Saturday, June 06, 2020
What the Cartoonists are Doing, August 1916 (Vol.10 No.2)
[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.]
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF CARTOONING
While on tour with the Friars, Reub Goldberg was interviewed for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The creator of "I'm the Guy," and "Father Was Right," after drawing a picture for the newspaper, was asked to define the difference between the humor of American and European publications.
“ There isn't any,” he replied.
"All really successful cartoonists,” he continued, "work on the same foundation. All take the manners and foibles of their countrymen, exaggerate them, show the grotesque and ridiculous in them, induce their readers to laugh at their own shortcomings. In other words, the successful cartoonist of every nation 'kids' his public about himself.
“To illustrate: The funniest figure in French comics today is the French soldier. The cartoonist makes his baggy trousers baggier than ever and his lop-sided cap more lop-sided than ever. The things are absurd enough as they are and the cartoonist merely reveals the absurdity by emphasis.
"It's the same way over here and everywhere else. The cartoonist makes people laugh at their own follies and if he can do so without leaving a sting he is successful.”
Cartoon drawing, as Goldberg explained it, is a very serious, thoughtful business. The picture must be grounded upon human nature. It must tell a story. It must have a little sugar-coated philosophy under the surface. Most of all, it must have a "punch," something that will stick in the reader's memory after the laugh has died away. Before he begins to draw, Goldberg says, he constructs a scenario, builds the stage and creates parts and actors. There must be nothing haphazard about it. This is why very few of the suggestions that burden a successful cartoonist's mail have any value.
Illustrative of what he meant, he cited one of his own cartoons which had won great popularity. The picture began with a boy working in the can-opener department of a hardware store. He determined to know more about can-openers than anybody else in the world and accomplished his desire. He became the can-opener magnate of the country. Bank directorates were offered him, colleges he had founded gave him degrees, he was lauded until he even forgot what a can-opener looked like, and then, when he died, the best thing anybody could think to say of him was that he had been an amazingly good can-opener man.
"It has a joke and a laugh and a bit of slang that the newsboy can get,” the cartoonist commented, “but I think that also below the surface it has considerable philosophy for the man who wants to dig it out."
McCUTCHEON'S WILSON
from the Waterloo Courier
Every cartoonist of course has a different idea of the president, and caricatures him in a manner to bring out what he conceives to be his strong points or his foibles, depending upon the policy of the paper which prints the cartoon. Thus Darling of the Des Moines Register depicts a squabby, undersized Wilson with a long drawn out, bespectacled and pedagogical face, and an ill-shapen frock coat floating in the breeze.
On the other hand, John T. McCutcheon of the Chicago Tribune idealizes the president. In the early days of the administration when the Tribune was more friendly toward Mr. Wilson than it is at present, McCutcheon conceived this stately and dignified figure of the president, showing strength of purpose, depth of thought and breadth of vision in every line of his face, in fact every inch a president. Now since the opinion of the Tribune of Mr. Wilson has undergone considerable change, it is to the credit of this noted cartoonist that he has retained the same representation of the president to criticize him that he used before to praise. There is the same stateliness and dignity about the portrait, but the desired effect is secured by deft work on the presidential countenance. The old show of strength is not so much in evidence. There is instead the look of sad perplexity and deep disgust with life. The president is represented not in vindictive wrath over the indignities on the border but he is stirred sufficiently to ask Carranza's permission to punish the perpetrators. The effect is all the greater in that the figure of the president is dignified. It stamps McCutcheon as a master cartoonist .
IN THE BIG LEAGUE NOW
William C . Morris, who three years ago was doing cartoons for the Spokane Review, is rapidly making a name for himself in New York. His work in Harper's Weekly was attracting national attention at the time that historic magazine was approaching its finish. Since the demise of Harper's Mr. Morris has been publishing his cartoons in Puck and The Independent . Some of his full-page designs, satires on national and international events, show striking originality and boldness of conception .
WESTERMAN'S CONVENTION WORK
The proprietors of the Ohio State Journal are congratulating themselves on the work done by Harry Westerman at the Chicago and St. Louis conventions. Mr. Westerman's portraits of the republican and democratic leaders were finely executed in the artist's happiest style, and there was no cartoonist at either convention that turned in nearly the amount of sketches as the gentleman from Columbus. Much of his work was done in crayon, and in addition to the portraits Mr. Westerman furnished a number of "lightning" cartoons, each hitting off some timely phase of the situation.
A CARTOONIST-AVIATOR
Lieutenant Phil Rader, a former San Francisco cartoonist, but now a member of the Royal Flying Corps, stationed in England, has been teaching young Englishmen aeronautics. One of his recent pupils was Vernon Castle, the dancer, who, according to Rader, “is shaping up very well as a service pilot."
Speaking of his experiences, Lieutenant Rader writes: "I am doing a good deal of flying, although rainy weather has hampered us a good deal. Had a rather exciting experience when I got lost in a blinding snowstorm and had to make a forced landing on the side of a hill in the dark. Didn't 'bust' anything, however."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
J . H . Richmond, formerly a cartoonist on the Des Moines News, was found dead in his home in Cedar Rapids on May 10.
CARACATYPES IN THE MOVIES
Those who have enjoyed Helena Smith Dayton's "caracatypes" in Cartoons Magazine will have an opportunity this month of seeing them go through their paces on the screen. How anyone can animate a clay figure is beyond most of us, but seeing that we ourselves are only animated clay, doubtless Mrs. Dayton finds it easy. The little figures are said to be very lifelike and funnier than Charlie Chaplin . One of the lady figures even goes so far as to chew gum.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jay N. Darling, cartoonist of the Des Moines Register and Leader, was selected as commander in chief of the preparedness parade held in that city on June 3. His first official act was to bar all "pussy footers."
ZIM ' S PHOOLOSOPHY IN BOOK FORM
Zim's "Homespun Phoolosophy," which has been appearing regularly in Cartoons Magazine, has been published by the author in book form. The volume is entitled "A Jug Full of Wisdom," but much of it, according to Zim, is not wisdom by a jugful. It contains about sixty pages of “phoolosophy,” with a few odd sketches and homespun observations thrown in for good measure. The genial sage of Horseheads has thousands of admirers, not only in Chemung County, N. Y., but in Elmira, and other large cities, and this by-product of one of America' s most famous car toonists will be welcome everywhere.
KNOTT SUED FOR DIVORCE
Jean Knott, author of the "Penny Ante" cartoon series, was sued for a divorce by Mrs. Elizabeth E. Knott a few hours after Knott had severed his connection with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and departed for New York to fill a $12,500 a year contract with the Hearst Newspaper Syndicate.
Knott's “artistic temperament" is mentioned in the divorce petition.
