Peck's Bad Boy and His Pa, True Williams 129

Henry "Hennery" Peck, popularly known as Peck's Bad Boy, is a fictional character created by

George Wilbur Peck George Wilbur Peck (September 28, 1840 – April 16, 1916) was an American writer and politician from Wisconsin. He served as the 17th Governor of Wisconsin and the 9th Mayor of Milwaukee. Biography Peck was born in 1840 in Henderson, N ...

(1840–1916). First appearing in the 1883 novel ''Peck's Bad Boy and His Pa'', the Bad Boy has appeared in numerous print, stage, and film adaptations. The character is portrayed as a mischievous prankster, and the phrase "Peck's bad boy" has entered the language to refer to anyone whose mischievous or bad behavior leads to annoyance or embarrassment. Described as "a vicious little swaggerer" and "no more than a callous brute", Hennery's antics were more mean-spirited than those of earlier boyhood characters like

Huckleberry Finn Huckleberry "Huck" Finn is a fictional character created by Mark Twain who first appeared in the book ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876) and is the protagonist and narrator of its sequel, ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884). He is 12 ...

, and modern criticism views the violence and racism in the original stories as objectionable or

politically incorrect ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

. The inspiration for Hennery—the Bad Boy—came from Edward James Watson, who was a telegraph messenger boy that Peck met in the early 1880s. Apparently Watson thought up many of the stories used by Peck. Mr Watson had in his possession a letter from Peck "To my friend E. J. Watson, who, as a boy, gave me the first idea that culminated in the Peck's Bad Boy Series".

Books

*''Peck's Bad Boy and His Pa'' (1883) *''The Grocery Man and Peck's Bad Boy'' (1883) *''Peck's Bad Boy Abroad'' (1905) *''The Adventures of Peck's Bad Boy'' (1906) *''Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus'' (1906) *''Peck's Bad Boy with the Cowboys'' (1908) *''Peck's Bad Boy in an Airship (1908)

Films

*''The Bad Boy and the Groceryman'' (1905) *''Peck's Bad Boy'' (1908) *''

Peck's Bad Boy Henry "Hennery" Peck, popularly known as Peck's Bad Boy, is a fictional character created by George Wilbur Peck (1840–1916). First appearing in the 1883 novel ''Peck's Bad Boy and His Pa'', the Bad Boy has appeared in numerous print, stage, and ...

'' (1921) *''

'' (1934) *''

Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus ''Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus'' is a 1938 American comedy film directed by Edward F. Cline, based on the book of the same name by George W. Peck, one of his stories of Peck's Bad Boy. Plot summary Bill Peck receives ten dollars from his p ...

'' (1938) *A scene from the stage version of ''Peck's Bad Boy'' is featured in the 1942 film ''

Yankee Doodle Dandy ''Yankee Doodle Dandy'' is a 1942 American biographical musical film about George M. Cohan, known as "The Man Who Owned Broadway". It stars James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, and Richard Whorf, and features Irene Manning, George Tobias, Ro ...

'' showing

Douglas Croft Douglas Croft (born Douglas Malcolm Wheatcroft, August 12, 1926 – October 24, 1963) was an American child actor and a soldier who is best remembered for being the first person to portray the DC Comics character Robin, the Boy Wonder, as we ...

as a teenage

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 ...

in the title role.

Stage

*''Peck's Bad Boy'' (1884) by

Charles Felton Pidgin Charles Felton Pidgin (November 11, 1844 - June 3, 1923) was an American author, statistician, and inventor.Ayers, Herry Morgan(1917; 2015) He is best known for his 1900 novel ''Quincy Adams Sawyer'', which became successful largely due to a big ...

References

Male characters in literature Child characters in literature Characters in American novels of the 19th century Literary characters introduced in 1883 Child characters in film Series of children's books American children's books Fictional tricksters {{Child-lit-char-stub

Books

Films

Stage

See also

References