Interesting, Flopsy. I never realized that there were two of them published almost the same exact time and in different countries.

The U.S. Dennis the Menace is a daily syndicated newspaper comic strip originally created, written and illustrated by Hank Ketcham. It debuted on March 12, 1951. Wow! How close is that to the other?

Nice job.

B

David Law's Dennis started off as this squat little kid, then he got very long and skinny then eventually he got back to normal size. Laws started two or three years before those other two great Beano artists, Leo Baxendale (Bash st kids, Little Plum, Minnie the Minx) and Ken Reid (Jonah, Roger the Dodger, Jinx). The early sixties when I used to read it was surely the golden age of the Beano.

Laws also brought out a female version of Dennis in about 1957. Topper fans will remember Beryl the Peril! I do think when Dennis stopped getting slippered for his misdeeds they took a lot of the fun out of the character. However the final nail in the coffin must be not being allowed to bully Walter. Really they should rename the strip, Dennis the Softy!!

I must admit to preferring the American Dennis to his British counterpart, but I think it's fitting that flopsy did this piece, because surely her hero Danny was based on Dennis!

I blame the Beano for turning me into a spanko not to mention my preference for the carpet slipper as the implement of choice. Still deciding whether to sue them or write them a thank-you note.

I admit to having to be very clever in sneaking a look (well, several looks) at my brother's Beano whilst pretending it was beneath my contempt!

I always liked Dennis'expression over dad's knee, it said more than 1000 words, as above.
Not to mention Minnie the Minx, & Beryl the Peril, as blimp has done. I can still remember from when I was nine Minnie's bottom in that tight little black skirt over dad's knee (ahem!). Her adventures were always a bit more surreal & extreme than Dennis' & I seem to remember her dad was in charge of paperclips at work.
I think it may have been a boys' comic like the Hotspur--one with only one strip & lots of writing!--that once had a strip about a C17 school where a new cruel master birched the boys. I remeber two frames: one where the boys had to crawl into the classroom between their master's legs while he birched them, & one where a boy was birched strapped down to the table. With their britches on, of course. Between 62 & 65 it would have been. All true I swear!
In my cousin's Bunty I saw one story about a girl caned so hard across her hands by a mistress that she couldn't play in the piano competition. Any other stories like that in girls' comics?

I bet you were feeling nostalgic as you researched and wrote this piece. It is amazing how comics are such a reflection on our society. As our Morays evolve, so does our entertainment.

Great article; took me back to the American Version of Denis the Menace.
IC

Children's books, like children's comics, used to be full of spankings. Enid Blyton, the best-selling British children's author of the 20th century, was always dishing out spankings to her characters (as, apparently, she did to her own kids). Alas, though many of her books are still in print, in more recent editions the spanking episodes have been censored.

Interestingly, as far as I remember William Brown, hero of Richmal Crompton's 'Just William' books, never got spanked, even though he frequently deserved it. Can anyone recall any spanking episodes in these books?

The things you learn around here! It seems that my background in literature is so poor that I had never suspected that Dennis the Menace had a cousin in the UK.

Like virtually all USA kids of my era, I grew up with the American version of Dennis. While my parents zeroed in on the front and back page of our daily newspaper, us kids would fight over the comic page. The color versions came in a special section of the Sunday paper that we would pull apart to share amongst us kids. Dennis was among my favorites.

Excellent, detailed research, Flopsy - thank you. I'd forgotten it was Thursdays, but I definitely remember that excitement!

Re Wiliam Brown: I think there's an implication in the first book, JUst William, that his father is going to beat him, but it is not described

I have read thirty seven of the thirty eight William books (all except "Lawless"). Painful interludes, courtesy of Mr Brown occurred offstage occasionally as did the canings from Mr Marks at school. Apparently the outlaws greatly respected the strength of his right arm.

Evadne Price produced a female version of William called Jane Turpin, now her spankings usually happened in full public view, brilliantly captured by the illustrator, Frank Grey. The "Jane" books are nearly as funny as William and well worth the considerable expense of tracking down.

