Harold Knerr
American comic strip writer and artist (1882-1949)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Harold Hering Knerr (September 4, 1882 – July 8, 1949), who signed his work H. H. Knerr, was an American comic strip creator. He was the writer-artist of the comic strip The Katzenjammer Kids for 35 years.
September 4, 1882
| Harold Knerr | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | Harold Hering Knerr September 4, 1882 Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | July 8, 1949 (aged 66) Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Area(s) | Artist, writer |
Notable works | The Katzenjammer Kids |
Early life
Knerr was born September 4, 1882, in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania.[1] His father Calvin B. Knerr, was a homeopath and colleague of Constantine Hering, a pioneer in homeopathy.[2]
He attended the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art.[3]
Career
Knerr worked as a newspaper illustrator. He recalled, "My first newspaper work was drawing pictures of gravestones atop the oldest graves in a local cemetery for The Philadelphia Record. These were paid for at the fee of three dollars each."[4]
According to Knerr authority James Lowe, Knerr was extremely prolific, producing more than 1,500 Sunday comic pages between 1901 and 1914 for a half-dozen continuing features in three different Philadelphia newspapers.[5]
He created his first comic strip, Zoo-Illogical Snapshots, for the Public Ledger. In 1902, he worked for The Philadelphia Inquirer and drew comic strips Mr. George and his Wife and Scary William.[6] From 1903 to 1914, he drew The Fineheimer Twins, an imitation of The Katzenjammer Kids by Rudolph Dirks.[7]
Knerr took over The Katzenjammer Kids Sunday strip in November 1914 when Dirks left the Hearst-owned New York Morning Journal after a legal dispute.[7] During World War I, some newspapers retitled the strip as The Shenanigan Kids, and the nationality of the characters was changed to Dutch instead of German because of World War I anti-German sentiments. It changed back to its original name and contents in 1920.[7][8] He continued to write and draw the strip until his death in 1949, when it was taken over by Charles H. Winner.[9][10]
Knerr's continuation of The Katzenjammer Kids has been praised as "a particularly brilliant job... true to the spirit of the original, and yet stylistically his own."[11]
On May 16, 1926, Knerr started Dinglehoofer und His Dog (sometimes titled Dinglehoofer und His Dog Adolph during the early 1930s),[12] a topper that accompanied The Katzenjammer Kids until two years after Knerr's death.[7] By 1936, to avoid any association with Adolf Hitler, the dog's name was changed to Schnappsy.[12]
Personal life
Knerr never married. In New York during the 1940s, he lived in the Hotel Blackstone at 50 East 58th Street. He died July 8, 1949,[1] in Manhattan from heart disease.[13] He was interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.[14]
Comic strips
- Zoo-Illogical Snapshots
- Mr. George and His Wife (1904–14)
- Hard Luck Bill (1903–04)
- Die Fineheimer Twins (1903–14)
- Scary William (1906–14)
- The Irresistible Rag (1913–14)
- The Katzenjammer Kids (1913–49)
- Dinglehoofer und His Dog (1926–49)