Saturday, July 07, 2012
Herriman Saturday
The Hen Berry weasel hat story continues...
Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons
Thursday, July 05, 2012
Ink-Slinger Profiles: Charles Bowers
Charles Raymond Bowers was born in Cresco, Iowa, on June 7, 1889, according to his World War II draft card. In many newspapers, his middle name was Ray. Find a Grave has his birth as June 6, 1887, and Wikipedia has it as June 7, 1877 or 1887. The New York Herald-Tribune and the Associated Press said, in November 1946, that he was 57 years old at the time of his death, which would make his birth year 1889. After examining census records and newspaper articles, I believe his birthdate was June 7, 1877.
Ancestry.com has a family tree for Bowers' mother, Isabel Belle Lorimer (her maiden name) who was an Iowan native born in August 1850. Her mother was a French Canadian and her father a Missourian. Her name appeared in the 1856 Iowa State Census and 1860 U.S. Federal Census. She married around 1872.
In the 1880 U.S. Federal Census, Bowers was the third of four children born to C.E. and Bell Lormer [sic]. They lived in Vernon Springs Township, Iowa. His father, a North Carolina native of Irish parents, was a physician and surgeon. Five years later, the 1885 Iowa State Census recorded Bowers as the third of five children. His parents were Charles E. and Mary I., and they lived in Cresco, Iowa; Cresco is part of Vernon Springs Township.
Michael Sporn Animation has scanned pages of the Cartoonist PROfiles article by I. Klein who wrote about his time doing animation for Bowers. The article begins with a transcription of Bowers' obituary in the New York Herald-Tribune, November 27, 1946: "…Mr. Bowers was born in Cresco, Iowa, and started in the career of amusing his fellow man by appearing in a tightrope act in a circus at the age of six, and in the next twenty years he played in the circus, in stock companies, painted signs, designed posters and painted murals." The February 1928 Photoplay magazine published an advertisement for Educational Pictures, which was a profile of Bowers written by the magazine's editor: "…His life has been almost as goofy as his genius. His mother was a French countess, his father an Irish doctor, and Charley was born in Iowa. After that anything was possible. It happened. At five a tramp circus performer taught him to walk rope. At six the circus kidnapped him. He didn't get home for two years and the shock killed his father…." Mug Shots is a website devoted to several forgotten silent film comedians, including Bowers. The site has a timeline of his career: "c.1889: Born in Cresco, Iowa; c.1895-1898: Worked as a circus performer. Began walking the tightrope at age six." According to the 1885 state census, Bowers was 7 years old and at home with both parents.
Information regarding his education and art training has not been found. The Herald-Tribune said, "...he played in the circus, in stock companies, painted signs, designed posters and painted murals." Bowers moved to the east coast and found work as an actor. The earliest reference found, so far, was in The New York Dramatic Mirror, May 13, 1899, which published a "Letter List. Members of the profession are invited to use The Mirror's post office facilities. No charge for advertising or forwarding letters. This list is made up of on Saturday morning. Letters will be delivered or forwarded on personal or written application. Letters advertised for 30 days and uncalled for will be returned to the post office. Circulars, postal cards and newspapers excluded." In the list, his name appeared as "Chas. R. Bowers".
Bowers' costume design credit
Salt Lake Herald 8/7/1902
Bowers cast as an artist. The World 6/13/1903
The Dramatic Mirror, September 9, 1899, list of theatrical productions included A Temperance Town, with Bowers in the cast. The tour was scheduled to begin at Bar Harbor, Maine, on September 14. The Sun (New York), October 6, 1899, noted a change: "Edgar Temple appeared for the first time in 'Cyrano de Bergerac' last night. He replaces Charles Bowers." The January 6, 1900 Dramatic Mirror said, "…A good farce-comedy well played is always welcomed with delight by our theatergoers, and A Temperance Town drew large houses at the Empire 25–30. The play is as entertaining as ever…The supporting co. was in every way satisfactory, the principals being…Charles R. Bowers…" On November 24, 1900, the Dramatic Mirror noted "Joseph's Haworth's tour in Robert in Sicily will open next week. In the cast will be…Charles R. Bowers…" Bowers' name appeared in the Letters List of several issues of the Dramatic Mirror during 1901 and into 1902.
