Bela P. Zaboly (May 1910 – April 1985), a.k.a. Bill Zaboly, was an American cartoonist best known for his work on ''Thimble Theatre'' with ''
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Potrzebie /ref> In headings for ''Thimble Theatre'', his typeset credit line was given as Bill Zaboly rather than Bela Zaboly.
Biography
Born in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, Zaboly drew for his school paper in high school. After graduation, he was employed in the art department of the Cleveland-based syndicate,
Newspaper Enterprise Association
The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...
, where he started as an office boy and eventually was a staff cartoonist.
Early strips
As an illustrator, printmaker and painter, he exhibited in Cleveland and Chicago during the early 1930s, also creating the Sunday strip ''Otto Honk'' about moon-faced, dim-bulb Otto, who was variously employed as a private eye, movie stunt man and football player. Zaboly discontinued this strip in 1936. He was an assistant to
Roy Crane
Royston Campbell Crane (November 22, 1901 – July 7, 1977), who signed his work Roy Crane, was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip characters Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer. He pioneered the adventure comic strip, establi ...
on ''Wash Tubbs'', and from 1936 to 1938 he drew ''
Our Boarding House
''Our Boarding House'' is an American Panel (comics), single-panel cartoon and comic strip created by Gene Ahern on October 3, 1921 and syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association. Set in a boarding house run by the sensible Mrs. Hoople, it d ...
'' after
Gene Ahern
Eugene Leslie Ahern (September 16, 1895 – March 6, 1960) was a cartoonist best known for his bombastic Major Hoople, a pompous character who appeared in the long-run syndicated gag panel '' Our Boarding House''. Many of Ahern's comic strips took ...
E. C. Segar
Elzie Crisler Segar (; December 8, 1894 – October 13, 1938), known by the pen name E. C. Segar, was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Popeye, a pop culture character who first appeared in 1929 in Segar's comic strip ''Thimble ...
died in 1938, ''Thimble Theatre'' was scripted by Tom Sims.
Doc Winner
Charles H. Winner (December 18, 1885 – August 12, 1956), better known as Doc Winner, was an American cartoonist, notable for his comic strips ''Tubby'' and ''Elmer'', plus his contributions to ''Popeye, Thimble Theatre'', ''Barney Google and Sn ...
(1884–1956), who worked in the King Features bullpen, illustrated the strip until Zaboly took over in 1939. Zaboly and Sims produced the
daily strip
A daily strip is a newspaper comic strip format, appearing on weekdays, Monday through Saturday, as contrasted with a Sunday strip, which typically only appears on Sundays.
Bud Fisher's ''Mutt and Jeff'' is commonly regarded as the first daily c ...
until 1954, and they worked on the Sunday strip until 1959. Ralph Stein began writing the daily in December 1954 with Zaboly as artist.
Bud Sagendorf
Forrest Cowles Sagendorf (March 22, 1915 – September 22, 1994), better known as Bud Sagendorf, was an American cartoonist, notable for his work on King Features Syndicate's '' Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye'' comic strip.
Personal life
Born ...
took control of both the daily and Sunday in 1958, although his work was not published until August (daily) and September (Sunday) of 1959. Zaboly also continued Segar's ''Sappo'' topper strip.
Zaboly made certain changes in the strip, notably replacing Swee'pea's nightgown with a small sailor suit, by the request of King Features. This change allowed Swee'pea to walk during the years 1957 to 1959. Sagendorf returned the character to his original appearance.
Zaboly's art was featured in several ''Popeye'' coloring books from the late 1950s through 1964 and in other licensed items during this period. These items included ''Popeye's Presto Paints'' (Kenner, 1961) and ''Popeye's Color and Re-Color Book'' (Jack Built-Toys, 1957) which used all of Zaboly's art.
The last ''Thimble Theatre'' daily by Zaboly was published August 8, 1959, with his Sunday strips continuing for a few months after that. With his ''Thimble Theater'' run ending, Zaboly returned to Cleveland, went back to work for NEA and also was an art salesman for the Alan Junkins Studio in Cleveland's Caxton building. He later attempted to launch his own syndicate without success.
Death
He died in 1985, aged 75.
Reprints
Much of Zaboly's work was reprinted in ''Four Color'', ''Magic Comics'', "Dagwood" and ''King Comics''.