Harry Donenfeld

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Harry Donenfeld
Publisher
Spouse
Gussie Weinstein
(m. 1918)
ChildrenIrwin (1926–2004)
Sonia "Peachy" (b. 1928)
ParentItzhak Donenfeld
RelativesCharlie, Mike, and Irving (brothers)

Harry Donenfeld (

National Allied Publications, which distributed Detective Comics and Action Comics, the originator publications for the superhero characters Superman and Batman. Donenfeld was also a founder of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.[3]

Biography

Early years

Harry Donenfeld was born into a

United States of America with his parents and his brother Irving. A few years later the family was joined by Harry's two elder brothers Charlie and Mike. Little is known of his early life, as is common with many people entering America during the days of mass immigration; but the family entered America via Ellis Island and took up residence in New York City in the Lower East Side area.[4]

Donenfeld spent his early life in and out of school, and later in and out of gangs,[5] refusing to settle down or find an occupation like his brothers, who had set up a printing enterprise. Harry became a clothing salesman working in the city, saw himself as a class above the ordinary working man, and wanted a better life, preferably without hard work. After he avoided the draft in 1917, he married Gussie Weinstein (1898–1961) in 1918, and thanks to a loan from her parents he was able to open a clothing store in Newark, New Jersey.[6]

Martin Press

When

Hearst magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Good Housekeeping. This was partly due to his new underworld contacts having close connections with Hearst newspaper salesman Moe Annenberg. The company was able to move from its earlier downtown location to a twelve-story building in the Chelsea district. 1923 also saw the emergence of the competitive business side of Donenfeld as he took control of Martin Press and forced his two older brothers out of the company, leaving Irving as a minority partner and head printer. In 1931, Donenfield changed the company name from Martin Press to Donny Press.[8]

Pulp magazines

In 1924–25, Donenfeld, through his Elmo Press (formed in 1924), began printing Frank Armer's film magazine

W. M. Clayton, and put them out under the name of Donenfeld Magazines (D.M.).[9][10][11] He used the names Irwin Publishing (formed 1926) and later Merwil Publishing (formed 1932) to release more magazines along the same lines: Hot Tales, Joy Stories and Juicy Tales.[9][12] Elmo Press declared bankruptcy in 1932 and its assets were acquired by Merwil.[9]

In August 1933, Donenfeld formed Tilsam Publications to produce a mixed girlie/film magazine, Real Screen Fun.[9][13] In November 1933, he drafted Armer as editor to form a company called Super Magazines which ended up specializing in the mixed girlie/genre pulps Spicy Adventure, Spicy Detective, Spicy Mystery and Spicy Western. In 1934, after getting charged with obscenity, and narrowly escaping jail, Donenfeld changed the name of Super Magazines to Culture Publications.[9] In January 1943, again trying to clean up their image, he changed the word 'Spicy' to 'Speed' in the four magazines with that name.[14] Speed Western lasted the longest, ceasing publication in 1948.

National Allied Publications

In 1929, as a favor to an old client, Julius Liebowitz, Donenfeld gave work to Julius' son,

Independent News Company in 1932.[17]
Now Donenfeld was a distributor as well as a publisher and was now no longer reliant on others to run his business.

In 1935, Major

National Allied Publications in their entirety as part of the action.[18]

The fourth publication under National Allied Publications would be

radio show featuring the character.[19] At the end of 1941 Donenfeld's comic businesses took in $2.6 million. Shuster and Siegel had sold the rights for the character to National Allied Publications, so as Donenfeld became rich, they continued on flat employee fees. Legal actions between the creative pair and National Allied Publications for compensation would continue for decades to come, but Donenfeld allowed Liebowitz to handle this side of his empire.[20]

American Comics Group

Donenfeld also owned a stake in a competitor comics publisher, American Comics Group (ACG). A gin rummy and traveling partner of Benjamin W. Sangor, in 1943 Donenfeld helped Sangor start ACG,[21] which was published until 1967. (ACG was also distributed by Donenfeld's Independent News.)

Injury and death

In 1962, the week before he was set to marry his second wife,[22] Donenfeld fell, injuring his head, which resulted in a lack of memory and speech from which he never recovered.[23] He died at a care home in New York City in 1965,[9] and is buried in Mount Ararat Cemetery, East Farmingdale, New York.

Donenfeld was posthumously named in 1985 as one of the honorees by DC Comics in the company's 50th-anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great.[24]

Family

Harry's son Irwin Donenfeld was born in 1926,[25] and worked for the firm from 1948 to c. 1968, holding the titles of editorial director and executive vice president. Harry's daughter Sonia (known as "Peachie") was born in 1927. She was married to Fred Iger in 1947, had 2 children and the marriage ended in divorce after 15 years.

References

Notes

  1. ^ "Say How: D". National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. Retrieved February 23, 2019.
  2. ^ Social Security Death Index, Social Security #082-03-1850.
  3. ^ Donenfeld death notice, New York Times (Feb. 28, 1965).
  4. ^ Jones, pp. 1–4.
  5. ^ Jones, p. 15.
  6. ^ Jones, pp. 19–22.
  7. ^ Jones, p. 42.
  8. ^ Jones, pp. 42–46.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g David Saunders, "Harry Donenfeld" at PulpArtists.com
  10. ^ Todd Klein, "Schnapp, Donenfeld and the Pulps – Part 1" at kleinletters.com
  11. ^ Damon C. Sasser, "REH Splashes the Spicys – part I"
  12. ^ Douglas Ellis. 2003. Uncovered: The Hidden Art of Girlie Pulps. Adventure House.[page needed]
  13. ^ Brian Cronin. "How a U.S. Postal Service Crackdown on 'Indecency' Led to DC's First All-Humor Comic". Comic Book Resources.
  14. ^ Beau Collier, "Birth of the Girlie Pulps" at pulpmags.org
  15. ^ Jones, p. 62.
  16. ^ Jones, p. 89.
  17. ^ Jones, pp. 89–92.
  18. ^ Jones, pp. 101–102, 107–108, 125
  19. ^ Van Lente, Fred (2012). The Comic Book History of Comics. IDW. p. 32.
  20. ^ Jones, p. 142.
  21. ^ Markstein, Don. "The American Comics Group," Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Accessed Aug. 29, 2011.
  22. ^ Tom De Haven. 2010. Our Hero: Superman on Earth. Yale University Press.[page needed]
  23. ^ Donenfeld entry, Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999.
  24. ^ Marx, Barry, Cavalieri, Joey and Hill, Thomas (w), Petruccio, Steven (a), Marx, Barry (ed). "Harry Donenfeld Detective Comics Inc." Fifty Who Made DC Great, p. 6 (1985). DC Comics.
  25. ^ Jones, p. 51.

Sources

Further reading

External links