Obscurity of the Day: Hoots and Quacks

Ben Hammond was the editorial cartoonist for the Wichita Eagle in the 1910s and 20s, and was always an able if not outstanding penman. Unfortunately, by 1941 when Hammond came up with the strip Hoots and Quacks, his best years were frankly behind him. When I first saw Hoots and Quacks I assumed that I was looking at the work of an amateur teen, not a seasoned veteran on the cusp of his 60s.

It says something very good about the powers that be at the Wichita Eagle that they ran this daily strip for at least a year (I have examples as early as July 1941 and as late as July 1942), obviously out of respect and friendship for this cartoonist who gave the newspaper his best years. Very decent of them.

Hammond seems to have tried to syndicate Hoots and Quacks, but I imagine he did so with no success.