Profile of Jane Arden on Famous Like Me

Jane Arden was an internationally syndicated daily newspaper comic strip printed between 1927 and 1968. The title character was the original "spunky girl reporter," actively seeking to infiltrate and expose criminal activity rather than just report on its consequences, and so served as a prototype for later characters such as Superman supporting character Lois Lane and fellow comic strip heroine, Brenda Starr. Jane Arden was only moderately successful in the United States, but was highly popular in Canada and Australia. The strip was widely reprinted in comic books and was also adapted into a radio series and movie.

Jane Arden was created by writer Monte Barrett and artist Frank Ellis for the Register and Tribune Syndicate. Barrett would continue to write the strip until his death in 1949, and his stories continued to be used until 1952 when Walt Graham assumed the writing duties. Ellis was one of five artists to draw Jane Arden over its 41 year run. The work of Ellis's replacement, Russell E. Ross, is perhaps most identified with the character, as he worked on the strip for twenty years. Ross introduced "Tubby," an office boy sidekick transported from the Slim and Tubby strip he had previously worked. It was also during Ross's stint on the strip that it began to include Jane Arden paper dolls and accompanying outfits for readers to cut out.

Jane Arden was the first comic strip character to become involved in World War II, when immediately after the outbreak of war in Europe, Barrett and Ross scrapped their current storylines and gave her a war assignment in the fictional neutral kingdom of Anderia, in a strip published September 25, 1939.

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Mary McGrory credited Jane Arden with instilling her interest in journalism.

Other media

Reprints of the newspaper strip were published in comic books beginning with Feature Funnies #1 (October, 1937), published by Harry A Chesler, and continuing for the twenty issue run of that series until it was taken over by Quality Comics and retitled Feature Comics. The Arden reprints continued for ten more issues, and then appeared in the first twenty-five issues of Crack Comics #1-25.

A Jane Arden radio drama was broadcast from 1937 through 1939, with Ruth Yorke as Jane Arden. A film adaptation, The Adventures of Jane Arden, was released by Warner Brothers in 1939. Arden was played by Rosella Towne, in a plot that involved the reporter going undercover to expose a gang of jewel smugglers. It was billed as the first of a series, though no subsequent Jane Arden films were produced.

Jane Arden comic strip creators

Writers:

• 1927 – 1952 Monte Barrett
• 1952 – 1968 Walt Graham

Artists:

• 1927 – 1935 Frank Ellis
• 1935 – 1955 Russell E. Ross
• 1955 – 1960 Jim Speed
• 1961 – 1963 William Hargis
• 1964 – 1968 Bob Schoenke

Comic book reprints

Australia:

• Jane Arden #1-29 (? Atlas Publications)

United States:

• Feature Funnies #1-20 (October, 1937 – May, 1939; Harry A Chesler)
• Feature Comics #21-31 (June, 1939 – April, 1940; Quality Comics)
• Crack Comics #1-25 (May, 1940 – September, 1942; Quality Comics)
• Pageant of Comics #2 (October, 1947; St. John)
• Jane Arden #1-2 (March, 1948 – June, 1948; St. John)

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