It was Hearst who lured R. F. Outcault, creator of "The Yellow Kid" away from a furious Joseph Pulitzer in 1896 to draw the character for his New York Journal. It was also Hearst who in 1897 ordered Rudolpf Dirks to create a comic strip based on a duo of mischievous children and call it "The Katzenjammer Kids." The strip is still running today and is the oldest comic strip in syndication. Ironically, it's now drawn by Hy Eisman, the same artist who writes, draws and inks the Thimble Theatre.

     The list of cartoonists nurtured by Hearst includes George Herriman and "Krazy Kat," Fredrick Opper and "Happy Hooligan," Chic Young and "Blondie" and many many more. Hearst knew the value of his stable of comic strip artists and had his deputies scout out new talent constantly. That's where Elzie Segar comes in.

    In 1919 one of Hearst's more popular comic strips was Ed Wheelan's "Midget Movies." It was a strip which took its cue from the young movie industry. The format for Midget Movies was a parody of the theater. Wheelan filled his strip with recurring characters who would play roles in his "plays." As one continuity would end another would begin and the same characters would assume different roles. Wheelan's strip covered melodramas, westerns, serials and even newsreels and was a highly popular strip with Hearst's readers.

    Late in 1919 Wheelan and Hearst had an acrimonious parting which left both bitter with each other to the end of their days, but the source of the dispute isn't clear. Whatever the reason, Wheelan left Hearst's employ and began to work for a different syndicate. He renamed his comic strip "Minute Movies" and it ran until the 1936. Hearst needed someone to fill the void left by Wheelan's departure.

    It was at this time that Elzie Segar came to his attention. Segar had become an employee of Hearst when Hearst bought the Chicago Herald. It was at the Herald that Segar had drawn Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers and Barry the Boob. When the Herald's assets went to Hearst's Chicago American Segar was included in the package. He began drawing "Looping the Loop" which gave commentary on local Chicago events and reviewed films or sporting events in comic strip form. Looping the Loop is actually credited with increasing the American's circulation although Hearst's business acumen likely helped a bit.

    Such things were not lost on the New York office and Segar was summoned there. It was at this time that Hearst lost Wheelan and his strip so Segar was told to create a similar strip and to call it "The Thimble Theatre." Segar wisely agreed to do as he was told, at least initially. The first Thimble Theatre strip appeared on December 19th, 1919 just a few days after Segar's 25th birthday. To see the very first ever Thimble Theatre strip just click on the LINK.

    Other than the title and the format Segar was given a free hand with the new strip. He created three characters to populate his theatre. The first was Olive Oyl. The second was Harold Hamgravy, her boyfriend and, for lack of a better term, the hero. The third character was a villain named Willie Wormwood, complete with top hat and waxed mustache. Willie made his debut in the second strip.

    It didn't take long for Segar to make changes to his creation. In January of 1920 he introduced Castor Oyl, Olive's brother and the theme of film parody was soon dropped for a simple (and often simplistic) gag a day format. The "Thimble Theatre" slowly gained popularity. Obviously, being a part of the Hearst chain of newspapers didn't hurt. At one point or another William Randolph Hearst owned 36 newspapers in major markets of the U.S.A. and the Thimble Theatre appeared in all of them thanks to Hearst's satellite corporation, King Features Syndicate.

     It's the accepted belief among fans of the Thimble Theatre that at least three of its main characters were based upon real people. To hear more about these alleged inspirations click on the LINK