Saturday, February 09, 2019

 

Herriman Saturday


November 16 1909 -- The name of George Edwards, a dress tailor, was apparently pranked by some friends. These practical jokers somehow got Mr. Edward's name added to a ballot as candidate for city attorney.Despite having no training in law, and having not campaigned, he managed to come in second in the election among a field of at least three candidates.

Now Arnold R. Holston, a bona fide attorney who ranked third in the race, is trying to make a case that all the votes for Edwards should be transferred to him. Presumably between the two of them there are enough votes to unseat the incumbent city attorney, Leslie Hewitt. The argument is that Edwards could not serve due to his educational lack in the law department, so he should be disqualified. That part seems reasonable ... the part of transferring his votes to Mr. Holston seems on considerably shakier legal ground.

Herriman ignores the legal questions at the heart of this matter, and instead mocks the idea of a ladies' dressmaker becoming the city attorney.

Labels:


Comments: Post a Comment

Friday, February 08, 2019

 

Wish You Were Here, from Dave Breger


This 1942 card features Private Breger, the character created by Dave Breger which originally saw print in the Saturday Evening Post in 1941. It immediately caught on and migrated to the Stars & Stripes and into mainstream civilian newspapers.  After the war  the panel was renamed Mr. Breger and ran until 1970.

This card series was produced by the Graycraft Card Company of Danville Virginia. As with many of the postcards that were produced for use by GIs, these cards seem to be most often found in an unused state. The bonanza envisioned by these postcard companies seems to have been a bust.

Labels:


Comments:
http://comicskingdom.com/blog/2012/05/30/ask-the-archivist-memorial-day-salute

and
http://comicskingdom.com/blog/2015/10/29/ask-the-archivist-private-breger-becomes-mister-breger

------------------------------
I don't know why but when I was actively collecting cards, it seemed there were always a large stock of unused cards of all kinds with wartime gags. It's as if publishers regularly over printed them, the stocks outlasted the war, and like most old cards, they never got chucked. There's some of my old blog entries listed above about Breger.
I loved that panel when I was a kid, he died suddenly 49 years ago, in January 1970, the series following suit a few weeks later. Years on, when I worked for King Features, I was able to peruse his old files, and I realized that although he had really great, far-out gags sometimes, he was amazingly lazy, repeating the same stock of gags over and over, sometimes redrawing the same ones in the same order a dozen years later.
 
Post a Comment

Thursday, February 07, 2019

 

Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Eleanor Schorer aka Eleanor Hope




Eleanor M. Schorer was born on April 13, 1891, in New York City. Her birth date is from the Social Security Death Index and the birthplace was noted on several passenger lists at Ancestry.com.

In the 1900 U.S. Federal Census Schorer was the oldest of two daughters born to William and Martha. They lived in the Bronx at 1806 Anthony Avenue. Her father worked in housing construction.

The 1905 New York state census recorded the family of four in the Bronx at 1815 Morris Avenue.

Foremost Women in Communications (1970) said Schorer studied at the National Academy of Design in 1906.

The 1910 census said the Schorers were at 2023 Morris Avenue in the Bronx. 


Foremost Women said Schorer found work at the New York Evening World in 1910. American Newspaper Comics (2012) said she worked on over thirty series for the paper including The Adventures of Judy (1926), and The Summer Girl.

Pleiades Club Year Book (1912) published a drawing by Schorer.

According to Foremost Women Schorer studied writing and English at at Columbia University in 1913.

Schorer and her mother returned from Bermuda on April 19, 1914. Their address on the passenger list was 211 Bush Street.

In the 1915 New York state census the Schorer family of four lived in the Bronx at 211 Bush Street.

Perhaps Schorer’s biggest success was as “Cousin Eleanor” and her Kiddie Klub of a hundred thousand members. Editor & Publisher, March 23, 1918, profiled Schorer and said the Kiddie Klub began in the Evening World on May 1, 1916.

Schorer applied for a trademark. The Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office recorded the filing on February 20, 1917.




Schorer wrote and illustrated The Wishing Ring in 1919.

In the 1920 census Schorer lived with her parents in the Bronx at 2055 Davidson Avenue. Schorer’s occupation was writer in the news industry.

Schorer’s marriage to Chester Hope was announced in The New York Times, January 20, 1922.