Bowers has not been found in the 1900 federal census. Maybe his theatrical career floundered and he looked for other opportunities. The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons, Volume 2 (1999) has an entry on Bowers (but with Thomas as his first name) which said: "…In 1905 Bowers secured a job as a cartoonist on the Chicago Tribune, later going over to the Chicago Star." I have not found samples of cartoons from that year, but a few of his 1916 cartoons, in the Chicago Tribune, are here. Bowers' antics were covered in "Bright Lights of Bohemia," published in The Sun, October 29, 1906. Eventually, he found work on the Jersey Journal in Jersey City, New Jersey, and, at this time, his earliest known cartoons are from July 1907.
Jersey Journal 7/3/1907
Jersey Journal 7/5/1907
Jersey Journal 7/9/1907
Jersey Journal 7/11/1907
Charley Bowers and his Saturday cartoon, "A Sad Home Coming," is to blame. The cartoon, with the "dead" Jersey, "looking natural" in his coffin, and the weeping fans, got the Jerseys' "goat" and what they did to the Orioles Sunday and the Indians yesterday was simply "fine business."
…Jack Ryan showed them [the team] Charley Bowers cartoon.
The treatment acted like magic. "Huh! Dead ones are we?" muttered the tail-enders. "Bowers has another guess coming!"
Jersey Journal 5/28/1910
When he left the Jersey Journal has not been determined. As mentioned earlier, his panel, Life's Little Phonies, was published in 1916, if not earlier. His next venture was animating the Mutt and Jeff comic strip characters. He and Raoul Barre went into business together as the Barre-Bowers Studios.
Dramatic Mirror 5/19/1917
New York Herald 8/5/1917
Around this time, Bowers directed and wrote a handful of live-action shorts: Domestic Difficulties, Promoters, The Prospectors, A.W.O.L., and The Extra-Quick Lunch. In an issue of Cartoonist PROfiles, Isadore Klein wrote about working for Bowers, starting in the summer of 1918. His previous employer was Hearst's International animation studio. He traveled from Newark, New Jersey to Fordham in the Bronx, New York City. During the interview, he told Bowers he was familiar with his editorial cartoons for the Newark Evening News. "After hemming-and-hawing, Mr. Bowers said he believed there was room on his staff for me...not as a full animator, but he would have me do an occasional scene between some other studio work. He told me my salary and that I could start as of then." Klein went on to explain how Bowers was pushed out of his job.
...The studio was buzzing with excitement and surmises. What could it all mean? We found out soon enough. Dick Friel had double-crossed his boss, Charles Bowers, by informing on him to Bud Fisher. The behind-Bowers'-back information was that Charles Bowers had been padding the payroll. In other words, Bowers' list of employees' salaries as given to Fisher's office was higher than what the studio staff was receiving. The charge was that Bowers pocketed the difference...The motive on Friel's part was to dislodge Bowers from his top job and for himself to take over. He was successful....Friel was now head of the studio....Well, Charles Bowers was not as easily buried as it at first appeared."
In 1920, Bowers and Josephine lived in Manhattan, New York City at 551 West 156 Street. He was a cartoonist who aged just three years since the last census. His wife did him one better at two years. His mother lived with her oldest daughter in Montana. According to the family tree, his mother passed away around 1925.
Around February 1920, Klein had quit the studio and began work in the art department of a trade magazine. "...About two weeks later, while at work I received a phone call at the office. The call was from Charles Bowers....He asked me to come up and work for him. I answered that I had decided to change profession from animator to commercial artist. He then offered me a tempting salary, as an animator. I weakened and agreed to see him in Mount Vernon (N.Y.) where he lived...." Klein accepted the job offer, and later said, "...This operation at Mt. Vernon, N.Y. continued for about a year, when suddenly Mr. Bowers announced that we were moving back to New York City, not downtown, but to Fordham, about one mile north of the Fordham studio....Bowers spent most of his time in his small laboratory rooms. He not only did his plastic puppet thing there but also wrote our cartoon stories...." Bowers also illustrated four volumes of The Bowers Movie Book, which were published by Harcourt, Brace & Co. in 1923: book one, Mother Goose; book two, Aesop's Fables; book three, The Circus; and book four, Once Upon a Time.
