25 Facts About Harry Donenfeld

Harry Donenfeld is known primarily for being the co-owner with Jack Liebowitz of National Periodical Publications.

Harry Donenfeld was born into a Jewish family in Iasi, in the Kingdom of Romania, and at the age of five emigrated to the United States with his parents and his brother Irving.

Harry Donenfeld spent his early life in and out of school, and later in and out of gangs, refusing to settle down or find an occupation like his brothers, who had set up a printing enterprise.

Harry Donenfeld became a clothing salesman working in the city, saw himself as a class above the ordinary working man, and wanted a better life, preferably without hard work.

Under pressure to find a steady income, Harry Donenfeld found work with his brothers' printing company, now called Martin Press, as a salesman and fourth partner.

Harry Donenfeld was able to move from its earlier downtown location to a twelve-story building in the Chelsea district.

Harry Donenfeld used the names Irwin Publishing and later Merwil Publishing to release more magazines along the same lines: Hot Tales, Joy Stories and Juicy Tales.

In 1934, after getting charged with obscenity, and narrowly escaping jail, Harry Donenfeld changed the name of Super Magazines to Culture Publications.

In 1929, as a favor to an old client, Julius Liebowitz, Harry Donenfeld gave work to Julius' son, Jack.

Jack and Harry Donenfeld had little in common, but Jack soon emerged as a man who could run finances.

Now Harry Donenfeld was a distributor as well as a publisher and was now no longer reliant on others to run his business.

Harry Donenfeld accepted to distribute the comic but with a heavy loss of rights for Wheeler-Nicholson.

In 1938, Harry Donenfeld sued Wheeler-Nicholson for nonpayment and Detective Comics Inc went into bankruptcy.

Harry Donenfeld then bought up the company and Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied Publications in their entirety as part of the action.

Harry Donenfeld was initially repelled by the seemingly ridiculous fantasy of the character and ordered it never appear on the cover again.

Shuster and Siegel had sold the rights for the character to National Allied Publications, so as Harry Donenfeld became rich, they continued on flat employee fees.

Legal actions between the creative pair and National Allied Publications for compensation would continue for decades to come, but Harry Donenfeld allowed Liebowitz to handle this side of his empire.

Harry Donenfeld owned a stake in a competitor comics publisher, American Comics Group.

Harry Donenfeld founded the company Leader News Company in 1939, in conjuction with Paul Sampliner, Frank Armer and Michael Estrow, to distribute the company's pulp magazine line, later branding under the moniker Trojan Magazines.

Harry Donenfeld later distributed titles by EC Comics, as well as Mainline Publications and Mikeross Publications.

In 1962, the week before he was set to marry his second wife, Harry Donenfeld fell, injuring his head, which resulted in a lack of memory and speech from which he never recovered.

Harry Donenfeld died at a care home in New York City in 1965, and is buried in Mount Ararat Cemetery, East Farmingdale, New York.

Harry Donenfeld was posthumously named in 1985 as one of the honorees by DC Comics in the company's 50th-anniversary publication Fifty Who Made DC Great.

Harry Donenfeld's daughter Sonia was born in 1927.

Harry Donenfeld was married to Fred Iger in 1947, had 2 children and the marriage ended in divorce after 15 years.