1. Hammond Edward "Ham" Fisher was an American comic strip writer and cartoonist.
15 Facts About Ham Fisher
1. 2.
Ham Fisher is best known for his long, popular run on Joe Palooka, which was launched in 1930 and ranked as one of the top five newspaper comics strips for several years.
3.
In 1920, Fisher put together a sample package of Joe Palooka but was unable to attract interest.
4.
In 1928, after he secured over 20 sales, including to New York's Daily Mirror, Ham Fisher informed his managers at McNaught, who decided to give Joe Palooka a trial run.
5.
When Capp quit Joe Palooka in 1934 to launch his own strip, Ham Fisher badmouthed him to colleagues and editors, claiming that Capp had stolen his idea.
6.
For years, Ham 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".
7.
Comics historians Denis Kitchen and Michael Schumacher have suggested that while there appears to be no definitive answer as to whether Capp or Ham Fisher invented the hillbillies, they say there is reason to doubt that Capp ghosted several weeks of Joe Palooka strips entirely by himself.
8.
The Capp-Ham Fisher feud was well known in cartooning circles, and it became personal and vitriolic as Capp's strip eclipsed Joe Palooka in popularity.
9.
Ham Fisher retaliated clumsily, falsely accusing Capp of sneaking obscenities into his comic strip.
10.
The story that Ham Fisher doctored the artwork came from Al Capp, of course.
11.
The National Cartoonists Society, an organization that Ham Fisher had helped to found, convened an ethics hearing, and Ham Fisher was expelled.
12.
Ham Fisher became the only man ever sanctioned for "conduct unbecoming a cartoonist".
13.
On December 27,1955, Ham Fisher left his home for Moe Leff's studio, which Ham Fisher had been using while Leff was out of town.
14.
Notes found by police indicated Ham Fisher was despondent over his failing health and planned an overdose of medication.
15.
Ham Fisher was inducted as part of the Hall of Fame's inaugural class.