The Daily Star (Queens Borough, New York), July 9, 1924, reported the new industrial plants in Long Island City, Queens. One of them was "…Old Dominion Motion Picture Products Corporation, manufacturers of motion picture cameras, who will erect a building on First avenue, Long Island City…." Three days later the Daily Star reported the following: "At the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Queensboro Chamber of Commerce, twenty-one new members were elected. The list of new members with their addresses and business connections follows: …Charles R. Bowers, Old Dominion Motion Picture Company, Long Island City…." In Cartoonist PROfiles, Klein wrote:
My next association with Charles Bowers took place in 1924. By that time he was in sort-of production with his plastic puppets in Astoria, Long Island. He said that he was again opening an animated cartoon studio. The location would be in Long Island City, on Long Island [Queens], not too far from Astoria. He put me on staff as an animator and told me to report for work at a given date which was within a week of two…the address…Jackson Avenue near Queens Plaza. I reported on time. The studio was a large loft in a three story frame building….
…This Astoria Studio remained Bowers' home base. His visits to the Jackson Avenue studio were infrequent. The stories would be picked up by one of the animators whenever the boss phoned that a story was ready. On the occasions when Bowers did visit us he acted the part of Big Papa. He would treat his animators to a fine lunch at a stuffy but expensive German restaurant several blocks from the studio. Another place he would takes us to at noontime would be to The Chamber of Commerce restaurant in a building facing the open air platforms of the Queens Plaza subway station….At those luncheons Mr. Bowers behaved just as he did in Mount Vernon at lunch, he told us tales of his prowess. They were tall tales, but worth listening to. Beside, the free lunches made up for any strain on our credulity.
As time went on [animators] Harrison, Gould and Gillet stayed apart from George Rufle and me. They often talked in whispers. Then, about four or five months after the Jackson Avenue studio went into operation, Burt Gillet called everybody together. Harrison and Gould flanked Gillet. He made an announcement. This is no longer the Charles Bowers Studio. It is now The Associated Animators Studio. Mr. Charles Bowers is no longer part of this animation operation. Then Burt told that the new bosses were himself, Harrison and Gould….
After Gillet made his announcement, he added that the three of them were going to Astoria to inform Mr. Bowers that he was OUT! Our three new bosses left and were gone for the rest of the morning. Then about one-thirty in the afternoon Mr. Bowers walked into the studio with two moving men. They removed everything in the studio…[except] the camera and camera stand…[which] belonged to…Gillet.
The Daily Star, July 28, 1925, reported an incident involving Bowers.
Jimmy Donohue, 3110 Washington avenue, Astoria, got into the movies yesterday and got right out again.
The final fadeout of the picture will come before Magistrate Harry Miller in Long Island City tomorrow when Jimmy will be arraigned for sentence on a charge of disorderly conduct.
Jimmy imbibed a little too freely yesterday and went to the Old Dominion moving picture studio at 190 First avenue, Astoria, near Webster avenue. At the studio he met Charles R. Bowers, an actor, 663 Lexington avenue, Manhattan.
Here he is said to have threatened Bowers, as the latter was going on a set. The camera was clicking merrily and Bowers pushed Jimmy away. The picture was ruined when Jimmy followed Bowers on the set and fought with him, it was said.
Yesterday Bowers told the Magistrate he called Patrolman Otis Parmenter of the Hunter's Point precinct. Parmenter arrested Jimmy and charged him with intoxication and disorderly conduct.
Bowers said he had befriended Jimmy a year ago when he was down and out.
"I haven't taken a drink in a year," said Jimmy.
