Kate Osann facts for kids

Kate Osann was an American cartoonist. She was famous for creating the comic strip Tizzy. Her funny drawings of a typical teenage girl made many people laugh.

About Kate Osann

Kate Osann was born in St. Louis, Missouri. But she grew up in New York City. She went to college at Hunter College.

Kate Osann's Cartoon Career

Starting Out

Early in her career, Kate Osann worked on advertisements. She also drew pictures for magazines like Collier's Weekly and Saturday Evening Post.

The Tizzy Comic Strip

Kate Osann drew a cartoon called Tizzy. It first appeared in Collier's Weekly magazine. Tizzy was a panel-style cartoon. After Collier's Weekly stopped publishing in 1957, Tizzy cartoons were printed by Newspaper Enterprise Association. They continued until 1970.

Meet Tizzy

Tizzy, the main character, was a typical American teenage girl. In the Collier's cartoons, Tizzy's hair was red. These cartoons were in color. When Tizzy became a syndicated comic, the cartoons were black and white. Tizzy's hair was then blonde. If the old color cartoons were printed in black and white books, Tizzy's red hair looked black.

Tizzy wore special horn-rimmed glasses. They had triangular lenses. In the Collier's cartoons, you could clearly see the sides of her glasses. But in the syndicated cartoons, you rarely saw the sides. It looked like her glasses just rested on her nose.

Books by Kate Osann

Tizzy Books

During the late 1950s and 1960s, three Tizzy paperback books were published. These included Tizzy: That Loveable, Laughable Teen-Ager (1958) and More Tizzy (1958). Another book simply called Tizzy came out in 1967. Kate Osann's Tizzy cartoons also appeared in a book called Baby-Sitter's Guide (1969).

Books as "Kate O'Sann"

In the 1970s, some books were published with Kate Osann's name spelled differently. It was written as "Kate O'Sann."

One book was Men!, published in 1974. Kate O'Sann drew the pictures for it. The book mentioned that she was from Missouri and grew up in New York City. It also said she lived in Orlando, Florida, with her husband and two children.

Two other books, Kid's Cookery and Things Girls Like to Draw, were written and illustrated by Kate O'Sann. They were published in 1979. Sometimes her name was spelled "O'sann" with a small "s," and other times "O'Sann" with a big "S."