''Tailspin Tommy'' was an

air adventure The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

comic strip about a youthful pilot, " Tailspin" Tommy Tomkins (sometimes spelled Tompkins). Originally illustrated by Hal Forrest and initially distributed by

John Neville Wheeler John Neville Wheeler (April 11, 1886 – October 13, 1973) was an American newspaperman, publishing executive, magazine editor, and writer. He was born in Yonkers, New York, graduated Columbia University (which holds a collection of his papers ...

Bell Syndicate The Bell Syndicate, launched in 1916 by editor-publisher John Neville Wheeler, was an American syndicate that distributed columns, fiction, feature articles and comic strips to newspapers for decades. It was located in New York City at 247 West ...

and then by

United Feature Syndicate United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media (along ...

, the strip had a 14-year run from May 21, 1928 to March 15, 1942. In the wake of

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

's 1927 flight across the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, the public's fascination with

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot ...

escalated. ''Tailspin Tommy'' was the first aviation-based comic strip to appear as a result of this heightened interest. The strip's 1928 launch was followed by others, notably '' Skyroads'' (1929-1942), ''

Scorchy Smith ''Scorchy Smith'' is an American adventure comic strip created by artist John Terry (cartoonist), John Terry that ran from March 17, 1930 to December 30, 1961. Scorchy Smith was a pilot-for-hire whose initial adventures took him across America, f ...

'' (1930-1961), ''

The Adventures of Smilin' Jack ''The Adventures of Smilin' Jack'' is an aviation comic strip that first appeared October 1, 1933, in the ''Chicago Tribune'' and ended April 1, 1973. After a run of 40 years, it was the longest-running aviation comic strip. The strip was created ...

'' (1933-1973) and '' Flyin' Jenny'' (1939-1946).

Publication history

Scripted by Glenn Chaffin, a newspaper journalist and press agent, ''Tailspin Tommy'' began its run in four newspapers on May 21, 1928. By 1931, it was published in more than 250 newspapers across the country. After buying out Chaffin's interest, Forrest took over the scripting; his first credited Sunday strip ran on January 7, 1934, and his first Sunday appeared on January 22. Forrest wrote and drew the strip solo for the next three years. In 1936, Forrest took on an assistant,

Reynold Brown William Reynold Brown (October 18, 1917 – August 24, 1991) was an American realist artist who painted many Hollywood film posters. He was also briefly active as a comics artist. Biography He attended Alhambra High School and refined his dra ...

, who inked (uncredited) over Forrest's pencils. ''Tailspin Tommy'' is held by some to have improved with Brown's contribution.CollectAir: "Hal Forrest and Tailspin Tommy"
/ref> The Sunday page had several topper strips over the course of the run: ''Progress of Flight'' (1930-1933), ''Four Aces'' (1934-1941), ''How to Fly'' (1935), ''War Plane Insignia'' (1935) and ''Tailspin Tommy Flying Club'' (1935-1941).

Characters and story

Living in Littleville, Colorado, young Tommy Tomkins had such an obsession with flying that he was given the nickname Tailspin Tommy before he ever actually went inside a plane. Although Tommy took an aero-engineering correspondence course, his real introduction to aviation happened when mail pilot Milt Howe made an emergency landing in a field near Tommy's neighborhood. Tommy watched the downward spiral of Milt's plane and ran to help. Howe rewarded Tommy with a greasemonkey job in Texas at the Three Point Airlines, where he soon became a pilot along with his girlfriend, Betty Lou Barnes, and his best buddy, Peter "Skeeter" Milligan. The trio eventually became part owners in Three Point and took off for many airborne adventures.''Tailspin Tommy''
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on September 23, 2015. By 1940, ''Tailspin Tommy'' began to lose papers. A change in syndicates from Bell to

United Features United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media (along wit ...

did little to help, and the strip ended on March 15, 1942.

Film

Tailspin Tommy flew into movie theaters throughout the 1930s. He was portrayed by Maurice Murphy in the 12-episode

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a max ...

movie serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

'' Tailspin Tommy''. Another 12-chapter serial, ''

Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery ''Tailspin Tommy in the Great Air Mystery'' is a 12-episode 1935 Universal movie serial based on the Tailspin Tommy comic strip by Hal Forrest and starring Clark Williams, Jean Rogers and Noah Beery, Jr. The picture was the 96th of the 137 se ...

