The Press: Henry & Philbert

One day two years ago in Wisconsin a hard-working cartoonist named Carl Anderson sweated over an idea for a drawing he hoped to sell the Saturday Evening Post. Slowly, painfully the idea took form as a swaybacked, pot-bellied horse and two small boys. One boy was bald as a buzzard. The other boy lifted him up until his naked pate pressed against the horse's sagging belly. Asked the second boy, "Does your head feel warmer now, Henry?"

The $50 paid him by Satevepost for that cartoon looked exceedingly good to Carl Anderson, but the new character he had drawn for the first time looked even better. Henry's personality appealed to him. The very name somehow seemed ideal. Artist Anderson concentrated on Henry, perfected the simple lines of his domed head, big ears, full cheeks, skinny neck. Eyes, nose & mouth, indicated by circles and dots, formed an expression of sublime self-assurance, competence, unconcern. Henry, according to his maker, was not really bald; he Jiad just had all his hair shaved off.

Carl Anderson's Henry quickly became a weekly feature in the Satevepost. Rendered in pantomime without benefit of caption, his escapades were masterpieces of reticence. Inquisitive, ubiquitous, fearless, Henry nearly always remained master of the situation, practically never resorted to slapstick. Typical Henrys: <L A pompous general on horseback reviews his troops, unaware that Henry is perched importantly behind him, enjoying an excellent view.

Henry slides down the banister, with a fat little boy behind him to hit the newel post first.

Behind a beefy orator's back, Henry helps himself to a generous drink from the water pitcher.

A furniture mover lugs a huge over-stuffed chair from van to house, with Henry taking his ease in it.

A market-woman with arms full of children and a heaping tray of fruit balanced on her head is trailed by a hopeful Henry carrying a long-handled net.

A mousy father trundling a baby-carriage full of triplets encounters Henry "thumbing" a ride.

At the rear window of a honeymooners' automobile, Henry settles himself in an attitude of patient expectancy.

Tucked away in the back advertising pages of Satevepost, Henry's adult humor attracted an enormous following. Fan mail deluged him. Advertisers demanded position next to him. Foreign papers reprinted him. Traveling in Germany last autumn Publisher William Randolph Hearst discovered Henry in the Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung, promptly called for a secretary, a cablegram blank. Few hours later in Manhattan Hearst's syndicate chief, Joseph Vincent Connolly, received word: "Get Henry." He took the next train for Madison, Wis. There in a feverish half-hour between trains he signed Carl Anderson to a fat contract with King Features Syndicate.

Last week Henry was appearing in some 50 U. S. dailies, 15 of them Hearstpapers. A Sunday color page was in the making. Henry was being readied for the cinema. Henry dolls were on sale. Nine publishers were clamoring for rights to reprint Henry in 10¢ booklets. And last week brought a crowning glory when the first Henry book appeared.*Composed of 60 examples from the Satevepost the Henry book shows the moppet at his best.