Henry Boltinoff
{{Use American English|date=September 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Short description|American cartoonist (1914–2001)}}
{{Infobox comics creator
| image = Henryboltinoffself.jpg
| caption = Self-portrait
| birth_name =
| birth_date ={{Birth date|1914|2|19}}
| birth_place = New York City, U.S.
| death_date={{Death date and age|2001|4|26|1914|2|19}}
| death_place =
| area =
| write =
| art = y
| edit =
| alias =
| signature =
| notable works = Hocus-Focus
Stoker the Broker
National Periodicals humor features
| awards = National Cartoonists Society's Humor Comic Book Award, 1970
NCS Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award, 1981
Inkpot Award, 2001[https://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot Inkpot Award]
}}
Henry Boltinoff (February 19, 1914 – April 26, 2001){{cite web|last=Miller |first=John Jackson |author-link=John Jackson Miller |url=http://cbgxtra.com/knowledge-base/for-your-reference/comics-industry-birthdays |title=Comics Industry Birthdays |work=Comics Buyer's Guide |date=June 10, 2005 |location=Iola, Wisconsin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110218031356/http://cbgxtra.com/knowledge-base/for-your-reference/comics-industry-birthdays |archive-date=February 18, 2011 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url= https://www.lambiek.net/artists/b/boltinoff_henry.htm|title= Henry Boltinoff|date= April 16, 2016|publisher= Lambiek Comiclopedia|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120505113528/http://lambiek.net/artists/b/boltinoff_henry.htm|archive-date= May 5, 2012|url-status= live}} was an American cartoonist who worked for both comic strips and comic books. He was a prolific cartoonist and drew many of the humor and filler strips that appeared in National Periodical comics from the 1940s through the 1960s.
Career
= Comic books =
Born in New York City, Boltinoff created numerous humor features for DC Comics, where his brother Murray Boltinoff was an editor.{{cite web |url= http://kleinletters.com/Blog/the-dc-comics-offices-1930s-1950s-part-2/|title= The DC Comics Offices 1930s-1950s Part 2|first= Todd|last= Klein|author-link= Todd Klein|date= July 9, 2013|publisher= KleinLetters.com|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054050/http://kleinletters.com/Blog/the-dc-comics-offices-1930s-1950s-part-2/|archive-date= September 21, 2013|url-status= live|access-date= September 20, 2013}} His most prominent creation for DC was "Dover & Clover" which debuted in More Fun Comics #94 (Nov. 1943).{{cite web|url=http://www.toonopedia.com/doverclo.htm |title=Dover and Clover |first=Don |last=Markstein |date=2010 |publisher=Don Markstein's Toonopedia |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240527200454/https://www.webcitation.org/6gyCEFBqc?url=http://toonopedia.com/doverclo.htm |archive-date=May 27, 2024 |url-status=live |quote=Dover & Clover are pretty obscure, but they still ranked as the most prominent characters cartoonist Henry Boltinoff ever created for DC Comics...They made their debut in DC's More Fun Comics #94 (November 1943). }}{{gcdb|type=credit|search= Henry+Boltinoff|title= Henry Boltinoff}} Boltinoff's other features include "Abdul the Fire Eater", "Bebe", "Billy", "Buck Skinner", "Cap's Hobby Center", "Casey the Cop", "Charlie Cannonball", "Chief Hot Foot", "Cora the Carhop", "Dexter", "Doctor Floogle", "Doctor Rocket", "Elvin", "Freddie the Frogman", "Hamid the Hypnotist", "Homer", "Honey in Hollywood", "Hy the Spy", "Hy Wire", "Jail Jests", "Jerry the Jitterbug", "King Kale", "Lefty Looie", "Lem 'n' Lime", "Lionel and His Lions", "Little Pete", "Little Pocahontas", "Lucky", "The Magic Genie", "Moolah the Mystic", "No-Chance Charley", "Ollie", "On the Set", "Peg", "Peter Puptent", "Prehistoric Fun", "Professor Eureka", "Sagebrush Sam", "Shorty", "Stan", "Super-Turtle",{{cite book|last= Eury|first= Michael|author-link= Michael Eury|title= The Krypton Companion|publisher= TwoMorrows Publishing|date= 2006|location= Raleigh, North Carolina|page= 192|isbn= 978-1893905610|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Fcm4JrX-F54C&q=Henry+Boltinoff+Cap%27s+Hobby+Hints&pg=PA192}} "Tricksy the World's Greatest Stunt Man" and "Warden Willis". These were usually lettered by Gaspar Saladino. Boltinoff's final creation for DC was "Cap's Hobby Hints". In 1969, he became the writer of the Date with Debbi and Swing with Scooter titles.
