Rag Dolls

Saturday Leftover Day. 

As promised, here is the last of the four Harold Knerr half page strip he did before getting the Katzenjammer Kids assignment. I have to warn you, these strips have depictions of villians with a curly mustache that are more than 100 years old and therefore reflect the clichés and mores of that time and should be viewed (or shared) in that context only.

A Fineheimer Friend

 Sunday Suprise Day.

After showing two of Harold Knerr's four pre-Katzenjammer Kids strips, here is the one that got him the Katzenjammer job. Next week, the most rare and forgotten one.

To Knerr Is Human

 Saturday Leftover Day.

Last week I shared a batch of pre Katzenjammer Kids strips by Harold Knerr. He had four different half page features. Here is the second one.

Knerrvous Energy

Sunday Surprise Day. I am later than normal with my post, because I kept finding more and more samples of the strip I wanted to show you. Some time ago I shared a couple of color samples from four different Knerr strips from 1914. Harold Knerr took over The Katzenjammer Kids when originator Dirks had left the syndicate, leaving the title and characters behind (he went on to do the same strip under the name The Captain and the Kids). As one of those samples showed Knerr had done a knock-off version under the name The Feiniger Twins That I knew, but the fact that he did three other half page strips at the same time surprised me. And they were very funny too. Admittingly. the gags are a bit wimple, but Knerr's style just bounces off the page. I came across a very large set of these strips online and started pulling them - but I bit off more than I could chew. So here is where I got so far with one of the strips, called Scary George. I will add the other in the following weekends and keep adding new online scans to this one as I go along. Maybe even a bit more information.

Face Time

Saturday Leftover Day.

Before Harold Knerr took over The Katzenjammer Kids (when it's creator left the Hearst company to continue it under a new name at another syndicate), he was best known for doing many different strips. Wikipedia tells it quite well: "created his first comic strip, Zoo-Illogical Snapshots, for the Public Ledger. In 1899, when he was 18, he started working for the Philadelphia Inquirer. In 1901, he drew the Sunday strip, Willie's Revenge, followed by a number of comic strips, including the Mr. Jack-inspired Mr. George and His Wife (1904–14). In 1906, he took over the strip Scary William and continued it until 1914. From June 15, 1913 to November 15, 1914, he drew The Irresistible Rag. (The cartoonist Joe Doyle drew both Scary William and The Irresistible Rag after Knerr left these strips.) From 1903 to 1914, he drew The Fineheimer Twins, an imitation of The Katzenjammer Kids, which made it obvious he was the ideal artist to replace Rudolph Dirks on The Katzenjammer Kids."

I recently came across two papers carrying thse early strips and it occurred to me that I would love to see a book devoted to those. I would call it The Many Different Phases of Harold Knerr. This lot includes the aforementioned Feinheimer Kids. I guess the Jocko strip is actually from the same series, but as you can see most of these strips did not have a logo, just a new title every week.