Kahles, C.W.

C.W. (Charles William) Kahles (1878-1931) is most well-known for his long-running comedic melodrama, Hairbreadth Harry, one of the first of that genre of comic strips. Hairbreadth Harry ran from 1906 to 1940, with F.O. Alexander taking over the strip after Kahles' passing. Kahles was one of the most prolific cartoonists in the early 20th century, juggling a combination of newspaper strips and magazine cartoons. At one point, Kahles had eight Sunday page features running at the same time, though these were not long-running strips. He was also contributing work on a regular basis to Life, Judge, and Puck, among others. Before working on comic strips on a regular basis, Kahles contributed work to the New York World and the New York Journal. Gordon Campbell, one of the great early researchers and writers about comic strips and political cartoons wrote of Kahles: "Mr. Kahles was the real genius of the pioneer cartoonists. He had that great and rare talent of story telling and the draftsmanship to portray his ideas. Charles W. Kahles had the keen insight to detail his drawings without cluttering them with unnecessary lines. He showed his versatility with many cartoon features while doing several successful strips over a period of years. I think only the few, like myself, that have made complete studies of the overall comics industry could ever understand or appreciate Charles Kahles' contribution to comic art."