Login
Login

Bell Syndicate

{{short description|Early print syndication service}}

{{Infobox company

| name = Bell Syndicate

| logo =

| logo_size =

| logo_alt =

| logo_caption =

| logo_padding =

| image =

| image_size =

| image_alt =

| image_caption =

| native_name =

| native_name_lang =

| predecessor = Wheeler Syndicate

| former_name = Bell Syndicate-North American Newspaper Alliance
Bell-McClure Syndicate

| type = Subsidiary

| industry = Print syndication

| founded = {{start date and age|1916}}

| founder = John Neville Wheeler

| fate = absorbed into United Feature Syndicate

| defunct = {{end date and age|1972}}

| hq_location = 229 West 43rd Street

| hq_location_city = New York City, New York

| hq_location_country = U.S.

| area_served = United States

| key_people = {{unbulleted list | John Neville Wheeler (1916–1966) | Kathleen Caesar (editor) | Henry M. Snevily (president) | Joseph P. Agnelli (executive VP & GM) | Muriel Agnelli a.k.a. Muriel Nissen (columnist) | Louis Ruppel (President & Editor, 1952–c. 1958)}}

| products = columns, fiction, feature articles, and comic strips

| brands =

| subsid = Metropolitan Newspaper Service (1920–1930)
Associated Newspapers (1930–c. 1966)
McClure Syndicate (1952–1972)

| services =

| owners = North American Newspaper Alliance (1930–1966)
Koster-Dana (1966–1972)
United Features Syndicate (1972)

| ratio =

| rating =

| website =

}}

The Bell Syndicate, launched in 1916 by editor-publisher John Neville Wheeler, was an American syndicate that distributed columns, fiction, feature articles and comic strips to newspapers for decades. It was located in New York City at 247 West 43rd Street and later at 229 West 43rd Street. It also reprinted comic strips in book form.Ben Webster's Career or Bound to Win, 1927, in a four-panel horizontal format.

History

= Antecedent: the Wheeler Syndicate =

In 1913, while working as a sportswriter for the New York Herald, Wheeler formed the Wheeler Syndicate to specialize in distribution of sports features to newspapers in the United States and Canada. That same year his Wheeler Syndicate contracted with pioneering comic strip artist Bud Fisher and cartoonist Fontaine Fox to begin distributing their work.{{Cite web |url=http://www.drawger.com/wiki.php?cat_id=3&sub_cat_id=7&topic_id=25 |title=Drawgerpedia: Bud Fisher |access-date=2011-02-28 |archive-date=2018-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181121203857/http://www.drawger.com/wiki.php?cat_id=3&sub_cat_id=7&topic_id=25 |url-status=dead }} Journalist Richard Harding Davis was sent to Belgium as war correspondent and reported on early battlefield actions, as the Wheeler Syndicate became a comprehensive news collection and distribution operation. In 1916, the Wheeler Syndicate was purchased by S. S. McClure's McClure Syndicate, the oldest and largest news and feature syndicate in America. (Years later, Wheeler's company would in turn acquire the McClure Newspaper Syndicate.)

= Foundation of the Bell Syndicate =

Immediately upon the sale of his Wheeler Syndicate, John Neville Wheeler founded the Bell Syndicate, which soon attracted Fisher, Fox, and other cartoonists.

Ring Lardner began writing a sports column for Bell in 1919.

= Mergers and acquisitions =

In the spring of 1920, the Bell Syndicate acquired the Metropolitan Newspaper Service (MNS), continuing to operate it as a separate division.[https://books.google.com/books?id=zNpBAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Metropolitan+Magazine%22+%22Metropolitan+NEwspaper+Service%22&pg=RA13-PA31 "Feature Services Merged: Bell Syndicate Takes Over Metropolitan Newspaper Service,"] Editor and Publisher (April 3, 1920). MNS launched such strips as William Conselman's Good Time Guy and Ella Cinders, and the Tarzan comic strip. In March 1930, United Feature Syndicate acquired MNS and its strips from the Bell Syndicate."United Feature Syndicate Buys Metropolitan Service From Elser: Both Firms Will Retain Separate Identities, With Elser Remaining as Vice-President — Monte Bourjaily to Direct Both Organizations," Editor & Publisher (March 15, 1930). Archived at [http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2010/05/news-of-yore-1930-another-syndicate.html?m=1 "News of Yore 1930: Another Syndicate Gobbled,"] Stripper's Guide (May 4, 2010).Booker, M. Keith. "United Feature Syndicate," in Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas (ABC-CLIO, 2014), p. 399.

In 1924, Wheeler became executive editor of Liberty magazine, and served in that capacity while continuing to run the Bell Syndicate.

In 1930, Wheeler became general manager of North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA), established in 1922 by 50 major newspapers in the United States and Canada which absorbed Bell, both continuing to operate individually under joint ownership as the Bell Syndicate-North American Newspaper Alliance. That same year, Bell acquired Associated Newspapers, founded by S. S. McClure's cousin Henry Herbert McClure. Keeping Associated Newspapers as a division, at that point the company became the Bell-McClure Syndicate.Saunders, David. [https://www.pulpartists.com/McClure.html "SAMUEL S. McCLURE (1857-1949),"] Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists. Accessed Nov. 1, 2018.

