The Great Gluyas Williams




Nothing really obscure about Gluyas Williams, just thought I’d share a few of his great cartoons. In the trinity of the most popular untitled comic panels (H.T. Webster, Clare Briggs, and our man Gluyas) I’d put him as number one for cartooning ability, number two (after Webster) for humor. He certainly was a distant third in popularity in his day, owing, I imagine, more to the strength of his syndicate (Bell for most of the run) compared to the other two.

The earliest Gluyas Williams newspaper panels I’ve found are from November 1922, and the feature ended sometime in 1947. Williams was also well-known for his New Yorker cartoons and book illustrations (most notably for Robert Benchley’s works).

In perusing some Gluyas Williams source material, I find no reference to the proper pronunciation of his name. Anyone know? (perhaps “will-yums”?)

4 comments on “The Great Gluyas Williams

  1. WE pronounce it with long u short a, Williams is your basic common pronounciation, which varies based on the part of the country you are in. My late father got into a disagreement with a bookstore clerk, as to the proper pronounciation of Gluyas, the clerk kept saying Glu-I-as, and was quite adamant about it. My father wrote out a check for his purchase and signed his full name David Gluyas Williams.

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