist noted for his 61-year span of work for King Features Syndicate on the classic strips, '' They'll Do It Every Time'' and '' Little Iodine'', which ...

also contributed to the strip from February 20, 1966 to September 3, 1967, with

Hy Eisman Hy Eisman (born March 27, 1927) is an American cartoonist. Comic Strips He entered the comic strip field in 1950 and worked on several strips, including '' Kerry Drake'', '' Little Iodine'' and ''Bunny''. In comic books he was the last art ...

and Bob Dunn taking the strip from September 10, 1967 through its end in August 1983. Iodine also appeared in a series of 56

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

between 1949 and 1962. Iodine made a cameo appearance on the October 30th 2022 strip of the

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Sunday comics The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies. The first US newspap ...

page a female precursor to

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 painting ...

's '' Dennis the Menace''.

Film adaptation

In 1946, Comet Productions, a company established by

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

, her husband, Charles Rogers and Columbia executive Ralph Cohn, produced a 56-minute feature film, ''Little Iodine'', starring

Hobart Cavanaugh Hobart Cavanaugh (September 22, 1886 – April 26, 1950 ) was an American character actor in films and on stage. Biography He was born in Virginia City, Nevada on September 22, 1886. Cavanaugh attended the University of California. He worked in ...

as Henry,

Irene Ryan Irene Ryan (born Irene Noblitt, Noblett, or Noblette; October 17, 1902 – April 26, 1973) was an American actress and comedienne who found success in vaudeville, radio, film, television, and Broadway. She is most widely known for her por ...

as Cora and Jo Ann Marlowe as Little Iodine. The film was directed by

Reginald Le Borg Reginald Le Borg (11 December 1902 – 25 March 1989) was an Austrian film director. He was born in Vienna, Austria with the surname Groebel and directed 68 films between 1936 and 1974. Le Borg made a series of low-budget horror films at Un ...

. In the movie, Iodine thinks that her mother is having an affair with Professor Simkins (Leon Belasco). Consequently, she tries one antic after another to break up the adulterous couple. Her efforts backfire when they cause conflict between Henry and his employer, Mr. Bigdome (

Emory Parnell Emory Parnell (December 29, 1892 – June 22, 1979) was an American vaudeville performer and actor who appeared in over 250 films in his 36-year career. Early years Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, Parnell trained as a musician at Morningside ...

). The film was scheduled for release earlier than October 20, 1946 (its actual distribution date), but that date was postponed due to an epidemic of polio that prevented children across the United States from attending films. The film is considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

References

Sources

* Strickler, Dave. ''Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index.'' Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995.

External links

Little Iodine [character]
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on November 10, 2015.
Hal Erickson reviews ''Little Iodine'' film
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