Dale Messick

Dale Messick (April 11, 1906 – April 5, 2005) was the first woman syndicated comic strip artist in the United States. She was best known as the creator of Brenda Starr, which at its peak in the 1950s ran in 250 newspapers.

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She was born Dalia Messick in South Bend, Indiana to a seamstress and commercial artist. She had an interest in writing and drawing since childhood. She studied briefly at the Ray Commercial Art School in Chicago but left to begin a career as a professional artist.

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She began working for a Chicago greeting card company and was successful but quit when her boss lowered her pay during the Great Depression. She moved to New York City and found work at another greeting card company at a higher salary, and began assembling a portfolio of comic strips after work.

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Messick was not the first female comic strip creator; Nel Brinkley, Gladys Parker, and Edwina Dumm had all achieved success in the field. But there was still a bias against women and Messick decided to change her first name to Dale to help get her work seen by editors. She produced a number of ideas for strips with titles such as Weegee, Mimi the Mermaid, Peg and Pudy, the Struglettes, and Streamline Babies, none of which were picked up for publication.

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1906: 1906 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar)....

2005: 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar....

Syndicated: REDIRECT syndication...

Dale Messick related Images and Photos (experimental)

Dale Jr. - Patience	Dale Evans	Dale Murphy	Dale Murphy
Dale Carnegie	Dale Robertson	Jim Dale	Dale Evans Cutout
Dale Earnhardt Sr. Notecards	Dale Earnhardt Jr. Notecards	Dale Earnhardt - Drive	Dale Earnhardt Sr. Magnetic Notepad