Bunny Hoest

Comic strip writer (b. 1932)

Bunny Hoest (born 1932), sometimes labeled The Cartoon Lady, is the writer of several comic strips, including The Lockhorns, Laugh Parade, and Howard Huge, the first of which she inherited from her late husband Bill Hoest. She is the co creator of Bumper Snickers in 1974, Agatha Crumm in 1977, Laugh Parade in 1980, Howard Huge in 1981, What A Guy! in 1986, and Hunny Bunny's Short Tales in 1992.

Born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, as Madeline Mezz, she was the only child of a doctor and an opera singer. She received the nickname "Bunny" as a child, as she recalled, "My mother and father called me Bunny from day one. They said I was little and cute and had dark eyes like a little bunny." Her father, Dr. David Mezz, was a surgeon who invented the nose clip used by swimmers and divers. After attending a magnet school as a music student for four years, she graduated in 1953 from Adelphi University, where she studied literature and creative writing, noting, “I feel that writing is a gift which should be perfected. English is a beautiful language. Why muck it up?”

When she was 19, she married Ted Jungreis, and the couple moved to Huntington, Long Island, where she raised three children. With a master's degree in secondary education from C. W. Post, she taught English as a second language. She joined a local community theater, where she composed original scores for three musical comedies, in addition to singing, dancing, and directing the music in productions of Gypsy, Damn Yankees, Guys and Dolls, South Pacific, and other musical comedies. During this time, she also became a member of the Huntington Choral Society. According to King Features, Bunny Hoest had 200 million readers each week, a total derived from The Lockhorns (500 newspapers worldwide), Laugh Parade (80 million readers each Sunday) and the long running Bumper Snickers for The National Enquirer (which has a circulation of more than seven million). She still lives on Long Island, sings with the Huntington Choral Society, and produces "The Lockhorns" daily and Sunday.