The Spotty Twins by Art Bowen ran as part of the Chicago Daily News' daily comics and cartoons page. Bums and hoboes were a popular subject for cartoon hijinks in the day, especially at the Daily News, where these fellows cavorted in the company of fellow ne'er-do-wells Brainy Bowers and Circus Solly. The strip ran sporadically for a year starting in January 1905.
Art Bowen was an excellent cartoonist with a fine eye for visual comedy (which was a good thing since he wasn't much as a gag writer). He never really made a big impression in newspaper cartooning. The Spotty Twins was his first continuing series (he did lots of one-shots for the Daily News as well), and then he drops off my radar until 1910 when he arrived in New York and got a few minor newspaper cartooning gigs there. That only lasted until 1913 when he disappeared once more, this time for good.
Allan, I have an Arthur Bowen, a Chicago cartoonist attempting suicide in 1916. My citation is The Day Book, November 24, 1916, p. 8.
ReplyDeleteSara Duke