Saturday, October 4, 2025
PEANUTS AT 75
Sparky, Snoopy, and Me.
[I have been away from Yesterday's Papers for a few weeks. I apologize. If you are reading this, archived, some time in the future, this note will make no difference. But in real time -- I have had a book deadline (my 76th, possibly the most demanding), and have 30'd it, ready to return to "normal" activities. Yesterday's Papers and the revival of nemo Magazine are chief among my priorities.]
Charles M Schulz’s characters are the most recognizable figures in the world, excepting perhaps Mickey Mouse, Taylor Swift, and Donald Trump. Not a new image of the Peanuts gang has been drawn for 25 years, however, but like the Sphinx or the Book of Kells, nothing should change.
It is tempting to praise the strip in terms of longevity, numbers of client newspapers and book sales, and merchandising data. Those are relevant measures, but in truth, the Peanuts phenomenon is best judged by saturation. Snoopy went to the moon, but more dispositive is the fact that he was part of everyone’s DNA on earth. We all had favorite gags, favorite characters, favorite permutations.
In my case, when I sat down to conduct a major-length interview with Schulz for my old magazine nemo (soon to be re-launched!) and despite having worked for and with him for years, I began by saying that my pet beagle when I was a kid was named Snoopy. All he said was, “Thank you.” But that was it. Was a young comic-strip fan (or any kid adopting a beagle) going to name the dog Fido? Ruff? Faron??
Another subtle "Schulz Effect": When I was in the fourth grade, a friend's father took a bunch of kids to the Hayden Planetarium in New York City as his son's birthday treat. When the simulation of the vast night sky appeared overhead, I turned to my friend's dad and said, "This make me feel insignificant." The next day I heard him tell my mom, "That was kind of sophisticated for a 10-year-old." Sophistication had nothing to do with it. Whether I had actually read the line in a Peanuts strip, I didn't and don't remember... but I thought at the time, "This is something that Linus would say." Peanuts fever.
+++
And it was his preferred name, if not title. When he sent me inscribed books or called me out of the blue to reminisce about vintage strips, it was “Sparky.” I never asked, “Sparky who?”
I’ll address another name Sparky avoided. The phrases I used above – like “the Peanuts gang,” or “the Peanuts crew” – he hated. He hated Peanuts as the name of his creation. He submitted samples of Li’l Folks to his syndicate, United Feature, and was thrilled to make a sale; so he went along with the alternate title they imposed.
I was comics editor at United in the 1970s and learned from the Production Manager Bill Anderson that it was he who suggested the name. The entire staff was invited to name the new strip, and on the round-robin sheet Bill nominated Peanuts, inspired by the “Peanut Gallery” of young kids on the set of the TV show Howdy Doody. When I mentioned that to Sparky, he was surprised and it made him no fonder of the title he considered abstract and undignified.
Speaking of abstract and undignified, I don’t mind telling a story on myself. I was editing comics for only a few weeks when a Peanuts Sunday came across my desk. Charlie Brown’s punchline, after correcting Lucy on the baseball field before she actually recorded an out, was “I can’t even criticize good.” Well. I thought I would save him receiving letters from 10,000 English teachers, and had the art department re-letter, “I can’t even criticize well.”
Sparky received his proof sheets in the mail, went ballistic in his mild-manner context, and called virtually everyone at the syndicate from the president on down. Until he got to me. I will first say that at that moment, Sparky had been working without a contract for seven months, holding out for more control of merchandising and such, and matters were tense around the office: “Don’t call Sparky!” “Don’t bother Sparky!” So, although I had thought I should… I didn’t "bother Sparky."
When the phone was handed to me, he asked, “Do you think I got where I am because I don’t know how to write a gag?” It sounds vain, but Sparky was always modest; the logic of the situation was, um, persuasive. I emanated comic-strip beads of sweat; I squeaked out, maybe like Woodstock’s hashtag dialog, “N-no, sir.”
I could have lost that job before hardly starting, but my mentor Sid Goldberg went to bat for me. This was back in the day before quality faxes and e-files and the Internet. The syndicate incurred the expense of re-lettering the strip, burning printing plates and mattes, and sending these out – overnight – to 2000 newspapers. Good grief! You might imagine that I never, in subsequent years and close contact, asked Sparky if he remembered that incident… or that I was the over-ambitious editor.
+++
The first fan letters I wrote when I was a kid were to Hal Foster (who replied with a terrific letter); Walt Kelly, who sent a signed Pogo daily original; and Mr Charles M Schulz, who also sent an inscribed daily strip. As a pre-eminent Peanuts fan, I eventually, and once, owned more than 70 dailies and Sundays; and many signed books and memorabilia.
I served, as noted, as his editor at United Feature Syndicate; we worked on projects together; he was the only living cartoonist, of 16, I profiled in my Abbeville Press book America's Great Comic Strip Artists; he contributed to one of my books on Little Nemo. I travelled to Paris to be with him when he received the Order of Arts from the French Ministry of Culture. (Here, Sparky with the medal around his neck.)
Unbelievably, he wrote me fan letters when some of my projects (nemo, the Classic Comics Library; Hogan's Alley Magazine which I founded) were published; and so forth. I continue on the list for the annual Peanuts calendars, one of myriad recipients I am sure, but a kind gesture from his widow Jeannie.
