Comic Strip History

 

February 27 1910 — Los Angeles’ Central Bank has filed a complaint about the Turkish restaurant that occupies an upper floor of their building. They object most strenuously to the cooking smells that waft down from the place, and they’re not too fond of the banging pots and pans, either. But the greatest offense is the fellow in Middle Eastern costume who hawks the restaurant to passers-by in front of the bank. Apparently his energy in so doing is emphatic, loud and assertive to an impressive degree, resulting in the bank’s clientele feeling positively harassed.

Last week Heritage almost literally gave away some of my art collection. I’m still stifling sobs. Hopefully some folks will bid this week with something more than the contents of their change purse. This week Heritage has another batch of beautiful and interesting items, all of which can be seen at the Heritage site by clicking here.

This lot of six originals all thrown together makes my heart heavy, but if there are discerning comics lovers out there, hopefully it won’t all crash and burn. First we have a wonderful funny piece by E.A. Bushnell, an accomplished editorial cartoonist who sometimes jumped over into the realm of humor. This 1919 piece chronicles the hard life of the travelling salesman.

Next is a special drawing of Uncle Eph by Oscar Hitt. What is amazing about this piece is that it was done for the fabled Wheeler-Nicholson Syndicate in 1926 during their brief existence. Only piece of Wheeler-Nicholson art I think I’ve ever seen. Yep, this is the Major Nicholson who went on to found DC Comics.

Next is a beautiful piece by Magnus Kettner, a real tear-jerker that almost certainly was done for either Editor & Publisher or The Fourth Estate and pays homage to the editor of a small-town paper. Very displayable if you are a newspaper lover.

Next we have a rare surviving example of Paul Robinson (famed for Etta Kett) during his very very brief time on Embarrassing Moments, the King Features panel in which many elite cartoonists toiled — George Herriman, Billy DeBeck, Jay Irving and more. Earliest Paul Robinson you’re ever likely to find.

Next we have an early and obscure comic strip rarity from 1912– Amos Roach by Andy Hettinger. The history on this strip is hard to pin down, but it definitely ran in the Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1913.

Finally we have a real jewel … if you’re from Indiana. A rare original of Roger Bean by Indiana’s favorite son, Chic Jackson, complete with all the major characters. If you’re outside of Indiana you probably won’t care, and if you’re from Indiana, I need say no more.

What am I bid for this series of treasures? A whopping $12 as of Wednesday. Shoot me now.

These Heritage people are killing me. Selling one lot with both an Otho Cushing and a Kemp Starrett original? This one really slays me, especially when I watch people on Heritage bidding hundreds of dollars for a ‘slabbed’ copy of Marvel Two-In-One number who-gives-a-crap or for an X-rated convention sketch of Aunt May. ‘Tis a strange world.

Anyway, if you don’t know who Kemp Starrett and Otho Cushing are, well, just look at the art. There is literally not a single bid on this lot as of Wednesday, and so obviously the world has gone mad.

Okay, I.m not going to freak out about this lot of art by Ralph Dunagin. Yes, it includes two nice  space exploration editorial pieces, and yes, if you’re into murderers, then the courtroom sketch of the Black Satin Killer (complete with tattooed words on his fingers), are pretty freaking cool. But surely not worth more than a buck, which is the current bid.

Obviously the main attraction in this lot is the lovely Barbara Shermund color piece, and that’s just as it should be, but don’t ignore the Franklin Folger The Girls panel, showcasing some brilliant zipatone work along with sensitive portraits of his husband and wife subjects. The sleeper here is a fun piece by Bill Thomas, who was an artist with the San Francisco Examiner at the time. Ostensibly his drawing is a headpiece for a ladies fashion column, but you can rest assured this never made it into the paper, what with that conspicuously bulbous bare ass. No, this was a gag piece that he gave to Jim Ivey back in the early 60s when both were in the bullpen there. The drawing, though, is of amazingly high quality considering it was just made to break up the monotony in the art department.

Here are a set of four promotional posters put out by the Louisville Courier-Journal to advertise their comic strips. They are odd posters, I admit. They’re black and white and they have a lot of small print. When I bought these the seller claimed thy were meant for those overhead advertising spaces on buses, but I just don’t think I buy it. Any guesses as to the intended use of these impressive though curiously bargain-basement class posters? If you’re a fan of Freddy, Smidgens, The Neighbors or The Country Parson, and who doesn’t fall into one of those camps (he said with a snicker), you just can’t live without these.

