[Cartoons Magazine, debuting in 1912, was a monthly magazine devoted primarily to reprinting editorial cartoons from U.S. and foreign newspapers. Articles about cartooning and cartoonists often supplemented the discussion of current events.
In November 1913 the magazine began to offer a monthly round-up of news about cartoonists and cartooning, eventually titled "What The Cartoonist Are Doing." There are lots of interesting historical nuggets in these sections, and this Stripper's Guide feature will reprint one issue's worth each week.]
Mr. Cory, the Chicago cartoonist, has had an eventful career. The details of Mr. Cory's experiences were printed in The Scoop, official publication of the Chicago Press Club, recently. The article follows:
“J. Campbell Cory was born in Waukegan Sept. 11, 1867. He got a public school education there, and devoted nine years, beginning in 1887, to drawing horses, in which specialty he achieved an international reputation.
“He began as a cartoonist in New York in 1896. He has occupied leading positions in that capacity on America's foremost daily papers, at salaries ranking with the highest in the world.
“He is much given to exploration and adventure. Has prospected and operated mines throughout the northwest; broken the world's records in a gas balloon; constructed and operated aeroplanes, and killed all manner of big and small game in North and Central America. He is an expert horseman, and an expert rifle, pistol and shotgun man. During the Spanish-American war he published a weekly illustrated paper (The Bee) in New York. In 1907-8 he published The Great West, a monthly in New York.
“He co-operated with John Hays Hammond, Senator Clark and other prominent westerners in founding The Montana Society and the Rocky Mountain Club in New York, and was vice-president of both. “He has attracted considerable favorable attention as a sporting writer under the name of Uncle Dud.
“In various publishing, mining, and exploration ventures, he has had the personal backing of the late Wm. C. Whitney, Thomas F. Ryan and officials of the American Car and Foundry Company, and the Guggenheims' organization.
“His cartoons in the New York World are credited with having been potent in the crusade that drove James Hazen Hyde and other officials out of the Equitable Life Assurance Company previous to the control of that concern passing to Thomas Fortune Ryan.
“During his nomadic career, Mr. Cory has succeeded in breaking his nose six times in as many different ways, with the cumulative result that it is not much of a nose to look at any more, but as he complacently observes, “there's enough nose left to break at least once more.”
“Mr. Cory has also won many trophies as a golfer.”
CARTOON SPEECH TEXT IN CONGRESS
A cartoon pointing a lesson concerning present-day business conditions that appeared in the New York Sun was the text of a speech delivered in the House of Representatives recently by Congressman Hamilton of Michigan. Mr. Hamilton was discussing the statement of President Wilson that there is nothing the matter with business “except a state of mind.”
“Well, what is the cause of the state of mind?” asked Mr. Hamilton. “‘As a man thinketh so is he. What causes men to think there is something wrong with business? In one of Cesare's powerful cartoons in the New York Sun three threadbare figures, a man and a woman, with a child clinging to the woman’s skirts, pinched with cold, are standing in the slush of a city pavement in the bitter winds of winter and the man and the woman are reading a notice in a window that the Belgian Relief Fund has reached $1,500,000. The cartoon is called “Some American Neutrals.’”
Continuing, Mr. Hamilton said:
“This little shivering group represents the condition of thousands of men and women in America. And the President with uplifted eyes at Indianapolis says: ‘It goes very much to my heart to see how many men are at disadvantage and are without guides and helpers. Disadvantage! They are starving. Guides and helpers! They want work. And then he asks: “Don’t you think it would be a pretty good idea for the Democratic party to undertake a systematic method of helping the working men of America?”
“We do,” concluded Mr. Hamilton with great earnestness.
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The cartoon ball is the latest wrinkle in Pacific Coast society. At an affair of considerable local importance in San Diego recently, all the guests were made up to represent comic-section characters. The idea is expected to become popular.
