Background

Hank Ketcham was born on March 14, 1920, in Seattle, Washington, United States. He was a son of Weaver Vinson and Virginia Emma (King) Ketcham. At the age of six, Hank knew that he wanted to be a cartoonist. When he was twelve, his mother had died after giving birth to his sister Joan; for long periods, his father was unemployed, and his own prospects were uncertain.

Education

In 1937 Hank Ketcham graduated from Queen Anne High School. In 1938 he attended the University of Washington, but he was soon tired of normal studies and started a career in animation.

Career

After leaving university, Hank Ketcham hitchhiked to Hollywood to answer an advert by the Disney Studios, which were recruiting more cartoonists, following the success of Snow White. Disney rejected him at first, and he was employed by the Walter Lantz studio until 1940 when Disney took him on to work on Pinocchio, Bambi, Fantasia, and short Donald Duck cartoons.

From 1941 to 1945, Hank Ketcham was a chief photographic specialist with the United States Naval Reserve in Washington, District of Columbia, where he created his first comic strip, Half Hitch. Discharged in 1946, Ketcham was enjoying a comfortable freelance career drawing for advertising agencies, and the New Yorker and Collier's magazines. One October afternoon in 1950, his first wife Alice, and four-year-old son Dennis, provided the spark that transformed his life. Instead of taking a nap, little Dennis totally dismantled his bedroom; his mother hit the roof, and declared him a menace. Ketcham took that moment of inspiration and never looked back. His own family triangle provided the basis for the Dennis the Menace.

Comic panel was released on March 12, 1951, in 16 newspapers, but, by the end of the year, it was appearing in more than a hundred. The American Dennis was adapted for a television series starring Jay North in the 1960s, a musical, animated cartoons and a 1993 film, featuring Walter Matthau as George Wilson. Ketcham collaborated with several writers and artists over the years, starting with writer Bob Harmon and, later, artist Lee Holley. Scripter Fred Toole and artist Al Wiseman helped him when a regular comic book was added from 1953.

He lived in Geneva, Switzerland, from 1960 to 1977, while still producing Dennis the Menace. In 1977, he moved back to the United States and settled in Monterey, California. In his later years, Ketcham relegated much of the drawing to his assistants, Ronald Ferdinand and Marcus Hamilton.

Achievements

• Hank Ketcham's comic panel Dennis the Menace appears in more than 1,000 newspapers in 48 countries and in 19 languages. Ketcham’s brainchild has been the subject of a hit network TV series, starring Jay North, which ran from 1959 to 1963, and still appears on stations around the country. More than 50 million "Dennis" books have been sold.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Merchant of Dennis the Menace: The Autobiography of Hank Ketcham

    (In this engaging memoir, the Dennis the Menace creator ch...)

    1990
  • Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1953-1954

    (This second volume of Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the ...)

    2006
  • Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1955-1956

    (Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace is one of the m...)

    2006
  • Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1961-1962

    (The sixth volume of Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Me...)

    2010
  • Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1957-1958

    (No one captured the mischievousness, rambunctiousness, an...)

    2007
  • Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace, 1959-1960

    (We are proud to present the fifth volume of Hank Ketcham'...)

    2008
  • Hank Ketcham's Complete Dennis the Menace 1951-1952

    (Ketcham drew Dennis the Menace from 1951 to 1994, when he...)

    2005
  • Best of Dennis 1974

Views

Quotations: "Flattery is like chewing gum. Enjoy it but don't swallow it."

"Just because I didn't do what you told me, doesn't mean I wasn't listening to you!"

"Anyone in the humor business isn't thinking clearly if he doesn't surround himself with idea people. Otherwise, you settle for mediocrity - or you burn yourself out."

Interests

• golf

Connections

On June 13, 1942, Hank Ketcham married Alice Louise Mahar. On June 22, 1959, she died. They had a son, Dennis L. On July 1, 1959, he married Jo Anne Stevens. Later, they divorced. On June 9, 1970, Hank married Rolande Praeprost. They had two children: Dania King, Scott Henry.

Father:

Weaver Vinson Ketcham

Mother:

Virginia Emma (King) Ketcham

Spouse:

Rolande Praeprost

Son:

Scott Henry Ketcham

Daughter:

Dania King Ketcham

ex-spouse:

Jo Anne Stevens

late spouse:

Alice Louise Mahar Ketcham

Sister:

Joan Ketcham

Son:

Dennis L. Ketcham

References

• Contemporary Authors
  2010