''Winthrop'' is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

syndicated newspaper

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 ...

that was published between 1966 and 1994, created and produced by

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 ...

Dick Cavalli. The series—which derived its comedy from a group of children's nonchalantly world-wise observations—evolved from Cavalli's 1956-1966 strip, '' Morty Meekle'', which featured adult characters.

Publication history

Gag cartoonist Dick Cavalli—whose work appeared in magazines including ''

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 ...

'' and ''

Collier's ''Collier's'' was an American general interest magazine founded in 1888 by Peter Fenelon Collier. It was launched as ''Collier's Once a Week'', then renamed in 1895 as ''Collier's Weekly: An Illustrated Journal'', shortened in 1905 to ''Collie ...

''—had achieved such popularity by 1956 that ''

Writer's Digest ''Writer's Digest'' is an American magazine aimed at beginning and established writers. It contains interviews, market listings, calls for manuscripts, and how-to articles. History ''Writer's Digest'' was first published in December 1920 under ...

'' observed he had "risen to the top faster than any other cartoonist in the business."Wepman, Dennis, in On January 9 of that year, Cavalli launched

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

's syndicated comic strip '' Morty Meekle'', featuring the courtship of the title character and his girlfriend, Jill Wortle, as well as Morty's travails at his low-level office job under boss E.G. Boomer.''Morty Meekle'' (''Winthrop'')
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 March 10, 2015. The strip gradually deëmphasized the romance and work aspects in favor of what comics historian

Maurice Horn Maurice Horn (born 1931) is a French-American comics historian, author, and editor, considered to be one of the first serious academics to study comics. He is the editor of ''The World Encyclopedia of Comics'', ''The World Encyclopedia of Cartoon ...

called its "background chorus of snide youngsters with a perceptive take on the human condition." On February 27, 1966, Cavalli removed the adult characters and renamed the strip ''Winthrop'', after Jill's kid brother, the most prominent of the young social critics. Cavalli's art assistants on the strip included Bob Weber Sr. and

Ray Osrin Raymond Harold Osrin (October 5, 1928 – April 3, 2001) was an American comic book artist and cartoonist. He was most notable for his work in the Golden Age of Comic Books. Later, he took a position as the editorial cartoonist for the Clevela ...

.Dick Cavalli
at the

Lambiek Comiclopedia Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum, ), though since 2007, his son Boris Kousemaker is the current owner. From 1968 to 2015, it was located ...

Archived
from the original on October 13, 2015. After Cavalli had his second heart attack, ''

Sam and Silo ''Sam and Silo'' is an American comic strip created by Mort Walker (creator of ''Beetle Bailey'' and ''Hi and Lois'') and Jerry Dumas, which began on April 18, 1977. The series is a "continuation" or a spin-off of ''Sam's Strip'' (1961-1963), as i ...

'' cartoonist

Jerry Dumas Gerald John "Jerry" Dumas (June 6, 1930 – November 12, 2016) was an American cartoonist, best known for his ''Sam and Silo'' comic strip. Dumas was also a writer, illustrator, and essayist, and a columnist for the '' Greenwich Time''. Biograph ...

substituted on ''Winthrop'' for three months, taking old syndicate-provided strips and writing new dialog and re-lettering them in Cavalli's style.Additional . The strip ended on May 14, 1994.

Cast

* Winthrop Wortle: A little boy. * Mr. Wortle: His father * Spotless McPartland: A

germophobe Mysophobia, also known as verminophobia, germophobia, germaphobia, bacillophobia and bacteriophobia, is a pathological fear of contamination and germs. The term was coined by William A. Hammond in 1879 when describing a case of obsessive–com ...

* Chips: the family dog * Nasty McNarf: The neighborhood bully.

Paperback collections

*''Winthrop: A Strip Coloring Book'' (

Saalfield Publishing The Saalfield Publishing Company published children's books and other products from 1900 to 1977. It was once one of the largest publishers of children's materials in the world. The company was founded in 1900 in Akron, Ohio, by Arthur J. Saalfi ...

Company, Book # 2915 : Akron, Ohio, 1968). Reprints daily strips originally published 1966–1968.

Publication history

Cast

Paperback collections

References

External links

Further reading