The major-length interview with Sparky was a cover story in the last issue of nemo. It was pirated and made into a book by an Italian publisher, and has appeared in other forms, other venues, subsequently. It was indicative of Sparky’s personality that day in Santa Rosa before the interview in his studio, when Gary Groth and I started with coffee at the snack counter of the skating rink on his property (the Minnesota boy loved hockey), Sparky got the coffee and pastries from the counter. Halfway to the table, he turned and said to the barista, “Um, put this on my tab.” Yes, owner of the place and half of his Zip code, likely richer and more famous than the next 10 cartoonists, and he reassures the clerk he is not copping free coffee…
When he sat down, Sparky displayed an aspect that shy or introverted people often do. He said, “I love nemo and read every issue. Why are you only requesting an interview now, after 30-some-odd issues?” This was not ego; he was a little hurt. Gary saved the day: “Rick was like Charlie Brown and the red-haired girl. Maybe he was afraid to ask!” Well, I was not afraid; we were friends. But sometimes we assume celebrities are too busy for this or that. In fact most celebrities thrive on this-and-that; and might feel more isolated than… mere mortals.
In his young days this congenitally reticent Charles Schulz was an evangelist of sorts, sharing his Christian faith on street corners. He drew cartoons for Christian magazines for years (for the denomination at whose church I worship). Before my interview, he asked me not to venture into matters of faith, and I agreed. But he did so on his own, on and (especially) off-mike. On his studio's bookshelves he had many Bibles and Concordances.
It always thrilled me when he called my home, out of the blue, to discuss favorite cartoonists of his childhood, or strip characters' names he forgot... or anything else related to comics. (Including his opinions on contemporary cartoonists and strips... which I will never share.) He also showed me a shelf that had my books and magazines and said he was proud of them. Aaaaargh, our tape had run out by then!
Two full years -- I thought enough time -- before Peanuts' 50th anniversary, I wrote to Sparky, inquiring about the possibility of working on a book. Well, it had already been arranged, he wrote back; and "It's too bad because I know you and I could have done something really good." Another Aaaaargh.
1950 Launched in seven peppers
1951 35 papers
1952 41 papers
1953 57 papers
1954 72 papers
1955 90 papers
1956 140 papers
1957 222 papers
1958 264 papers…
The major-length interview with Sparky was a cover story in the last issue of nemo. It was pirated and made into a book by an Italian publisher, and has appeared in other forms, other venues, subsequently. It was indicative of Sparky’s personality that day in Santa Rosa before the interview in his studio, when Gary Groth and I started with coffee at the snack counter of the skating rink on his property (the Minnesota boy loved hockey), Sparky got the coffee and pastries from the counter. Halfway to the table, he turned and said to the barista, “Um, put this on my tab.” Yes, owner of the place and half of his Zip code, likely richer and more famous than the next 10 cartoonists, and he reassures the clerk he is not copping free coffee…
When he sat down, Sparky displayed an aspect that shy or introverted people often do. He said, “I love nemo and read every issue. Why are you only requesting an interview now, after 30-some-odd issues?” This was not ego; he was a little hurt. Gary saved the day: “Rick was like Charlie Brown and the red-haired girl. Maybe he was afraid to ask!” Well, I was not afraid; we were friends. But sometimes we assume celebrities are too busy for this or that. In fact most celebrities thrive on this-and-that; and might feel more isolated than… mere mortals.
+++
In his young days this congenitally reticent Charles Schulz was an evangelist of sorts, sharing his Christian faith on street corners. He drew cartoons for Christian magazines for years (for the denomination at whose church I worship). Before my interview, he asked me not to venture into matters of faith, and I agreed. But he did so on his own, on and (especially) off-mike. On his studio's bookshelves he had many Bibles and Concordances.
It always thrilled me when he called my home, out of the blue, to discuss favorite cartoonists of his childhood, or strip characters' names he forgot... or anything else related to comics. (Including his opinions on contemporary cartoonists and strips... which I will never share.) He also showed me a shelf that had my books and magazines and said he was proud of them. Aaaaargh, our tape had run out by then!
Two full years -- I thought enough time -- before Peanuts' 50th anniversary, I wrote to Sparky, inquiring about the possibility of working on a book. Well, it had already been arranged, he wrote back; and "It's too bad because I know you and I could have done something really good." Another Aaaaargh.
Culture is pervasive, almost by definition. Popular culture, also virtually part of its essence, is evanescent. “When the Music Stops”... “The King Has Left the House”... foggy memories of favorite TV shows… trivia is not trivia, except when a game is needed to test our memories. Even Sparky, as I noted, phoned to recall characters that had been childhood favorites of his.
Peanuts, however, will not soon leave the houses of our memories – fond recollections, conversations, even attitudes toward life and wisecracks about the heavenlies.
There will never be a Good Bye. Hardly even a Good Grief, except when we need that sort of security blanket.
+++
Since I mentioned being comics editor at United Feature Syndicate,
I can share something here that I think has never seen the light of day,
about Peanuts and its establishment as the greatest comic-strip success.
Back in old filing cabinets were old sales records, licensing data, and such musty paperwork
of UFS through the years. I was already a comics historian, having engaged in research
and interviews; and a contributor to The World Encyclopedia of Comics.