'' (

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart bec ...

), starred

Clark Williams Myron Clark Williams (May 2, 1870 – December 18, 1946) was an American banker and politician. Life Born in Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York, Williams was the son of George N. Williams, a banker, and Abigail (Clark) Williams (daughter o ...

in the title role. John Trent portrayed Tommy in a series of hour-long features, including '' Mystery Plane'', ''

Stunt Pilot Stunt flying refers to any stunts performed in an aircraft. It encompasses aerobatics, wing walking, and transferring from one airplane to another or to a moving vehicle on the ground, such as an automobile or train, and vice versa. History From th ...

'', ''

Sky Patrol ''Sky Patrol'' is a 1939 American film directed by Howard Bretherton and starring John Trent, along with Marjorie Reynolds, Milburn Stone and Jason Robards Sr. The film also featured actor and comedian Jackie Coogan, who began his film career a ...

'' and '' Danger Flight''. All were released in

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidde ...

Comic books and reprints

Stephen Slesinger Inc. published a series of 30 ''Tailspin Tommy Adventures'' in eight-page booklet form as a promotion with Big Thrill Chewing Gum. In 1936, C.J.H. Publications put out two issues of ''Tailspin Tommy Adventure Magazine''. The magazines published adaptations of comic strip stories. Publication apparently ceased because the rights to the character had not been properly secured. After taking over the syndication, United Features published two ''Tailspin Tommy'' comic books, one in 1940 and one in 1946. ''Tailspin Tommy'' also saw reprints in

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" ...

' ''The Funnies'' and ''Popular Comics''. In 1934, ''Tailspin Tommy'' was among the strips reprinted in the first modern comic book, ''

Famous Funnies ''Famous Funnies'' is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955. Published by Eastern Color Printing, ''Famous Funnies'' is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following se ...

'', published by

Max Gaines Maxwell Charles Gaines (born Max Ginzberg September 21, 1894 – August 20, 1947) was a pioneering figure in the creation of the modern comic book. In 1933, Gaines devised the first four-color, saddle-stitched newsprint pamphlet, a precursor t ...

Eastern Color Printing The Eastern Color Printing Company was a company that published comic books, beginning in 1933. At first, it was only newspaper comic strip reprints, but later on, original material was published. Eastern Color Printing was incorporated in 192 ...

. That same year, Slesinger began publishing a series of ''Tailspin Tommy'' books in its

Big Little Book The Big Little Books, first published during 1932 by the Whitman Publishing Company of Racine, Wisconsin, were small, compact books designed with a captioned illustration opposite each page of text. Other publishers, notably Saalfield, adopted th ...

line. Except where noted, beginning with Tailspin Tommy and the Island in the Sky these adaptations of the comic strip were ghostwritten by

Gaylord Du Bois Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois (sometimes written DuBois) (August 24, 1899 – October 20, 1993) was an American writer of comic book stories and comic strips, as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure novels. Du Bois wrote ''Tarzan'' for De ...

and illustrated by Hal Forrest: *''Tailspin Tommy in The Famous Pay-Roll Mystery'', 1933 *''Tailspin Tommy - The Dirigible Flight to the North Pole'', 1934 *''Tailspin Tommy - Hunting for Pirate Gold'', 1935 *''Tailspin Tommy and the Island in the Sky'', 1936 *''Tailspin Tommy and the Hooded Flyer'', 1937 *''Tailspin Tommy and the Sky Bandits'', 1938 *''Tailspin Tommy in The Great Air Mystery (starring Noah Beery)'', 1938 (based on the screenplay of the serial) *''Tailspin Tommy and the Lost Transport'', 1940 *''Tailspin Tommy, The Weasel, and His Skywayman'', 1941 Others: * ''Tailspin Tommy'', a Big Little paperback (no subtitle), 1935 * ''Tailspin Tommy in Flying Aces'', from Dell Publishing, 1938 A novel by Mark Stevens, ''Tailspin Tommy: The Mystery of the Midnight Patrol'', was published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1936

References

{{Reflist

External links

GalleryComic book cover gallery
American comic strips 1928 comics debuts 1942 comics endings Aviation comics Fictional aviators Fictional American people American comics characters Comics characters introduced in 1928 American comics adapted into films Male characters in comics