DENNIS THE MENACE 149
page. During this period Ketcham
wrote his autobiography, Th e
Merchant of Dennis.
Dennis the Menace also found
success beyond the newspaper
pages. From 1959 to 1963, Jay
North starred as Dennis in a
popular television situation com-
edy. More than 50 million Dennis
collections and comics have been
sold since 1952. In the 1970s a
Dennis and the Bible Kids comic
book series was sold through
Christian bookstores. Dennis
returned to television in 1986
in a popular animated program.
In 1993, a feature fi lm starring
Mason Gamble as Dennis and
Walter Matthau as Mr. Wilson
premiered. It was followed by a
direct to video feature, Dennis
the Menace Strikes Again, star-
ring comedian Don Rickles as
Mr. Wilson. A Dennis the Menace
Christmas followed in 2007 with
Robert Wagner as Mr. Wilson.
While Ketcham portrayed an optimistic world in his comic, his own life was often
marked by hardship and tragedy. In 1959, his wife Alice died of a drug overdose. He
and his son then moved to Switzerland. Dennis was eventually sent to a Connecticut
boarding school and later served a tour of duty in Vietnam. Upon returning from the
war, Dennis Ketcham suff ered post-traumatic stress disorder and became estranged
from his father. Late in life Hank Ketcham claimed to regret having burdened his
son when he chose to name his character after him. Hank Ketcham died on June 1,
2001.
Dennis the Menace continues as a popular feature on the comics page. In 2005,
Fantagraphics Books launched Hank Ketcham’s Complete Dennis the Menace, a
multi-volume series reprinting all of Ketcham’s panels. In the forward to the fi rst book,
Patrick McDonnell, creator of the comic strip Mutts, captures the appeal of Ketcham’s
creation when he writes, “Dennis has all the qualities of a great comic strip character:
innocence, curiosity, and an anarchic free spirit. Dennis was all boy, back when a kid was
allowed to be a kid... It wasn’t a satisfying day if he didn’t make a mess—always coming
home covered in dirt.”
Jay North as Dennis and Joseph Kearns as Mr. Wilson, from
the CBS television series Dennis the Menace (1959). CBS/
Photofest