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“‘Mr. Bryan makes a much better subject for cartoonists than he used to. Certainly. Paradoxical as it may seem, he becomes not only funnier, but more tragic as well, with each passing year.”—Philadelphia Inquirer.
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Harry Palmer is now associated with a film company and will draw animated cartoons under the title of “Kriterion Komic Kartoon.”
A PAGE FROM THE KIDDER
The Kidder is a unique publication issued semi-monthly by the Newspaper Artists club of Indianapolis. Its motto is: “The feather is mightier than the hammer.” The cover design by Frank Bowers, cartoonist of the Indianapolis Star, depicts the Public in the act of being tickled by a long feather wielded by an infant jester, whose nursing bottle is marked “Humor.” Mr. Bowers is president of the club, and one of the chief contributors to the paper.
The latest issue of the magazine contains a page cartoon in Mr. Bowers' best vein, entitled “When we were kids.” A group of country boys are seen on the banks of a woodland brook “snaring suckers.”
A WESTERN TRIO IN NEW YORK
H. T. Webster, cartoonist of the New York Globe; R. M. Brinkerhoff, cartoonist and illustrator, and Ray Rohn, who is making a reputation for himself in Judge, make up a trio that has invaded New York successfully from the west. Mr. Webster, whose home is Tomahawk, Wis., had been successively cartoonist of the Chicago Inter Ocean and the Cincinnati Post when, after a sketching trip around the world, he decided to tempt fortune and fame in the big city.
His love of boy life is perhaps the most distinguishing feature of his work. “Web” was brought up on “Tom Sawyer” and “Huck Finn,” and cannot remember that he is grown up now and stands 6 feet, 4 inches in his holeproofs. His boys, like Briggs’ “Skinnay,” are the real article, and might almost have stepped from the pages of Mark Twain. They go barefoot, have sore thumbs and freckles, like dogs, and wear cherubic grins.
“Web’s” cartoons today are syndicated throughout the United States by the Globe Publishing Company, and have brought him well merited rewards. The results of a recent cartoon tilt between Webster and Briggs, of the New York Tribune, are reproduced on another page. The shape of the Kelly pool balls as drawn by Briggs apparently got on Webster's nerves, so he perpetrated a cartoon showing the difficulties of indulging in that indoor sport with the balls as drawn by the cartoonists. How Briggs replied can be seen by a study of the second section of the picture. The Globe cartoonist, who is always fond of outdoor life, with hunting and fishing, is planning an automobile tour of the Maine coast.
Brinkerhoff, it will be noticed, has resumed cartooning, his recent work appearing in the New York Evening Post. His attention just now is divided between art and candy making, for he is the manufacturer of the famous “Welsh woggles,” the national sweetmeat of Wales.
Ray Rohn, as will be seen, is occasionally one of Webster's subjects. He appears in a cartoon on this page as indulging in his favorite boyhood dream—being a villain in a melodrama, and returning with the show to his home town.
Scarcely a week passes but that Mr. Rohn adds to the joy of life by one of his humorous drawings in Judge. If he ever had any serious longings for the stage -- this is probably a fiction on the part of "Web" -- he has abandoned such dreams for the pursuit of art.
IN DEFENSE OF PUNCH
“A German professor, Dr. Schröer, of Cologne,” says the Pall Mall Gazette (London), “has been denouncing Punch for its cartoons of the Emperor in its series called 'The Rake's Progress.' He finds them ‘infamous,' and is sorry for the people who can think them witty. Here in England we certainly think them not only witty, but charged with a rare dignity of humor, of which Punch, and England, too, may very well be proud. And when we recall, the coarse and disgusting pictures with which the humorists of the German press caricatured Queen Victoria, during the Boer war, we are the more satisfied with Punch. If Dr. Schröer is really solicitous for decency in these matters, we will venture to say that there is plenty for him to do with his home ‘literature.’”
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Robert W. Satterfield, cartoonist, is a new addition to the staff of the Sandusky (O.) Register. Formerly Mr. Satterfield was connected with the Cleveland Press and the Cleveland News, and later conducted the Satterfield cartoon service.