From the old records I copied much data, for instance the actual start and stop dates
of features, and the client lists --
the number of newspapers that each strip had at the end of each year.
The growth of Sparky’s strip, from peanuts to monolith, started this way:
1951 35 papers
1952 41 papers
1953 57 papers
1954 72 papers
1955 90 papers
1956 140 papers
1957 222 papers
1958 264 papers…
... on its way to 2000+.
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Your Portrait Drawn by C D Gibson For a Dollar!
The Good Old Days, When a Buck Could Buy...
a Portrait of Yourself by a Legendary Illustrator
by Rick Marschall
"War... What's It Good For?" is a song from the Vietnam era, and its answer is in small part, and somewhat cynically, "Charity Events." Here is a ticket from a 1943 event at the Grand Central Galleries in New York (Fifth Avenue and 55th Street, in the Hotel Gotham). The War was raging around the world, and a charity event was scheduled for the American Red Cross... whose cause is always worthwhile, through wars and rumors of wars.
The Galleries mounted an exhibition featuring the work of more than two dozen noted artists, illustrators, and sculptors. What a day that must have been! The exhibition... the chance to meet the artists... and the chance to have your portrait executed by one of the artists -- for the admission price: One dollar.
There were beginners, to be sure, but legends were there too: Howard Chandler Christy; Jo Davidson; and Charles Dana Gibson. This was a year before the death of the creator of the Gibson Girl, but he was still drawing and painting in semi-retirement at his home in Maine. For years his home was in Manhattan -- figuratively and literally. He chronicled the doings of High Society in the Victorian and Edwardian eras; and he lived on the top floor of the Life Building off Madison Square. He had purchased the magazine that made him famous after its founders died. (In recent years it was the Madison Square Hotel and was my pied a terre in New York City. The owner Abe Puchal furnished it in tribute to the legendary cartoon magazine, with framed Life covers and Gibson art in every room and stairwell.)
Where are the portraits and sketches done that day, one wonders...
In the meantime, I've got Gibson on my mind. He is one of my favorite cartoonists, and I have so many of his books, illustrated novels, magazine covers and postcards, and ephemera as to have compiled a virtualcatalogue raisonnéof Gibson. Our dining room has been named The Gibson Room, with framed originals and signed prints on all walls.
At the moment I am happiest with my most recent acquisition -- a large drawing he did in Munich on a tour of the continent, Under the Lindens. Two Gibson Girls, an arresting genre scene, great personalities of his subjects.
Gibson twice travelled to Europe to study painting, but could not forsake the pen-and-ink that established his fame. This original has touches of watercolor shading, indicating the time in his career when he experimented.
Here is an old photograph of Gibson and his wife, the former Irene Langhorne -- a Virginia belle whose sister was Lady Nancy Astor (the first woman to sit in the British Parliament) and among whose charity work was founding Big Sisters.
Thursday, July 17, 2025
The Life Of a Legendary Cartoonist
The Great Gluyas Williams
On the Happy and Not So Happy
Job of Cartooning
by Rick Marschall
One of cartooning's natural talents, an "artist's artist," the gentle genius Gluyas Williams was asked for an autograph in 1932. He responded to the aspiring cartoonist (named Tom Sanders) with more -- a hand-written letter.
Mr Williams at the time was a nationally admired cartoonist who recently had switched his prodigious work from Life magazine to The New Yorker; also drew for other publications; produced a daily newspaper panel for John Wheeler's Bell Syndicate (many featuring the urbane character Fred Perley); was illustrating many books, most notably the collections of Harvard classmate Robert Benchley; drew advertising art... and much more. An unending fount of brilliant humor, flawlessly executed, and (as the owner of many Gluyas Williams originals, I can attest) drawn almost always perfectly -- that is, almost never a correction or cross-out. Amazing.
There was joy in his work -- or at least satisfaction. He never showed malice, though he focused (and titled) his series "life's little foibles." His was a happy world, inhabited by petite bourgeoise folks, going about everyday tasks with which his comfy middle-class readers identified. He never aimed for slapstick nor guffaws; rather comic irony and chuckles.
In fact, Gluyas Williams told me (for I became a friend at the end of his life) that very early in The New Yorker's days he actually scolded the magazine's founder Harold Ross who wanted one of his submissions to show more physical humor. Mr Williams returned the artwork unchanged and explained that the best humor was understated. Ross agreed, and this exchange possibly changed the trademark tone of New Yorker humor forevermore. Gluyas Williams was a modest man, and I cannot believe this story was an empty boast. Not even a full boast, just a memory of an exchange.
Quietly (the typical mode) Mr Williams slipped into semi-obscurity later in life. Brian Walker of the Museum of Cartoon Art edited the National Cartoonists Society album in the 1970s, compiling biographies of living and dead cartoonists, and listed Gluyas Williams as "deceased." In a Nietzschean sense, to some I suppose he was.
On a visit with Gluyas Williams exactly 50 years ago, I took his photograph. (He was then living in a nursing home, not for any disability of his, but to be with his wife who was infirm.) I interviewed him -- versions have appeared in Cartoonist PROfiles, The Comics Journal, and nemo magazine. I asked him to counter-sign a book he had illustrated exactly 50 years before that -- an "association-piece" that was an inscription by the author, the brilliant Robert Benchley to his fellow Life staffer, Robert E Sherwood, later an award-winning playwright and assistant to Franklin Roosevelt.