"Well, you seem to have made up for the year you lost," remarked the Magistrate as he held him without bail until tomorrow.
The Daily Star, August 4, 1926, published the following legal notice:
In accordance with the provisions of law, there being due and unpaid charges for which the undersigned, Lloyds Film Storage Corporation, is entitled to a lien as warehousemen on the goods hereinafter described, and due notice having been given to all parties known to claim an interest therein, and the time specified in such notice for the payment of such charges having expired, there will be sold at public auction by J.H. Mayers, auctioneer, at 161 Harris Avenue, Borough of Queens, City of New York, on the 20th day of August, 1926, at 10 o'clock in the forenoon of that day, the following property:
…10. Five (5) reels of motion picture film held for the account of Chas. R. Bowers and or Bowers, Inc….
In 1928, Photoplay magazine carried ads for Educational Pictures, which profiled its stars, including Bowers in the aforementioned February issue. His filmography is here. Some of his surviving films are discussed at The DVD Journal.
The Herald-Tribune obituary said he was survived by his wife, Winifred. The fate of his first wife is not known. The 1930 census recorded Bowers and Winifred in Norwalk, Connecticut on RFD Weed Avenue. His occupation was inventor of commercial inventions. He misrepresented his age as 40 years old. His wife was 27.
I. Klein wrote: "…he did persist with his animated plastic puppets. In 1940 when I returned from Hollywood with my wife and two daughters, we all attended the first New York World's Fair several times. On one visit we encountered a Charles Bowers Production in one of the exhibition halls. it was a motion picture of animated plastic puppets combined with live action. The theme was wax. It showed the multiple uses and application of wax. It was a very well-executed job…."
Daily Star 3/31/1928
Daily Star 1/26/1929
The Herald-Tribune obituary said he was survived by his wife, Winifred. The fate of his first wife is not known. The 1930 census recorded Bowers and Winifred in Norwalk, Connecticut on RFD Weed Avenue. His occupation was inventor of commercial inventions. He misrepresented his age as 40 years old. His wife was 27.
I. Klein wrote: "…he did persist with his animated plastic puppets. In 1940 when I returned from Hollywood with my wife and two daughters, we all attended the first New York World's Fair several times. On one visit we encountered a Charles Bowers Production in one of the exhibition halls. it was a motion picture of animated plastic puppets combined with live action. The theme was wax. It showed the multiple uses and application of wax. It was a very well-executed job…."
Bowers signed his U.S. World War II draft card in 1942. His address was "Terhune Drive (Green Gables) Pompton Lakes Passaic N.J." Once again, he misrepresented his age as 53. His occupation was cartoonist and described as five feet seven inches, 130 pounds with blue eyes and gray hair. The Herald-Tribune obituary said, "…In 1941, when he became seriously ill, he was not able to keep up with the commitments of his contracts, and he could not find an artist or writer to do them for him. He taught his wife, Mrs. Winifred Leyton Bowers, to do some of the work—she learned to draw so well that her work is now on exhibit at the Pompton Lakes library—but the contracts lapsed."
Bowers passed away November 24, 1946, in Paterson, New Jersey. Some sources said he died on the 26th. The first paragraph of Herald-Tribune obituary, published Wednesday, said: "Charles R. Bowers, fifty-seven, a pioneer in the field of animated cartoons and at one time a wealthy producer of motion pictures comedies, died Sunday at St. Joseph's Hospital, Paterson, N.J., after an illness of five years. His home was in Pompton Lakes." A November 1946 calendar shows that the 24th is a Sunday and the 27th a Wednesday. The Billboard, December 7, 1946, obituary is here. The Herald-Tribune obituary named Bowers' wife as his only survivor, but his youngest sister, Agnes Isabelle Byers (1880–1961), was alive at the time according to her family tree at Ancestry.com. His oldest sister, Mary, died in 1920. The fate of his siblings, Susan, Paul and Lois, is not known.