In 1933, just as the concept of "comic books" was getting off the ground, Eastern Color Printing published Funnies on Parade, which reprinted in color several comic strips licensed from the Bell-McClure Syndicate, the Ledger Syndicate, and the McNaught Syndicate,[https://www.comics.org/issue/783609/ "Funnies on Parade,"] Grand Comics Database. Accessed Oct. 29, 2018. including the Bell Syndicate & Associated Newspaper strips Mutt and Jeff, Cicero, S'Matter, Pop, Honeybunch's Hubby, Holly of Hollywood, and Keeping Up with the Joneses. Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on newsstands, but rather sent it out free as a promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products. The company printed 10,000 copies, and it was a great success.Brown, Mitchell.{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/mbrown123/greatest_comics/funniesonparade.html |title=The 100 Greatest Comic Books of the 20th Century: Funnies on Parade |accessdate=2003-02-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030224164555/http://www.geocities.com/mbrown123/greatest_comics/funniesonparade.html |archivedate=2003-02-24 }}{{cite book | authorlink=Ron Goulart | last=Goulart | first=Ron | title=Comic Book Encyclopedia | publisher=Harper Entertainment | location=New York | year=2004 | isbn=978-0060538163 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/comicbookencyclo00goul }}

An April 1933 article in Fortune described the "Big Four" American syndicates as United Feature Syndicate, King Features Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, and the Bell-McClure Syndicate.Jeet Heer, "Crane's Great Gamble", in Roy Crane, Buz Sawyer: 1, The War in the Pacific. Seattle, Wash.: Fantagraphics Books, 2011. {{ISBN|9781606993620}}

The Bell Syndicate was one of the many syndicates that rejected Jerry Siegel in 1934 when he proposed a Superman comic strip. The syndicate stated, "We are in the market only for strips likely to have the most extraordinary appeal, and we do not feel that Superman gets into that category."Lamb, David. "Miscellaneous Trivia..." BEM #22 (Jan. 1979), p. 8. (Superman's subsequent debut in Action Comics #1 in 1938 was a huge success.)

The Bell Syndicate-North American Newspaper Alliance acquired the McClure Newspaper Syndicate in September 1952 — making it the second McClure-family-owned syndicate to be acquired by Bell — with Louis Ruppel installed as president and editor.Knoll, Erwin. [http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2008/06/news-of-yore-1952-once-mighty-mcclure.html "McClure Syndicate Sold to Bell-NANA"]. Editor & Publisher (September 6, 1952).

The syndicate's greatest success with comic strips was in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. The company had some strips in syndication through the 1950s but the only ones to have success into the 1960s were Uncle Nugent's Funland, Hambone's Meditations and Joe and Asbestos.

In 1964, the publishing and media company Koster-Dana Corporation was identified as controlling both North American Newspaper Alliance and the Bell-McClure Syndicate.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/05/13/archives/new-director-selected-by-kosterdana-corp.html|title=New Director Selected By Koster-Dana Corp.|date=1964-05-13|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-11-01|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} and by 1970 the syndicate was no longer distributing comic strips.

= Final years =

In 1972, United Features Syndicate acquired NANA / Bell-McClure and absorbed them into its syndication operations.Astor, Dave. [https://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/goldberg-to-retire-from-united-media/ "Goldberg To Retire From United Media,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171207140944/https://www.editorandpublisher.com/news/goldberg-to-retire-from-united-media/ |date=2017-12-07 }} Editor & Publisher (December 17, 2001): "The executive joined United in 1972 when it bought Bell McClure Syndicate and North American Newspaper Alliance, where Goldberg was president."

Bell Syndicate / Bell-McClure Syndicate strips and panels

url = http://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2011/10/obscurity-of-day-gentlemen-prefer.html | accessdate = Aug 29, 2015 }} (1926)

