Nicholas Peter Dallis known as Nick Dallis, was an American psychiatrist

Psychiatrist

A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders. All psychiatrists are trained in diagnostic evaluation and in psychotherapy...

 turned comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

 writer, creator of the soap opera

Soap opera

A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...

-style strips Rex Morgan, M.D.

Rex Morgan, M.D.

Rex Morgan, M.D. is an American soap-opera comic strip, created in 1948 by psychiatrist Dr. Nicholas P. Dallis under the pseudonym Dal Curtis. It maintained a readership well over a half-century, and in 2006 it was published in more than 300 U.S. newspapers and 14 foreign countries, according to...

, Judge Parker

Judge Parker

Judge Parker is a soap opera-style comic strip created by Nicholas P. Dallis that first appeared on November 24, 1952. The strip's look and content were influenced by the work of Allen Saunders and Ken Ernst on Mary Worth.-Characters and story:...

and Apartment 3-G

Apartment 3-G

Apartment 3-G is an American newspaper comic strip about a trio of career women who share Apartment 3-G in Manhattan. Created by Nicholas P...

. Separating his comics career from his medical practice, he wrote under pseudonyms, Dal Curtis for Rex Morgan, M.D. and Paul Nichols for Judge Parker.

Born in New York City, Nick Dallis grew up on Long Island. He graduated from Washington & Jefferson College

Washington & Jefferson College

Washington & Jefferson College, also known as W & J College or W&J, is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania, in the United States, which is south of Pittsburgh...

 in 1933 and from Temple University

Temple University

Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...

's medical school in 1938 and married a nurse, Sarah Luddy. He decided to specialize in psychiatry, and after World War II, started a practice in Toledo, Ohio

Toledo, Ohio

Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...

. Allen Saunders

Allen Saunders

Allen Saunders was an American writer, journalist and cartoonist who wrote the comic strips Steve Roper and Mike Nomad, Mary Worth and Kerry Drake...

 was chair at the time of the local mental hygiene center that invited him there, and in his autobiography, he recalled that Dallis approached him, as a well-known comics writer (Steve Roper and Mike Nomad

Steve Roper and Mike Nomad

Steve Roper and Mike Nomad was an American adventure comic strip that ran under various earlier titles from November 1936 to December 26, 2004...

, Mary Worth), about "his desire to write a comic strip, one tracing the history of medicine. I told him that, commendable as his idea was, such a feature would not succeed. Readers want entertainment, not enlightenment. But a story about a handsome young doctor's involvement with his patients might be a winner."

Comic strips

After further conversations with Saunders on strip writing, Dallis successfully launched his Rex Morgan, M.D in 1948. Later, he found himself working more with troubled youth in juvenile court, and from his experiences there, he conceived a second strip focused on the legal world, Judge Parker, which took off in 1952 and also became successful. Both strips were in the soap opera tradition pioneered by Saunders, as continuities in which each story was basically distinct. And yet they differed from Mary Worth in centering on male protagonists who counseled their clients with professional advice as well as intervening to help them with personal problems. In addition, Dallis did manage to work in education and enlightenment for his readers, as well as entertainment. In 1958, he retired from medicine and moved to Arizona, where he continued to author his comics. In 1961, he launched his third strip, Apartment 3-G, about three young women sharing a Manhattan apartment.

Dallis died in 1991, but all three of his strips survived over the years, and as of 2010, they continue in syndication. He was later remembered by his successor on two of his strips, Woody Wilson, as "a prince among men... educated, kindly, compassionate, talented and generous."