News of Yore: 1939 E&P Short Items

Bell Strip in Sunday Debut
Editor & Publisher, 11/10/39

"Flyin' Jenny," created and drawn for Bell Syndicate by Russell Keaton, made its initial appearance as a Sunday half-page in colors on Nov. 5. The comic had been appearing in newspapers as a daily strip since Oct. 2. The feature is a new type of adventure comic, and centers around a pretty girl pilot. The Sunday continuity, Bell announced, will be different from the strip, its theme being Jenny's adventures in trying to crash the national air races.

Keaton, Jenny's mentor, has been drawing for newspapers for the last 11 years, and formerly did the art work on the "Skyroads" strip, and the "Buck Rogers" page. He is a graduate of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, and has been drawing since he was 18. A resident of Corinth, Miss., Keaton spends a great deal of his time around airports and pilots and is himself a student pilot, needing but a few more hours of solo flying for his pilot's license.

The column is supplied in five or six columns for daily release. To Keaton's great satisfaction, it is also appearing in his hometown paper, the Corinth Corinthian.

Hayward's Strip to Continue
Editor & Publisher, 8/5/1939

George F. Kearney, president of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, and manager of the Ledger Syndicate, announced this week that the syndicate's comic strip, "Somebody's Stenog," created by Alfred E. Hayward, who died July 25, would be continued, except for the Sunday page. The strip will be drawn by Sam Nichols, who had been doing the strip for daily publication while the late creator had been ill. Mr. Hayward, however, had continued to do a Sunday page during his illness.

Obituaries - George W. Rehse
E&P 12/9/1939

George W. Rehse, 70, retired newspaper cartoonist, was found shot to death in his automobile Dec. 2 at Burbank, Cal. A gun and note telling of ill health and grief over the death of his wife were besides the body. After working in Minneapolis, he became political cartoonist for the old New York Evening Mail. He later joined the Morning World.
(note from Allan - this obit is the only time I ever found a use of Rehse's first name - even his reprint book refers to him only by his surname)

Obituaries - Walter C. Hoban
E&P 12/2/39

Walter C. Hoban, 49, creator of "Jerry on the Job'" and widely known cartoonist, died Nov. 22 in New York. He started on the old Philadelphia North American and had his first cartoon printed when the sports desk accepted a baseball game sketch in lieu 'of a picture. He then joined the New York Journal and then King Features Syndicate. Besides the "Jerry on the Job" cartoon which he created in 1913, Hoban also drew the exploits of "Soldier Speerens U.S.A.," "Jerry McJunk" and a number of other comic characters. He continued his work during the World War in which he served as a second lieutenant, drawing a weekly cartoon. His wife, two children and four sisters survive.