Bill Hoest
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

William Pierce Hoest (February 7, 1926 – November 7, 1988) was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of the gag panel series, ''
The Lockhorns ''The Lockhorns'' is a United States panel (comic strips), single-panel cartoon created September 9, 1968 by Bill Hoest and distributed by King Features Syndicate to 500 newspapers in 23 countries. It is continued today by Bunny Hoest and John Re ...
'', distributed by
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 ...
to 500 newspapers in 23 countries, and ''
Laugh Parade ''Laugh Parade'' was a group of weekly gag cartoons written by Bunny Hoest and drawn by John Reiner. It ran in '' Parade'', a Sunday newspaper magazine supplement. ''Laugh Parade'' displayed three or four single-panel cartoons, one of which was ' ...
'' for ''
Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
''. He also created other syndicated strips and panels for King Features.


Biography

Born in
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
. He started his art career in 1948 as a greeting card designer with Norcross Greeting Cards, continuing in that field until 1951 when he left to become a freelancer. His cartoons soon began appearing in ''
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 ...
'', ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...
'', ''
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 other magazines.


Comic strips

Hoest entered the
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 ...
community in 1960 with ''My Son John'', for the
Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media Se ...
. It last two years, ending in 1962. He then became an assistant on
Harry Haenigsen Harry William Haenigsen (July 14, 1900 – 1990) was an American illustrator and cartoonist best known for '' Penny'', his comic strip about a teenage girl. He also illustrated for books, magazines and advertising. Biography Born in New York C ...
's ''
Penny A penny is a coin ( pennies) or a unit of currency (pl. pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. Presently, it is t ...
''. After an injury from a 1965 traffic accident kept Haenigsen away from the drawing board, Hoest took over most of the work, although Haenigsen still supervised and signed each ''Penny'' strip. Hoest was one of the cartoonists featured in ''
Think Small Think Small was one of the most famous ads in the advertising campaign for the Volkswagen Beetle, art-directed by Helmut Krone. The copy for Think Small was written by Julian Koenig at the Doyle Dane Bernbach (DDB) agency in 1959. Doyle Dane Be ...
'', a 1967 promotional book distributed as a giveaway by
Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...
dealers. Top cartoonists of that decade drew cartoons showing Volkswagens, and these were published along with amusing automotive essays by such humorists as
H. Allen Smith Harry Allen Wolfgang Smith (December 19, 1907—February 24, 1976) was an American journalist, humorist, and writer whose books were popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Family and early career Smith was born in McLeansboro, Illinois, where he liv ...
, Roger Price and
Jean Shepherd Jean Parker 'Shep' Shepherd Jr. (~July 21, 1921 – October 16, 1999) was an American storyteller, humorist, radio and TV personality, writer, and actor. With a career that spanned decades, Shepherd is known for the film '' A Christmas Story'' ...
. While working on ''Penny'', Hoest began his cartoons about a bickering couple, ''
The Lockhorns ''The Lockhorns'' is a United States panel (comic strips), single-panel cartoon created September 9, 1968 by Bill Hoest and distributed by King Features Syndicate to 500 newspapers in 23 countries. It is continued today by Bunny Hoest and John Re ...
'', as a single-panel daily on September 9, 1968, with the Sunday feature launched April 9, 1972. He then took an alternate route with ''Bumper Snickers'' (1974), a cartoon series about cars and drivers for the ''
National Enquirer The ''National Enquirer'' is an American tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1926, the newspaper has undergone a number of changes over the years. The ''National Enquirer'' openly acknowledges that it pays sources for tips, a common practice in tabl ...
''. His King Features
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 ...
, ''
Agatha Crumm ''Agatha Crumm'' is a newspaper comic strip created by the cartoonist Bill Hoest (creator of ''The Lockhorns'') and distributed by King Features Syndicate. The strip ran from October 24, 1977, until 1997. ''Agatha Crumm'' was Hoest's third strip, ...
'', was published as both a
daily Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...
and a
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 ...
from 1977 to 1996. ''
What a Guy! ''What a Guy!'' is an American comic strip created by Bill Hoest and Bunny Hoest, the team responsible for '' The Lockhorns'' and '' Agatha Crumm''. It began in March 1987, just over a year before Hoest's death in 1988. The ''What a Guy!'' daily ...
'', co-created with his assistant
John Reiner John Reiner (born 1956) is a cartoonist who collaborates with writer Bunny Hoest on three cartoon series: '' The Lockhorns'', syndicated by King Features, and ''Laugh Parade'' and '' Howard Huge'' (both for ''Parade'' magazine). Life and career ...
, was syndicated by King Features from 1987 to 1996.


