Friday, October 21, 2005
Obscurity of the Day - The Dubbville Foursome
Alfred Brewerton, if known at all, is known for his soap-opera strip Pam that ran 1928-1943. Those who have seen that strip tend to assume that Brewerton was not a particular competent cartoonist. Not true - the problem was that he was trying to draw the strip in a more realistic style than he was used to. Here is a neat golf strip called The Dubbville Foursome he did as a weekly panel; typically used on Sunday sports pages. The strip ran at least 1922-1927 and started with the Thompson Service. In 1925 it switched over to McNaught Syndicate. I think you'll agree that the art is quite nice. Brewerton's career is a bit of a mystery - he first makes an appearance at the New York World in 1903 doing a few very short-running strips. In the early teens he pops up again and does a minor strip and sports cartooning. Then he disappears once again from my radar until the early 20s. Anyone have biographical information on this fellow?
Labels: Obscurities
Comments:
Hi Allan: I stumbled on your wonderful site after doing a stab-in-the-dark Google of Alfred Brewerton. Another site had this biographical info: "Born in Kansas in 1881. Brewerton was a resident of Los Angeles in 1905 and a cartoonist for a newspaper in Atlanta, GA in 1910-20.
Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
City Directory; Census."
I remember Brewerton as an editorial cartoonist for The Atlanta Journal in the 1930s, perhaps later. If his "Pam" was syndicated, it surprises me because I thought he just did it as a sideline. My brother, a commercial artist, considered Brewerton a poor craftsman, said he couldn't draw hands, etc. Fascinating to see that he could do something better, like the "Dubbville Foursome." I'll pass this on to my brother, who will be most interested.
Bob Willis, Fincastle, VA
Source:
Edan Hughes, "Artists in California, 1786-1940"
City Directory; Census."
I remember Brewerton as an editorial cartoonist for The Atlanta Journal in the 1930s, perhaps later. If his "Pam" was syndicated, it surprises me because I thought he just did it as a sideline. My brother, a commercial artist, considered Brewerton a poor craftsman, said he couldn't draw hands, etc. Fascinating to see that he could do something better, like the "Dubbville Foursome." I'll pass this on to my brother, who will be most interested.
Bob Willis, Fincastle, VA
# posted by 
: 10/02/2006 1:06 PM
: 10/02/2006 1:06 PM
Hi Bob -
Yup, "Pam" actually was syndicated. And I concur with your brother that it was pretty bad. In fact, everything I've seen by Brewerton that breaks out of his pleasant bigfoot cartooning style is wince-worthy to say the least. I always thought it funny that the Sunday topper strip to "Pam", called "Donald Dare The Demon Reporter", which was done in his 'cartoony' style, was so much better than the main strip. When you look at the two strips next to each other it's hard to believe they're by the same guy.
--Allan
Yup, "Pam" actually was syndicated. And I concur with your brother that it was pretty bad. In fact, everything I've seen by Brewerton that breaks out of his pleasant bigfoot cartooning style is wince-worthy to say the least. I always thought it funny that the Sunday topper strip to "Pam", called "Donald Dare The Demon Reporter", which was done in his 'cartoony' style, was so much better than the main strip. When you look at the two strips next to each other it's hard to believe they're by the same guy.
--Allan
Brewerton was not only a cartoonist but a photographer as well. In some research I'm doing on a documentary, he was part of the 1909 Good Roads Tour, sponsored by the Atlanta Journal and New York Herald. He took some pretty remarkable photos on the tour as well as created some pretty insightful cartoons of the motorists. If someone has any idea as to where any archives of his photography my exist, I would be greatly interested.
Michael Britt
Georgia Public Broadcasting
mbritt@gpb.org
Michael Britt
Georgia Public Broadcasting
mbritt@gpb.org
# posted by : 5/16/2007 6:51 PM
: 5/16/2007 6:51 PM
Some time ago I read the comic strips from the Buffalo Evening News from 1928 to 1945, including Ella Cinders, Bound to Win(later Ben Webster's Career) and Pam, among many others. Pam was carried from its inception to early 1941 in the Buffalo paper. Did the strip actually continue in papers until 1943? I found the drawing sketchy and memorable as a child when my aunt read this strip and others to me. I had a sentimental feeling toward these strips and enjoyed hearing them as a child and so reading them on microfilm was a labor of love. As one brought up on serials of that day I enjoyed it. The initial strip finds Pam coming to the big city to work! Later Pam and her friend David were involved in many dramatic situations and I grew to enjoy the drawings! I would love to see this strip reprinted, along with many others. I personally can not be critical of it! The strip was stylized and interesting to read. Compared to the poor artistry of so many contemporary strips, it is not without merit. I would love to see the Sunday edition of Pam since the News carried only the daily strip. Could someone name a paper where the Sunday strip appeared?
# posted by : 12/19/2007 1:27 AM
: 12/19/2007 1:27 AM
Hi Anon -
Not 100% sure, but I think the Sunday ran in the Chicago Times. I have quite a few Sunday tearsheets but not from complete sections, so don't know the various papers.
--Allan
Not 100% sure, but I think the Sunday ran in the Chicago Times. I have quite a few Sunday tearsheets but not from complete sections, so don't know the various papers.
--Allan
Did a little more digging ... one paper that did run the Pam Sunday for sure was the Oregon Journal.
--Allan
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--Allan
