- Harry Donenfeld
Infobox Person
name = Harry Donenfeld
image_size =
caption =
birth_date =October 16 1893
birth_place =Romania
death_date = February1965
death_place =USA
occupation =Publisher
spouse = Gussie Weinstein(1898-1961)
parents = Itzhak Donenfeld
children =Irwin Donenfeld (1926)Gerard (2006), pg 51.]Harry Donenfeld (1893-1965), was an American publisher who is known primarily for being the owner of
National Allied Publications , which distributed "Detective Comics " and "Action Comics ", the originator publications for the superhero charactersBatman andSuperman .Early years
Harry Donenfeld was born into a Jewish family in Romania in 1893, but at the age of five emigrated to the
United States of America with his parents and his brother Irving. A few years later the family was joined by Harry's two elder brothers Charlie and Mike. Little is known of his early life, as is common with many people entering America during the days of mass immigration; but the family entered America viaEllis Island and took up residence inNew York in theLower East Side area.Gerard (2006), pg 1-4.]Harry spent his early life in and out of school, and later in and out of gangs,Gerard (2006), pg 15.] refusing to settle down and find an occupation like his brothers, who had set up a
printing enterprise. Harry became a clothing salesman working in the city, and saw himself as a class above the ordinary working man, and wanted a better life, but preferably without the hard work. After he avoided the draft in 1917, he married Gussie Weinstein in 1918, and thanks to a loan from her parents he was able to open a clothing store in Newark,New Jersey .Gerard (2006), pg 19-22.]Martin Press
When consumer spending dropped in the US in late 1920, Harry and Gussie's store fell on hard times and by early 1921 they were in debt. Harry's skills of flattery and fast talking were of no use when the country was in economic decline and despite Gussie's best efforts the store went broke.Gerard (2006), pg 42.] Under pressure to find a steady income, Harry found work with his brothers' printing company, now called Martin Press, as a salesman and fourth partner. During the twenties Martin Press saw a vast expansion in capital. It is speculated that Harry, through links with gangster
Frank Costello , moved alcohol, now illegal during the prohibition, along with legitimate Canadian pulp paper across the border. By 1923 Haryy had managed his most important sales deal of his life, acquiring the rights for Martin Press to print 6 million subscription leaflets for Hearst magazines such as Cosmopolitan andGood Housekeeping . This was partly due to his new underworld contacts having close connections with Hearst newspaper salesman Moe Annenberg. The company was able to move from their earlier downtown location to a 12 story building in the Chelsea district. 1923 also saw the emergence of the brutal business side of Harry as he took control of Martin Press and forced his two older brothers out of the company, leaving Irving as a minority partner and head printer. Harry then changed the company name from Martin Press to Donny Press.Gerard (2006), pg 42-46.]National Allied Publications In 1929, as a favour to an old client Julius Liebowitz, Harry gave work to Julius' son, Jack.Gerard (2006), pg 62.] Jack and Harry had little in common, but Jack soon emerged as a man who could run finances.Gerard (2006), pg 89.] Whereas Harry would promise the world to clients without understanding the economic realities, Jack was bookish and ensured bills were paid on time and helped create a respectability in the firm. Soon the two men were spoken off as a partnership. With the financial backing of
Paul Sampliner , Irving Donenfeld as head printer, Harry as salesman and Jack Liebowitz running the finances they launched theIndependent News Company in 1932.Gerard (2006), pg 89-92.] Now Donenfeld was a distributer as well as a publisher and was now no longer reliant on others to run his business.In 1935 Major
Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson arrived on the doorstep of Independent News in a desperate bid to relaunch his comic book New Fun, having lost his previous backers due to poor sales and debts. Donenfeld accepted to distribute the comic but with heavy loss of rights to Wheeler-Nicholson. The major produced two more titles to be handled by Independent News, New Comics and Detective Comics (which would later see the first appearance ofBatman ); but now under the banner of Detective Comics Incorporated in which Wheeler-Nicholson was forced to take Donenfeld on as a partner, with Liebowitz named as joint owner. In an almost obvious twist, in 1938 Donenfeld sued Wheeler-Nicholson for nonpayment and Detective Comics Inc. went into bankruptcy. Not too surprisingly Donenfeld bought up the company and Wheeler-Nicholson'sNational Allied Publications in their entirety as part of the action. [Gerrard Jones, "Men of Tomorrow" pp101-102,107-108,125 Arrow Books ISBN 978 0 099 48706 7]The fourth publication under National Allied Publications would be
Action Comics (1938), and it would be this comic book that would change Donenfeld's life. Issue one introduced the superhero, Superman, created by artistJoe Shuster and writerJerry Siegel , and the character's popularity created incredible profits; not only in comic book sales, but also in merchandising such as toys, costumes and even a radio show. At the end of 1941 Donenfeld's comic businesses took in $2.6 million. Unfortunately for Shuster and Siegel, they had sold the rights for the character to National Allied Publications, so as Donenfeld became rich, they continued on flat employee fees. Legal actions between the creative pair and National Allied Publications for compensation would continue for decades to come, but Donenfeld allowed Liebowitz to handle this side of his empire.Gerard (2006), pg 142.]In 1962 Harry Donenfeld fell at his home, injuring his head, which resulted in a lack of memory and speech from which he never recovered. He died at a care home in 1965.
External links
* [http://www.onthemedia.org/yore/transcripts/transcripts_020405_tomorrow.html Article on Harry Donenfeld at On The Media]
Bibliography
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References
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