Labels: Ink-Slinger Profiles
Comments:
There was a marvelous collection of Bowers' live action and animated comedies released a couple of years back. I had never heard of him prior to that and got it in my head it was a "mockumentary" kind of thing--That Bowers wasn't real. After all, as a silent film buff for some 35 years, how could I have not ever even heard of him? I was amazed and glad to find he was real...and funny and creative. Good stuff!
Thanks so much for doing the hard work of mining for this material on Bowers. I've been reading the I. Klein series of articles on Bowers over the past day or two, and having this additional information is just wonderful.
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Wednesday, July 04, 2012
Happy Fourth of July!
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Ink-Slinger Profiles: W.O. Wilson
(Identifying anyone who uses their first and middle name initials is a challenge. I found several references to the artist W.O. Wilson in books, periodicals and on the web, but not one had any hint to his first or middle names. I searched “W.O. Wilson” at Ancestry.com and found a candidate on a passenger list, which had his age, place and date of departure. With the year of birth and, possibly, place of birth, I had just enough information to narrow my search. The censuses gave me several candidates who had the same first, William, and last names, but it was the occupation of artist that pinpointed him. Other important documents were two naturalization applications with additional details. Also, knowing when he produced his newspaper comics convinced me that I had found him. With this circumstantial evidence, I present the following profile.)
William Oliver Wilson was born in Natal, South Africa on January 31, 1867, according to his United States of America Declaration of Intention application from the Department of Commerce and Labor Division of Naturalization Petition for Naturalization, which was filed on April 26, 1909; this document is at Ancestry.com. According to the declaration, he, a British citizen, arrived in New York City on February 4, 1890 from Durban, South Africa; his former residence was in Barberton, Transvaal, South Africa. His occupation was artist, age 42, who lived at 53 South Lena Air, Freeport, Nassau, New York. He stood five feet seven inches, 145 pounds, with brown and gray hair and gray eyes. The passenger list had his arrival in New York occurring on February 13, 1890, having sailed from Liverpool, England. His age was listed as 24 (birth year 1866) and occupation as builder. Presumably he received his art training in South Africa.
The United States of America Petition for Naturalization application, from the same federal department and division, was filed on December 8, 1911 and it said he “resided continuously in the United States of America for the term of five years at least, immediately preceding the date of this petition, to wit, since the 6 day of May anno Domini 1901, and in the State of New York, continuously next preceding the date of this petition, since the 6 of May, anno Domini 1901, being a residence within this State of at least one year next preceding the date of this petition.” He was an artist living on Chippewa Avenue in Hollis, Queens, New York City with his wife, Nellie, and three children, who were born in 1904, 1907 and 1911. His petition was witnessed by author George Folson, and artist Frank Crane. Wilson became a naturalized citizen on March 21, 1912.
The earliest mention of him, so far, is at R. Michael Wilson’s WildWestTales.com, who transcribed a number of articles from the San Francisco Chronicle. In his article “Illustrating America’s Newspapers in the 19th Century”, he said: “…The Chronicle, in early 1897, decided to host an art show and sale to support its charitable project. There was a [call] for donations of artwork and the Chronicle received sketches from newspaper staffs across the continent. In anticipation of the art show, scheduled for February 27, 1897, Chronicle writer John Bonner wrote an extensive article on the history of newspaper illustration from 1842 to 1897…His article appeared in the February 24 edition.” The transcription of the article, “The Chronicle’s Exhibition of Pictorial Art in Journalism”, had a list of the contributing artists including W.O. Wilson of the New York World. On February 27, J.H.E. Partington, of the Chronicle, wrote:
The Chronicle exhibit of original newspaper drawings this day opened to the public at 424 Pine street marks an era in the history of art in San Francisco and is likely to have a profound impression on the public and the artists of the city. One thing is quite clear that the artists or, to speak more accurately, the painter in oil and water colors, has got to accept the fact that his exclusive claim to the title of artist is now triumphantly disputed by a band of newspaper art workers, growing every day in power and popularity and quite capable of proving their right to the name.
