Buell, Marjorie Henderson (1905–1993)

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Buell, Marjorie Henderson (1905–1993)

American cartoonist who created "Little Lulu." Name variations: Marge Henderson Buell; (pen name) Marge. Born in 1905; died in Elyria, Ohio, on May 30, 1993.

Using the pen name "Marge," Marjorie Henderson Buell was the original creator of "Little Lulu," which first appeared in June 1935 as a single-panel cartoon in the Saturday Evening Post. "Lulu" later became a comicbook series and a long-running newspaper strip produced by Western Publishing for the Chicago Tribune-New York News syndicate. Buell's character, the feisty little girl who could outwit any kid on the block, left Buell's hands in 1945 when Eastern Publishing Company obtained the rights to the feature for a series of special publications, followed by a long and successful series of comic books, written by John Stanley, whose storyboards were adapted into the artwork. The newspaper strip, which ran from 1955 to 1967, was first done by Woody Kimbrell and, for its last six years, by writer Del Connell and a stable of artists. The popularity of the comic books led to the merchandising of story and activity books, as well as a series of animated cartoons produced by Famous Studios. In 1972, Western Publishing assumed full ownership of Little Lulu, and the Marge byline was dropped.

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