''Tailspin Tommy'' was an air adventure

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 ...

about a youthful pilot, "

Tailspin In flight dynamics a spin is a special category of stall resulting in autorotation (uncommanded roll) about the aircraft's longitudinal axis and a shallow, rotating, downward path approximately centred on a vertical axis. Spins can be entered ...

" Tommy Tomkins (sometimes spelled Tompkins). Originally illustrated by

Hal Forrest Hal Forrest (Philadelphia, July 22, 1895 - 1959) was an American comic strip artist best known for his work on ''Tailspin Tommy''. Biography When he was 16, he drew a comic strip, ''Percy the Boy Scout'', for the ''Philadelphia Telegraph'', and ...

and initially distributed by John Neville Wheeler's Bell Syndicate and then by United Feature Syndicate, the strip had a 14-year run from May 21, 1928 to March 15, 1942. In the wake of

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

's 1927 flight across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, the public's fascination with

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

escalated. ''Tailspin Tommy'' was the first aviation-based comic strip to appear as a result of this heightened interest. The strip's 1928 launch was followed by others, notably '' Skyroads'' (1929-1942), ''

Scorchy Smith ''Scorchy Smith'' is an American adventure comic strip created by artist John Terry that ran from March 17, 1930 to December 30, 1961. Scorchy Smith was a pilot-for-hire whose initial adventures took him across America, fighting criminals and aid ...

'' (1930-1961), ''

The Adventures of Smilin' Jack ''The Adventures of Smilin' Jack'' is an aviation comic strip that first appeared October 1, 1933, in the ''Chicago Tribune'' and ended April 1, 1973. After a run of 40 years, it was the longest-running aviation comic strip. The strip was created ...

'' (1933-1973) and ''

Flyin' Jenny ''Flyin' Jenny'' was an aviation adventure comic strip created by illustrator Russell Keaton and distributed to newspapers by Bell Syndicate from October 2, 1939, to July 20, 1946. Publication history Launched in October 1939, ''Flyin' Jenny'' ...

'' (1939-1946).

Publication history

Scripted by Glenn Chaffin, a newspaper journalist and press agent, ''Tailspin Tommy'' began its run in four newspapers on May 21, 1928. By 1931, it was published in more than 250 newspapers across the country. After buying out Chaffin's interest, Forrest took over the scripting; his first credited Sunday strip ran on January 7, 1934, and his first Sunday appeared on January 22. Forrest wrote and drew the strip solo for the next three years. In 1936, Forrest took on an assistant, Reynold Brown, who inked (uncredited) over Forrest's pencils. ''Tailspin Tommy'' is held by some to have improved with Brown's contribution.CollectAir: "Hal Forrest and Tailspin Tommy"
/ref> The Sunday page had several topper strips over the course of the run: ''Progress of Flight'' (1930-1933), ''Four Aces'' (1934-1941), ''How to Fly'' (1935), ''War Plane Insignia'' (1935) and ''Tailspin Tommy Flying Club'' (1935-1941).

Characters and story

Living in Littleville, Colorado, young Tommy Tomkins had such an obsession with flying that he was given the nickname Tailspin Tommy before he ever actually went inside a plane. Although Tommy took an aero-engineering correspondence course, his real introduction to aviation happened when mail pilot Milt Howe made an emergency landing in a field near Tommy's neighborhood. Tommy watched the downward spiral of Milt's plane and ran to help. Howe rewarded Tommy with a greasemonkey job in Texas at the Three Point Airlines, where he soon became a pilot along with his girlfriend, Betty Lou Barnes, and his best buddy, Peter "Skeeter" Milligan. The trio eventually became part owners in Three Point and took off for many airborne adventures.''Tailspin Tommy''
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 September 23, 2015. By 1940, ''Tailspin Tommy'' began to lose papers. A change in syndicates from Bell to United Features did little to help, and the strip ended on March 15, 1942.

Film

Tailspin Tommy flew into movie theaters throughout the 1930s. He was portrayed by Maurice Murphy in the 12-episode

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

movie serial ''

Tailspin Tommy ''Tailspin Tommy'' was an air adventure comic strip about a youthful pilot, "Tailspin" Tommy Tomkins (sometimes spelled Tompkins). Originally illustrated by Hal Forrest and initially distributed by John Neville Wheeler's Bell Syndicate and the ...