This week Heritage Auctions is selling these items from my collection. Follow this link to see them all at Heritage:

Here’s a fun grouping of original gag cartoons. You get a Country Parson, missing his caption, a fun Kickin’ Around by Wally Falk featuring his recurring characters Hildegard and Olivia, a mystery cartoon by Camillus Kessler titled Nicholas and his Jobs (I’ve never found such a series), an Off the Record by Ed Reed, a panel from Dorothy Bond’s panel The Ladies featuring her character Cosynose, and best of all, an early Berry’s World daily from 1964.

Here’s a treasure trove of material from the short-lived detective newspaper strip The Duke of Manhattan, including original art, syndicate proofs, correspondence and promotional materials. The strip ran for a very short time in the New York Sun in 1946.

A big group of 25 original editorial cartoons by Jim Ivey, mostly dating from the 1970s when he was the featured political cartoonist for the Orlando Sentinel. Subjects range all over – national politics, sports, local stuff, you name it.

Here is a group of two fabulous cartoons which should probably be sold separately. Heritage decided to put them together because of the shared subject of football.

On the left we have a masterpiece of grease pencil work by famed editorial cartoonist Burris Jenkins Jr. This piece dates from the 1930s, probably produced because of a slow day on the sports pages, so Jenkins takes the opportunity to look back sentimentally at peewee football.

The piece on the right is an amazing cartoon by Russell Patterson, dating from the 1920s and probably from Life or Judge. Prison convicts get into the swing of Roaring 20’s football, wearing raccoon coats and waving pennants at a prison football game. The washes used on this give it a wonderful feeling of dimensionality, something I sometimes find lacking in Patterson’s work.

Here are two early panel cartoons from Mischa Richter’s long-running Strictly Richter daily panel. I really love that bold slashing line of Richter’s. One piece is nicely mounted and framed.

First item up for bid is this amazing collection of art by Folke Kvarnstrom. Kvarnstrom was a gifted young man who dabbled in cartooning, illustration art, commercial art, and photo enhancement. I know nothing about him except that my collection of his works mostly seems to date from the 1900s-1910s based on the style and subject matter, and he seems to have been based out of Chicago.

Some of the art in this grouping is of high professional quality, while a few pieces are obviously earlier stuff from when he was still learning the ropes. Some of the art has marks indicating it was published, other pieces may have been experiments or school assignments.

If you appreciate really wonderful advertising art originals, this lot really is for you; there’s 25 pieces total and Heritage didn’t photograph them all, so there are surprises awaiting the high bidder. Right now the bidding stands at $3. Seriously?

Lot 2 is an original by Albert T. Reid, justly famed as a political catoonist and one of the iconic chroniclers of Abraham Lincoln. Here is a sensitive piece in which young Mr. Lincoln first encounters a printing press, emblematic of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

This original is in fine condition — the photo makes it look awful because an old torn matte remains attached. Take that off and you have a lovely piece of art in decent shape. Great item for the wall of anyone in the news media or a Lincoln-phile.

An extra item Heritage has thrown in to this lot is an unsigned and unfinished illustration, quite well done and with an obvious stylistic nod to J.M. Flagg. It was drawn on the back of a 1909 Chicago political poster. Hard to say which side of this piece is more interesting!

Here’s another lot that can manage only a $3 bid!

Last but most definitely not least is this group of four lovely cartoon originals by Harry Temple. These are from his long-running panel Sketches From Life, which ran in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and was syndicated around the country. Rather than rehash how amazing I think Temple is, please go read this blog post about Sketches From Life in which I gush about his work, and be sure to check out Alex Jay’s profile of Harry Temple.

Believe it or not, this group of four cartoons has not a single bid as of today.

This week Heritage Auctions is putting up for bid some interesting and unusual original art from my collection. As I’ve said before, if you are a Stripper’s Guide reader and see something you like, I’m not too proud to ask that you bid maybe just a little bit extra as a vote of thanks for this ad-free non-commercial website. You can see all my auctions live on Heritage by following this link.

