Desperate Desmond

For the baseball player, see Desmond Beatty.

"Desperate Desmond" was a comic strip by Harry Hershfield, published in the New York Journal^[1] between March 11, 1910, and October 15, 1912.^[2]

Installment of "Desperate Desmond" from 1910

A parody of melodrama, it depicted a stereotypical villain named Desmond who continually tried to capture a damsel in distress named Rosamond, which brought him into conflict with her and her paramour Claude Eclaire;^[3] Hershfield ended the strip by having Claude and Rosamond marry, which meant that Desmond could no longer pursue her.^[4]

Coulton Waugh described it as one of the first strips to include genuine suspense; ^[5] similarly, R. C. Harvey has mentioned its early use of daily continuity.^[6]

Don Markstein noted that it was a "probably a response" to the presence of a similar character in C. W. Kahles's earlier strip "Hairbreadth Harry";^[3] Maurice Horn, however, called it a "direct imitation" of Kahles's work, but felt that it "showed greater ingenuity and wit".^[7]

Adaptations

Film adaptations of "Desperate Desmond" were produced by Nestor Studios,^[8] directed by Tom Ricketts, with Dorothy Davenport as Rosamond and Fred Kelsey as Claude;^[9] as well, vaudeville star Fred Duprez released a recording of a "Desperate Desmond"-based comedy act.^[3]