''The Little King'' is a 1930-1975 American
gag-a-day
A gag-a-day comic strip is the style of writing comic cartoons such that every installment of a strip delivers a complete joke or some other kind of artistic statement. It is opposed to story or continuity strips, which rely on the development of ...
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 ...
created by
Otto Soglow
Otto Soglow (December 23, 1900 – April 3, 1975) was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip ''The Little King
''The Little King'' is a 1930-1975 American gag-a-day comic strip created by Otto Soglow, telling its stories in a ...
, telling its stories in a style using images and very few words, as in
pantomime
Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...
.
Publication history
Soglow's character first appeared on June 7, 1930, in ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' and soon showed signs of becoming a successful strip. ''The Little King'' began publications in comic book issues from 1933, was licensed for a 1933–34 series of animated cartoons by
Van Beuren Studios
The Van Beuren Corporation was a New York City-based animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936.
History
In 1920, the Keith-Albee organization formed Fables Pictures for the ...
and featured in advertising campaigns for
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
[ from ''The Comics Journal'' #286] and Royal Pudding (1955).
It became evident early on that
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 ...
was determined to add ''The Little King'' to his
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 ...
newspaper strips, but he was hindered by Soglow's contractual obligations with ''The New Yorker''. While seeing out the final period of the contract, Soglow produced a placeholder strip for King Features, ''
The Ambassador'', quite similar to ''The Little King'' in characters, style and story situations.
One week after its final publication in ''The New Yorker'', ''The Little King'' resumed as a King Features
Sunday strip
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 ...
, on September 9, 1934.
[
The strip continued a successful run with several more animated cartoon appearances and advertising campaigns, and Soglow was awarded the 1966 ]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 ...
Reuben Award
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 ...
for the strip. ''The Little King'' ran until Soglow's death in 1975. The final strip ran on July 20, 1975.[
]
Format
The strip is notable for having virtually no dialogue; the title character never speaks. ''The Ambassador'' was nearly identical in format, and the main characters of the two strips were similar. When ''The Ambassador'' gave way for ''The Little King'' in 1934, the reader could not be certain if it was the Little King who had arrived into Hearst syndication or the Ambassador who had removed some disguise.[
The Little King (mustachioed, bearded, and clad in velvet and ermine) was small of stature, but as wide as he was tall. He was a childlike, cheerful fellow who lived to have fun. The final panel of the comic strip often showed His Majesty pursuing a hobby, playing a children's game, flirting with a pretty woman, or otherwise enjoying himself in an unkingly fashion while neglecting his "official" duties.
]
Animated theatrical shorts
All cartoon shorts were produced by Van Beuren Studios
The Van Beuren Corporation was a New York City-based animation studio that produced theatrical cartoons as well as live-action short-subjects from the 1920s to 1936.
History
In 1920, the Keith-Albee organization formed Fables Pictures for the ...
except where otherwise noted. All of the theatrical shorts were released to DVD by Thunderbean Animation. A remastered Blu-ray set is also in production. As in the comic strips, the Little King never speaks in the 1933 and 1934 shorts except for a brief sequence in "Marching Along" (1933).
1933
*''A.M. to P.M.'' (Part of Aesop's Fables Series)
*''A Dizzy Day'' (Part of Aesop's Fables Series)
*''The Fatal Note''
*''Marching Along''
*''On the Pan''
*''Pals (aka Christmas Night)''
1934
*''Jest of Honor''
*''Jolly Good Felons''
*''Sultan Pepper''
*''A Royal Good Time''
*''Art for Art's Sake''
*''Cactus King''
1936
*'' Betty Boop and the Little King'' (produced by Fleischer Studios)
Collections
* ''The Little King'' (1933), Farrar & Rinehart
* ''Cartoon Monarch: Otto Soglow and the Little King'' (2012), IDW Publishing's imprint The Library of American Comics
Library of American Comics (abbreviated as LoAC) is an American publisher of classic American comic strips collections and comic history books, founded by Dean Mullaney and Bruce Canwell in 2007.
History Background
Dean Mullaney, the founder ...
References
External links
*
*
*
Stanley Stories: "Henh! Henh! Hoppin' on the Little King Bandwagon: selections from Dell Four-Color 677, 1956
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little King, The
1930 comics debuts
1975 comics endings
American comic strips
American comics adapted into films
American comics characters
Pantomime comics
Comic strips started in the 1930s
Comic strips ended in the 1970s
Comics characters introduced in 1930
Comics adapted into animated series
Fictional kings
Gag-a-day comics
Male characters in comics
Van Beuren Studios
Works originally published in The New Yorker