''Little Iodine'' is an American Sunday comic strip, created by Jimmy Hatlo, which was syndicated by King Features and ran from August 15, 1943 until August 14, 1983. The strip was a spin-off of '' They'll Do It Every Time'', an earlier Hatlo creation.

Publication history

From August 14, 1943 to February 13, 1966, ''Little Iodine'' was written and drawn by Hatlo, who said, "I tried to make her the embodiment of all the brats I knew... I tried to make her naughty as hell—and still likable." Al Scaduto also contributed to the strip from February 20, 1966 to September 3, 1967, with

Hy Eisman Hy Eisman (born March 27, 1927) is an American cartoonist. Comic Strips He entered the comic strip field in 1950 and worked on several strips, including ''Kerry Drake'', ''Little Iodine'' and ''Bunny''. In comic books he was the last artist d ...

and Bob Dunn taking the strip from September 10, 1967 through its end in August 1983. Iodine also appeared in a series of 56

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...

between 1949 and 1962. Iodine made a cameo appearance on the October 30th 2022 strip of the Popeye Sunday strips.

Characters and story

First seen during the 1930s in a supporting role in Hatlo's popular gag panel, ''They'll Do It Every Time'', Little Iodine was the daughter of Henry Tremblechin and his wife, Cora. Her purpose was to serve as a pesky nuisance to the strip's star, Henry, and her behavior caused endless misery for her mild-mannered, easily unsettled father. However, Iodine proved to be popular in her own right, stealing the strip from her parents, so Hatlo promoted the character into her own strip in 1943. Iodine's antics gave the Sunday comics page a female precursor to Hank Ketcham's '' Dennis the Menace''.

Film adaptation

In 1946, Comet Productions, a company established by

Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...

, her husband, Charles Rogers and

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

executive Ralph Cohn, produced a 56-minute feature film, ''Little Iodine'', starring Hobart Cavanaugh as Henry,

Irene Ryan Irene Ryan (born Irene Noblitt, Noblett, or Noblette; October 17, 1902 – April 26, 1973) was an American actress and comedienne who found success in vaudeville, radio, film, television, and Broadway. She is most widely known for her por ...

as Cora and Jo Ann Marlowe as Little Iodine. The film was directed by

Reginald Le Borg Reginald Le Borg (11 December 1902 – 25 March 1989) was an Austrian film director. He was born in Vienna, Austria with the surname Groebel and directed 68 films between 1936 and 1974. Le Borg made a series of low-budget horror films at U ...

. In the movie, Iodine thinks that her mother is having an affair with Professor Simkins (Leon Belasco). Consequently, she tries one antic after another to break up the adulterous couple. Her efforts backfire when they cause conflict between Henry and his employer, Mr. Bigdome ( Emory Parnell). The film was scheduled for release earlier than October 20, 1946 (its actual distribution date), but that date was postponed due to an epidemic of polio that prevented children across the United States from attending films. The film is considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy ...

References

Sources

* Strickler, Dave. ''Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index.'' Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995.

External links

Little Iodine [character]
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original on November 10, 2015.
Hal Erickson reviews ''Little Iodine'' film
{{King Features Syndicate Comics 1943 comics debuts 1983 comics endings American comics adapted into films American comics characters American comic strips Child characters in comics Comics adapted into animated series Comics spin-offs Comics about women Female characters in comics Gag-a-day comics Children's comics