They'll Do It Every Time
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They'll Do It Every Time is a single panel newspaper comic strip created by Jimmy Hatlo which debuted on February 5, 1929. The title of the strip became a popular catchphrase, still used today by many people who have no idea of its origin.
The strip illustrates minor absurdities, ironies, and misfortunes of everyday life. Often these ideas came from reader suggestions, which were credited with a small acknowledgement accompanied by a tiny drawing of Hatlo tipping his hat. Today, readers are still credited, but without the "Hatlo hat" drawing.
Hatlo, a sports cartoonist, created the strip to fill space on the comics page of The San Francisco Call-Bulletin when comics from the syndicate failed to arrive on time. The featured proved so popular that it was itself eventually syndicated and Hatlo continued it until his death in 1963. His former assistant Bob Dunn continued it until his own death in 1989. It is now written and drawn by Dunn's former assistant, Al Scaduto.
In its early decades, a timid man named Henry Tremblechin was a recurring victim of the strip's observations. Tremblechin's bratty daughter Little Iodine was spun off into her own comic strip (1943-1986), comic book (1949-1962), and even a 1946 film.
King Features Syndicate picked it up for national distribution in 1936. Today, King Features distributes the panel to more than 100 American newspapers.
External links
- They'll Do It Every Time at King Features (http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/theydoit/about.htm)
- Toonopedia (http://www.toonopedia.com/theydoit.htm)