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W. C. Morris, formerly of the Spokane Spokesman Review, has succeeded Weed as cartoonist on the New York Tribune. Mr. Weed has joined the staff of the Philadelphia Public Ledger.
BARRE ENTERS “MOVIE” FIELD
Raoul Barre, the noted French cartoonist, is drawing a series of animated comic cartoons for an American film manufacturing company. Mr. Barre has worked out a new and clever idea in his animated cartoons, the figures moving while he is still drawing them.
Mr. Barre has gained considerable notice in this country as a cartoonist under the name of “Varb.” It was in Paris that he made his mark as an opinion-swaying cartoonist, however. He was pitted against Caran d'Ache and Forian in the celebrated Dreyfus case. The battle which these opposing cartoonists fought over Dreyfus is one of the most memorable phases in a case which shook France to its foundations.
CLASS IN CARTOONING GROWS
The class in cartooning inaugurated a few weeks ago at the South Brooklyn (N. Y.) evening high school, has shown an encouraging increase in attendance, and has become one of the most popular classes at the institution. George Wingeback, principal of the school, has expressed himself as more than pleased at the showing made by the ambitious students who have taken advantage of the opportunities thus offered. Each phase of the work is gone over by experts, and especial attention is given to a study of the cartoons in the metropolitan press. There is still room in the class for a few more pupils.
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Will DeBeck has left the Pittsburgh Gazette Times and has started a feature service business, with a Mr. Carter of Pittsburgh. In addition to running a cartoon syndicate the two young men have established a school of cartooning and comic drawing.
Jay N. Darling, cartoonist of the Des Moines Register and Leader, recently broke all speed records for Iowa's capital city. “Ding” was in search of a cat doctor to make various and sundry repairs upon Thomas, his feline friend and counselor. Thomas was rather seriously scorched when the Register and Leader building burned to the ground recently, and Mr. Darling found his pet wandering about the smoking ruins, rather the worse for wear.
Thomas adopted Mr. Darling several years ago. One day he strolled casually into the cartoonist's studio, and after a calm survey of the artist and his surroundings, decided it looked good enough for him to live in, and immediately made himself at home. All efforts to discourage Thomas were fruitless, and Mr. Darling became much attached to his pet. “Ding” has promised Thomas a fine bunk in the new Register and Leader building, and in the meantime the affectionate feline is making his home with the Darlings.
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A popular-price edition of Albert Bigelow Paine's “Thomas Nast, His Period and His Pictures,” with more than 400 Nast cartoons, has been issued by Harper's. Mr. Nast made history with his pencil and crayon. Latter-day political cartoonists still use the whimsical emblems he invented, and reflect his methods and spirit in their drawings.
WHEN MAYER AND LOWELL SOLD CARTOONS FOR 50 CENTS
Hy Mayer, contributing editor of Puck; Orson Lowell, one of the staff artists of Life, and Charles Dana Gibson, the illustrator, were the principal speakers at a recent meeting of the American Institute of Graphic Arts at the National Arts Club, New York.
Mr. Lowell caused some amusement by referring to the days when he and Mr. Mayer peddled their drawings for 50 cents apiece. He spoke also of the distinction between illustrations for stories and cartoons. The former, he said, should arouse the reader's interest in the story, but should not tell the story itself. The cartoon, however, he declared, must tell the whole story in a nutshell.
Mr. Mayer, during his 28 years as an illustrator, has developed a theory that the “man behind the line” is of real importance, rather than the “line behind the man.” In other words, he said that the illustrator should endeavor to express himself, and not attempt merely to develop skill. When an artist becomes too skillful, he added, the result is mostly skill and little art. The artist, he contended, should draw in his own way, regardless of the public demand.
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John De Mar, cartoonist of the Philadelphia Record, gave an exhibition of rapid drawing at a recent Lenten entertainment in West Philadelphia.
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