Ulfer, Dorothy King (1905-1996) 

American cartoonist

Urfer worked for the NEA (Newspapers Enterprise Association) during the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, she was one of the few women in her profession, and is best remembered for originating the all-female comic strip 'Annibelle' (1929-1936).

Urfer remained on the staff of the NEA until at least 1936. Her first stint was taking over the syndicate's radio page cartoon series 'Radiomania', which she did from May 1929 until September 1930. She was the third cartoonist in line, following Joe King and Art Krenz, and after her, the series was drawn by Charles Okerbloom, then George Scarbo. Dorothy Urfer also provided illustrations to poetry book collections published by the NEA Service, for instance the 1935 book 'Candlelight and Other Poems' by Helen Welshimer.

By the time she dropped 'Radiomania', Urfer had already started her own feature, called 'Annibelle'. The first episode debuted on the women's page of the NEA's Everyweek magazine section on 29 December 1929. 'The Antics of Annibelle' was originally a single-tier comic strip in black-and-white, printed either horizontally or vertically; by 1935 the feature moved to the color comics section, where it was expanded to two rows. Some episodes portrayed conversations between the young, blonde Annibelle and her aristocrat friends, while others focused on Annibelle's romantic life as a serial dater. In March 1936 'Annibelle' was taken over by Virginia Krausmann, who continued her weekly exploits until 15 October 1939. 'Annibelle' also ran in the Québec daily La Patrie in 1936-1937, and was additionally reprinted in the Dell comic book 'The Funnies' (1936-1937).

Dorothy Urfer's work graced newspaper pages of the 1920s and 1930s with sophisticated and witty society girls, and along with Dot Cochran, Ethel Hays, Virginia Huget, Fay King, Virginia Krausmann and Gladys Parker, is considered a stylish pioneer of the early era of American female cartoonists