''. Another 12-chapter serial, '' Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery'' (

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

), starred

Clark Williams Myron Clark Williams (May 2, 1870 – December 18, 1946) was an American banker and politician. Life Born in Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York, Williams was the son of George N. Williams, a banker, and Abigail (Clark) Williams (daughter o ...

in the title role. John Trent portrayed Tommy in a series of hour-long features, including ''

Mystery Plane ''Mystery Plane'' (aka ''Sky Pilot'' and ''Sky Pirate'') is a 1939 American action film directed by George Waggner and written by Paul Schofield and George Waggner. The film is based on the comic strip ''Tailspin Tommy'' by Hal Forrest and Glenn ...

'', '' Stunt Pilot'', ''

Sky Patrol ''Sky Patrol'' is a 1939 American film directed by Howard Bretherton and starring John Trent (actor), John Trent, along with Marjorie Reynolds, Milburn Stone and Jason Robards Sr. The film also featured actor and comedian Jackie Coogan, who began ...

'' and ''

Danger Flight ''Danger Flight'' (aka ''Scouts of the Air'') is a 1939 American film directed by Howard Bretherton and starring John Trent as Tailspin Tommy Tompkins, Marjorie Reynolds, Milburn Stone and Jason Robards Sr. The film featured young aviation enthu ...

''. All were released in

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidden to ...

Comic books and reprints

Stephen Slesinger Inc. published a series of 30 ''Tailspin Tommy Adventures'' in eight-page booklet form as a promotion with Big Thrill Chewing Gum. In 1936, C.J.H. Publications put out two issues of ''Tailspin Tommy Adventure Magazine''. The magazines published adaptations of comic strip stories. Publication apparently ceased because the rights to the character had not been properly secured. After taking over the syndication, United Features published two ''Tailspin Tommy'' comic books, one in 1940 and one in 1946. ''Tailspin Tommy'' also saw reprints in

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 ...

' ''The Funnies'' and ''Popular Comics''. In 1934, ''Tailspin Tommy'' was among the strips reprinted in the first modern comic book, '' Famous Funnies'', published by Max Gaines at

Eastern Color Printing The Eastern Color Printing Company was a company that published comic books, beginning in 1933. At first, it was only newspaper comic strip reprints, but later on, original material was published. Eastern Color Printing was incorporated in 1928 ...

. That same year, Slesinger began publishing a series of ''Tailspin Tommy'' books in its

Big Little Book The Big Little Books, first published during 1932 by the Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin, were small, compact books designed with a captioned illustration opposite each page of text. Other publishers, notably Saalfield, adopted t ...

line. Except where noted, beginning with Tailspin Tommy and the Island in the Sky these adaptations of the comic strip were ghostwritten by Gaylord Du Bois and illustrated by Hal Forrest: *''Tailspin Tommy in The Famous Pay-Roll Mystery'', 1933 *''Tailspin Tommy - The Dirigible Flight to the North Pole'', 1934 *''Tailspin Tommy - Hunting for Pirate Gold'', 1935 *''Tailspin Tommy and the Island in the Sky'', 1936 *''Tailspin Tommy and the Hooded Flyer'', 1937 *''Tailspin Tommy and the Sky Bandits'', 1938 *''Tailspin Tommy in The Great Air Mystery (starring Noah Beery)'', 1938 (based on the screenplay of the serial) *''Tailspin Tommy and the Lost Transport'', 1940 *''Tailspin Tommy, The Weasel, and His Skywayman'', 1941 Others: * ''Tailspin Tommy'', a Big Little paperback (no subtitle), 1935 * ''Tailspin Tommy in Flying Aces'', from Dell Publishing, 1938 A novel by Mark Stevens, ''Tailspin Tommy: The Mystery of the Midnight Patrol'', was published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1936

References

{{Reflist

External links

GalleryComic book cover gallery
American comic strips 1928 comics debuts 1942 comics endings Aviation comics Fictional aviators Fictional American people American comics characters Comics characters introduced in 1928 American comics adapted into films Male characters in comics