Stripper's Guide

June 22 1910 -- So here it is, Herriman's last cartoon for the Los Angeles Examiner, and BIG SURPRISE, it's about the upcoming Fight of the Century. Since George's first Family Upstairs strip was published in New York on June 20, it is safe to say that this cartoon was published well after Herriman had cleaned out his west coast desk. 

So after fifteen years is this the end of Herriman Saturday? Well actually it is not, at least not quite. For awhile now I have been scanning Herriman one-shot cartoons from his earlier days in New York, before he went to the west coast, so we're going to have the Herriman Saturday Bonus Round for a short while until I use up my small inventory of those. You'll get to see just how downright awful George's early work was, bad enough to give the most unpolished amateur cartoonist hope that they too could someday be considered one of the greatest cartoonists ever to hold a pen. 

See you here next Saturday!

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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June 12 1910 -- A bittersweet announcement goes with this post. As we come to June 1910 in our complete reprinting of Herriman's LA Examiner cartoons, we have reached his final month with the paper. Yes, believe it or not, Herriman won't be at the Examiner for the Fight of the Century on July 4. Instead he'll be in New York starting a little strip called The Family Upstairs before the month is out, and finally carving out his exalted place in the history of newspaper cartooning.

This Stripper's Guide series has been running since June 2 2007, believe it or not. It has taken us a decade and a half to chronicle all of Herriman's (major) cartoons for the Examiner from 1906 to 1910, roughly three times as long as it took Herriman to produce them. 

There is now just one last cartoon left. Be here next Saturday!

Today's cartoon, yet another about the upcoming Fight of the Century, was run a week after his last cartoon, probably indicating that it may have been set aside earlier to run in this Sunday edition.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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June 5 1910 -- A bittersweet announcement goes with this post. As we come to June 1910 in our complete reprinting of Herriman's LA Examiner cartoons, we have reached his final month with the paper. Yes, believe it or not, Herriman won't be at the Examiner for the Fight of the Century on July 4. Instead he'll be in New York starting a little strip called The Family Upstairs before the month is out, and finally carving out his exalted place in the history of newspaper cartooning.

This Stripper's Guide series has been running since June 2 2007, believe it or not. It has taken us a decade and a half to chronicle all of Herriman's (major) cartoons for the Examiner from 1906 to 1910, roughly three times as long as it took Herriman to produce them. 

There are now just two more cartoons left. Be here for all of 'em!

Today's cartoon takes yet another look at the upcoming Fight of the Century. Here's the real question, though: would Herriman have had the guts to depict Jim Jeffries in a tutu if George wasn't on his way out of town?  I dunno, but I'm betting that prizefighters like Jeffries don't have highly developed humorous bones.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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June 4 1910 -- A bittersweet announcement goes with this post. As we come to June 1910 in our complete reprinting of Herriman's LA Examiner cartoons, we have reached his final month with the paper. Yes, believe it or not, Herriman won't be at the Examiner for the Fight of the Century on July 4. Instead he'll be in New York starting a little strip called The Family Upstairs before the month is out, and finally carving out his exalted place in the history of newspaper cartooning.

This Stripper's Guide series has been running since June 2 2007, believe it or not. It has taken us a decade and a half to chronicle all of Herriman's (major) cartoons for the Examiner from 1906 to 1910, roughly three times as long as it took Herriman to produce them. 

There are now just three cartoons left. Be here for all of 'em!

As for the cartoon above, obviously it is yet another take on the upcoming Fight of the Century. This one highlights not just Johnson's mission to retain the title, but also taking a sidelong glance at his skin tone preference in girlfriends (who definitely did NOT need to be tied to a mast to be with him).

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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June 1 1910 -- A bittersweet announcement goes with this post. As we come to June 1910 in our complete reprinting of Herriman's LA Examiner cartoons, we have reached his final month with the paper. Yes, believe it or not, Herriman won't be at the Examiner for the Fight of the Century on July 4. Instead he'll be in New York starting a little strip called The Family Upstairs before the month is out, and finally carving out his exalted place in the history of newspaper cartooning.

This Stripper's Guide series has been running since June 2 2007, believe it or not. It has taken us a decade and a half to chronicle all of Herriman's (major) cartoons for the Examiner from 1906 to 1910, roughly three times as long as it took Herriman to produce them. 

There are now just four cartoons left. Be here for all of 'em!