It will not do any longer to deny that men who have such mastery of line, of drawing, of values, of composition and of dramatic power in telling a story as Keller or Jefferys of the New York Herald, as Trowbridge and W. O. Wilson of the New York World, as Miss Underwood of the New York Press, as Gruger of the Philadelphia Ledger, as Fiala of the Brooklyn Eagle and a score of others represented in this exhibition are infinitely ahead of the average painters of the country in artistic gifts and capacity….
Boston Herald 3/19/1898
Boston Herald 7/29/1898
Boston Herald 7/29/1898
Boston Herald 8/1/1898
In 1898, Wilson was sent by the New York Herald to the front lines of the Spanish-American War in the Caribbean, according to New York and the War with Spain: History of the Empire State Regiments (1903). After the war there was an inquiry, by the House of Representatives, into the conduct of Admiral Schley. During the conflict, Wilson was one of the newspapermen on a press boat which was in contact with Captain Sigsbee of the ship, St. Paul. Wilson was not called to testify.
The World 11/20/1902
Apparently his newspaper work required him to travel for extended periods of time, so this may have been why he was not counted in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census. The naturalization documents place him in New York City beginning May 6, 1901. The birth of his first child, in February 1904, suggests he was married in Spring 1903, if not earlier. In this decade he produced the strips Horace the Hero, The Richleigh Family, The Wish Twins and Aladdin’s Lamp, and Madge the Magician’s Daughter, which ran in the San Francisco Call from September 2, 1906 to August 25, 1907. (At Hogan’s Alley, Tom Heintjes writes about Madge and includes 13 full-color pages.) A search of eBay found several issues of Harper’s Weekly and Harper’s Monthly, in this decade and the next, with his drawings.
The 1910 census recorded Wilson and his family in Freeport, Hempstead, Nassau, New York at 53 South Lena Avenue. He was married to Ellen, who was Irish, and had two children. His parents were born in England. He was a portrait artist. According to the 1915 New York State Census, he lived in Union Course, Queens, New York at 449 Lott Avenue. The household included a third child and his wife used the name Nellie. A World War I military record for him has not been found.
In the following federal census, he remained in Queens, New York but at 8409 105th Street, where he continued as an artist. The 1925 state census, recorded him on the move again, this time at 90-24 178 Street in Jamaica, Queens, New York.
Wilson was a commercial artist in the 1930 census. His family lived in Queens Village, Queens, New York at 107-40 Robard Lane. The New York Times, April 3, 1931, noted the following real estate transaction: “…Edward J. Farrell, the broker, also sold for Gertrude F. Rado her residence on Hudson Boulevard to William Oliver Wilson of Queens Village.” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, February 13, 1933, reported an upcoming art exhibit.
The 1910 census recorded Wilson and his family in Freeport, Hempstead, Nassau, New York at 53 South Lena Avenue. He was married to Ellen, who was Irish, and had two children. His parents were born in England. He was a portrait artist. According to the 1915 New York State Census, he lived in Union Course, Queens, New York at 449 Lott Avenue. The household included a third child and his wife used the name Nellie. A World War I military record for him has not been found.
In the following federal census, he remained in Queens, New York but at 8409 105th Street, where he continued as an artist. The 1925 state census, recorded him on the move again, this time at 90-24 178 Street in Jamaica, Queens, New York.
with Arthur Crawford (+a.c.); Harper’s Magazine 11/1920
Modernist Work to Be Shown at Art Guild Exhibit
The Long Island Art Guild on Wednesday night will open its first show at the Queens Borough Public Library, 159th St. and Shelton Ave., Jamaica….
…Ebbitt A. Levitz, secretary of the guild, says that the feature of the show will be new and younger artists, who reside on Long Island, and have not as yet been able to show their work to the public. The oldest entrant is W.O. Wilson, 70, who will show a painting entitled “5th Ave. and 42nd St.” The composition was five years in the making….
