Allen Saunders; Creator of ‘Steve Roper’ Comic Strip
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Allen Saunders, a drama critic and linguist who created the “Steve Roper” comic strip in the late 1930s, has died in Maumee, Ohio, a spokeswoman for his syndicate said.
The News America Syndicate in Irvine said Saunders, who also was a story line writer for “Mary Worth,” died Tuesday at 86.
He was a reporter and drama critic for the Toledo (Ohio) Blade who also taught romance languages at Wabash College.
His first comic strip inspiration was “The Great Gusto,” a spoof on blustery personalities. But a character in that strip, Chief Wahoo, became so popular that Gusto was subordinated to the Indian character.
In 1939 Martha Orr, who did the original story lines for “Apple Mary,” forerunner to “Mary Worth,” withdrew from the strip and Saunders took her place.
One of Saunders three children, a son John, took over the Mary Worth strip in 1979.
The original artist on “Mary Worth,” Kenneth Ernst, died last August.
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