Anyway, on to today's cartoon. The big parade is to celebrate the local fight card put together for Labor Day, featuring the headline bout between Tommy Burns and Sam Langford. Leading the parade for some reason is Charles Eyton, the referee. 

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 30 1910 -- Louis Urban has the misfortune of looking almost exactly like Daniel A. Boyd, a fellow to whom he is no relation. But he doesn't just have the problem of occasionally being mistaken for his doppelganger, an annoyance surely. No, the problem is that Mr. Boyd is a wanted criminal with a long and impressive rap sheet. Every cop in the land has his face memorized, and each time one of the men in blue see Urban the same long and involved drama plays out. Urban gets hauled into the police station where in the best case he can convince the constabulary of his identity, but often he is held overnight in the pokey and has to plead his case in front of a judge. 

Sick and tired of this annoying, not to mention potentially dangerous, case of mistaken identity, Urban has vowed to find and arrest the criminal Boyd himself so that he can get his life back on track.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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Oakland and Vernon played a double-header yesterday and Herriman recounts some of the sights of the day. The games were evenly divided, in both cases the winning team was highlighted by an excellent pitching performance.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 29 1910 -- Herriman continues blasting away at Jack Johnson, but this cartoon is a complete misfire. An attempt at illustrating the superiority of white over black falls flat because it seems to me that black ducks would have no particular trouble navigating on a white sea.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 28 1910 -- A new city ordinance has been passed which is intended to prohibit outdoor fires anytime except between 6 and 9 AM. Intended, yes, but that's not quite what the ordinance text says. Rigorously interpreted, the badly written new law includes all fires, interior and exterior. Herriman, of course, gleefully delineates some of the creature comforts Angelenos will no longer be able to enjoy.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 28 1910 -- The local Democratic Party got together to choose candidates for county offices, and a few bits of minor drama played out -- candidates who didn't want to be, non-candidates who did want to be, you know the drill.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 27 1910 -- Here's a pretty pointless story about a new chief of police who got lost looking for the identification department in LA's apparently rather labyrinthine headquarters. Apparently in those days the headquarters building also housed the jail, and he eventually asked a prisoner for directions. That's the sum of the story, for all it's worth.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 27 1910 -- In a momentary respite from Fight of the Century cartoons, Herriman travels to Venice to look in on the training camps of Owen Moran and Frankie Burns, who are set to meet in the ring in August.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 26 1910 -- Pretty obvious gag here, Jim Jeffries has finished his big rejuvenating meal, and he's now ready for a "large black." What bothers me about the cartoon (other than its smug race-based gag) is that Herriman had a superb ear for slang, but this is distinctly tinny. If we're talking about coffee, I never heard of ordering a "large black" to get a cuppa joe. Or maybe he's referring to some other period end of meal delicacy I've never heard of?

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 25 1910 -- The lowly Oakland Oaks, coming off of a miserable 1909 season, met the Vernon Villager nine, and gave the league leaders quite a drubbing, final score 6-1. Those Oaks, known for their speed, would climb out of the cellar and end the season in a very respectable second place, while Vernon would sink to 4th place.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 24 1910 -- A portly woman discovered a purse laying on the sidewalk, but her corset was so tight she could not bend over to pick it up. So she guarded the purse by standing on it until she thought the coast was clear and she could get down on hands and knees to pick it up. And ..... that's all I know! Unfortunately only the first half of this story made it onto my photocopy.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 24 1910 -- The Vernon Tigers, a team in just their second year, has managed to make it to the top of the PCL standings here in the early going of the 1910 season. They'll dip later on, ending the season in 4th place. 

I can't imagine many 1910 households being thrilled at their daughter's homecoming, when she's dressed like that and wearing a "naughty, naughty twinkle in her eye." And the less we think on little brother's thoughts the better. Yer creepin' me out Garge!

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 23 1910 -- Halley's Comet has passed Earth, and Herriman reminds us that the REALLY big event of 1910 is still to come.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 22 1910 -- Apparently the latest men's clothing fashions coming out of London are showing a new interest in colour. Herriman has his inch, so he takes a mile for this cartoon.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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May 22 1910 -- What do you get the child who has everything this Independence Day? Ringside seats at the Fight of the Century, of course.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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Halley's Comet is finally reaching the general environs of the Earth, and while some ordinary people are up in arms at the scary prospect, the scientists are happy to explain that everything is going according to predictions.

Labels: Herriman's LA Examiner Cartoons

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