Miss Eleanor Schorer, formerly an artist and feature writer on The Evening World, and Chester R. Hope, an editor of the Newspaper Feature Service, were married yesterday at St. Mark's Church, the Rev. Dr. William Norman Guthrie officiating.

For the last four years the bride has conducted the Kiddie Klub feature for The Evening World, and has written many children's books and plays. Mr. Hope was for ten years on the editorial staff of The Cleveland Leader. During the war he was a Lieutenant in the navy and attached to the Intelligence Bureau. They will spend their honeymoon in Provincetown, Mass.
The Encyclopedia of American Biography (1966) said
Chester Hope was first married in 1906 to Eva Olivia Collins of Cleveland, Ohio. The first Mrs. Hope died in 1918 and there were no children of that marriage.
On January 19, 1922, Mr. Hope was married in New York City, to Eleanor Schorer, the daughter of William B. and Martha Frances (Dohm) Schorer. Mrs. Hope, whose father was a builder, is well known as an artist and writer.
The Newspaper Feature Service produced the article, “To Give Their Hearts But Keep Their Names” which was published by subscribing newspapers including the South Bend News-Times and The Oregonian. Below is the paragraph about Schorer. 
And those of you who know anything about New York must know that there is there a Kiddie Klub which interests thousands of youngsters. It was started by the Evening World, and its fame has reached other parts of the country during the six years of its existence. The originator and director of the “Kiddie Klub” is “Cousin” Eleanor Schorer. She was just a slip of a girl when she started being a “cousin” to all children in the big town. But, when Chester R. Hope, a newspaper editor, recently made her his wife, he agreed that she would not have to quit being Eleanor Schorer. For the children would hardly recognize “Cousin Eleanor” in the person of Mrs. Hope.
New York Evening World 7/8/1922

Schorer and her husband returned from Europe on October 22, 1923. They sailed on the S.S. La Bourdonnais from Bordeaux, France. Their address on the passenger list was 14 East 43 Street, New York, New York. They traveled together in 1927. 

American Newspaper Comics said Schorer was one of several artists to draw Romantic Cartoons for Newspaper Feature Service, a Hearst syndicate. The series started with Gustav Michelson on December 8, 1913. In 1925 Eleanor drew the series under the name Eleanor Hope.

Schorer and her husband have not been found in the 1930 census.

Schorer was aboard the S.S. Europa when she departed Cherbourg, France on April 17, 1930. She arrived in New York City five days later. Her address was South Mountain Road, New York City.

Foremost Women said Schorer studied at the Art Students League, and Julian’s Academy (Paris) from 1930 to 1931. Foremost Women said, starting in 1931, Schorer’s chief clients were the Philadelphia Inquirer, St. Louis Globe Democrat, and the Toronto Star.

In the 1940 census newspaper artist Schorer and her husband were Manhattan residents at 345 West 86 Street. The same address was recorded on Hope's World War II draft card which he signed on April 27, 1942,

The Orangetown Telegram and Pearl River Searchlight (New York), August 1, 1947, reported on the newly organized Rockland Chapter of the Business and Professional Women's Clubs. Schorer was elected the Education and Vocations officer.

During the 1950s, Schorer's paintings were exhibited at the Brevoort Savings Bank in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, as reported in the Brooklyn Eagle.

The Writer's Market (1951) published this listing: “Chester Hope Features, 345 W. 86th Street, New York 24, N.Y. Eleanor Schorer, Editor.”

Hope passed away, at home, on November 27, 1963. His death was reported in the New York Times the following day.

Schorer passed away on February 24, 1976, in Palm Beach, Florida, according to the Florida Death Index. She was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.


Further Reading and Viewing
Chronicling America


—Alex Jay

Labels:


Comments:
That's not a patent; that's for trademarks. Run by the same department (the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, and its predecessors), but governed under different law. You can tell, because of the references to classes and the kinds of goods and services. I used to practice trademark law, and I see very often folks conflating the two terms.
 
Dear Alex Jay,
Would it be possible to send me a higher resolution image of the wonderful photo of Eleanor Schorer and her cousin from the 1922 New York World, for use in my Fantagraphics book, "The Flapper Queens?" All I can give you in return is thanks in the acknowledgement and a copy of the book; I hope that will suffice.
Many thanks,
Trina Robbins
 
Hi Trina,

The photo is from Chronicling America and this is the link, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1922-07-08/ed-1/seq-9/

You can download the page as a pdf or jp2. The Fantagraphics production staff may be able to produce a higher resolution image from one of the files.

