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Allen Saunders (April 24, 1899 – January 28, 1986) was an American writer, journalist and cartoonist who wrote the comic strips ''
Steve Roper and Mike Nomad ''Steve Roper and Mike Nomad'' was an American adventure comic strip that ran (under various earlier titles) from November 23, 1936, to December 26, 2004. Originally ''Big Chief Wahoo'', the focus and title character of the strip changed over t ...
'', ''
Mary Worth ''Mary Worth'' is an American newspaper comic strip that has had an eight-decade run from 1938. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, this soap opera-style strip influenced several that followed. It was created by writer Allen Saunders and a ...
'' and ''
Kerry Drake ''Kerry Drake'' is the title of a comic strip created for Publishers Syndicate by Alfred Andriola as artist and Allen Saunders as uncredited writer. It debuted on Monday, October 4, 1943, replacing Norman Marsh's '' Dan Dunn'', and was syndicat ...
''. He is credited with being the originator of the saying, "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans" in 1957. The saying was later slightly modified and popularised by
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
in the song "
Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)" is a song written and performed by John Lennon. It was released on the 1980 album '' Double Fantasy'', the last album by Lennon and Ono released before his death. Paul McCartney has stated this is one of his favou ...
". His full name, John Allen Saunders, sometimes led to confusion with his son John (John Phillip Saunders, 1924–2003), who later continued two of his father's strips.


Career overview

Allen Saunders covered the gamut of comics genres: editorial, commercial, gag, adventure, and melodrama. ''
Big Chief Wahoo ''Steve Roper and Mike Nomad'' was an American adventure comic strip that ran (under various earlier titles) from November 23, 1936, to December 26, 2004. Originally ''Big Chief Wahoo'', the focus and title character of the strip changed over t ...
'' (later renamed ''Steve Roper and Mike Nomad'') was popular in its day, a witty romp with puns, slapstick and satire. But although it defended Native Americans and joked at "palefaces," it relied on exaggerated stereotypes for humor. Saunders admitted that "if we were doing Chief Wahoo today, we'd have problems."Ridgeway, Ann N. (interviewer) 1971. Allen Saunders
''The Journal of Popular Culture''
5 (2), 385–420.
It was his serious dramas or "open-ended novels" ''Steve Roper'', ''Mary Worth'', and ''Kerry Drake'' that showed his mature talents and reflected himself and his views on the human condition. Roper, like Saunders, was a journalist who was decent, knew French, smoked a pipe, had run his college newspaper (and almost flunked physics) and faced tough challenges. Through him, Saunders defended journalism while also enjoying the action sequences he wrote for him and Nomad. He was especially fond of the "indigenous gimmick" technique, solving a problem by using something that is ordinarily ignored in the setting. But he identified more with Mary Worth: "Mary and I have come, over the years, to think pretty much alike" (1971 interview). As opposed to the existing action/adventure genre popular with male readers, his ''Mary Worth'' established the soap strip with its appeal primarily to women. (In his 1971 interview, he said that 90% of his fan letters for Worth came from females, and 90% of those for Roper and Nomad were from males.) It in fact was singled out for praise by
Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
. He inspired later soap strip writers such as Nick Dallis, who started ''
Rex Morgan, M.D. ''Rex Morgan, M.D.'' is an American soap opera comic strip, created May 10, 1948 by psychiatrist Dr. Nicholas P. Dallis under the pseudonym Dal Curtis. History The name for the strip was inspired by the real life Rex S. Morgan Sr., the U.S. Arm ...
'', ''
Judge Parker ''Judge Parker'' is an American soap opera-style comic strip created by Nicholas P. Dallis that first appeared on November 24, 1952. The strip's look and content were influenced by the work of Allen Saunders and Ken Ernst on ''Mary Worth''. Ch ...
'', and ''
Apartment 3-G ''Apartment 3-G'' is an American newspaper soap opera comic strip about a trio of career women who share an apartment in Manhattan. Created by Nicholas P. Dallis with art by Alex Kotzky, the strip began May 8, 1961, initially distributed by the ...
''. But he himself disliked the term "soap" because he saw an underlying unity in his own strips as "adventure strips" based on conflict—emotional conflict in ''Mary Worth'', physical conflict in ''Steve Roper''. One of his major contributions was to merge the two as Roper, Nomad, and Drake increasingly dealt with emotional conflicts in their personal lives and faced hard moral dilemmas.Brandenburg, George A. "Soap Opera in Comics? Never, Says Saunders" (1949), archived a
"News of Yore: Allen Saunders Profiled,"
Stripper's Guide (May 16, 2007).
Narrating conflicts in a range of social issues (drugs, the sexes, divorce, job loss, the youth scene and counterculture, prejudice, and of course crime, to name just a few), Saunders wrote tight, fast-moving stories with plot twists and dramatic tension lightened by droll predicaments. He was known for "sophisticated scripts with literate dialogue", with almost twice as much said (and happening) per daily strip as in the post-1979 versions, and under him, even Nomad (later treated as slow-witted and speaking in
grawlixes Grawlix (), also known as obscenicon, is a combination of various typographical symbols or other unpronounceable characters that replaces a profanity. It is mainly used in cartoons and comics. It is used to get around language restrictions or c ...
) was a sharp, shrewd character who was articulate in three languages. Saunders explored personality and motivation in the long series of people passing through his strips, and they got to be "awfully real" to him. His scripts were interpreted and fleshed out by talented realist artists (Ernst in ''Mary Worth'',
Pete Hoffman Pete Hoffman (February 22, 1919 – September 7, 2013) was an American cartoonist. He is known for his work on the adventure strips ''Steve Roper'' (later ''Steve Roper and Mike Nomad'') and ''Jeff Cobb''. Biography Early life Born in Toledo, ...
and then
William Overgard William Overgard (April 30, 1926''Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1485; May 3, 2002; Page 29 – May 25, 1990), was an American cartoonist and writer with a diverse opus, including novels, screenplays, animation, and the comic strips '' Steve Roper a ...
in ''Steve Roper'',
Alfred Andriola Alfred James Andriola (May 24, 1912 – March 29, 1983) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip ''Kerry Drake'', for which he won a Reuben Award in 1970. His work sometimes appeared under the pseudonym Alfred James. Andriola w ...
and his ghosts in ''Kerry Drake'') who made the characters and settings both attractive and believable. At the end of Saunders' autobiography (published in ''Nemo'' shortly after his death), ''Nemo'' editor
Rick Marschall Richard "Rick" Marschall (born February 3, 1949) Miller, John Jackson"Comics Industry Birthdays" ''Comics Buyer's Guide'', June 10, 2005. Accessed January 10, 2011. . is a writer/editor and comic strip historian, described by ''Bostonia'' magazin ...
called him a "dedicated craftsman and a flinty, memorable personality." That showed through clearly in his 42-year output of popular dramas for his "paper actors."


