Al Meets Dennis the Menace! (Part 2)
From Dennis the Menace #30 (September, 1958). See here for part one.
Welcome to the middle chapter of our three-part "Al Meets Dennis" extravaganza! Joining in the festivities is Dennis scribe Fred Toole, looking mighty dapper with his Howard Hughes mustache. Not sure why Al drew all those concentric circles in his eyeglasses. Maybe they were supposed to make him seem extremely nearsighted? Or oddly medicated?
What a great story! If only we could all live in Wiseman/Dennis comic book land. Of course, that little blonde-haired kid would make us regret it. But still...
"Al Meets Dennis the Menace!" posts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Please order Dennis the Menace books from Fantagraphics (and ask them to reprint the Wiseman Dennis comic books and Sunday strips).
"Dennis the Menace" & related characters (but not Al Wiseman or Fred Toole) are ©Hank Ketcham Enterprises, Inc.
3 Comments:
This is a fun story for a lot of reasons.
Fred Toole was my GodFather.
Fred and his wife Molly were really Mr& Mrs. Wilson to me.
The only time I remember Al and Fred working in the same room,
was in the early years. (Gotta remember I was pretty young then, so the memory is shakey.)(diction also).
He never liked 9to5.
My Father liked working alone, so that he could draw during whatever hours he chose.
Normally he would get up just before sunup, draw until noon or so, have lunch, take an hour nap,
then draw till around sundown.
Fred would mail my Father the script for the story, which WAS typed out neatly and placed in the normal 6 panel page.
I was always fascinated that there were no pictures or drawings on Fred's scripts. Just typed words.
I remember Fred Toole looking more like a blend between "Boston Blackie" and David Niven. Very quiet man.
In reference to the above story, someone mentioned the fact that my Father drew himself with dizzy eyes.
Perhaps he was feeling happy that day, or those glasses were a little thick, or...I am not really sure.
Interesting that in the first page above, in the lower left panel, where Al refers to Fred as the person who writes all "my" stories? Wonder why he didn't say all "our" stories? Remember Fred wrote the scripts.
I would like to see a perfect edition of that story, magified so I could read the book titles in the studio room scene.
All for now.
Thanks Bill
JRW
Jim,
Thanks for the info!
It's great hearing details about your dad's work routine. Al must have been incredibly busy with all the Dennis product he turned out.
Tomorrow I'll post a close-up scan of the bookshelf from the "Dennis" story so we can (hopefully) figure out the book titles.
Please keep posting (and I'd love to see comments from your sisters Merrily and Jan also)!
Bill
Well, actually next week I'll post a close-up scan of the bookshelf...
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