Reverting To Mr Williams' fan letter of 1932. "I am very glad to send you my autograph, and I hope that you will realize your ambition of becoming a cartoonist. It's lots of fun (at times) to be one, but there are lots of days when I'd rather be a brick-layer." An urbane reflection of frustration -- perhaps short-lived in Williams World -- not a primal scream but a primal sigh, just as might have been quietly vented by Fred Perley.
It should be noted here that there is no record of a Tom Sanders, whether a young lad or middle-aged aspirant in 1932, afterward being a professional cartoonist. We will check the documents of the brick-laying profession...
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
INSIDE LOOK -- THE BULLPEN OF EARLY HEARST CARTOONISTS - III: George McManus
"Let George Do It!"
And McManus Did,
Many Times Over
We have visited, via rare archival material from King Features Syndicate archives, legendary cartoonists from the protean days of comic strips. George Herriman, Tom McNamara, and editor Rudolph Block thus far. Photographs, specialty drawings, data; the only deficiency -- out of our control, as it was "out of control" in 1917 -- is the insipid poetry that serves as promotion. But, that is why the book was produced, so we must endure. (And there are some valuable facts that leak through...)
It is interesting, and a well-known aspect of the Birth of the Comics, that commercialism played a major role. Comics were weapons in circulation wars between publishers. They received boosts -- creative freedom, vast publicity, and cartoonists treated like stars -- to assist in their acceptance by the public.
The "wars" also featured cartoonists themselves as weapons, objectives, prizes, and goals. many of the great early artists of the Funny Pages switched employers and venues, sometimes dissatisfied with their employers (we have documented that Block seriously annoyed numerous of his cartoonists to the point of their quitting Hearst)... but usually having their services bid and outbid by hungry publishers.
There is a story -- if not true it virtually encapsulates the truth of the times -- that T E Powers spent an afternoon in a Park Row bar, not working for Joseph Pulitzer of the New York World nor William Randolph Hearst of the Journal, but receiving reports from office boys how his salary was going up and up as the two publishers bid against each other for his services. (Hearst won out.)
Frederick Burr Opper drew for the New York Herald (and Puck Magazine) until purloined by Hearst. Rudolph Dirks was hired away from Hearst by Pulitzer; so was Bud Fisher with the assistance of syndicate pioneer John Wheeler. Winsor McCay drew for James Gordon Bennett's two newspapers before Hearst hired him away. George Herriman drew for the World but eventually settled in the Hearst stable. R F Outcault, whose Yellow Kid can be cited for inaugurating this crazy transmigration, worked for Pulitzer, then Hearst, then Pulitzer again, then the Herald, then Hearst until his retirement.
In the eyes of the voracious publishers (benign godfathers they were, when all is said and done; or wet-nurses) there was no bigger star in their constellations than George McManus. He had attracted the attention of Pulitzer in their original working environs of St Louis; then McManus drew for Pulitzer's New York World.
McManus the cartoonist had a short gestation as a struggling stylist; soon his artwork was polished, handsome, mannered... and funny. As a creator, he created multiple strips starring in multiple titles. His premises were funny, and his narratives flowed like stage-plays. In fact his several creations did become Broadway musicals. And his characters appeared on the market as toys and in games.
Probably the most popular of his strips was The Newlyweds, a one-premise strip (as most early comics were) about an obstreperous baby. When McManus switched to Hearst he continued the strip but renamed it Their Only Child!, finessing a sticking-point of other mutinies like Mutt and Jeff and The Katzenjammer Kids whose titles became bones of contention.
McManus created another strip for Hearst, a Sunday page called The Whole Bloomin' Family. It is curious to note that Bringing Up Father, which commenced full-term as a Hearst feature in 1913, never was a Sunday page until six years later. After that it became the major strip among Hearst and King Features' properties for years. It owned the front pages of the Hearst chain's Sunday comic sections until supplanted by Blondie in the early 1950s.
In the 1917 promotion book, McManus was allowed to illustrate the stars in his galaxy including characters he had created, and left, at Pulitzer's shop. We see the eponymous star of Let George Do It; Rosie and her Beau; and Panhandle Pete. In addition, Snookums Newlywed and his parents; the Whole Bloomin' Family; and Jiggs and Maggie of Bringing Up Father.
By the way, and speaking of the Newlyweds and their only child (italics aside), we have a reprint book of daily strips from the New York World. It is from 1907. The strips appeared earlier in the year in the newspaper, not to mention the book collection -- which challenges the convention histories citing Mr A Mutt as the medium first daily strip (November 1907). More to follow in Yesterday's Papers and in the revival of nemo magazine...
Thursday, June 12, 2025
INSIDE LOOK -- THE BULLPEN OF EARLY HEARST CARTOONISTS - II: Herriman
... And Vintage Promotional Art, Bio, Photos
of George Herriman
by Rick Marschall
Recent posts commenced two threads: material from a rare 1917 promotion book for William Randolph Hearst's International Feature Service, one of several syndicate operations under the umbrella of the newly organized King Features. We shared photos and bios of Tom McNamara ("Us Boys"), the cartoonist whose copy we worked from; and of Rudolph Block (Bruno Lessing), the guiding force -- eminence grise, by much evidence -- behind the first 20 years of Hearst's Sunday funnies.