  • Honeybunch's Hubby — C. M. Payne (November 27, 1909—March 30, 1911; April 19, 1931–c. 1934) — alternated as a topper strip with S'Matter, Pop?Holtz, Allan. [https://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2013/09/obscurity-of-day-honeybunchs-hubby.html "Obscurity of the Day: Honeybunch's Hubby,"] Stripper's Guide (September 16, 2013).
  • Joe and Asbestos (originally called Joe Quince) by Ken KlingStephen D. Becker, Comic Art in America. New York : Simon and Schuster, 1959 (p. 235). (1923–1926; 1931–1970)[https://www.lambiek.net/artists/k/kling_kenneth.htm Kling entry], Lambiek's Comiclopedia. Accessed Nov. 4, 2018.
  • Life's Like That - Fred Neher (1934–1941)
  • Looie the Lawyer - Martin Branner (1919)
  • Mescal Ike - Art Huhta and S. L. Huntley (December 6, 1926 – August 24, 1940)
  • Miss Fury - Tarpé Mills (1941–1952)
  • Mutt and Jeff - Bud Fisher and then Al Smith (1916–c. 1944; moved to Field Syndicate)
  • The Nebbs - Sol Hess and Wallace CarlsonRobert C. Harvey,The Art of the Funnies. Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 1994. (p. 69, 103). {{ISBN|0585214212}} (1923–1947)
  • Phil Hardy / Born to Win - "Edwin Alger" (Jay Jerome Williams) and George Storm[http://www.toonopedia.com/phlhardy.htm Phil Hardy] at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. [https://archive.today/20240525221600/https://www.webcitation.org/66xUD1DKP?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/phlhardy.htm Archived] from the original on April 16, 2012. (1925–1934)
  • Reg'lar Fellers (1917–1924) — moved on to George Matthew Adams Service[http://www.bailsprojects.com/bio.aspx?Name=KNIGHT%2c+TACK Tack Knight entry], Who's Who of American Comic Books 1928–1999. Accessed Nov. 1, 2018.
  • Sad Sack - George BakerHubert H. Crawford, Crawford's Encyclopedia of Comic Books. Jonathan David Publishers, 1978 (p. 408). (1942–1957)
  • Sergeant Stony Craig and His US Marines - Frank H. Rentfrow and Don L. DicksonMaurice Horn, The World Encyclopedia of Comics. New York : Chelsea House, 1976. (p. 638) (1937–1946)
  • Sherlock Holmes - Leo O'Mealia (1930–1931)
  • Sir Bagby by Rick and Bill Hackney (1959-1966)
  • S'Matter, Pop? (Nippy's Pop) - C. M. Payne (1911–1940)
  • Straight Arrow - John Belfi and Joe Certa (1950-1952)
  • Tailspin Tommy - Hal Forrest (1928–1940; moved to United Feature Syndicate)
  • That's Different by Walter Berndt (c. 1921)
  • Teena A Go Go — writer Bessie Little and artist Bob Powell (August 14, 1966 – February 18, 1967)
  • Toonerville Folks by Fontaine Fox (1916–c.1930) — originated with Wheeler Syndicate; later moved to the McNaught Syndicate where it ran until 1955
  • True Comics - Ed Smalle and Jack Sparling (early 1940s)
  • You Know Me Al - Ring Lardner with art by Will B. Johnstone and Dick Dorgan (1922–1925)
  • Uncle Nugent's Funland[http://comics.lib.msu.edu/rri/nrri/nuev.htm "Nueva" to "Nukunuku,"] Michigan State University Libraries Special Collections Division: Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection. Accessed Jan. 1, 2019. by Art Nugent (1950–1972; became part of United Feature Syndicate)

Key people, writers, and columnists

Henry M. Snevily was the firm's president. Kathleen Caesar was the Bell Syndicate's editor. Film critic Mordaunt Hall was a Bell copy editor, and he also contributed articles. In 1964, Will Eisner was appointed president of NANA and Bell-McClure, replacing Harry Spiess.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/01/17/archives/nana-and-bellmcclure-select-a-new-president.html|title=NANA and Bell-McClure Select a New President|date=1964-01-17|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-11-01|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}

Late in life, after moving over from the Ledger Syndicate, Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer wrote the Dorothy Dix advice column, which ran in 160 newspapers, until her 1951 death, when Muriel Agnelli took over the column. In 20 newspapers it appeared under the byline "Muriel Nissen," Agnelli's maiden name. Born in Manhattan, Muriel Agnelli attended Hunter College and also studied journalism and psychology at Columbia University. After marrying Joseph P. Agnelli in 1929, she began editing Bell's four-page children's tabloid, The Sunshine Club, and she later wrote a column about postage stamps and stamp collecting. Joseph Agnelli was the Bell Syndicate's executive vice-president and general manager.

The syndicate also distributed James J. Montague's column More Truth than Poetry, as well as many other articles and light fiction pieces, from about 1924 until his death in 1941. The liberal Washington columnist Doris Fleeson wrote a daily Bell political column from 1945 to 1954.[https://books.google.com/books?id=a7kT7EDFakAC&dq=%22bell+syndicate%22&pg=PA89 Riley, Sam G. Biographical Dictionary of American Newspaper Columnists, Greenwood, 1995.] Drew Pearson's Washington-Merry-Go-Round column (moving over from United Features Syndicate in 1944) was carried in 600 newspapers until Pearson's death in 1969.[https://auislandora.wrlc.org/islandora/object/pearson%3A1 "Drew Pearson's Washington Merry-Go-Round,"] American University Digital Research Archive. Accessed Nov. 1, 2018.

See also

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • Wheeler, John Neville. I've Got News for You, 1961.

External links

  • [https://archive.org/details/definingnewyorke00leej/page/143 Defining New Yorker Humor by Judith Yaross Lee]
  • [http://library.apsu.edu/dix/timeline.htm Dorothy Dix Papers]

{{Authority control}}

Category:Comic strip syndicates

Category:Print syndication

Category:Companies based in New York City

Category:Mass media companies established in 1916