Hi,
Recently I’ve noticed two news-site articles about Dennis the Menace turning 50. One published on March 14, 2001 on the Excite news site http://news.excite.com/news/r/010314/10/entertainment-people-dennis-dc and the other on March 17 on the BBC News site http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/newsid_1226000/1226423.stm
One says he was created by Hank Ketchum in the US. And that’s the one I know of, but who’s this British kid? They sound so much alike. How is it possible that two Dennis the Menaces were created in March 1951 an ocean apart?
curiously yours,
Brother Rat
All I can[s] say is that’s damned odd.
It would seem that the same name was used for two characters. The British (Scots) Dennis was first part of the ‘Bash Street Kids’:
http://www.hairy1.demon.co.uk/psfg/baxendal.htm
and was altogether more anti-social than the US version. The UK version seems to be slightlt later than the US version.
Whether the US version was well known enough to have crossed the Atlantic before the UK version started is difficult to tell.
I’ve been trying to trace a non cartoon reference to Dennis the Menace, thinking that such usage might pre-date the cartoons, but without success. Such rhyming pairs are common though.
The real Dennis the Menace is Hank Ketcham’s son, naumed, uh, Dennis. He and his father haven’t spoken in years (I’m sure it’a about money). He lives in a run-down trailer park in Ohio and has a $6/hour job retreading tires.
FWIW
Yup. And “Alice” (actually I think her name really was Alice) divorced him ages ago.
And Dennis apparently got into drugs.
I saw an interview with him on the 700 Club. And even on that happy-upbeat-we’re-so-glad-we’re-Christian show, they couldn’t hide how bitter he was that his family had refused to conform to the idea he had laid out for them- the one he keeps doing in his strip instead.
Kind of a sad guy.
FWIW
the uk dennis the menace was not part of the bash street kids. while they are both featured in beano, dennis has his own strip.
putting actual date of origin aside, the uk dennis seems to be the only of the two that was actually menacing. the us dennis was merely a brat, usually accidental. our uk friend went out of his way to torment the neighbourhood, destroy property, and attack the softies.
so it would seem to me that our black-haired friend is the real dennis the menace.
And isn’t there one country where the U.S. Dennis the Menace is known only as “Dennis” because of a murderer who went by that nickname?
Dennis is indeed Hanks’ son. Hank hangs out with my friends here, they are all cartoonists. Dennis went to some of the best private schools in this area. Dunno what he is up to today but like Clint Eastwood’s son, he probably didn’t get much of the dough.
handy You obviously read rastahomie’s comment as you picked up on his reference to the rift being about money. Why you would say * Dunno what he is up to today* ignores the rest of rastahomie’s info-He lives in a run-down trailer park in Ohio and has a $6/hour job retreading tires.
Thanks, rastahomie, for giving a useful post.
The San Francisco Chronicle did a storyon Hank Ketcham this past week. Pretty sad article. Hank and Dennis are estranged.
Coincidence.
The two strips premiered five days apart; the American on March 12, the British on March 17. Neither cartoonist knew what the other had planned. When the American Dennis was imported into Britain, the strip was retitled “Dennis the Pickle” (don’t ask me why).
There were major differences in the two strips. The U.S. Dennis was a little mischeivious, but generally innocent. The British Dennis was nearly psychopathic (the one strip I’ve seen had him making some poor guy in the gym bash into a wall). When the film “Dennis the Menace” premiered in Britain, the critics lambasted it because Dennis was too bland.
RealityChuck asked the musical question:
Hmmm…did they have him running a Jewish delicatessen in Wales?
And yes, British DTM was anarchic, despite the odd whacking with a slipper. And how about that weird little dog?
Granny used to send me the “Beano,” “Victor,” “Hornet,” etc here in Canada. My friends never really understood, and wouldn’t trade me their “Haunted Tank” or the “Unknown Soldier” for them.