11 Facts About Gene Ahern

Eugene Leslie Ahern was a cartoonist best known for his bombastic Major Hoople, a pompous character who appeared in the long-run syndicated gag panel Our Boarding House.

Gene Ahern was born and raised in Chicago, attending public schools and working as a butcher boy, as noted in a 1929 newspaper article:.

Gene Ahern spent his time making sketches on the long rolls of brown paper in which the shop's meat was wrapped.

Gene Ahern snipped them off and wrapped them up, using, by chance, a sheet of the paper he had previously covered with sketches.

The conversation continued and Gene Ahern told of his studies at art school and of his fondness for sketching.

In 1914, after three years study at the Chicago Art Institute, Gene Ahern went to Cleveland and worked for the Newspaper Enterprise Association syndicate as a sportswriter and artist, initially inking comic drawings for $18 a week.

Gene Ahern worked on such strips as Dream Dope, Fathead Fritz, Sporty Sid and his Pals, Taking Her to the Ball Game, Ain't Nature Wonderful, Squirrel Food, Balmy Benny and Otto Auto, about a man who loved driving so much that he couldn't stop.

Gene Ahern made a daily game out of Otto's driving exploits, inviting readers to submit ideas for how to stop Otto's car.

Gene Ahern knew that trying to make Otto Auto a series endlessly plying this single joke was a mistake.

Gene Ahern was making an annual $35,000 at NEA, and King Features Syndicate offered to double that figure.

Gene Ahern was a member of the Los Angeles Art Association, the Bel-Air Country Club, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and the National Cartoonists Society.