Ken Kling

Kenneth Lionel Kling (born October 18, 1895, died May 3, 1970 ) was an American cartoonist and horse-racing tipster, best known for his comic strip Joe and Asbestos.

Early life Ken Kling was born in 1985 was an Alsatian butcher who hoped Ken would become an actor. During high school, he ran track, setting a record for the fifty-yard dash. After high school, he worked in a factory making veils.

Kling produced five strips during his career: Hank and Pete, 1916–1922 (when it was taken over by Ray I. Hoppman) Buzz and Snooze, 1918–1919 Katinka, 1920–1923 Joe and Asbestos (beginning as Joe Quince, then briefly Joe Quince and Asbestos), 1923–1926, 1932–1968 Windy Riley, 1927–1932

Fisher introduced the young cartoonist to horse racing which would shape much of Kling's career and fortune. When the Joe Quince strip – which focused on the waxing and waning financial fortune of a man who quit his job upon inheriting $3,000 – became Joe and Asbestos in 1924, it began focusing heavily on horse racing, including suggestions for good bets. These proved popular with racing fans, particularly when it became clear that Kling was making good suggestions. His method focused not on trying to predict the winner, but on finding longshots that he felt had a better chance of winning than the odds suggested. In 1946, Life magazine called him the "most widely read and respected turf expert in the country".

He worked on adapting Joe and Asbestos to other media, co-writing the book for a stage musical and voicing one of the characters in a proposed radio series. He also provided the story for Windy Riley Goes Hollywood, a two-reel film based on his comic strip.

Personal life Kling became engaged to Mayme Cohen in 1921, and they married the following year. She would survive him, dying in 1979. They had two sons, Ken Kling Junior and television writer and producer Heywood "Woody" Kling. At the time of his death on May 3, 1970, he had three grandchildren. His last request was that his pallbearers be beautiful women.