Happy 75th Birthday “Dennis the Menace” (and his evil twin across the pond)
By: Kevin Vickery
”Dennis the Menace”
Just over seventy-five years ago, on March 12, 1951, a blond haired, freckled bundle of chaotic energy bounced onto newspaper pages and into the hearts of readers nationwide. Created by Hank Ketcham, the American “Dennis the Menace” comic strip was born out of pure domestic exasperation when Ketcham’s four-year-old son, Dennis, dismantled his bedroom instead of taking a nap, prompting his wife to exclaim, “Your son is a real-life menace!”This lit a creative spark in Ketcham and with instant syndication success, the blond-haired rascal in red overalls became the ultimate suburban nightmare for his patient neighbor, Mr. George Wilson.
“Dennis the Menace” comic from 1951
What started as a modest daily single-panel comic in 1951 quickly expanded into Sunday color pages, massive paperback collections, and an even a comic book run. As he grew in popularity, Dennis made the inevitable leap to the screen.
“Dennis the Menace” comic book cover
The character was successful in the classic live-action CBS television series from 1959 through 1963 starring Jay North as Dennis and Joseph Kearns as the iconic, perpetually grumpy Mr. Wilson. Later generations fell in love with the chaotic blonde scamp through the 1986 animated TV series and a 1993 live-action feature film “Dennis the Menace”, starring Mason Gamble as Dennis and legendary actor Walter Matthau as Mr. Wilson.
“Dennis the Menace”TV series
“Dennis the Menace” animated TV series
“Dennis the Menace” theatrical release posters
In 1994, Hank Ketcham handed off the daily drawing responsibilities of the comic to other artists and since his death in 2001, “Dennis the Menace” has been drawn by his former assistants, Marcus Hamilton, Ron Ferdinand and son Scott Ketcham. Today Dennis is still featured in over 1,000 newspapers in 48 countries and in 19 languages.
“Dennis the Menace” newspaper comics
In one of the most bizarre coincidences in pop-culture or publishing history, thousands of miles away and across the Atlantic Ocean in Dundee, Scotland, a completely separate comic character named Dennis the Menace debuted in the children’s comic magazine, “The Beano” on the exact same day: March 12, 1951.
“The Beano” comic magazine cover
Created independently by British artist David Law from an editor’s inspiration when he heard a music hall song lyric , “I’m Dennis the Menace from Venice”. As this was long before the internet or other modern communication, neither creator knew of the other’s existence, operated independently and with zero collaboration.
While the American Dennis is a well-meaning yet accident-prone, suburban kindergartener, his UK counterpart is a proper schoolboy anarchist, dark-haired, clad in a red-and-black striped jersey, and accompanied by his ferocious Abyssinian wire-haired tripe hound, Gnasher. He is a genuine juvenile delinquent who actively wages war against societal rules and wreaking havoc on local foils like Walter the Softy. The UK Dennis and Walter have a sort of Goofus & Gallant relationship for you “Highlights Magazine” readers that might actually understand that reference.
“Dennis the Menace” and “Walter the Softy” from “The Beano”
As a result of this strange coincidence in order to avoid confusion, the US series has been retitled “Dennis” for British audiences, while the British character’s appearances are often titled, “Dennis and Gnasher” outside the United Kingdom.
“Dennis & Gnasher”
“The Beano” comic magazine that the UK Dennis calls home has sold millions of copies featuring him over the last 75 years.
Today, the magazine sells an estimated 40,000 physical copies per week, alongside strong digital app and website engagement.
“The Beano” comic magazine cover
Despite sharing an identical name, debut date, and a propensity for causing problems in general, both originals forged distinct paths through television, animation, and comics, proving that rule-breaking childhood mischief knows no international borders.
Writing this about “Dennis the Menace” has helped me to reflect back about how the comic section was my introduction to reading the newspaper when I was a kid, especially the Sunday edition. I remember my Grandpa going through the paper and handing my Grandma the coupons, keeping the news and sports sections and handing me, “the funny papers” (or “the funnies”) as we used to call them. After everyone looked through their section, we would trade them around until everyone had finished the paper.
The best part was that my Grandma would keep the funnies week after week, saving them all year so that by December she had enough to use as wrapping paper for all the grandkid’s Christmas presents. My Dad does the same thing when he sends gifts to my kids during the holidays. I always say I am going to start doing this but every year, I forget.
Gifts wrapped with newspaper comics
Funny, when I have shared that story with various people over the years I’ve received reactions ranging from, “Oh, your Grandmother must have been so creative!” to thinking we must have been too poor to afford wrapping paper. Maybe it was a little of both but either way, in these modern days of recycling and repurposing I’d like to think we were simply ahead of our time. I still have a few months before Christmas and so I hereby declare, I’m bringing it back! Feel free to save your gently used funny papers for me.
This, “Make Some Noise” column was originally printed in the Wednesday, August 26th editions of “The Shelbyville News”, “The Courier Times” and “The News Examiner”.
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