In this post, Yesterday's Papers will share the book's pages devoted to George Herriman. A photograph of the pensive cartoonist, and special art created for the book. He is credited in the text as the creator of Baron Bean, the daily strip that was separate from Krazy Kat -- starring human characters; never a crossover; never appearing in color supplements. It was a wonderful strip, as most of Herriman's creations were, of course, about a latter-day Don Quixote and Sancho Panza pair: delusional fellows drifting in, and further in, to absurd situations. As with all of Herriman's creations, comic obsessions fueled the premises of the daily strip.
I offer apologies -- not that I had anything to do with it -- for the promotional copy the accompanied the artwork. It is more insipid than third-rate public-relations blather. And worse yet, the Hearst writer (perhaps John P Medbury, or K C Beaton, or Jack Lait, or a lesser light) fashioned the inanities in rhyme. Little that would have informed a student of the day... and certainly not scholars of our day.
The other piece is from 11 years later, from a elegantly designed and produced book touting the impressive stable of talent that could be accessed by subscriptions to the New York Journal. The "chief" it highlights is not Block but the Journal's editor William A Curley (who, as an editor in Chicago, had inspired characters in The Front Page) and Hearst's principal editorial writer Arthur Brisbane. The book appears to be a bragging-piece, perhaps issued for distribution at the annual American Newspaper Editors Association (ANPA) convention in New York. "The Journal has twice the circulation of its nearest evening-paper competitor..."; etc.
It is to be noticed that in each photograph of George Herriman he wore his iconic hat. It was once supposed, after his death, that he was embarrassed by kinky hair, leading to a belief that he was partly Black. Some years ago I shared with the comic community a piece of "news" debunking that assumption. The political cartoonist Karl Hubenthal, who knew Herriman, was surprised at that idea, and laughed as he told me that Herriman neither said nor hinted at such a thing, but was rather concerned to conceal, when he could, a wen -- a growth or sebacious cyst on his head that he could not have removed. (And in fact I own several photo portraits of Herriman without a hat.)
I love the fact that as early as 1928, Krazy Kat was already being referred to as "immortal." Surely it is.
.
Thursday, June 5, 2025
GEORGE HERRIMAN DISCUSSED ANIMALS IN COMICS
... and shows how he drew his characters.
by Rick Marschall
Some people are shy; some are "reserved"; some are introverted. They are all different personality traits. The other end of the spectrum has as many variations. It is said that actors -- superficially the most outgoing of people -- tend to be very private folks, quiet and even withdrawn in their moments away from cameras and stage lights. They hide behind their characters.
Cartoonists often occupy similar cubby-holes. Dik Browne once observed to me the dichotomy: These creators who might entertain millions, making many of them laugh or be thrilled, or otherwise be interested in their creative efforts and views of life... do not live in the limelight, except vicariously. "For the most part, we are hermits, seldom even meeting the people who read what we create." Dik at the time had a studio in his basement, near the laundry machines, with clotheslines crisscrossed over his head.
One of cartooning's most famous recluses, relatively successful at anonymity, was George Herriman. That his classic Krazy Kat was notoriously enigmatic added to the interest in his essential talent, inspiration, muses. The desert opus was either psychologically deep and comprised of nuances, or simple nonsense unconcerned with discernment of logic or illogic (I am reminded of Mark Twain's epigraph in Huckleberry Finn: Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot.)
Well, we don't really know (as if should make a difference to us: Herriman surely meant to amuse, not to befuddle) and he was not a congenital obscurantist. The majority of his creations were of homely domestic themes (Us Husbands; Alexander the Cat) or of his lifelong specialty, humorous obsessions (Major Ozone the Fresh-Air Fiend; Musical Mose). I proposed an examination -- not a psychoanalysis -- of these "fingerprints" of Herriman as elements of a biography of Herriman I proposed (along with the complete Kat)to to publishers before a major biography and several compilations actually were published, in some instances by the same publishers. But the themes remain, surprisingly, unexplored. In other books I have published and in numerous articles (including, very superficially, here) I have scratched the surface of the best-known anonymous cartoonist, George Herriman.
One speed-bump is the work of publicists of the past. By the end of the first decade of the 20th century, Herriman was in the continuous employ of William Randolph Hearst. Hosannas are due the virtual godfather of the American Comic Strip, and his treatment of George Herriman is a prime reason: benign neglect... a latter-day patronage much like the Medicis treated Michelangelo or Prince Esterhazy was patron of the composer Haydn. After the 1920s almost no paper outside the Hearst chain ran Krazy Kat. Herriman participated in the Jazz Ballet of 1924, and illustrated Don Marquis's archy and mehitabel, but otherwise he lost money for Hearst... and created timeless works of comic art at the highest level.
But we still want to lift the veil. And there were those darn public-relations writers and publicity departments. How much of what they told us -- little enough anyway -- was true?
I have discovered a publicity series cooked up by the King Features (Hearst) publicity gnomes in the early 1930s. They are articles "by" cartoonists like Herriman and Elzie Segar (Popeye) explaining their strips, their characters, their inspirations and views of their art. Additionally these articles present sketches including a few "how to draw" examples of their working methods.
