Hammond Edward "Ham" Fisher (September 24, 1900 – September 7, 1955) was an American comic strip writer. Events 622 - Prophet Muhammad completes his hegira from Mecca to Medina. Year 1900 ( MCM) was an exceptional Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar Events 1251 BC - A Solar eclipse on this date might mark the birth of legendary Heracles at Thebes Greece. Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) The United States of America —commonly referred to as the A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing Cartoons Traditionally much of this work was and still is humorous and is intended primarily for entertainment purposes His most famous creation is Joe Palooka. Joe Palooka was an American Comic strip about a heavyweight boxing champion created by cartoonist Ham Fisher

Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1900 (some sources indicate 1901), Ham Fisher started as a journalist during his teenage years. Wilkes-Barre (ˈwɪlksbɛrə or /-bɛri/ is the central city of the Wyoming Valley and County seat of Luzerne County in northeastern Pennsylvania The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ( often colloquially referred to as PA (its abbreviation by natives and Northeasterners is a state located in the Northeastern Later he became a salesman until he successfully launched Joe Palooka in New York in 1928. Joe Palooka was an American Comic strip about a heavyweight boxing champion created by cartoonist Ham Fisher The strip's success helped to soldify the word "palooka" as a boxer who lacks grace or ability, although the character Joe Palooka was the heavyweight champion. A dozen low-budget film adaptations of "Joe Palooka" appeared from the 1930s into the 1950s.

1949 Joe Palooka strip by Ham Fisher and Mo Leff

In 1920, Fisher put together a sample package for "Joe Palooka," but was unable to attract interest. By 1929, he was working as a travelling strip salesman for the McNaught Syndicate. However, Fisher also hawked his own unpublished, unsold strip. After he'd secured over 20 sales, including to New York's Daily Mirror, Fisher informed his managers at McNaught, who decided to give "Joe Palooka" a trial run. The Daily Mirror, often referred to simply as The Mirror, is a British Tabloid daily Newspaper founded in 1903 The comic strip soon became a national success.

Searching for assistants to work on the strip, Fisher hired (among others) Al Capp, later famed as the writer-cartoonist of Li'l Abner). Al Capp (September 28 1909 &ndash November 5 1979 was an American Cartoonist and Humorist, best known for the satiric Comic strip Li'l Abner was a Satirical American Comic strip appearing in many newspapers in the United States and Canada, featuring a fictional While ghosting on "Joe Palooka," Capp created a storyline about a stupid musclebound hillbilly named "Big Leviticus," who was an obvious prototype for the L'il Abner character. When Capp quit "Joe Palooka" in 1934 to launch his strip, Fisher badmouthed him to colleagues and editors, claiming that Capp had stolen his idea. For years, Fisher would bring the characters back to his strip, billing them as "The Original Hillbilly Characters," and advising readers not to be "fooled by imitations. "

The Capp-Fisher feud was well-known in cartooning circles, and it was personal. Even as Capp's strip eclipsed "Joe Palooka" in popularity, Capp did not forgive. In the 1930s, Fisher hired away Capp's top assistant, Mo Leff. After Fisher underwent plastic surgery, Capp once included a racehorse in "L'il Abner" named "Ham's Nose Job. " Travelling in the same social circles, the two men engaged in a 20-year mutual vendetta, as described by the Daily News in 1998: "They crossed paths often, in the midtown watering holes and at National Cartoonists Society banquets, and the city's gossip columns were full of their snarling public donnybrooks. "^[1]

In 1950, Capp wrote a nasty article for The Atlantic entitled "I Remember Monster. The Atlantic (formerly known as The Atlantic Monthly) is an American Magazine founded in Boston in 1857 " The article recounted Capp's days working for an unnamed "benefactor" with a miserly, swinish personality, whom Capp claimed was a neverending source of inspiration when it came time to create a new unregenerate villain for his comic strip. The thinly-veiled boss was understood to be Ham Fisher.

Fisher retaliated clumsily, falsely accusing Capp of sneaking obscenities into his comic strip. Fisher submitted examples of "L'il Abner" to Capp's syndicate and to the New York courts in which Fisher had identified pornographic images that were hidden in the background art. However, the X-rated material had actually been drawn there by Fisher himself. Capp was able to refute the accusation by simply showing the original printed strips.

In 1954, Capp was applying for a Boston television license, the FCC received an anonymous packet of pornographic "L'il Abner" drawings. The National Cartoonists Society convened an ethics hearing, and Fisher was expelled from the same organization which he had helped to found. The National Cartoonists Society is the world's largest organization of professional Cartoonists It presents the Reuben Awards. Fisher's scheme had backfired in spectacular fashion. Around the same time, his mansion in Wisconsin was destroyed by a nor'easter.

On September 7, 1955, Fisher committed suicide in his studio. Such was his professional isolation that his body was not discovered until December 27 of that year.

External links

• "Ham Fisher" by Matthew Poremba
• "Clash of the Cartoonists: Ham Fisher vs. Al Capp"
• Lambiek Comiclopedia: Ham Fisher