In 1940, he, his wife and youngest child, William O. Wilson Jr., lived in Long Beach, New York at 161 West Hudson Street. Apparently, their son, a clerk, cared for them. A World War II draft card (the so-called “old man’s draft” in 1942) has not been found for Wilson Sr. According to draft documents, Wilson Jr. enlisted on February 24, 1941 and was single without dependents. Apparently Wilson and his wife were still self-sufficient or cared for by their other children.
[Updated 4/9/2013] The Brooklyn Eagle, June 9, 1950, reported the passing of Wilson:
William O. Wilson, Artist
Long Beach, June 9—William O. Wilson, former commercial artist and newspaper cartoonist, died Wednesday [June 7] at his home here. He was 84.
Mr. Wilson had been with a number of Manhattan and Philadelphia newspapers prior to his retirement 25 years ago. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Ellen Beirne Wilson; two sons, James P. and William O. Wilson, Jr.; a daughter, Helen M. Wilson, and three grandchildren.
.jpg)
The Long Island Art Guild on Wednesday night will open its first show at the Queens Borough Public Library, 159th St. and Shelton Ave., Jamaica….
…Ebbitt A. Levitz, secretary of the guild, says that the feature of the show will be new and younger artists, who reside on Long Island, and have not as yet been able to show their work to the public. The oldest entrant is W.O. Wilson, 70, who will show a painting entitled “5th Ave. and 42nd St.” The composition was five years in the making….
In 1940, he, his wife and youngest child, William O. Wilson Jr., lived in Long Beach, New York at 161 West Hudson Street. Apparently, their son, a clerk, cared for them. A World War II draft card (the so-called “old man’s draft” in 1942) has not been found for Wilson Sr. According to draft documents, Wilson Jr. enlisted on February 24, 1941 and was single without dependents. Apparently Wilson and his wife were still self-sufficient or cared for by their other children.
[Updated 4/9/2013] The Brooklyn Eagle, June 9, 1950, reported the passing of Wilson:
William O. Wilson, Artist
Long Beach, June 9—William O. Wilson, former commercial artist and newspaper cartoonist, died Wednesday [June 7] at his home here. He was 84.
Mr. Wilson had been with a number of Manhattan and Philadelphia newspapers prior to his retirement 25 years ago. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Ellen Beirne Wilson; two sons, James P. and William O. Wilson, Jr.; a daughter, Helen M. Wilson, and three grandchildren.
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He was buried at the Cemetery of the Holy Rood, Westbury, New York.
Labels: Ink-Slinger Profiles
Comments:
Are you going to mention or advertise the new book? I followed one of your European follower's advise and ordered it from the British Book Depository, who do a presell for a couple more days for 125 euros (including postage, or as they say: postage free).
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Monday, July 02, 2012
Obscurity of the Day: Horace the Hero
Yet, bizarrely, there seems to be no one who knows anything about the guy! I looked through every reference book that seemed likely to yield a crumb or two about him, and I came up dry -- not even a first name! So consider this obscurity of the day more rightly a plea for information -- are you able to contribute? Will our ace people finder Alex Jay work some magic? We'll see...
Today's obscurity is Wilson's first known series, and it was a cute effort, but short-lived. Horace the Hero ran only from April 13 to May 4 1902 in the New York World. It features a fellow who fancies himself a daredevil, and who, predictably enough, has his stunts backfire.
Quiz: only three American newspaper comics that I know of featured a character named Horace in the title; this one, another 1900s obscurity called Hallucinations of Horace, and one more that ran for three decades -- can you name it? And no fair Googling...
Thanks to Cole Johnson for the scans!
Labels: Obscurities
Comments:
Very good Fortunato!
Dotty's hubby was Horace, but he wasn't in the title, so honorable mention to ShadZ!
--Allan Holtz
Dotty's hubby was Horace, but he wasn't in the title, so honorable mention to ShadZ!
--Allan Holtz
I know it doesn't count, but outside of the U.S., the obvious title is A MAN CALLED HORACE by Kettle & Christine for the London Daily Mirror syndicate.
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# posted by 
: 7/03/2012 8:53 AM
: 7/03/2012 8:53 AM Sunday, July 01, 2012
Jim Ivey's Sunday Comics