''Laugh Parade''

Hired as the cartoon editor of ''Parade'' in 1979, Hoest created ''Laugh Parade'' for that Sunday supplement magazine in 1980. For ''Laugh Parade'', he ganged together several miscellaneous cartoons, adding ''
Howard Huge ''Howard Huge'' is a cartoon series written by Bunny Hoest and illustrated by John Reiner. Created by Bill Hoest, the series had 80 million readers, since it ran in the Sunday supplement magazine, ''Parade'' from 1980 to 2007, continuing on a websi ...
'' to that mix in 1981. Hoest was reportedly a diligent cartoonist, putting in ten hours a day at his drawing board. "It is a business, and I have to treat it like a business. I keep busy. That's the way I make my living".


Personal life and death

He was president of the
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 ...
at the time of his death. Hoest, who lived in Lloyd Neck, Long Island, was 62 when he died of lymphoma at New York Medical Center. He was survived by his wife,
Bunny Hoest Bunny Hoest (born 1932), sometimes labeled The Cartoon Lady, is the writer of several comic strips, including '' The Lockhorns'', ''Laugh Parade'', and '' Howard Huge'', the first of which she inherited from her late husband Bill Hoest.King Featur ...
; his mother, Dorothea Whittinghill of Lloyd Neck; and nine children and stepchildren. After Hoest's death,
John Reiner John Reiner (born 1956) is a cartoonist who collaborates with writer Bunny Hoest on three cartoon series: '' The Lockhorns'', syndicated by King Features, and ''Laugh Parade'' and '' Howard Huge'' (both for ''Parade'' magazine). Life and career ...
continued to illustrate all the features, while Hoest's widow, Bunny Hoest, took over the scripting. Reiner recalled:


Awards

Bill Hoest received three
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 ...
awards. ''The Lockhorns'' was named the best syndicated panel of 1976 and 1980 by the NCS, and he also won in the gag cartoon division in 1977.National Cartoonists Society Awards
/ref>


Bibliography

*''Santa's Little Helpers, A Christmas Story'' Polygraphic Co of America, 1952. *''Think Small'' Volkswagen, 1967. *''The Lockhorns: What's the Garbage Doing on the Stove?'' Signet, 1975. *''Bumper Snickers''. Signet: 1976. *''The Lockhorns: Loretta, the Meat Loaf is Moving''. Signet, 1976. *''The Lockhorns: Who Made The Caesar Salad - Brutus?''. Signet, 1977. *''Hoest Toasties''. Tempo Star Books: 1978. *''More Bumper Snickers''. Signet, 1979. *''The Lockhorns: Is This Steak or Charcoal?'' Signet, 1979. *''Agatha Crumm''. Signet: 1980. *''Howard Huge''. Lyle Stuart, 1981. *''The Lockhorns: I See You Burned the Cold Cuts Again''. NAL, 1981. *''The Return of Agatha Crumm''. Signet, 1982. *''Even More Bumper Snickers''. Signet, 1982. *''The Lockhorns: Giant Size''. Tor Books, 1984. *''The Lockhorns''. Tom Doherty, 1990. *''The Lockhorns: What Do You Mean You Weren't Listening? I Didn't Say Anything''. Tom Doherty. 2001.


References


External links



{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoest, Bill 1926 births 1988 deaths American comic strip cartoonists Artists from Newark, New Jersey Cooper Union alumni People from Lloyd Harbor, New York United States Navy personnel of World War II