Editing They'll Do It Every Time

{{Short description|American comic strip (1929–2008)}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox comic strip
|title =  They'll Do It Every Time
|image = Hatlothey62561.jpg
|caption = [[Jimmy Hatlo]]'s ''They'll Do It Every Time'' (June 25, 1961)
|author =  [[Jimmy Hatlo]] (1929–1963)
| current     = [[Al Scaduto]] (1963–2008)
| illustrator = [[Jimmy Hatlo]] (1929–1963)<br />[[Bob Dunn (cartoonist)|Bob Dunn]] (1963–1989)<br />[[Al Scaduto]] (1989–2007)
|website =
|rss =
|atom =
|status = Single-panel; concluded
|syndicate =  [[King Features Syndicate]] (1936–2008)
| publisher = ''[[San Francisco Call-Bulletin]]''
|altnames    =  
|first =  February 5, 1929
|last =  February 3, 2008
|genre = humor, adults
|followed by = [[Little Iodine]]
}}
'''''They'll Do It Every Time''''' is a single-panel newspaper [[comic strip]], created by [[Jimmy Hatlo]], which had a long run over eight decades, first appearing on February 5, 1929, and continuing until February 3, 2008.<ref name=Holtz>{{cite book |last1=Holtz |first1=Allan |title=American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide |date=2012 |publisher=The University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor |isbn=9780472117567 |pages=239, 382}}</ref> The title of the strip became a popular [[catchphrase]]. 

== Publication history ==
Hatlo, a sports cartoonist, created the panel to fill space on the comics page of the ''[[San Francisco Call-Bulletin]]''. Hatlo kept producing the panel, and before long readers were sending fan mail.<ref>[http://cartoonician.com/jimmy-hatlo-man-of-many-hats/ "Jimmy Hatlo: Man of Many Hats," ''Hogan's Alley'', 2010]</ref> The feature proved so popular that it was eventually syndicated by [[King Features Syndicate]] beginning in 1936, with a [[Sunday strip|Sunday panel]] added on July 4, 1943.

==Characters and story==
The gags illustrated minor absurdities, frustrations, hypocrisies, ironies and misfortunes of everyday life. These were displayed in a single-panel or two-panel format. If two panels, the left-side panel showed some deceptive, pretentious, unwitting or scheming human behavior, with the second panel revealing the truth of the situation.
[[Image:Jimmyhatlo.jpg|right|]]
Hellish scenes were the subjects of his [[topper (comic strip)|topper]] strip, ''The Hatlo Inferno'', which ran with ''They'll Do It Every Time'' from 1953 to 1958. An occasional feature of ''They'll Do It Every Time'' was "Hatlo's History" which enabled the cartoonist to satirize memorable moments from earlier centuries.

In its early decades, a timid man named Henry Tremblechin was a recurring victim of the strip's observations. Tremblechin's bratty daughter, [[Little Iodine]], appeared so often she graduated into her own comic strip (Aug 15, 1943 – Aug 14, 1983),<ref name=Holtz/> comic book (1949–62), a 1946 movie and a 1988 animated cartoon show.

==A tip of the Hatlo hat==
Ideas and gags usually came from suggestions by readers, who were credited with a small acknowledgment box with a tiny drawing of Hatlo [[Hat tip|tipping his hat]]. Hatlo continued working on ''They'll Do It Every Time'' until his death in 1963 when the team of [[Al Scaduto]] and [[Bob Dunn (cartoonist)|Bob Dunn]] took over the strip. The readers continued to be credited for their suggestions, but the drawing of the "Hatlo hat" was dropped. 

After Dunn's death in 1989, ''They'll Do It Every Time'' was written and drawn by Scaduto, who died December 8, 2007, at age 79. King Features announced that the strip would not continue with another cartoonist and ceased publication on February 2, 2008.<ref name="ctpost">{{cite news |title="They'll Do It" ends a long run |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=CTPB&p_theme=ctpb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&s_dispstring=allfields(hatlo)%20AND%20date(1/1/2004%20to%201/1/2009)&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=1/1/2004%20to%201/1/2009)&p_field_advanced-0=&p_text_advanced-0=(%22hatlo%22)&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no |work=The Connecticut Post |location=Bridgeport, Conn. |date=2008-01-15 |access-date=2008-01-16}}</ref> At the time of Scaduto's death, King Features was distributing the panel to more than 100 American newspapers.<ref name="ctpost"/>

==Awards==
[[Image:TDIET.png|190px|right|thumb|Al Scaduto's ''They'll Do It Every Time'' (March 7, 2007)]] 
The strip, as well as Bob Dunn, received the [[National Cartoonists Society]]'s Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1968, 1969 and 1979 (with Al Scaduto), plus the [[Reuben Award]] for 1975. Al Scaduto won the Newspaper Panel Cartoon Award for 1991 and 1997 for his work on the strip.

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=80em}}

==External links==
*[http://www.toonopedia.com/theydoit.htm ''They'll Do It Every Time'' at Don Markstein's Toonopedia]
*[http://www.reuben.org/ National Cartoonists Society Awards]

{{King Features Syndicate Comics}}

[[Category:American comic strips]]
[[Category:1929 comics debuts]]
[[Category:2008 comics endings]]
[[Category:Gag cartoon comics]]
[[Category:Gag-a-day comics]]
[[Category:Quotations from comics]]
[[Category:Comedy catchphrases]]
[[Category:1929 quotations]]