There is one child, a daughter, five years old. Her custody is sought by Mrs. Knott, who also wants alimony proportionate to Knott' s new salary.
Mrs. Knott charges that her husband is possessed of a violent temper, frequently quarreled with her over unimportant matters, and when she tried to calm him he told her to "shut up.” She asserts that he often refused to speak to her for weeks at a time.
Since January 5 last, Mrs. Knott says, she and her husband have been living apart in their apartment. When he came home she said he would eat at the same table with her but refused to talk to her.
The defendant is a member of the Sunset Inn, Country and Oasis clubs and the Missouri Athletic Association.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fred Myers of the National Feature Syndicate of Indianapolis is receiving congratulations on the arrival at his home of a seven-and-a-half pound baby girl .
PRETTY SOFT FOR SID
Sidney Smith of the Chicago Tribune's staff of “comickers" certainly started something when he inaugurated his “Light Occupations" series. As a result he doesn't have to work any more, except to draw an occasional “Doc Yak.” The first two or three of the “Light Occupations" pictures he thought up himself. Then the voluntary humorists began helping him out. Each mail brought hundreds of suggestions, which is even more than B. L. T. gets for his column. Sid didn't know there were so many ideas in the world, and to show that they are not easy to think of, here are some of them:
“Sawing Off the Corners of a Square Meal," "Looking for the Engine on the Train of a Woman's Dress," "Drilling Ink Wells," "Making a Chain Out of Golf Links," "Fishing with a Hook Worm," "Keeping the Chili Sauce Warm," "Cutting the Bangs Off Firecrackers," "Blushing at the Legs of a Table," "Watering a Sawhorse," "Shaving the Neck of a Bottle," “Beating Eggs with a Horsewhip."
By giving the local humorists full play, Sid manages to get in several hours of golf a day, or to run up to Lake Geneva occasionally in his motor.
WHO THE “GOOD FAIRY” IS
He is known to the public only as the “Good Fairy," the little plaster sprite who holds out his arms to you as entreatingly as did Peter Pan. But to the inner circle he is John T. McCutcheon Raleigh, the little nephew of John T. McCutcheon of the Chicago Tribune, the namesake of the cartoonist, and the inspiration of the statue. It was his fairylike body and impish spirit that suggested the figure to his mother, Mrs. Jesse McCutcheon Raleigh, who has given to the world this little emblem of good cheer.
REALIZES BOYHOOD AMBITION
Ralph C. Faulkner, who does a cartoon act in vaudeville, appeared before an audience in San Antonio, Texas, recently, and was received with open arms. Faulkner was born in San Antonio, and used to play football on the local high school team. Since leaving his native town he has had an adventurous career in Mexico and South America. He was shipped out of Mexico City as an express package after having drawn a cartoon of Diaz for El Diario. Bearing a striking resemblance to President Wilson, Faulkner makes up as the chief executive for his stage performances, and uses cartoons to illustrate his monologue.
THE NEW DADDY
When Bud Fisher, of Mutt and Jeff fame, was out frolicing with the Friars he associated with a fellow actor who had only recently become a proud father. They were in Atlantic City and stopped at a lunch counter along the Boardwalk after the performance.
The actor took out his watch and looked longingly at a photograph pasted inside. He was away from home and lonely for the kiddie. Finally he put his watch away and looked into space. A waiter approached. “Do you wish anything else?" he asked.
It did not jar the actor out of his dream for he looked up with a simpering smile and prattled: "Dimme ittle jink of wa-wa." Then he rushed out in search of an ocean breeze to fan his flushed brow.
BUSH GETS BEQUEST
After a delay caused by litigation, a bequest made by an unknown admirer of E. A. Bushnell has found its way into the pockets of the artist. Mr. Bushnell received the news about a year ago that a wealthy old lady in the Middle West had died and remembered him handsomely in her will. She had been prompted to do this merely because she liked Mr. Bushnell's cartoons. The artist, who is now in Brooklyn, N. Y., was forced to discontinue his cartoon service owing to illness, but is now planning to resume his work.
WHY RAEMAEKERS EXCELS
Gustav Kahn, in Le Mercure de France
His art is graphic; he writes rather than depicts; his prime object is to argue; his productions are not violent, they are just. A German would regard his treatment as paroxysmal; the French do not. If one cannot look with serenity upon the tragic pages to which Raemaekers owes his renown, one may reflect calmly on his methods. Attention is given, perhaps, to the setting, but the stress is laid upon the total effect. Caricature, as it was conceived by the greatest polemics of the pencil, a Daumier, for example, exerts no influence on this art. It is not caricature, for there is no violent facial deformation, mirthful or depreciatory. What is presented is the acute stage of a situation.
Is Ramaekers' art entirely individual? No, we find the same aim, the same bent in Hermann-Paul' s drawings of the war. Must we admit that the very tragedy of the subject, in its manifold aspects, deprives the critic, and the artist, of any desire of artistic exaggeration? One does not caricature such situations, indulge in irony upon the perpetrators of such actions, the per sonages of such dramas. Caricature has abdicated before a direct attack of the subject; the artist's reflections are sad, bitter; buffoonery of any sort finds no place here.
Simple, strong phrases are needed to interpret the great drama; the draftsman seeks to reproduce the most statuesque, the most salient, suggestive, of those phrases; to mark clearly the chief point of the drama is his first, his abiding care.
OBJECTS TO “ UNCLE SAM " CARTOONS
A writer in the New York Evening Post complains about the representation of Uncle Sam in newspaper cartoons, and deplores the effect they must have on the people.
"It is wrong," he says," to believe that the American public is unable to appreciate artistic things. To keep before its eyes these odious, badly drawn images of an old crank dressed like a clown, the invention of some English cartoonist, who was anything but sympathetic toward Americans, is an insult to its taste, and must have a bad effect on the attitude of many toward the country.
“'Marianne,' 'Michel,' and 'John Bull' are not served up every day in almost every daily paper; they remain the property of the comic weekly publications, and appear in such clever execution that they do not offend. It is hard for me to believe that an artist, or rather illustrator, with any patriotic ideals, could lend himself to such work as we see here."
CARTER REVIVES A DAVENPORT CARTOON
In 1904 the cartoon entitled "He's Good Enough for Me," drawn by the late Homer Davenport, and showing Uncle Sam endorsing Roosevelt, was published in the New York Evening Mail. It attracted wide attention at the time. A few weeks ago Robert Carter in the New York Evening Sun adapted the cartoon to the political situation as it existed, or seemed to exist, on the eve of the Chicago convention.
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.]
While on tour with the Friars, Reub Goldberg was interviewed for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The creator of "I'm the Guy," and "Father Was Right," after drawing a picture for the newspaper, was asked to define the difference between the humor of American and European publications.
