The Frank Jay Markey Syndicate was a small print syndication service that distributed comic strips and columns from the mid-1930s to c. 1950. Although small in size, the syndicate distributed strips by a number of notable cartoonists, including Ed Wheelan , Rube Goldberg , Boody Rogers , and Frank Borth . The syndicate also provided material for the burgeoning comic book industry, for companies like Quality Comics and Columbia Comics .
17-882: Founder Frank Jay Markey was originally an executive with the McNaught Syndicate ; he formed the syndicate to distribute his own column, eventually adding comic strips as well. The company's first strip was Rube Goldberg 's Lala Palooza , followed by Bill Walsh and Ed Wheelan 's Big Top . In 1937, the Markey syndicate partnered with two other syndicates, the McNaught Syndicate and the Register and Tribune Syndicate , as well as with entrepreneur Everett M. "Busy" Arnold , to provide material for Arnold's Feature Funnies . In 1939, Cowles Media Company (the Register and Tribune Syndicate's corporate owner) and Arnold bought out
34-500: A feature by McEvoy, he moved to Woodstock, New York , in 1923 to study painting with Henry Lee McFee and Andrew Dasburg . He sometimes drew Woodstock into his strips as a town named Stoodwock. In October 1929, he began illustrating Dixie Dugan , created and written by McEvoy. It was distributed by the McNaught Syndicate from 1929 to 1966. Striebel continued to work on the strip until the early 1960s, when he became ill. Streibel's assistants were Al Bare, Dave Huffine and Frank McNitt,
51-830: A magazine, the McNaught Magazine , which failed. He then, in 1910, started the Central Press Association syndication service, with offices in Cleveland, Ohio . In 1920, McNitt founded the Central Press Association of New York City. (Although both services had the same name, they were separate operations.) In 1922, McNitt and Charles V. McAdam (1892–1985) absorbed the operations of the New York City Central Press Association and co-founded
68-404: A new comics publishing company, Columbia Comics , which would carry both new comics and reprints of McNaught syndicated comics like Joe Palooka . The company existed until 1949 and is best remembered for their publication Big Shot Comics . The syndicate continued columns and strips which were already successful when acquired, but it also was active in creating and suggesting new content, from
85-476: 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. In 1937, the McNaught Syndicate partnered with Frank J. Markey (formerly a McNaught executive) and the Register and Tribune Syndicate , as well as with entrepreneur Everett M. "Busy" Arnold , to provide material to
102-464: The McNaught Syndicate became the production company for a few Heathcliff movies, including Heathcliff: The Movie from 1986. In addition to the list below, cartoons by Rube Goldberg and editorial cartoons by Reg Manning from 1948 to 1971, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in 1951 John H. Striebel John H. Striebel (September 14, 1891 - May 22, 1962)
119-554: The McNaught Syndicate, with headquarters in The New York Times building. Will Rogers ' weekly column started in 1922 in 25 newspapers. By 1926, his daily column ran in 92 newspapers, and it reached 400 papers three years later, making him one of the best paid and most read columnists of the United States at the time. From 1925 until 1951, Charles Benedict Driscoll was one of the editors and contributors for
136-545: The McNaught and Markey interests. In 1940, Markey and the McNaught Syndicate made a similar partnership with artist/editor Vin Sullivan to form Columbia Comics . The Markey syndicate made a bit of a splash in 1947 with Frank Borth 's sea adventure daily strip Ken Stuart in 1947, but the strip was out of syndication a few years later, and with it went the syndicate. McNaught Syndicate The McNaught Syndicate
153-481: The Will Rogers columns to comic strips like Don Dean's Cranberry Boggs . In one case, McNitt supported a crossover between the comic strips Joe Palooka and Dixie Dugan , a feat which was commented upon by Editor & Publisher . Their last success came with the comic strip Heathcliff , which they syndicated from the start in 1973 until the late 1980s. Heathcliff appeared in some 1,000 newspapers, and
170-437: The burgeoning comic book industry. For this reason, from 1937 until 1939, many of the syndicate's comic strips were reprinted in the comic book anthology Feature Funnies (published by Arnold). In 1939, Cowles Media Company (the Register and Tribune Syndicate's corporate owner) and Arnold bought out the McNaught and Markey interests. In 1939, the syndicate hired Vin Sullivan , then editor of Action Comics , to start
187-558: 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 McNaught Syndicate, the Ledger Syndicate , Associated Newspapers , and the Bell Syndicate , including Ham Fisher 's Joe Palooka . Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on newsstands , but rather sent it out free as
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#1732783552347204-545: The country. After graduating from Notre Dame, he moved to Chicago where he became an advertising and fashion illustrator for the Chicago Tribune . In addition to magazine covers, he also illustrated Robert Quillen 's syndicated feature, Aunt Het . He illustrated for magazines, including Liberty , and a comic strip, Pantomime , which ran for eight years. While doing Pantomime he also illustrated McEvoy's magazine serial, Show Girl . After work on The Potters ,
221-427: The syndicate. Writers syndicated by McNaught in those first years included Paul Gallico , Dale Carnegie , Walter Winchell and Irvin S. Cobb . By the early 1930s, the McNaught Syndicate had a stable which included columnists O. O. McIntyre and Al Smith and at one time even syndicated a letter by Albert Einstein . Other successes included columns by Dale Carnegie and Dear Abby by Abigail Van Buren . At
238-526: The time of McNitt's death in 1964, the syndicate was still led by McAdam, providing contents to 1,000 newspapers. By 1987, McNaught had only 24 features left, making it the tenth largest comic strip syndicate in the United States at that time. The syndicate eventually folded in September 1989. One of the first syndicated artists was Rube Goldberg . McNaught's line-up of comic strips included Mickey Finn and Dixie Dugan . Ham Fisher 's Joe Palooka
255-608: Was an American illustrator and comic strip artist who was best known for the newspaper strip Dixie Dugan , which was scripted by J. P. McEvoy . The two met when they were college freshmen at the University of Notre Dame . Born in Bertrand, Michigan , Striebel began working at the age of 14 as a political cartoonist for the South Bend Daily News , receiving recognition as the youngest front-page cartoonist in
272-466: Was an American newspaper syndicate founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt (who gave it his name) and Charles V. McAdam. Its best known contents were the columns by Will Rogers and O. O. McIntyre , the Dear Abby letters section and comic strips, including Joe Palooka and Heathcliff . It folded in September 1989. Virgil McNitt (1881–1964) first tried his hand at publishing
289-421: Was at first rejected by McNitt, but Fisher was hired as a salesman for the syndicate, offering McNaught's features to newspapers. After having sold his comic to 20 newspapers, McNitt had to change his opinion and added Joe Palooka to the syndicate, becoming one of the big successes for it. By the mid-1930s, McNaught's stable of cartoonists included Fisher, John H. Striebel , and Gus Mager . In 1933, just as
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