Was this for regular newspaper readers, or solely for children? or both? Were they written by the artists themselves? (I suspect not) Were the drawings by the identified cartoonists, in this case Herriman? (I suspect so) It is possible that the cartoonists Herriman and Segar at least approved the texts... and, of course, that they did write the articles.
Was this for regular newspaper readers, or solely for children? or both? Were they written by the artists themselves? (I suspect not) Were the drawings by the identified cartoonists, in this case Herriman? (I suspect so) It is possible that the cartoonists Herriman and Segar at least approved the texts... and, of course, that they did write the articles.
In any case, this is an unpublished and interesting insight into Krazy Kat's kreation, and at least how the public might have perceived the character and strip apart from the funny section.
+ + +
Speaking of publicity departments, in the next installment of Yesterday's Papers I will continue the publication of behind-the-scenes bios and special art circa 1917, begun with treatment of Rudolph Block and Tom McNamara. The next installment will be the focus in that material on... George Herriman.
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
ANN TELNAES "OF THE WASHINGTON POST" WINS PULITZER PRIZE AFTER LEAVING WASHINGTON POST
When the Pulitzer Prizes
Are As Controversial
As the Issues They Address
by Rick Marschall
Ann Telnaes has won her second Pulitzer Prize. The freelance political cartoonist was profiled in Yesterday's Papers on January 4 of this year when she resigned as the Washington Post's editorial cartoonist. Her citation this year read: "For delivering piercing commentary on powerful people and institutions with deftness, creativity—and a fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organization after 17 years."
The Swedish-born, Norwegian-American cartoonist has received many awards and honors including the National Cartoonists Society Reuben Award. Her first Pulitzer was voted in 2001. Telnaes earned a BA at the California Institute of Fine Arts in 1985, focusing on character animation.
The Post seemed happy enough to claim a share of Telnaes's glory, and technically the prize was awarded for work executed in the previous year, when she drew for the paper.
The Pulitzer Prizes were conceived and endowed by the legendary Yellow Journalist Joseph Pulitzer. The first prizes were awarded in 1917, and "Editorial Cartooning" was made a category in 1921. No prizes for cartooning were awarded in 1923, 1936, 1960, 1965, 1973, and 2021. In 2022, in a controversial and somewhat bizarre move, the Editorial Cartooning prize was renamed "Illustrated Reporting and Commentary."
New expressive modes have appeared in recent years; and new formats, providing a plausible justification for this new category, but the abandonment of the time-honored form of the Editorial Cartoon was a useless exercise in discerning a difference without a distinction. It mirrors the older labels of Editorial Cartoons (traditionally on broad subjects) vs Political Cartoons (obviously addressing partisan issues) -- although those terms never engendered controversy.
Despite Telnaes's horizon-wide field of vision, the left-wing cartooonist has earned a spot in the first rank of Trump Derangement Syndrome commentators; a position she likely is proud to occupy. The cause of her departure from the Post was a savage depiction of media giants bowing before the statue of the bloated president. Among the supplicants was the Post's owner, Jeff Bezos.
The previous recipients of the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning:
| Year | Winner | Organization | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1922 | Rollin Kirby | New York World | "For 'On the Road to Moscow.'" |
| 1923 | No award given. | ||
| 1924 | Jay Norwood Darling | Des Moines Register & Tribune | "For 'In Good Old USA.'" |
| 1925 | Rollin Kirby | New York World | "For 'News from the Outside World.'" |
| 1926 | D. R. Fitzpatrick | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | "For 'The Laws of Moses and the Laws of Today.'" |
| 1927 | Nelson Harding | Brooklyn Daily Eagle | "For 'Toppling the Idol.'" |
| 1928 | Nelson Harding | Brooklyn Daily Eagle | "For 'May His Shadow Never Grow Less.'" |
| 1929 | Rollin Kirby | New York World | "For 'Tammany.'" |
| 1930 | Charles R. Macauley | Brooklyn Daily Eagle | "For 'Paying for a Dead Horse.'" |
| 1931 | Edmund Duffy | The Baltimore Sun | "For 'An Old Struggle Still Going On.'" |
| 1932 | John T. McCutcheon | Chicago Tribune | "For 'A Wise Economist Asks a Question.'" |
| 1933 | H. M. Talburt | The Washington Daily News | "For 'The Light of Asia.'" |
| 1934 | Edmund Duffy | The Baltimore Sun | "For 'California Points with Pride!'" |
| 1935 | Ross A. Lewis | Milwaukee Journal | "For 'Sure, I'll Work for Both Sides.'" |
| 1936 | No award given. | ||
| 1937 | C. D. Batchelor | New York Daily News | "For 'Come on in, I'll treat you right. I used to know your Daddy.'" |