“ There isn't any,” he replied.
"All really successful cartoonists,” he continued, "work on the same foundation. All take the manners and foibles of their countrymen, exaggerate them, show the grotesque and ridiculous in them, induce their readers to laugh at their own shortcomings. In other words, the successful cartoonist of every nation 'kids' his public about himself.
“To illustrate: The funniest figure in French comics today is the French soldier. The cartoonist makes his baggy trousers baggier than ever and his lop-sided cap more lop-sided than ever. The things are absurd enough as they are and the cartoonist merely reveals the absurdity by emphasis.
"It's the same way over here and everywhere else. The cartoonist makes people laugh at their own follies and if he can do so without leaving a sting he is successful.”
Illustrative of what he meant, he cited one of his own cartoons which had won great popularity. The picture began with a boy working in the can-opener department of a hardware store. He determined to know more about can-openers than anybody else in the world and accomplished his desire. He became the can-opener magnate of the country. Bank directorates were offered him, colleges he had founded gave him degrees, he was lauded until he even forgot what a can-opener looked like, and then, when he died, the best thing anybody could think to say of him was that he had been an amazingly good can-opener man.
"It has a joke and a laugh and a bit of slang that the newsboy can get,” the cartoonist commented, “but I think that also below the surface it has considerable philosophy for the man who wants to dig it out."
McCUTCHEON'S WILSON
from the Waterloo Courier
Every cartoonist of course has a different idea of the president, and caricatures him in a manner to bring out what he conceives to be his strong points or his foibles, depending upon the policy of the paper which prints the cartoon. Thus Darling of the Des Moines Register depicts a squabby, undersized Wilson with a long drawn out, bespectacled and pedagogical face, and an ill-shapen frock coat floating in the breeze.
On the other hand, John T. McCutcheon of the Chicago Tribune idealizes the president. In the early days of the administration when the Tribune was more friendly toward Mr. Wilson than it is at present, McCutcheon conceived this stately and dignified figure of the president, showing strength of purpose, depth of thought and breadth of vision in every line of his face, in fact every inch a president. Now since the opinion of the Tribune of Mr. Wilson has undergone considerable change, it is to the credit of this noted cartoonist that he has retained the same representation of the president to criticize him that he used before to praise. There is the same stateliness and dignity about the portrait, but the desired effect is secured by deft work on the presidential countenance. The old show of strength is not so much in evidence. There is instead the look of sad perplexity and deep disgust with life. The president is represented not in vindictive wrath over the indignities on the border but he is stirred sufficiently to ask Carranza's permission to punish the perpetrators. The effect is all the greater in that the figure of the president is dignified. It stamps McCutcheon as a master cartoonist .
William C . Morris, who three years ago was doing cartoons for the Spokane Review, is rapidly making a name for himself in New York. His work in Harper's Weekly was attracting national attention at the time that historic magazine was approaching its finish. Since the demise of Harper's Mr. Morris has been publishing his cartoons in Puck and The Independent . Some of his full-page designs, satires on national and international events, show striking originality and boldness of conception .
WESTERMAN'S CONVENTION WORK
The proprietors of the Ohio State Journal are congratulating themselves on the work done by Harry Westerman at the Chicago and St. Louis conventions. Mr. Westerman's portraits of the republican and democratic leaders were finely executed in the artist's happiest style, and there was no cartoonist at either convention that turned in nearly the amount of sketches as the gentleman from Columbus. Much of his work was done in crayon, and in addition to the portraits Mr. Westerman furnished a number of "lightning" cartoons, each hitting off some timely phase of the situation.
A CARTOONIST-AVIATOR
Lieutenant Phil Rader, a former San Francisco cartoonist, but now a member of the Royal Flying Corps, stationed in England, has been teaching young Englishmen aeronautics. One of his recent pupils was Vernon Castle, the dancer, who, according to Rader, “is shaping up very well as a service pilot."
Speaking of his experiences, Lieutenant Rader writes: "I am doing a good deal of flying, although rainy weather has hampered us a good deal. Had a rather exciting experience when I got lost in a blinding snowstorm and had to make a forced landing on the side of a hill in the dark. Didn't 'bust' anything, however."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
J . H . Richmond, formerly a cartoonist on the Des Moines News, was found dead in his home in Cedar Rapids on May 10.
CARACATYPES IN THE MOVIES
Those who have enjoyed Helena Smith Dayton's "caracatypes" in Cartoons Magazine will have an opportunity this month of seeing them go through their paces on the screen. How anyone can animate a clay figure is beyond most of us, but seeing that we ourselves are only animated clay, doubtless Mrs. Dayton finds it easy. The little figures are said to be very lifelike and funnier than Charlie Chaplin . One of the lady figures even goes so far as to chew gum.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jay N. Darling, cartoonist of the Des Moines Register and Leader, was selected as commander in chief of the preparedness parade held in that city on June 3. His first official act was to bar all "pussy footers."
Zim's "Homespun Phoolosophy," which has been appearing regularly in Cartoons Magazine, has been published by the author in book form. The volume is entitled "A Jug Full of Wisdom," but much of it, according to Zim, is not wisdom by a jugful. It contains about sixty pages of “phoolosophy,” with a few odd sketches and homespun observations thrown in for good measure. The genial sage of Horseheads has thousands of admirers, not only in Chemung County, N. Y., but in Elmira, and other large cities, and this by-product of one of America' s most famous car toonists will be welcome everywhere.
KNOTT SUED FOR DIVORCE
Jean Knott, author of the "Penny Ante" cartoon series, was sued for a divorce by Mrs. Elizabeth E. Knott a few hours after Knott had severed his connection with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and departed for New York to fill a $12,500 a year contract with the Hearst Newspaper Syndicate.
Knott's “artistic temperament" is mentioned in the divorce petition.
There is one child, a daughter, five years old. Her custody is sought by Mrs. Knott, who also wants alimony proportionate to Knott' s new salary.
Mrs. Knott charges that her husband is possessed of a violent temper, frequently quarreled with her over unimportant matters, and when she tried to calm him he told her to "shut up.” She asserts that he often refused to speak to her for weeks at a time.
Since January 5 last, Mrs. Knott says, she and her husband have been living apart in their apartment. When he came home she said he would eat at the same table with her but refused to talk to her.
The defendant is a member of the Sunset Inn, Country and Oasis clubs and the Missouri Athletic Association.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fred Myers of the National Feature Syndicate of Indianapolis is receiving congratulations on the arrival at his home of a seven-and-a-half pound baby girl .