Biography


Early life and career

Born in
Lebanon, Indiana Lebanon (/ˈlɛbnən/) is a city in and the county seat of Boone County, Indiana, United States. The population was 15,792 at the 2010 census. Lebanon is located in central Indiana, approximately northwest of downtown Indianapolis and south ...
, Saunders enjoyed newspaper comics as a youth, and he practiced drawing them. After graduating from
Wabash College Wabash College is a private liberal arts men's college in Crawfordsville, Indiana. Founded in 1832 by several Dartmouth College graduates and Midwestern leaders, it enrolls nearly 900 students. The college offers an undergraduate liberal arts c ...
in 1920, he taught French there for seven years while working in the summers on his M.A. at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...
and taking night classes at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He drew editorial cartoons and the single-panel ''Miserable Moments'', wrote detective fiction for magazines, worked in
Chautauqua Chautauqua ( ) was an adult education and social movement in the United States, highly popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Chautauqua assemblies expanded and spread throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. The Chautauqua bro ...
theater and wrote plays. These experiences converged in his later comics career.Saunders, Allen. 1983-6. Autobiography, ''Playwright for Paper Actors'', ''
Nemo, the Classic Comics Library ''Nemo, the Classic Comics Library'' was a magazine devoted to the history and creators of vintage comic strips. Created by comics historian Rick Marschall, it was published between 1983 and 1990 by Fantagraphics. ''Nemo'' ran for 31 issues (t ...
'', no. 4-7, 9, 10, 14, 18, 19.
In 1927, while on sabbatical from Wabash, he moved to
Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and accordin ...
as a reporter and drama critic for the ''News-Bee'', and he stayed on with that newspaper. Eight years later,
Elmer Woggon Elmer Woggon (November 4, 1898 – April 1978), who signed his art Wog, was the creator of an early newspaper comic strip that eventually developed into the long-running '' Steve Roper and Mike Nomad''. Biography Born and raised in Toledo, ...
(a friend at the rival ''
Toledo Blade ''The Blade'', also known as the ''Toledo Blade'', is a newspaper in Toledo, Ohio published daily online and printed Thursday and Sunday by Block Communications. The newspaper was first published on December 19, 1835. Overview The first issue o ...
'') proposed a comic strip for
Publishers Syndicate Publishers Newspaper Syndicate was a syndication service based in Chicago that operated from 1925 to 1967, when it merged with the Hall Syndicate. Publishers syndicated such long-lived comic strips as ''Big Chief Wahoo/Steve Roper'', '' Mary Wort ...
, ''The Great Gusto'', which he would draw if Saunders did the writing. They shook on it, but it wasn't accepted until they refocused on its Indian character. On November 23, 1936, it finally appeared in the newspapers as ''Big Chief Wahoo'' and scored a success—fortunately, as Saunders' regular job ended when the ''News-Bee'' folded in 1938. Gags gave way to adventure strips, so in 1940, he began to reshape the narrative into ''
Steve Roper Steve Roper is a noted climber and historian of the Sierra Nevada in the United States. He along with Allen Steck are the founding editors of the Sierra Club journal ''Ascent''. Roper is the winner of the Sierra Club's Francis P. Farquhar Mo ...
'', centered on the escapades of a racket-busting photojournalist.


