Carl Anderson's Henry

If you've been around long enough to have seen the Liberty Bell when it was on tour, you probably are familiar with the comic strip Henry. Henry is the other little bald-headed boy, who for decades never uttered a word. The strip was created by Carl Anderson and became popular world-wide due to using the universal language of pictures.

An interesting note about Anderson, which might or might not be encouraging to cartoonists seeking syndication, is that he was 69 years old when Hearst signed up Henry with King Features.

Anderson was born the year Lincoln was assassinated. He began his career illustrating fashions and was a freelance cartoonist up until the Depression. In 1933 he sold a Henry cartoon to the Saturday Evening Post, where it became a regular feature. In 1934 Henry was in fifty newspapers which, at the time, enabled a cartoonist to make a very nice living (and still does today, if one lives with his parents). Assistants have carried the strip through from before his death in 1948 until 2005.