= Magazine cartoons =
Boltinoff started doing magazine cartoons in the early forties. He contributed to all of the mid range magazines, such as Look, Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post, True, Liberty, The American Legion':, Sunday newspaper magazines such as This Week', Today, The American Weekly, Parade{{Cite web|title=The Fabuleous Fifties|url=http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/search/label/Henry%20Boltinoff|access-date=December 6, 2020|website=allthingsger.blogspot.com}} and almost every other general interest magazine, from The Progressive Farmer to The Ford Times. He also sold a large number of cartoons to special cartoon magazines, such as 1000 Jokes and Judge and Gags.For Judge he did a monthly one page feature identifying character types between 1944 and 1947{{Cite web|last=Apeldoorn|first=Ger|date=November 28, 2020|title=The Fabuleous Fifties: Here Come The Gags|url=http://allthingsger.blogspot.com/2020/11/here-come-gags.html|access-date=December 6, 2020|website=The Fabuleous Fifties}} and for King Features' Pictorial Review{{Cite web|last=Apeldoorn|first=Ger|date=April 13, 2015|title=The Fabuleous Fifties: Boltinoff For Ya|url=https://allthingsger.blogspot.com/2015/04/boltinoff-for-ya.html|access-date=December 6, 2020|website=The Fabuleous Fifties}} he had a regular page of gags under the title "Gags and Gals". All in all he was one of the best selling cartoonists in the 1940s and into the 1950s. Even while doing his filler strips for DC, his cartoons kept appearing in magazines such as Boy's Life and many of the low rent Humorama titles.
= Comic strips and panels =
Boltinoff was a regular contributor to This and That (a daily cartoon panel from the George Matthew Adams syndicate), Nubbin (1970 - 1986), This Funny World (a daily cartoon panel from the McNaught syndicate) and Laff-A-Day (a daily cartoon panel from King Features). He also had his own panels: Woody Forrest (1960), Stoker the Broker (1960), and Hocus-Focus through 2001.{{cite web|url=http://www.toonopedia.com/h_boltin.htm |title=Henry Boltinoff |first=Don |last=Markstein |date=2010 |publisher=Don Markstein's Toonopedia |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120918151038/http://www.toonopedia.com/h_boltin.htm |archive-date=September 18, 2012 |url-status=live |quote=When he died (April 26, 2001), he left behind more than a year's worth of unpublished Hocus Focus cartoons. }} He received the National Cartoonists Society's Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award in 1981 and also received their Humor Comic Book Award for 1970.{{cite book|last= Strickler|first= Dave|author-link= Dave Strickler|title= Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index|publisher= Comics Access|date= 1995|location= Cambria, California|isbn= 978-0970007704}}{{cite web |url=http://www.reuben.org/ncs-awards/division-awards#comic |title=Division Awards Comic Books |year=2013 |publisher=National Cartoonists Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131216074848/http://www.reuben.org/ncs-awards/division-awards/#comic |archive-date=December 16, 2013 |url-status=dead |access-date=December 16, 2013 }}
Hocus-Focus may have been Boltinoff's best-known work. The King Features Syndicate feature, which was started c. 1965 by Harold Kaufmann,{{cite web|url= http://kingfeatures.com/2014/01/hal-kaufman-longtime-feature-editor-and-contributor-dead-at-94/|title= Hal Kaufman, Longtime Feature Editor and Contributor, Dead at 94|date= January 21, 2014|publisher= King Features Syndicate|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190603171920/http://kingfeatures.com/2014/01/hal-kaufman-longtime-feature-editor-and-contributor-dead-at-94/|archive-date= June 3, 2019|access-date=December 29, 2019|url-status= live|df= mdy-all}} includes two similar panels with six differences between them. It continues to run in over 300 newspapers.
Bibliography
=DC Comics=
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
- All Funny Comics #1–23 (Dover and Clover) (1943–1948)
- The Best of DC #45 (1984)
- Binky #77 (1971)
- Binky's Buddies #11–12 (1970)
- Date with Debbi #3–5, 14 (1969–1971)
- Detective Comics #158, 163, 165, 171 (Dover and Clover) (1950–1951)
- More Fun Comics #94–100, 102–127 (Dover and Clover) (1943–1947)
- Star Spangled Comics #23, 24, 96 (1943–1949)
- Superboy #83 (1960)
- Swing with Scooter #17–18, 29, 31 (1969–1970)
- World's Best Comics #1 (1941)
- World's Finest Comics #2–4, 12, 67 (1941–1953)
{{div col end}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{comicbookdb|type=creator|id= 2076|title= Henry Boltinoff}}
- [http://kingfeatures.com/features/puzzlesandgames/hocus-focus/ Hocus Focus] at King Features
- [http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/creator.php?creatorid=172 Henry Boltinoff] and [http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/gallery.php?page=boltinoff The Henry Boltinoff Hall of Fame Gallery] at Mike's Amazing World of DC Comics
- {{cite web|url= http://www.dialbforblog.com/archives/314/|title= Super Turtle!|first= Kirk|last= Kimball|date= n.d.|publisher= Dial B For Blog|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160329152252/http://dialbforblog.com/archives/314/|archive-date= March 29, 2016|url-status= dead}}
- [https://osucartoons.pastperfectonline.com/vocabulary?keyword=Boltinoff%2C+Henry%2C+1914-2001&letter=B&searchtype=creator&showsearch=true Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database]
{{s-start}}
{{succession box|title= Swing with Scooter writer|before= Doug Crane|after= John Albano|years=1969–1970}}
{{succession box|title= Date with Debbi writer|before= n/a|after= John Albano|years=1969–1971}}
{{succession box|title= National Cartoonists Society Division Awards Newspaper Panel Award recipient|before= Bill Hoest|after= Jim Unger|years=1981}}
{{end}}
{{Inkpot Award 2000s}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boltinoff, Henry}}
Category:20th-century American artists
Category:21st-century American artists
Category:American comic strip cartoonists
Category:American comics writers
Category:Artists from New York City