''Mary Worth''

In 1939, he was asked to write ''Apple Mary'' when its creator (since 1932) Martha Orr left, and he developed it into ''Mary Worth's Family''. While the
King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...
website insists that these two Marys are unrelated, Saunders' autobiography and interviews explicitly document the transition. The Depression-era apple vendor's full name was Mary Worth, and Saunders explained his makeover of the character and how her deceased husband's stocks regained their value. The result was a new kind of continuity strip patterned on women's magazine stories of the time, as Mary met people with interesting lives and dispensed her advice when their problems reached a critical point. When his artist Dale Conner quit to do a strip of her own, Saunders persuaded Ken Ernst to take over the artwork in 1942, and the strip became simply ''
Mary Worth ''Mary Worth'' is an American newspaper comic strip that has had an eight-decade run from 1938. Distributed by King Features Syndicate, this soap opera-style strip influenced several that followed. It was created by writer Allen Saunders and a ...
''. In addition to these two strips, as comics editor for Publishers Syndicate, he finished up the police strip ''
Dan Dunn Dan Dunn is a fictional detective created by Norman W. Marsh. He first appeared in ''Detective Dan: Secret Operative No. 48'', a proto-comic book from 1933, produced by Humor Publishing. He subsequently appeared in newspaper comic strips from 193 ...
'' in 1942–43 and agreed to write the syndicate's proposed replacement, ''Kerry Drake''. But the artist,
Alfred Andriola Alfred James Andriola (May 24, 1912 – March 29, 1983) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip ''Kerry Drake'', for which he won a Reuben Award in 1970. His work sometimes appeared under the pseudonym Alfred James. Andriola w ...
, stipulated receiving sole credit for it. So for three decades, Saunders intrigued newspaper and comic book readers with his well-written and researched ''Kerry Drake'' detective stories, but he was not credited, even when Andriola accepted the 1970
Reuben Award The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
for "''Kerry Drake'' by Alfred Andriola." Saunders quit the strip soon after that and was "not sorry". It was only after Andriola's death in 1983 that the real author was revealed. Even with the occasional assistance of his son John, a Toledo broadcaster, it was a challenge to keep three story strips going (as well as writing a 1950s advertising comic ''Duke Handy'' and consulting on John's strip '' Dateline: Danger!'' (1968–74) But as he noted in his autobiography, "as long as there are people, there are plots." He approached his work as a "craft." After getting feedback for a story idea from his artists, he isolated himself to map it out over 13 weeks of dailies and Sundays (1953 article), with the playwriting formula "First act, get your leading character up a tree; second act, throw rocks at him; third act, get him down". Then, in his work week, he allocated two days to each of the three strips to create a week's worth, using his own cartooning skills to sketch roughs of the characters and dialog in each panel for his artists and letterers to follow. Saunders also served as chair of the Newspaper Comics Council, was a longtime member of the
National Cartoonists Society The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
who helped younger cartoonists get started (e.g.,
Fran Matera Francis A. "Fran" Matera (December 9, 1924 – March 15, 2012) was an American comic strip artist best known for his King Features Syndicate adventure strip ''Steve Roper and Mike Nomad'' from 1984 to 2004. In addition to his extensive experien ...
,
Pete Hoffman Pete Hoffman (February 22, 1919 – September 7, 2013) was an American cartoonist. He is known for his work on the adventure strips ''Steve Roper'' (later ''Steve Roper and Mike Nomad'') and ''Jeff Cobb''. Biography Early life Born in Toledo, ...
, Nicholas P. Dallis, Alex Kotzky), and was a civic-minded leader in Toledo community affairs. In 1957, Saunders wrote the line, "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans," usually attributed to
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
. It appeared in a 1957 issue of the ''
Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his w ...
''.Keyes, Ralph. ''The Quote Verifier: Who Said What, Where, and When'', 2006.


Later life and death

In 1979, Saunders retired and turned over the writing of ''Steve Roper'' and ''Mary Worth'' to son John. He remained professionally active as "Dean of American Continuity Strips" (a reputation that amused him), received an
Inkpot Award The Inkpot Award is an honor bestowed annually since 1974 by Comic-Con International. It is given to professionals in the fields of comic books, comic strips, animation, science fiction, and related areas of popular culture, at CCI's annual co ...
in 1981, and wrote his ''Nemo'' autobiography, a rich resource on the history of American comic strip writing. He died on January 28, 1986, survived by his wife of 63 years, Lois, and their four children (John, David, Penny, Lois Ann), and donating an archive of material to the Browne Library for Popular Culture Studies at Bowling Green State University. ''Steve Roper and Mike Nomad'', the enduring continuation of his first strip, finally came to an end on December 26, 2004, while ''Mary Worth'' still appears under Karen Moy and
Joe Giella Joe Giella (born June 27, 1928)
at the