Sidney Smith of the Chicago Tribune's staff of “comickers" certainly started something when he inaugurated his “Light Occupations" series. As a result he doesn't have to work any more, except to draw an occasional “Doc Yak.” The first two or three of the “Light Occupations" pictures he thought up himself. Then the voluntary humorists began helping him out. Each mail brought hundreds of suggestions, which is even more than B. L. T. gets for his column. Sid didn't know there were so many ideas in the world, and to show that they are not easy to think of, here are some of them:
“Sawing Off the Corners of a Square Meal," "Looking for the Engine on the Train of a Woman's Dress," "Drilling Ink Wells," "Making a Chain Out of Golf Links," "Fishing with a Hook Worm," "Keeping the Chili Sauce Warm," "Cutting the Bangs Off Firecrackers," "Blushing at the Legs of a Table," "Watering a Sawhorse," "Shaving the Neck of a Bottle," “Beating Eggs with a Horsewhip."
By giving the local humorists full play, Sid manages to get in several hours of golf a day, or to run up to Lake Geneva occasionally in his motor.
 |
| "The Good Fairy", 1916 |
WHO THE “GOOD FAIRY” IS
He is known to the public only as the “Good Fairy," the little plaster sprite who holds out his arms to you as entreatingly as did Peter Pan. But to the inner circle he is John T. McCutcheon Raleigh, the little nephew of John T. McCutcheon of the Chicago Tribune, the namesake of the cartoonist, and the inspiration of the statue. It was his fairylike body and impish spirit that suggested the figure to his mother, Mrs. Jesse McCutcheon Raleigh, who has given to the world this little emblem of good cheer.
REALIZES BOYHOOD AMBITION
Ralph C. Faulkner, who does a cartoon act in vaudeville, appeared before an audience in San Antonio, Texas, recently, and was received with open arms. Faulkner was born in San Antonio, and used to play football on the local high school team. Since leaving his native town he has had an adventurous career in Mexico and South America. He was shipped out of Mexico City as an express package after having drawn a cartoon of Diaz for El Diario. Bearing a striking resemblance to President Wilson, Faulkner makes up as the chief executive for his stage performances, and uses cartoons to illustrate his monologue.
THE NEW DADDY
When Bud Fisher, of Mutt and Jeff fame, was out frolicing with the Friars he associated with a fellow actor who had only recently become a proud father. They were in Atlantic City and stopped at a lunch counter along the Boardwalk after the performance.
The actor took out his watch and looked longingly at a photograph pasted inside. He was away from home and lonely for the kiddie. Finally he put his watch away and looked into space. A waiter approached. “Do you wish anything else?" he asked.
It did not jar the actor out of his dream for he looked up with a simpering smile and prattled: "Dimme ittle jink of wa-wa." Then he rushed out in search of an ocean breeze to fan his flushed brow.
BUSH GETS BEQUEST
After a delay caused by litigation, a bequest made by an unknown admirer of E. A. Bushnell has found its way into the pockets of the artist. Mr. Bushnell received the news about a year ago that a wealthy old lady in the Middle West had died and remembered him handsomely in her will. She had been prompted to do this merely because she liked Mr. Bushnell's cartoons. The artist, who is now in Brooklyn, N. Y., was forced to discontinue his cartoon service owing to illness, but is now planning to resume his work.
WHY RAEMAEKERS EXCELS
Gustav Kahn, in Le Mercure de France
His art is graphic; he writes rather than depicts; his prime object is to argue; his productions are not violent, they are just. A German would regard his treatment as paroxysmal; the French do not. If one cannot look with serenity upon the tragic pages to which Raemaekers owes his renown, one may reflect calmly on his methods. Attention is given, perhaps, to the setting, but the stress is laid upon the total effect. Caricature, as it was conceived by the greatest polemics of the pencil, a Daumier, for example, exerts no influence on this art. It is not caricature, for there is no violent facial deformation, mirthful or depreciatory. What is presented is the acute stage of a situation.
Is Ramaekers' art entirely individual? No, we find the same aim, the same bent in Hermann-Paul' s drawings of the war. Must we admit that the very tragedy of the subject, in its manifold aspects, deprives the critic, and the artist, of any desire of artistic exaggeration? One does not caricature such situations, indulge in irony upon the perpetrators of such actions, the per sonages of such dramas. Caricature has abdicated before a direct attack of the subject; the artist's reflections are sad, bitter; buffoonery of any sort finds no place here.
Simple, strong phrases are needed to interpret the great drama; the draftsman seeks to reproduce the most statuesque, the most salient, suggestive, of those phrases; to mark clearly the chief point of the drama is his first, his abiding care.
OBJECTS TO “ UNCLE SAM " CARTOONS
A writer in the New York Evening Post complains about the representation of Uncle Sam in newspaper cartoons, and deplores the effect they must have on the people.
"It is wrong," he says," to believe that the American public is unable to appreciate artistic things. To keep before its eyes these odious, badly drawn images of an old crank dressed like a clown, the invention of some English cartoonist, who was anything but sympathetic toward Americans, is an insult to its taste, and must have a bad effect on the attitude of many toward the country.
“'Marianne,' 'Michel,' and 'John Bull' are not served up every day in almost every daily paper; they remain the property of the comic weekly publications, and appear in such clever execution that they do not offend. It is hard for me to believe that an artist, or rather illustrator, with any patriotic ideals, could lend himself to such work as we see here."
CARTER REVIVES A DAVENPORT CARTOON
In 1904 the cartoon entitled "He's Good Enough for Me," drawn by the late Homer Davenport, and showing Uncle Sam endorsing Roosevelt, was published in the New York Evening Mail. It attracted wide attention at the time. A few weeks ago Robert Carter in the New York Evening Sun adapted the cartoon to the political situation as it existed, or seemed to exist, on the eve of the Chicago convention.
Labels: What The Cartoonists Are Doing
Friday, June 05, 2020
Wish You Were Here, from Albert Carmichael
Here's a postcard from Albert Carmichael of a type we haven't looked at before. Most of his postcard work was done for Taylor Pratt, but this card is copyrighted by S.K. Simon (and indicated as Series 200). It also looks like Carmichael's signature is followed by a "Co.", as if Carmichael was taking on the postcard trade as a bona fide business, rather than just doing work for hire.
The card itself is a bit of a mystery, too. I get "Merry Widow", which was very much in the popular eye of the day, but what is with changing 'merry' to 'Mary', and why Green? I get the distinct feeling that there is a pop culture convergence going on here that is eluding me. Anyone?
Labels: Wish You Were Here
Comments:
Hello allan-
Well, I'll take a poke at it- A popular novel of the mid 19th century was "Widow Green and Her Three Nieces"(1859)by British authoress Sarah Stickney Ellis(1799-1872). It it, a country widow of moderate means goes through various heart-tugging problems raising the girls. I'm thinking that in about 1910, the knowledge of the characters were still common,and the term "Widow green" could be just generic for a widow.