| 1938 | Vaughn Shoemaker | Chicago Daily News | "For 'The Road Back.'" |
| 1939 | Charles G. Werner | Daily Oklahoman | "For 'Nomination for 1938.'" |
| 1940 | Edmund Duffy | The Baltimore Sun | "For 'The Outstretched Hand.'" |
| 1941 | Jacob Burck | Chicago Daily Times | "For 'If I Should Die Before I Wake.'" |
| 1942 | Herbert Lawrence Block | Newspaper Enterprise Association | "For 'British Plane.'" |
| 1943 | Jay Norwood Darling | Des Moines Register & Tribune | "For 'What a Place For a Waste Paper Salvage Campaign.'" |
| 1944 | Clifford K. Berryman | The Evening Star | "For 'But Where Is the Boat Going?'" |
| 1945 | Sergeant Bill Mauldin | United Feature Syndicate, Inc. | "For distinguished service as a cartoonist, as exemplified by the cartoon entitled, 'Fresh, spirited American troops, flushed with victory, are bringing in thousands of hungry, ragged, battle-weary prisoners,' in the series entitled, 'Up Front With Mauldin.'" |
| 1946 | Bruce Alexander Russell | Los Angeles Times | "For 'Time to Bridge That Gulch.'" |
| 1947 | Vaughn Shoemaker | Chicago Daily News | "For his cartoon, 'Still Racing His Shadow.'" |
| 1948 | Reuben L. Goldberg | New York Sun | "For 'Peace Today.'" |
| 1949 | Lute Pease | Newark Evening News | "For 'Who Me?'" |
| 1950 | James T. Berryman | The Evening Star | "For 'All Set for a Super-Secret Session in Washington.'" |
| 1951 | Reg (Reginald W.) Manning | Arizona Republic | "For 'Hats.'" |
| 1952 | Fred L. Packer | New York Mirror | "For 'Your Editors Ought to Have More Sense Than to Print What I Say!'" |
| 1953 | Edward D. Kuekes | Cleveland Plain Dealer | "For 'Aftermath.'" |
| 1954 | Herbert L. Block (Herblock) | The Washington Post and Times-Herald | "For a cartoon depicting the robed figure of Death saying to Stalin after he died, 'You Were Always A Great Friend of Mine, Joseph.'" |
| 1955 | Daniel R. Fitzpatrick | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | "For a cartoon published on June 8, 1954 entitled, 'How Would Another Mistake Help?' showing Uncle Sam, bayoneted rifle in hand, pondering whether to wade into a black marsh bearing the legend 'French Mistakes in Indo-China.' The award is also given for distinguished body of the work of Mr. Fitzpatrick in both 1954 and his entire career." |
| 1956 | Robert York | Louisville Times | "For his cartoon, 'Achilles' showing a bulging figure of American prosperity tapering to a weak heel labeled 'Farm Prices.'" |
| 1957 | Tom Little | The Nashville Tennessean | "For 'Wonder Why My Parents Didn't Give Me Salk Shots?' Published on January 12, 1956." |
| 1958 | Bruce M. Shanks | Buffalo Evening News | "For 'The Thinker,' published on August 10, 1957, depicting the dilemma of union membership when confronted by racketeering leaders in some labor unions." |
| 1959 | William H. (Bill) Mauldin | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | "For 'I won the Nobel Prize for Literature. What was your crime?' Published on October 30, 1958." |
| 1960 | No award given. | ||
| 1961 | Carey Orr | Chicago Tribune | "For 'The Kindly Tiger,' published on October 8, 1960."[12] |
| 1962 | Edmund S. Valtman | The Hartford Times | "For 'What You Need, Man, Is a Revolution Like Mine,' published on August 31, 1961." |
| 1963 | Frank Miller | Des Moines Register | "For a cartoon which showed a world destroyed with one ragged figure calling to another: 'I said we sure settled that dispute, didn't we!'" |
| 1964 | Paul Conrad | The Denver Post | "For his editorial cartooning during the past year" |
| 1965 | No award given. | ||
| 1966 | Don Wright | The Miami News | "For 'You Mean You Were Bluffing?'" |
| 1967 | Patrick B. Oliphant | The Denver Post | "For 'They Won't Get Us To The Conference Table...Will They?' Published February 1, 1966."[13] |
| 1968 | Eugene Gray Payne | The Charlotte Observer | "For his editorial cartooning in 1967." |
| 1969 | John Fischetti | Chicago Daily News | "For his editorial cartooning in 1968." |
| 1970 | Thomas F. Darcy | Newsday | "For his editorial cartooning during 1969." |
| 1971 | Paul Conrad | Los Angeles Times | "For his editorial cartooning during 1970." |
| 1972 | Jeffrey K. MacNelly | Richmond News-Leader | "For his editorial cartooning during 1971." |
| 1973 | No award given. | ||
| 1974 | Paul Szep | The Boston Globe | "For his editorial cartooning during 1973." |
| 1975 | Garry Trudeau | Universal Press Syndicate | "For his cartoon strip Doonesbury ." |
| 1976 | Tony Auth | The Philadelphia Inquirer | "For 'O beautiful for spacious skies, For amber waves of grain,' published on July 22, 1975."[14] |
| 1977 | Paul Szep | The Boston Globe | |
| 1978 | Jeffrey K. MacNelly | Richmond News Leader | |
| 1979 | Herbert L. Block | The Washington Post | "For the body of his work." |
| 1980 | Don Wright | The Miami News | |
| 1981 | Mike Peters | Dayton Daily News | |
| 1982 | Ben Sargent | Austin American-Statesman | |
| 1983 | Richard Locher | Chicago Tribune | |
| 1984 | Paul Conrad | Los Angeles Times | |
| 1985 | Jeff MacNelly | Chicago Tribune | |
| 1986 | Jules Feiffer | The Village Voice | |
| 1987 | Berke Breathed | The Washington Post Writers Group | |
