This is a gorgeous jam ad of cartoonists from the February 1916 issue of THE THEATRE Magazine. I believe, but am not quite sure, this may be the Evening Journal staff. The famous cartoonist roster includes a soon-to-be popular silent movie star who went from cartoonist to comedian. These giants of yesterday are:
Clare Briggs created a dozens of strips, most famously "Mr. & Mrs." A sample of a couple of strips here.
Hard to find anything on Robert Carter online. There's a single panel scanned in from a strip titled JUST KIDS here, but that's all I could Google.
TAD Dorgan was a cartoonist's cartoonist. He helped many cartoonists get their start, including Segar and Herriman and Walter Berndt, the Berndt Toast Gang's namesake. TAD had lost most of the fingers on his right hand in an accident and learned to draw with his left.
Bud Fisher, creator of MUTT & JEFF, was the first cartoonist celebrity millionaire. He also owned his creation.
Rube Goldberg, a seminal name, was one of the guys who started the National Cartoonists Society. People who do not know who in the world Rube Goldberg was, know what a Goldberg kinda invention is.
Iowa-born Harry Hershfield is best knwn for the Abie the Agent strip. Some samples here and here.
Walter Hoban drew the popular "Jerry on the Job" strip, one of many office boy cartoons.
Maurice Ketten (Prosper Fiorini) was originally born in Florence, Italy. Some samples of a strip here, at the extensive and interesting Barnacle Press site. 
Winsor McCay, one of the giants. A prodigious illustrator who would in the next decade do thousands of drawings and break new ground in animation. Coconino World has a lovely site in French here. And there are, well, many, many more sites. Three's always some of his animation on YouTube.
One of my favorites, George McManus, creator of the long-running "Bringing Up Father." A gorgeous strip that's influenced Herge and Swarte. Clark Holloway has an appreciation here, complete with some original art scans.
Tom McNamara is a guy who left cartooning to work in the then-young movie business. He authored some Our Gang shorts, and worked with Mary Pickford.
Charles M. Payne drew "S'Matter Pop?" for 30 years.
Larry Semon was a cartoonist in this photo -- but he left for Hollywood within a couple years , pursuing a career in the new Hollywood film industry. He became a then-popular, now-forgotten silent screen comedian. Some of his cartoons, as well as film posters, are here. 
Cliff Sterrett, a cartoonist who used Cubist and Expressionistic art in his "Polly and herPals" strip, continues to be rediscovered.And there you have a roster of greats.
The TUXEDO ad copy giddily blusters:
"You know 'em all -- the great fun-makers of the daily press -- agile brained and nimble-witted -- creators of world-famed characters who put laughter into life! Such live, virile humans as they just naturally must have a live, virile pipe-smoke. And so they keep their good humor at the bubbling point by smoking -- TUXEDO, 'The Perfect Tobacco for Pipe and Cigarette.'"
Here's the whole ad:
Hmm. Has anyone since 1916 tried to advertise anything by exploiting cartoonists' VIRILITY? I mean, you and I both know it's true, but "the virile cartoonist" isn't exactly a well-known stereotype.
ReplyDeleteBut I love the historical stuff.
Thanks for the previous item educating me about "Upside-Down Me." It's completely charming, and perfectly captures that half-awake half-dreaming state of mind. Great stuff.
"...Robert Carter (1874-1918) was a Chicago-born cartoonist who drew for the Progressive Globe, The New York Sun and the New York American as well as the Philadelphia Press. He is well known for covering Feminist issues, Suffrage and historical figures. His obituary in the New York Times reads in part: Mr. Carter, whose best work was in a serious vein, had been employed by newspapers in New York, Chicago, Boston, and Philadelphia. His individuality in presenting his subjects earned him a national reputation..." [source: The Political Cartoon Gallery website]
ReplyDelete