DALE MESSICK CREATOR OF THE BRENDA STARR CARTOON
Dalia Messick (1906-2005) was born in South Bend and raised in Hobart, Indiana. She used her artistic talents to draw cartoons for the Hobart High School Yearbooks. After high school she study at the Art Institute of Chicago for one summer. She moved to New York City and changed her name to Dale Messick in the hopes of getting her cartoons published. In September 1940, “Brenda Starr, Reporter”, a cartoon about a woman reporter noted for her exotic adventures and steamy romances, first appeared in the Chicago Tribune. Brenda Starr’s looks were modeled on the film star Rita Hayworth. By 1945, the strip was syndicated nationally and published daily. At the height of its popularity, the Brenda Starr cartoon strip appeared in 250 newspapers around the world. For nearly 50 years, Messick led millions of readers through the adventures of Brenda Starr in more than 10,000 storyboards. Following the birth of her daughter, Starr and later a divorce, Messick returned to Northwest Indiana in 1952, buying a house at 43 Shore Drive then later moving to 3 Skyline Drive.
Brenda Starr, Reporter was published as a comic book series. There have been four films and television movies based on the Brenda Starr comic strip. In 1964, the Madame Alexander Doll Company introduced a doll named Brenda Starr. In 1995, a US Postage Stamp was created of Brenda Starr, Reporter. In 2003, the Efran Bee Doll Company created a 16-inch Brenda Starr collectible fashion doll, with the glamorous 1940s fashions of the comic strip. The next year a doll of Brenda’s apprentice Daphne Dimples debuted followed by a doll of Brenda’s ‘Mystery Man” Basil St. John.
Dale Messick retired from the Brenda Starr comic strip in 1982 and others produced the comic strip through 2011. Dale Messick received many accolades including the National Cartoonists Society’s Story Comic Book Award in 1975 and their Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. Messick was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2001. Following her retirement, Messick moved from Ogden Dunes to California to be near her daughter, Starr and grandchildren. While in California, Messick created a comic strip Granny Glamour which ran in Oakmont Gardens Magazine each week.