Well, it's at least as clever as "Mary Widow". Carmichael was just poor.
Incidentally, his signature seems to say "CARMIChAEL TO CO." Could that mean anything?
Well, I'll take a poke at it- A popular novel of the mid 19th century was "Widow Green and Her Three Nieces"(1859)by British authoress Sarah Stickney Ellis(1799-1872). It it, a country widow of moderate means goes through various heart-tugging problems raising the girls. I'm thinking that in about 1910, the knowledge of the characters were still common,and the term "Widow green" could be just generic for a widow.
Well, it's at least as clever as "Mary Widow". Carmichael was just poor.
Incidentally, his signature seems to say "CARMIChAEL TO CO." Could that mean anything?
# posted by 
: 6/05/2020 9:18 AM
: 6/05/2020 9:18 AM
Idle speculation:
It has a sort of sheet music feel. My first guess was that "You Look Good to Me" was a song title, while "Mary Widow Green" (an obvious play on "Merry Widow") was the show.
Googling reveals there have been multiple songs with that title, but usually too recent, and no luck on "Mary Widow Green" in any context. But a site called Cardcow.com has more Carmichael postcards with "You Look Good to Me" -- all with variations of a pretty lady with a tiny admirer. "Mary Widow Green" only appears on the one you have.
"Grass widow" was a pretty common phrase, in olden days applied to mothers of illegitimate children ("widowed" after a roll in the grass). Eventually the phrase became far more respectable with perhaps a wink, lightly applied to married women whose husbands were temporarily away. The stage musical "No No Nanette" has a respectable lady telling a friend they're grass widows for the weekend because husbands are on a business trip. I have a 1910 humor book with a little verse about a man questioning a widow's flirty outfit. She replies she's "not a weedy widow but a grass one" -- that is, not in mourning but momentarily unescorted. It's a very short step to using Mary Widow Green to imply a lady pretending or assumed to be widowed. Or perhaps just a very young widow. They may have been plentiful in those days.
Found one reference to "green widows", trophy wives living in lush suburbs while husbands were usually absent. It was from a recent Chinese magazine about a local phenomenon, but claimed the term was an old German one. There's also a green widow spider, plus a 1990s murderess dubbed the Green Widow for her extravagance.
So I was wrong about a show, but I could easily imagine "Mary Widow Green" on a turn-of-the-century stage. A broad comedy about an innocent Irish American housemaid thought to be a wealthy widow.
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It has a sort of sheet music feel. My first guess was that "You Look Good to Me" was a song title, while "Mary Widow Green" (an obvious play on "Merry Widow") was the show.
Googling reveals there have been multiple songs with that title, but usually too recent, and no luck on "Mary Widow Green" in any context. But a site called Cardcow.com has more Carmichael postcards with "You Look Good to Me" -- all with variations of a pretty lady with a tiny admirer. "Mary Widow Green" only appears on the one you have.
"Grass widow" was a pretty common phrase, in olden days applied to mothers of illegitimate children ("widowed" after a roll in the grass). Eventually the phrase became far more respectable with perhaps a wink, lightly applied to married women whose husbands were temporarily away. The stage musical "No No Nanette" has a respectable lady telling a friend they're grass widows for the weekend because husbands are on a business trip. I have a 1910 humor book with a little verse about a man questioning a widow's flirty outfit. She replies she's "not a weedy widow but a grass one" -- that is, not in mourning but momentarily unescorted. It's a very short step to using Mary Widow Green to imply a lady pretending or assumed to be widowed. Or perhaps just a very young widow. They may have been plentiful in those days.
Found one reference to "green widows", trophy wives living in lush suburbs while husbands were usually absent. It was from a recent Chinese magazine about a local phenomenon, but claimed the term was an old German one. There's also a green widow spider, plus a 1990s murderess dubbed the Green Widow for her extravagance.
So I was wrong about a show, but I could easily imagine "Mary Widow Green" on a turn-of-the-century stage. A broad comedy about an innocent Irish American housemaid thought to be a wealthy widow.
Thursday, June 04, 2020
Jeffrey Lindenblatt's Paper Trends: The Three Hundred for 1981 - Total Results
Between 1980 and 1981 we lost information on 3 papers – Courier (Waterloo, IA) (but it will return for the 1982 listing), Del Rio News Herald (TX) (same deal), and Irving Daily News (TX). One paper went out of business: Ottawa Journal (Canada) and the Yazoo Herald (Yazoo City, MS) switched to weekly frequency and thus no longer qualifies for inclusion. However, the Globe-Gazette (Mason City, IA) returned so our total is now 285 papers for this year’s survey.
The Top 30 did not change that much with only one strip, Garfield, moving into the Top 30. We all know it will not leave the upper levels for the rest of this survey. Peanuts was still gaining papers, being the first strip to pass the magic number of 200. Hagar and Doonesbury were still gaining papers. Family Circus moved ahead of Dennis the Menace to be the top panel strip.
As always, you can get the long version of the results, with all the specific papers that carried each strip, by sending an email to Allan Holtz, strippersguide@gmail.com.
The Top 30 did not change that much with only one strip, Garfield, moving into the Top 30. We all know it will not leave the upper levels for the rest of this survey. Peanuts was still gaining papers, being the first strip to pass the magic number of 200. Hagar and Doonesbury were still gaining papers. Family Circus moved ahead of Dennis the Menace to be the top panel strip.
As always, you can get the long version of the results, with all the specific papers that carried each strip, by sending an email to Allan Holtz, strippersguide@gmail.com.
