History of Hatlo: Cartoonist On Call

When Jimmy Hatlo assumed the position of automobile editor of the San Francisco Call in January of 1925, it appeared that he had once again put his cartoonist days behind him. For nine months he presided over all things automotive at the Call, primarily focused on a weekly Wednesday page entitled The Automotive Section, but later rechristened Motordom under Hatlo's stewardship. Quite a bit of Hatlo's reporting during the spring and summer of 1925 focused on nearby Yosemite National Park, which had recently been opened to automobile traffic. Such was his local fame and reputation that he even occasioned a portrait photo with his byline.

Hatlo the cartoonist reemerged in October of that year as described by Ed Black in his Hogan's Alley article:

"During that time in California, football reigned supreme, and no team was more revered than the University of California at Berkeley. Berkeley had gone undefeated for five years running and was the pride of the Bay Area. A loss to a team composed of former college all-stars called the Olympic Club sent shock waves through the community. A football nut himself, Hatlo drew a cartoon about the loss. Reluctant to deliver the cartoon directly to the Call ’s sports editor, Pat Frayne, he waited until Frayne was out of the office and placed the cartoon on his desk. The next day, the cartoon greeted Hatlo on the front page of the paper’s sports section."

The cartoon was entitled "Christmas on Mt. Olympus" and spanned across five columns of an eight-column page. It distinctly overshadowed the Call's coverage of the game in an article that appeared below it. Hatlo had returned to what was clearly his first love, and in a big way. The cartoon was an immediate success and Pat Frayne wanted more.

And Frayne got more.  And quickly.  Hatlo immediately established a publishing routine that focused on the college football weekly schedule.  He would produce a Friday cartoon that would anticipate the weekend matchups, then follow up with Monday episode lampooning the results. He also peppered in additional material throughout the week, whether self-commissioned or requested by Frayne. Likely feeling just a bit liberated, he even dropped a cartoon onto the automotive page which he continued to edit.  

When football season ended, so did Hatlo's cartooning resurgence, at least until the following spring when it appears Call managing editor Freemont Older recruited him for content that expanded beyond sports into general interest and political humor.  On March 1, Hatlo delivered a cartoon that could certainly be seen as a precursor to They'll Do It Every Time.  Entitled "Spring is in the Air," it featured a husband squeamishly reviewing the price list at a spring fashion show while his wife gushes.  As time and his endeavors would show, Hatlo would never completely abandon an idea or detail that could possibly serve his needs later.  The husband's name was Henry and he bore a distinct resemblance to the character who would become one of TDIET's most popular recurring cast members - Henry Tremblechin.

"Spring is in the Air" marked the arrival of Hatlo on the Call's editorial page and established a residency of sorts as one of the paper's cartoonists.  His contributions to the editorial page would mix both topical and political content and typically appear two to three times a week.  He would pen the occasional vignettes for the sports page throughout the year but dominated the section again once football season began in earnest in the fall.  Thus began the transition of Hatlo from automobile editing to full-time cartooning, and the Call editors were more than happy to allow him to unleash his inner artist over the next few years.

Such was Hatlo's popularity and success, that on a fateful day in 1929 when there was a sudden vacancy to fill on the Call's comic page, managing editor Edgar Gleason knew he already had a man for the job.

UP NEXT:  The Creation Myths of They'll Do It Every Time

History of Hatlo

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Los Angeles and Apologies to Gale

Part 3: Gasoline Gossip