Flyin' Jenny

Flyin'Jenny, was an US newspaper adventure comic strip created by the cartoonist Russell Keaton. The strip debuted in October 1939. The strip was distributed by Bell Syndicates. "Flyin' Jenny" was published both as a daily and Sunday strip, each running a separate storyline. The name of the strip, as told in "The Aviation Art of Russell Keaton" by Kitchen Sink Press, came about as follows:

"He originally planned to name the heroine of his new comic strip Virginia Dare. Delighted that he wanted to use her name, Virginia cautioned, "Russell, I'm not criticizing, but historians might. Remember, Virginia Dare was the name of the first child born of English parents in this country. Why don't you name her Virginia something else.""As Virginia recalls it, Russell explained that he had specific reasons for choosing his character's last name as well as the first: "No, I want to name her Dare because I'm going to make her a daring young aviatrix." Then he had an idea: "Jenny is a nickname for Virginia. I'll name her Jenny Dare."

Jenny is test pilot at the Starcraft Aviation Factory. She gets involved with spies, saboteurs and criminals. When World War II started Jenny was in the war as well.

When the strip's creator Russell Keaton died in 1945 at a very young age of 35, writer Glenn Chaffin and artist Marc Swayze took over. Soon however, the strip began to lose its popularity as the writers found it difficult to find adventures in a post-war world. The strip was discontinued in 1946.

References

*cite web|title=Don Markstein's Toonopedia|url=http://www.toonopedia.com/flyinjen.htm|publisher=Donald D. Markstein|accessdate=2007-08-31
*cite web|title=The Aviation Art of Russell Keaton, Kitchen Sink Press, pg 16 |url =http://www.amazon.com/s/105-9349382-7880428?ie=UTF8&tag=mozilla-20&index=blended&link%5Fcode=qs&field-keywords=aviation%20art%20of%20russell%20keaton&sourceid=Mozilla-searchConversations with Virginia Keaton Anderson, Russell's widow, my grandmother.