| Title | Place | Movement | +/- | Total Papers |
| Peanuts | 1 | Same | +4 | 201 |
| Blondie | 2 | Same | +1 | 191 |
| Beetle Bailey | 3 | Same | -1 | 174 |
| Doonesbury | 4 | Same | +7 | 119 |
| Hagar the Horrible | 5 | Same | +13 | 112 |
| Wizard of Id | 6 | Same | +3 | 99 |
| Andy Capp | 7 | Same | +2 | 97 |
| B.C. | 8 | Same | +3 | 94 |
| Frank and Ernest | 9 | Same | -1 | 88 |
| Family Circus | 10 | Up 1 | +4 | 85 |
| Born Loser | 11 | Same | 0 | 81 |
| Hi and Lois | 12 | Up 2 | +4 | 80 |
| Dennis the Menace | 13 | Down 3 | -3 | 79 |
| Mary Worth | 14 | Down 1 | -2 | 78 |
| Barney Google and Snuffy Smith | 15 | Same | -4 | 70 |
| Shoe | 16 | Up 1 | +9 | 68 |
| Nancy | 17 | Down 1 | -3 | 59 |
| Rex Morgan | 18 | Same | -1 | 57 |
| Amazing Spider-Man | 19 | Same | +1 | 56 |
| Marmaduke | 20 | Up 6 | +5 | 53 |
| Eek and Meek | 21 | Plus 8 | +2 | 49 |
| Garfield | 21 | Entering | +28 | 49 |
| Alley Oop | 23 | Down 3 | -4 | 47 |
| Archie | 23 | Down 2 | -3 | 47 |
| Dick Tracy | 23 | Down 2 | -3 | 47 |
| Steve Canyon | 23 | Up 3 | -1 | 47 |
| Winthrop | 23 | Up 2 | -2 | 47 |
| Berry’s World | 28 | Down 2 | -2 | 46 |
| Bugs Bunny | 28 | Down 7 | -4 | 46 |
| Priscilla’s Pop | 30 | Same | 0 | 45 |
| Total Papers | Features |
| 44 | Tank McNamara (+5) |
| 43 | For Better or For Worse (+5), Funky Winkerbean (0), Gasoline Alley (+1) |
| 42 | Judge Parker (+4) |
| 40 | Heathcliff (2), Herman (3), Tiger (-3), Tumbleweeds (+4) |
| 39 | Short Ribs (+1) |
| 35 | Buz Sawyer (-2) |
| 31 | Captain Easy (-3), Our Boarding House (+1) |
| 29 | Cathy (+4), Star Wars (-21) |
| 28 | Apartment 3-G (-1), They’ll Do It Every Time (+1) |
| 27 | Redeye (-1) |
| 26 | Goosemyer (R), Phantom (+1) |
| 25 | Small Society (-2) |
| 24 | Broom Hilda (0), Kit ‘N’ Carlyle (R), Mark Trail (-1) |
| 23 | Lockhorns (+2), Steve Roper and Mike Nomad (+1) |
| 22 | Crock (+1), Donald Duck (-2), Winnie the Pooh (-9) |
| 21 | Latigo (-1) |
| 20 | Grin and Bear It (0) |
| 18 | Dunagin’s People (-4), Heart of Juliet Jones (-4), Kerry Drake (-2) |
| 17 | John Darling (-5), Levy’s Law (+4), Momma (+1) |
| 16 | Fred Basset (+2), Hazel (-2) |
| 15 | Ryatts (-1) |
| 14 | Agatha Crumm (+3), Miss Peach (-1), Rip Kirby (0) |
| 13 | Mr. Tweedy (0), World’s Greatest Superheroes (-10) |
| 12 | Henry (-1) |
| 11 | Better Half (-5), Flintstones (0), Gil Thorp (0), Little Orphan Annie (0), Motley’s Crew (+1) |
| 10 | Brenda Starr (-1), Fletcher’s Landing (R), Graffiti (-10), Joe Palooka (0), Love Is (-5), Sam and Silo (-1) |
| 9 | Catfish (0), Dondi (-1), Ferd’Nand (0), Incredible Hulk (-2), Star Trek (-3), Winnie Winkle (-3) |
| 8 | Animal Crackers (0), Charmers (-1), Girls (-1) |
| 7 | Briny Deep (R), Drabble (-1), Gordo (0), Laff-A-Day (-2), Mutt and Jeff (-1), Pavlov (-1), Prime Time (-1), Quincy (-1), Ripley’s Believe It or Not (-1), There Oughta Be A Law (+2), Wee Pals (+1) |
| 6 | Barbara Cartland’s Romance (R), Bloom County (R), Conan the Barbarian (-3), Downstown (R), Flash Gordon (+1), Moon Mullins (-1), Nubbin (-3), Ponytail (-2), Trudy (0), Wright Angles (-1) |
| 5 | Belvedere (+1), Boner’s Ark (+2), Buck Rogers (-8), Charlie (R), Citizen Smith (+3), Doctor Smock (-1), Eb and Flo (0), Far Side (+5), Hocus-Focus (+2), Lolly (-1), No Comment (-2), Scoops (-6), Smith Family (0), Sporting Life (-2) |
| 4 | A Little Leary, Amy, Ben Wicks, Big George, Bringing Up Father, Graves Inc., Inside Woody Allen, Mickey Mouse, Play Better Golf with Jack Nicklaus, Punch, Rick O’Shay, Rivets, Trim’s Arena |
| 3 | Boomer, Brother Juniper, Carmichael, Copps and Robberts, Don Q, Flop Family, Guindon, Hang in There!, Health Capsules, Hello Carol, Johnny Wonder, Lookin' Fine, Mr. Abernathy, Simpkins, Splitsville, Toppix |
| 2 | According to Guinness, Dr. Kildare, Gumdrop, Howie, Hubert, It Happened in Canada, Laugh Time, Little Woman, Mandrake the Magician, Modesty Blaise, Outcasts, Popeye, Pot Shots, Side Glances, Smithereens, Strictly Business, This Funny World, Time Out, Travels with Farley, Wordplay |
| 1 | Antennas, As You Were, Bernie on the Beat, Brick Bradford, Castaways, Ching Chow, Country Parson, Father Dickens, Figments, Fuddy & Lardette, Good News Bad News, Koky, Luther, Major Mudge, Mark Trail’s Outdoor Tips, Murphy's Law, The Neighborhood, Norbert, Our Fascinating Earth, Pixies, Queenie, Quickies, Rafferty, Return With Us, Salt Chuck, Secret Agent Corrigan, Selling Short, Shambles, Sidelines, Stan Smith’s Tennis Class, Star Hawks, Today's World, Willies, Word-A-Day |
Labels: Paper Trends
Wednesday, June 03, 2020
Jeffrey Lindenblatt's Paper Trends: The Three Hundred for 1981 -- Update on Newspapers Used
One of the questions I have been asked is when we lose information for one of the 300 papers why don’t we replace it with another paper. I am sticking with my original list so far because although there are papers available to replace them, their lineups are unique and I feel the statistics would get skewed.