| 1988 | Doug Marlette | The Atlanta Constitution and Charlotte Observer | |
| 1989 | Jack Higgins | Chicago Sun-Times | |
| 1990 | Tom Toles | The Buffalo News | "For his work during the year as exemplified by the cartoon 'First Amendment.'"[15] |
| 1991 | Jim Borgman | The Cincinnati Enquirer | |
| 1992 | Signe Wilkinson | The Philadelphia Daily News | |
| 1993 | Stephen R. Benson | The Arizona Republic | |
| 1994 | Michael P. Ramirez | Commercial Appeal | "For his trenchant cartoons on contemporary issues." |
| 1995 | Mike Luckovich | The Atlanta Constitution | |
| 1996 | Jim Morin | The Miami Herald | |
| 1997 | Walt Handelsman | Times-Picayune | |
| 1998 | Stephen P. Breen | Asbury Park Press | |
| 1999 | David Horsey | The Seattle Post-Intelligencer | |
| 2000 | Joel Pett | Lexington Herald-Leader | |
| 2001 | Ann Telnaes | Los Angeles Times Syndicate | |
| 2002 | Clay Bennett | The Christian Science Monitor | |
| 2003 | David Horsey | The Seattle Post-Intelligencer | "For his perceptive cartoons executed with a distinctive style and sense of humor." |
| 2004 | Matt Davies | The Journal News | "For his piercing cartoons on an array of topics, drawn with a fresh, original style." |
| 2005 | Nick Anderson | The Courier-Journal | "For his unusual graphic style that produced extraordinarily thoughtful and powerful messages." |
| 2006 | Mike Luckovich | The Atlanta Journal-Constitution | "For his powerful cartoons on an array of issues, drawn with a simple but piercing style." |
| 2007 | Walt Handelsman | Newsday | "For his stark, sophisticated cartoons and his impressive use of zany animation." |
| 2008 | Michael Ramirez | Investor's Business Daily | "For his provocative cartoons that rely on originality, humor and detailed artistry." |
| 2009 | Steve Breen | The San Diego Union-Tribune | "For his agile use of a classic style to produce wide ranging cartoons that engage readers with power, clarity and humor." |
| 2010 | Mark Fiore | Self-syndicated; appearing on SFGate.com | "For his animated cartoons appearing on SFGate.com, the San Francisco Chronicle Web site, where his biting wit, extensive research and ability to distill complex issues set a high standard for an emerging form of commentary." |
| 2011 | Mike Keefe | The Denver Post | "For his widely ranging cartoons that employ a loose, expressive style to send strong, witty messages." |
| 2012 | Matt Wuerker | Politico | "For his consistently fresh, funny cartoons, especially memorable for lampooning the partisan conflict that engulfed Washington." |
| 2013 | Steve Sack | Star Tribune | "For his diverse collection of cartoons, using an original style and clever ideas to drive home his unmistakable point of view." |
| 2014 | Kevin Siers | The Charlotte Observer | "For his thought provoking cartoons drawn with a sharp wit and bold artistic style." |
| 2015 | Adam Zyglis | The Buffalo News | "Who used strong images to connect with readers while conveying layers of meaning in a few words." |
| 2016 | Jack Ohman | The Sacramento Bee | "For cartoons that convey wry, rueful perspectives through sophisticated style that combines bold line work with subtle colors and textures." |
| 2017 | Jim Morin | Miami Herald | "For editorial cartoons that delivered sharp perspectives through flawless artistry, biting prose and crisp wit." |
| 2018 | Jake Halpern and Michael Sloan | The New York Times | "For an emotionally powerful series, told in graphic narrative form, that chronicled the daily struggles of a real-life family of refugees and its fear of deportation." |
| 2019 | Darrin Bell | Freelancer | "For beautiful and daring editorial cartoons that took on issues affecting disenfranchised communities, calling out lies, hypocrisy and fraud in the political turmoil surrounding the Trump administration." |
| 2020 | Barry Blitt | The New Yorker | "For work that skewers the personalities and policies emanating from the Trump White House with deceptively sweet watercolor style and seemingly gentle caricatures." |
| 2021 | No award given. | ||
| 2022 | Fahmida Azim , Anthony Del Col , Walt Hickey and Josh Adams | Insider | "For using graphic reportage and the comics medium to tell a powerful yet intimate story of the Chinese oppression of the Uyghurs, making the issue accessible to a wider public." |
| 2023 | Mona Chalabi | The New York Times | "For striking illustrations that combine statistical reporting with keen analysis to help readers understand the immense wealth and economic power of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos."[16] |
| 2024 | Medar de la Cruz | The New Yorker | "For his visually-driven story set inside Rikers Island jail using bold black-and-white images that humanize the prisoners and staff through their hunger for books." |
| 2025 | Ann Telnaes | The Washington Post | "For delivering piercing commentary on powerful people and institutions with deftness, creativity—and a fearlessness that led to her departure from the news organization after 17 years." |
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