Stripper's Guide

This is a half-page of gags from the McClure section of March 9 1902, and we have few creators signing their efforts in this case. Going clockwise from top left, though, I think that gag is probably by Ed Carey. The next one sports a partial signature that tells us it is by J.A. Lemon, for whom this is a very early McClure submission. Next we have what looks to me to be another Ed Carey effort, then of course Herriman, offering up what is to modern eyes quite an unsettling 'gag.' Next we have a scrawled signature and a style generic enough that I will not venture a guess. Last but not least, we have an unsigned A.D. Reed cartoon done in his very attractive pointillist style -- I wish he did more that way. 

I think this will be the last of the Herriman one-shots for awhile as my ready supply has been used up. There are more lurking in the archives here, but digging them up is hit and miss because I did not generally enter one-shots into my computer inventory until far into my collecting years. That was an unfortunate blind spot for me for a long while. I do have a lot of other one-shots scanned, and I think our Saturdays will now be given over for awhile to interesting examples of one-shots from the early years of newspaper comics. Back then there was a LOT of content that did not feature running characters or titles, and some of it is quite wonderful and not to be ignored. One-shots are also important in that they help in tracking cartoonists, some of whom might spend years at a syndicate and produce ONLY one-shots the entire time. That makes them totally invisible if we track just series material.

Labels: Herriman One-Shots

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

This is a half-page of gag panels from the McClure comics section of May 18 1902, and Herriman contributes only a single cartoon. From top left clockwise, we have two Mark Fenderson gags, an unsigned panel that I would guess to be another Fenderson production, then the Herriman, a Carl Anderson gag, and a final unsigned one that looks like it just might be Ed Carey, who had just started with McClure at this time.Also of some slight note on this gag panel collection is that the McClure colourist certainly wasted no thought on it -- those yellow daubs are thrown in practically at random.

Labels: Herriman One-Shots

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

The others represented on this page are Hy Mayer (bottom two-panel), Mark Fenderson (left middle), and A.D. Reed (right 4-panel strip). The well drawn gag cartoon at the top middle is initialed W.L. That's not a McClure regular I can think of. Other possibilities that fit the initials are William H. Loomis (here's a sample of his work) and Will Lawler; the latter doesn't usually draw like this, so what do we think of Loomis as our mystery artist?

Labels: Herriman One-Shots

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

Herriman gets a plum spot, the front page of the 1901 Christmas edition of the McClure comic section, and a full page to boot. Unfortunately I really don't think he did much to take advantage of it. The gag is pretty thin, and his drawing, though very energetic and wacky, is also pretty darn amateurish.  Eddie Eksergian's work comes to mind; I wonder if Herriman was an admirer of his?

Interesting that McClure, which had a few heavy-hitter artists on tap in this era, chose Herriman to supply this special holiday front page.

Labels: Herriman One-Shots

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 1 comments

In the early McClure Sunday comics sections it was fairly typical to include a half-page or more of single panel gag cartoons. Sometimes these were on a common theme, but in this case, from the section of December 1 1901, they are half miscellany, half Christmas gags.

Herriman gets off a pretty sly gag in the upper left corner, making you think a moment before getting the joke. Not a very nice gag for poor Tubbsy, but these were not the days when humour was strained through a very tight sieve of inoffensiveness. 

Along with the Herriman entry we have an interesting array of cartoons by other creators. In the middle top tier a gag by Hy Mayer that is quite impenetrable today to 99% of us, me included prior to a Googling session. In 1901 when most families outside of big cities had a horse, a double-ring was commonly understood to be a somewhat cruel gag bit. This type of bit made it pretty darn uncomfortable for a horse who didn't follow orders; evidently horses that pulled streetcars were notable for being a bit unwilling, hence the joke. 

At the upper right we have a cartoon by Frank Crane. In order to decode this one you need to know that New Orleans was pretty well known as a source of quality molasses. 

The lower tier has two gags by that master silhouette cartoonist, Jack K. Bryans. The one on the left can leave a lump in your throat if you are paying enough attention -- these poor slum kids want to believe in Santa, but are used to finding out he bypassed them each Christmas. But hope springs eternal.

Labels: Herriman One-Shots

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 4 comments

This Herriman one-shot from an early McClure section I long expected to find was actually a series, since the fellow's name is so very unusual. However, if Herriman produced more than one episode of Herr Kronsestiner it seems that the McClure Syndicate did not see fit to print it. 

In this very early Herriman production less to be said about the gag the better. What I'd like to draw attention to is that in Herriman's early colour work he seems to like adding grey washes. Here it is fine, indicating that Kronsestiner has turned out the lights. But other early Herriman efforts use it for  no good reason and it leaves his work looking murky and amateurish. Thankfully he soon cured himself of that habit, or had an editor tell him to quit it.

Labels: Herriman One-Shots

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

Here's the earliest Herriman one-shot from the McClure comic sections that I have in my files. If the gag makes no sense to you, don't despair, it needs some explanation for modern readers. 

 One of the stereotypes of black men in that day was that they were gambling-mad, and that one form of that pursuit they particularly favoured were the numbers games. The numbers games were also known as the policy racket, and were run out of policy parlors. These were gambling games where you would pick a number, usually between 1 and 999, and then either a drawing would be held to pick the winning number, or some semi-random number, like the last three digits of the stock market close for the day, would be used as the winning number. 

I say it is a stereotype, but it was an uncomfortably truthful one. Some numbers games could be played for mere pennies, and so the games held great appeal to the poor, who for a bit of pocket change could get a chance at a meager but nonetheless attractive jackpot. Who were the poor at this time? Blacks, predominently, plus Irish and Italian immigrants. All were well-known as numbers game players.

In fact, one common feature of black papers well into the mid-century was that cartoons and comic strips often offered up 'lucky numbers' in the panel margins. The same was true for mainstream tabloids, which ran features like Asparagus Tipps, and Figurin' Sam. All this number soup was added to appeal to the numbers players.

Labels: Herriman One-Shots

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 3 comments

This half-pager was done for the McClure comic section of February 9 1902. As was their practice at the time, McClure often devoted pretty much their whole section to holiday themes, and this section was all about Valentine's Day. 

Although I have no doubt that Herriman could produce some passable poetry, for him to do so is quite a rarity. In fact, I'm going to take a guess that in this piece George might well be illustrating the doggerel of some other McClure scribe. What do you think?

Labels: Herriman One-Shots

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 0 comments

Here's another one-shot by Herriman from the McClure comic section of March 16 1902. This one 'celebrates' St. Patrick's Day with a tableau of gag cartoons, all featuring highly stereotyped Irishmen. 

For those not keyed into Irish religious politics, the 'Greens' are the Irish Catholics, and the 'Orange' are the Protestants. As Patrick is a Catholic saint, Orangemen do not observe his day. 

And 'spalpeen' is a most wonderful term for a rascal or mischievous person, but also used as a general derogatory term. The sort of delicious word that makes me wish I had enemies on which it could be used.

Labels: Herriman One-Shots

# posted by Allan Holtz @ 6:00 AM 0 comments