Here are some of the papers that are now available on newspapers.com for these years that I am not adding to our original list:
Pacific Daily News (Agana, Guam) – Berry’s World, Priscilla’s Pop, Andy Capp, Winthrop, Alley Oop, Born Loser, Doonesbury, B.C, Beetle Bailey, Redeye, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, Blondie, Wizard of Id, Eek & Meek
Shreveport Journal (LA) – Small Society, Doonesbury, Berry’s World, Family Circus, B.C, Beetle Bailey, Shoe, Jeff Hawke, Spiderman, Nancy, Archie, Rex Morgan, Crock, Born Loser, Wizard of Id, Winnie Winkle, Frank and Ernest, Mary Worth, Funny Business, Side Glances, Grin and Bear It
Telegraph-Forum (Bucyrus, OH) – Captain Easy, Flintstones, Bugs Bunny, Beetle Bailey, Priscilla’s Pop, Bi-Focals, Mutt and Jeff, Born Loser, Frank and Ernest, Winthrop, Hi and Lois, Short Ribs, Eek and Meek, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, Blondie, Alley Oop, Joe Palooka, Graffiti
Tipton County Tribune (IN) – Peanuts, Beetle Bailey, Nubbin, Snuffy Smith, Tumbleweeds, Donald Duck, Blondie, Rip Kirby
Parsons Sun (KS) – Small Society, Dennis the Menace, Family Circus, B.C., Wee Pals, Marmaduke, Andy Capp, Funky Winkerbean, Rex Morgan, Mary Worth, Peanuts, Wizard of Id, Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Judge Parker
Berkeley Gazette (CA) – Born Loser, Berry’s World, Marmaduke, Frank and Ernest, Best Seller Showcase, Beetle Bailey, Short Ribs, Gasoline Alley, Alley Oop, Archie, Bugs Bunny, Heathcliff, Rick O’ Shay, Secret Agent
Rutland Daily Herald (VT) – Nancy, Peanuts, Blondie, Mary Worth, Rex Morgan, Jackson Twins, Dick Tracy, Small Society
Kilgore News Herald (TX) – Buz Sawyer, Beetle Bailey, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, Sam & Silo, Redeye, Peanuts
St. Lake Tribune (UT) – Men and Women, Graffiti, Carmichael, Dennis the Menace, Peanuts, Inside Woody Allen, Wordsmith, Blondie, Hagar the Horrible, B.C., Fred Basset, Tumbleweeds, Momma, Asterix and Obelix, Moon Mullins, Dooley’s World, Steve Canyon, Gasoline Alley, Dick Tracy, Beetle Bailey, Gordo, Cathy, Andy Capp, Funky Winkerbean, Broom Hilda, Mary worth, On Stage, Judge Parker, Apt 3-G, Ponytail, Rocket Shots, Tank McNamara, Selling Short, Hazel, Big George, Grin and Bear It, Citizen Smith
Portage Daily Register (WI) – Peanuts, Beetle Bailey, Phantom, Heart of the Juliet Jones, Hi and Lois, Archie, Blondie, Snuffy Smith, Boner’s Ark
York Dispatch (PA) – Graffiti, Doonesbury, Spiderman, Mark Trail, Berry’s World, Rocket Shots, Best Seller Showcase, Beautiful, Love Is, Eb and Flo, Born Loser, Frank and Ernest, Funky Winkerbean, Draw Your Own Conclusion, Herman, Turkey, Grin and Bear It, Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Wizard of Id, Andy Capp, Hi and Lois, Donald Duck, Snuffy Smith, Peanuts, Bringing Up Father
Sacramento Bee (CA) – According to Guinness, Berry’s World, Peanuts, Marmaduke, Toppix, Hazel, Ziggy, Jeff Hawke, Born Loser, Broom Hilda, Hagar, Momma, Amazing Spider-Man, Shoe, Stanley, Frank & Ernest, Motley’s Crew, B.C., Cathy, Dennis the Menace, Heathcliff, Asterix & Obelix, Andy Capp
Charlotte News (NC) – Punch, Family Circus, There Outta Be A Law, Buz Sawyer, Amazing Spider-Man, Hagar the Horrible, Gasoline Alley, Modesty Blaise, Frank and Ernest, Asterix & Obelix, Phantom, Star Hawks, Best Seller Showcase, B.C., Mary Worth, Blondie, Rex Morgan, Tumbleweeds, Dennis the Menace
Charlotte Observer (NC) – Dunagin’s People, Hazel, Ziggy, Big George, Belvedere, Herman, Andy Capp, Beetle Bailey, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, Funky Winkerbean, Steve Roper, Mark Trail, Heart of Juliet Jones, The Ryatts, Shoe, Hi and Lois, Wizard of Id, Doonesbury, According to Guinness, Apartment 3-G, Tank McNamara, Gil Thorp, Judge Parker, Dick Tracy, Peanuts
Miami Herald (FL) – Lockhorns, Peanuts, Amazing Spider-Man, Blondie,
Doonesbury, Dick Tracy, Shoe, Dennis the Menace, Ziggy, Family Circus,
Marmaduke, Motley’s Crew, Smith Family, Hagar the Horrible, Small Society,
Citizen Kane (Wright Angles), Kisses, Nancy, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith,
Sporting Life
Fort Worth Star Telegram (TX) (Evening Edition)– They’ll Do it Every
Time, Marmaduke, Peanuts, Andy Capp, Winnie Winkle, Gasoline Alley,
Tumbleweeds, B.C., Miss Peach, Nancy, Archie, Emmy Lou, Wizard of Id, Buz
Sawyer, Dropouts, Tank McNamara, Hagar, Mutt and Jeff, Lockhorns,
Fort Worth Star Telegram (TX) (Morning Edition) – Carmichael, Small
Society, Doonesbury, Berry’s World, Little Woman, Hi and Lois, Ryatts, Blondie,
Lolly, Rip Kirby, Catfish, Beetle Bailey, Barney Google and Snuffy Smith,
Freddy, Mandrake the Magician, Smith Family, Animal Crackers, Redeye, Brenda
Starr, Rick O’Shay, The Girls, Herman
These 17 papers really don’t add to the information that we have. They
are some rare strips like the following:
Bi-Focals appearing in the Telegraph-Forum (Bucyrus, OH)
Secret Agent Corrigan appearing in the Berkeley Gazette (CA)
Men and Women appearing the St. Lake Tribune (UT)
Star Hawks appearing in the Charlotte News (NC)
Mandrake the Magician in the Morning Edition of Fort Worth Star
Telegram
Also, as we go forward, we get to feel of the slow end of the daily
newspaper. How many of the 300 will be left when we get to 2020? We will find
out together.
Labels: Paper Trends
Tuesday, June 02, 2020
Jeffrey Lindenblatt's Paper Trends: The Three Hundred for 1981 -- Biggest Winners and Losers
How important is it that a comic strip be collected into reprint paperbacks? Very important to the continued success of that comic strip, because it gives the reader an opportunity to read it though it is not available in their local paper. Also, it gives the cartoonist or the syndicate a chance to try again to sell their strip. When in 1980 the book Garfield At Large was published it changed the way strips would be collected from then on.
