Otto Soglow (1900-1975) was born in the Yorkville section of New York City, studied with John Sloane at the Art Students League, and sold his first drawings to pulp magazines. In the late 1920s, his social-realist drawings were appearing in such radical publications as The New Masses and The Liberator, as well as the mainstream Life and Collier's. He began streamlining his style and in 1931 created The Little King while at The New Yorker. Three years later, the strip moved to the Sunday comics pages of King Features Syndicate. He illustrated about twenty-five books and continued The Little King until his death.