Best,
Alex Jay
 
Post a Comment

Wednesday, February 06, 2019

 

Obscurity of the Day: Bessie's Vacation



Eleanor Schorer was a Nell Brinkley imitator, but she was so darn good it seems a shame to tar her with that brush. Let's say that she did what the market demanded, and did it very, very well.

Schorer created many short-run romantic panel features like Bessie's Vacation for the New York Evening World between 1912 to 1916. Later her cartooning appearances became rare as she got into fashion illustration and children's features.

Bessie's Vacation has no real story to speak of -- each panel depicts a romantic opportunity for Schorer's various 'Bessies' on vacation, be it in the mountains, on a cruise, or at the beach. This weekday series was produced for the summer papers in both 1912 and 1913. The first year it ran July 17 to August 17, and the second it ran in twelve numbered installments from July 2 to August 6*.

* Source: all dates from New York Evening World

Labels:


Comments: Post a Comment

Tuesday, February 05, 2019

 

Obscurity of the Day: When Bill Thinkuvit Comes Home at Night



The series When Bill Thinkuvit Comes Home at Night is another one of those rather tiresome absent-minded man strips, this time penned by Ferd G. Long for weekday appearances in the New York Evening World. It came and went quickly, first appearing February 26 1908, and last appearing on March 5.

Oddly enough, this series was chosen by the Chicago Tribune to be colorized and reprinted as third-page Sundays in their comics sections of April 19 to May 3 1908.  The Trib gave this treatment to a few Evening World series in that era, in addition to using actual Pulitzer Sunday strips as well.


Labels:


Comments: Post a Comment

Monday, February 04, 2019

 

Toppers: Fablettes


Little Annie Rooney was a bald-faced attempt by King Features to piggyback on the success of Little Orphan Annie. Rooney debuted in 1927, penned by Ed Verdier, and made it into very few client papers at first. However, when workhorse cartoonist Ben Batsford took over the feature in 1929, newspaper clients started to take notice, and when Batsford was replaced by the team of Brandon Walsh and Darrell McClure, the copycat strip finally found itself to be a modest success.

In November 1930 a Sunday page was added, and thereby hangs a bit of a mystery. In the period 1930-31, I have never seen a Little Annie Rooney Sunday that ran as anything other than half-page format. Therefore, I have never seen it with a topper in that era. Was there a full page or tab version? If so, did it have a topper?*

The mystery deepens. In the period 1932 to October 1933, I have never seen a single example of the Sunday in any format. Did King drop the Sunday after it's perhaps one year stint in 1930-31?

In October 1933, the Sunday finally comes back on my radar, and at this time it was available as a full page, complete with a topper titled Fablettes. Fablettes was an unassuming feature with no continuing characters. Brandon Walsh wrote a two tier gag about most anything that popped into his head, and Darrell McClure illustrated it. Mission accomplished.

I chose the Sunday sample above because it shows off the continued cribbing from Little Orphan Annie. The above strip is an outright copy of the sort of material Harold Gray had offered in his The Private Life of... Sunday topper. However, Fablettes was at least not slavish to Gray -- many Fablettes episodes are pure joke book material.

Darrell McClure was replaced on Little Annie Rooney Sunday in 1934, and his last Fablette was published on February 4. Thereafter the art was provided by Nick Afonsky.

Brandon Walsh was running a sequence in the main strip which concerned a stereotypical aphorism-spouting Chinese fellow named Ming Foo. He decided the character would make a good topper subject. Fablettes was thus dropped on March 10 1935 in favor of the new feature.

Any help readers can give concerning the history of the early Little Annie Rooney Sunday page would be most welcome.


* Jeffrey Lindenblatt offers this possibility: might the 1930-31 Little Annie Rooney half-page Sunday have been created purely as a filler? The Hearst syndicates did this in the '20s and earlier (Charlie and George and part of the Freddie the Sheik run, for instance); could Annie have been another entry in that line?

Labels:


Comments:
Hello Allan: I have this sunday of Little Annie Rooney with date November 2, 1930. I have posted a scan on twitter:
https://twitter.com/lucioni_peru/status/1433078845469569030
It's that the first LAR sunday?
 
I think Jeffrey is right about it being a filler: checking on newspapers.com that page was published in the San Francisco Examiner, with an ad below, then no further pages until November 30, always along with an ad. It seems it was published only when needed.
 
Post a Comment

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]