Most comic strips were collected in small paperbacks with one strip on each page. The strips that were picked were not generally in order and the dates were rubbed out. The Garfield book, though, reprinted 3 dailies per page plus Sundays on one page. It also started reprinting the strip from the very beginning and it had the dates on it, so you knew that you were reading it from the beginning and getting a complete reprinting. Yes, I know there were other collections like the Hyperion Press, but this was the first real mainstream reprint of this kind. The book sold so well that it even went to number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
With the success of the book, Garfield in 1980 went from 21 papers up to 49 papers, by far the biggest gainer of the year.
The Biggest Gainers
On the downside we again have the situation that the hottest new strip of the previous year gets the most cancellations. Star Wars started with 50 papers but falls to 29 papers, losing 21 papers. That wasn’t quite the worst, because Side Glances lost 23 papers. That’s not a fair comparison, though, because Side Glances was demoted to a weekly strip in November 1980, and we don’t include weekly papers in our ratings. There were actually two papers that were still running it for a few months in 1981, but that’s because they were running old strips late.
The Biggest Losers
Looking at adventure strips in particular, almost all of them continued their downward trend:
The Adventure Strips
Total adventure strip slots goes form 581 down to 510; that is a 71 position and a 12 percent drop since last year.
Flash Gordon went up one paper maybe because of the 1980 feature film.
Most comic strips were collected in small paperbacks with one strip on each page. The strips that were picked were not generally in order and the dates were rubbed out. The Garfield book, though, reprinted 3 dailies per page plus Sundays on one page. It also started reprinting the strip from the very beginning and it had the dates on it, so you knew that you were reading it from the beginning and getting a complete reprinting. Yes, I know there were other collections like the Hyperion Press, but this was the first real mainstream reprint of this kind. The book sold so well that it even went to number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
With the success of the book, Garfield in 1980 went from 21 papers up to 49 papers, by far the biggest gainer of the year.
The Biggest Gainers
- Garfield - 28
- Hagar the Horrible – 13
- Shoe – 9
- Doonesbury – 7
- Marmaduke, Tank McNamara, For Better or For Worse, The Far Side (tie) – 5
On the downside we again have the situation that the hottest new strip of the previous year gets the most cancellations. Star Wars started with 50 papers but falls to 29 papers, losing 21 papers. That wasn’t quite the worst, because Side Glances lost 23 papers. That’s not a fair comparison, though, because Side Glances was demoted to a weekly strip in November 1980, and we don’t include weekly papers in our ratings. There were actually two papers that were still running it for a few months in 1981, but that’s because they were running old strips late.
The Biggest Losers
- Side Glances – 23
- Star Wars – 21
- World’s Greatest Superheroes, Graffiti (tie) – 10
- Winnie the Pooh – 9
- Buck Rogers – 8
- Ben Wicks – 7
- Scoops – 6
- John Darling, Better Half, Love Is - 5
Looking at adventure strips in particular, almost all of them continued their downward trend:
The Adventure Strips
- Amazing Spider-Man – 56 (+1)
- Alley Oop – 47 (-4)
- Dick Tracy – 47 (-3)
- Steve Canyon – 47 (-1)
- Buz Sawyer – 35 (-2)
- Captain Easy – 31 (-3)
- Star Wars – 29 (-21)
- Phantom – 26 (+1)
- Mark Trail – 24 (-1)
- Steve Roper and Mike Nomad – 23 (+1)
- Latigo – 21 (-1)
- Kerry Drake – 18 (-2)
- Rip Kirby – 14 (0)
- World’s Greatest Superheroes – 13 (-10)
- Little Orphan Annie – 11 (0)
- Brenda Starr – 10 (-1)
- Joe Palooka – 10 (0)
- Star Trek – 9 (-3)
- Incredible Hulk – 9 (-2)
- Conan the Barbarian – 6 (-3)
- Flash Gordon – 6 (+1)
- Buck Rogers – 5 (-8)
- Rick O’Shay – 4 (0)
- Mandrake the Magician – 2 (0)
- Modesty Blaise – 2 (0)
- Popeye – 2 (0)
- Star Hawks – 1 (-2)
- Brick Bradford – 1 (0)
- Secret Agent Corrigan – 1 (0)
- Encyclopedia Brown (strip cancelled- 0) it had 8 papers.
Total adventure strip slots goes form 581 down to 510; that is a 71 position and a 12 percent drop since last year.
Flash Gordon went up one paper maybe because of the 1980 feature film.
Labels: Paper Trends
Monday, June 01, 2020
Jeffrey Lindenblatt's Paper Trends: The Three Hundred for 1981 -- Rookie Features
About a previous rookie list, Mark Johnson said: “An instant big success like Spiderman or Winnie is pretty much impossible today”. Well that happened in the first three years but for this year we have a situation where it was not a new strip but an old strip that gained more papers than any rookie. The top rookie this year really did not make a big splash.
The number one new strip, Goosemyer, got only 26 papers. It probably owed its success to the artist Brant Parker, because he was known from the very popular Wizard of Id. The next strip, Kit ‘n’ Carlyle, got 24 papers, which is not really a success because it replaced the strip Side Glances, getting a bunch of those berths by default (these strips are from the NEA package so one strip took over one spot for another). The new strips for 1980 did not make a big dent in our papers. This was the year that papers were picking newer strips like Garfield, For Better or For Worse, etc. But there was one strip that in the big picture would eventually make a big impact, but had a lackluster start: Bloom County.
The number one new strip, Goosemyer, got only 26 papers. It probably owed its success to the artist Brant Parker, because he was known from the very popular Wizard of Id. The next strip, Kit ‘n’ Carlyle, got 24 papers, which is not really a success because it replaced the strip Side Glances, getting a bunch of those berths by default (these strips are from the NEA package so one strip took over one spot for another). The new strips for 1980 did not make a big dent in our papers. This was the year that papers were picking newer strips like Garfield, For Better or For Worse, etc. But there was one strip that in the big picture would eventually make a big impact, but had a lackluster start: Bloom County.
Top Rookies
- Goosemyer – 26 (Field)
- Kit 'N' Carlyle – 24 (NEA)
- Fletcher’s Landing – 10 (NEA)
- Briny Deep – 7 (United)
- Barbara Cartland’s Romances – 6 (United)
- Bloom County – 6 (Washington Post)
- Downstown – 6 (Universal)
- Charlie – 5 (Tribune)
- Graves Inc. – 4 (Register and Tribune)
- Shoe - 68 (1977)
- Amazing Spider-Man – 56 (1977)
- Garfield – 49 (1978)
- For Better Or For Worse – 43 (1979)
- Star Wars – 29 (1979)
- Goosemyer – 26 (1980)
- Kit 'N' Carlyle – 24 (1980)
- Winnie The Pooh – 22 (1978)
- Latigo – 21 (1979)
- John Darling, Levy’s Law (tie) – 17 (1979)
Labels: Paper Trends