Usually Enid Blyton hinted at spankings as she was a bit of a tease. In one of the Mallory Tower books I found four refererences or threats to spank but not one actual spanking. Mind you it's better than reading Jenning's, only a lame reference in Jennings Follows A Clue! In fact it was only after some one told me about the incident that I discovered it. I had several times read the book over the years without even noticing it!

You can't go wrong with the Beano, especially as Dr Keate mentions, Minnie the Minx when she was drawn by the original artist, Leo Baxendale. My own favourite is the Faceache strip drawn by Ken Reid. The headmaster of his school interestingly enough was a certain Mr Thrashbottom, doubtless the dear old papa of our own, much respected, Miss Thrashbottom!!

Girls comics contain a lot less spanking than other comics but look out for a comic from the seventies called, Misty. I think either issue 2 or 3 contains a sequence in which a girl is brutally caned by her wicked stepmother. One of the sixties Bunty annuals contains a caning but a single issue of the 1960s Beano is almost guaranteed to contain more items of interest to the connoisseur than a whole year of the Bunty or Judy!! Maybe that's where I went wrong! I should have stuck to girls comics!

Looking at old comics, movies, and books give us insight to how life used to be. As the Beano writer said, corporal punishment was once part of daily life so it was included in the strip. When it stopped being part of daily life it left the strip.

You can read essays and scholarly works about how life was in the past, but to really get a handle on things there's nothing like pop culture from that era. It reflects the spirit and reality of its day the way that scholarly work just can't.

Flopsy, that was a wonderful look at the history of the cartoon, I did not know that there were 2 Dennis the Menace. The political correct generation may have changed the ways but now spanking seems to be available with the adult scene. Great work.

Over the years I've occasionally glanced at our U.S. Dennis the Menace cartoon in the papers. Each time I have the same thought. Just once I'd like to see a parent or Mr Wilson with that little brat over their knee, giving him a well-deserved tanning..

Flopsy, I feel like Guy. I did not know Dennis had a UK cousin and I don't remember Beano. The only Dennis I read was also a terror, but he was blonde hair and he tortured Mr. Wilson, the next door neighbor. I loved that comic strip. Thanks for the information. It was really interesting and informative.

Dennis the Menace still appears in some US papers. The US iteration of him is a far more benign looking sandy haired little boy. A few years back, quite a few actually, he had his own TV show with Jay North in the lead role. He bore a remarkable resemblance to the Dennis of the comics.

I do remember an occasional spanking threat that the American Dennis's mom made to him. And seem to recall one strip of his where he was itting in the corner, with the "spanking lines" coming from his bottom.
He certainly was a real brat. Also remember the TV show,but don't recall any mention of spanking.

Thank you, Flopsy. I too never knew that there was a Dennis--a slightly different Dennis--on the other side of the pond. I have on occasion read the American comic strip, where Dennis drives Mr. Wilson up the wall. Although the issue of spanking occasionally came up, corporal punishment never figured prominently in the American strip. If it did, the slipper would probably not be the implement of choice. I first learned that the slipper was used on naughty bottoms when my depraved mind caused me to do Internet searches on spanking and I learned that slippers were often used in the United Kingdom.

Thanks for the great article, Flopsy. Like the other Yanks, I only knew of "our" Dennis. Your's was lots more fun. Oh for the Bad Old Days!

I wasn't aware of the UK Dennis either. I grew up watching the American Dennis on television, I never read the comic strip although I was aware that that's where the TV Dennis came from. There was an episode on TV where Dennis was going to be spanked by his father. The spanking did not happen and I can't remember the details leading up to the spanking. Great TV show as mentioned already above.

The American version of Dennis and his girlfriends Margaret and Gina should have all been spanked bare bottom in the comic,

Thanks Flopsy, a great reminder of the magnificent Dennis, a firm favourite of my childhood.