First up we have this rare survivor, an original hand-lettered show card from one of Al Capp’s infamous personal appearances at which he hurled invective at hippies, liberals and non-conformists. Whether you love the younger more liberal Al Capp or the older arch-conservative, this is quite an amazing souvenir of Al Capp’s tumultuous life.

Next up we have a group of 8 original art panels from the 1920s Baby Mine series by Paul Pim. These are fun little cartoons, and show how Pim managed to cut his work load significantly through the use of stats (note that the bottom two pieces are the same except for some details). A neat bonus is panel #9 which has Pim’s pencil lettered caption, but no art has yet been applied. Hey, try creating your own Baby Mine panel!

Hey, now we’re talkin’! This incredible large pastel by Jarvis depicts a bodacious blonde in her birthday suit. She’s just received a pearl necklace from a suitor, and I’m not really sure if she’s pleased or not. Sort of a Mona Lisa smile going on there. This piece is a little ragged around the edges, but trust me that it mattes up just beautifully. I supplied it to Heritage with the matte, but I don’t see it mentioned. There is also a tiny blind tear right in the middle, but it’s not too noticeable. If you are the lucky winner, fair warning that as with any pastel like this, handle with care.

Here are five delightful color cartoons dedicated to summer seaside fun. At the top we have a Don Tobin gag cartoon, and believe me when I say that the watercolor work on this is just beyond description. This is definitely one you want hanging on the wall. When I lived in Florida this one was prominently displayed in my home. 

The other four are about boating (evidently for some boat publication) and are signed “Landi”, but Heritage and I agree that this can only be Frank Interlandi, here working under a highly transparent pseudonym.

Finally we have a classic piece of Puck magazine art by Frank Nankivell depicting in a series of vignettes our journey from childhood to second childhood. All of life boiled down into one gag. This is a very large piece and displays really well.

It’s time for another round of Heritage auctions of my collection. Due to my move I have been pretty well forced to substantially prune my collection (or establish a trucking service between Florida and Nova Scotia!).

This time it is almost all original art, with a lot of unusual and rare items that you won’t see up for sale anywhere else. In addition to American comic strip, editorial and illustration art, there’s going to be quite a bit of European work as well. Most of that was collected by Jim Ivey direct from the artists when he made his landmark research trip there in 1959-60. If you’re into European artists, the coming weeks will offer you some items I know very little about in many instances, and the guys at Heritage often couldn’t supply additional info. So maybe you’ll find a hidden gem.

Here’s what’s up for bid this week (auctions ending Sunday). These auctions aren’t tagged with my name, so follow the links provided here to view them:

Wacky cover cartoon to a Puck’s Library issue of the 1890s by Louis Dalrymple. Little knick of board off the upper left which doesn’t affect the image. Nice large piece, perfect for framing.

Superb colored illustration by cartoonist Harry E. Godwin ran as a magazine page in a 1904 Philadelphia Inquirer Sunday. Beautiful large piece with nice coloring. Although the Heritage description says it is in lesser condition, trust me that it displays beautifully. Was up on my den wall for many years. Where you gonna find another Harry Godwin piece?

A huge collection of dingbat cartoons by famed editorial cartoonist Jim Ivey. Ivey really outdid himself on these small cartoons in my opinion. He has a gift for simplifying his subjects down to a mere few lines, which is what afforded him quite a bit of fame in the old grease crayon days of political cartooning. If you are the high bidder, message me and I’ll tell you the story behind the creation of these dingbat cartoons. It’s kind of interesting.

A delicious Rudy daily comic strip by William Overgard, with accompanying long and interesting letter from the artist. You all know how I love Overgard’s Rudy, so I’ll refrain from gushing. I supplied this to Heritage in a beautiful matte and frame, but I don’t see that mentioned, so I guess they removed it.  Grumble, grumble.

Here’s a very funny cartoon by European cartoonist Puig Rosado. I don’t know anything about the man, but he certainly captured the 1950s American predilection for giant tail-finned cars. Note that it takes no less than four mechanics to keep this hulking beast running!  A classic car enthusiast or car mechanic would go ape for this cartoon. Note that the cartoonist inscribed it to Jim Ivey, so it dates to 1959-60.

Vaughn Shoemaker, famed two-time Puliter winning editorial cartoonist offers a cartoon that transcends day-to-day politics. This classic piece laments the demise of the old “romantic” locomotive in favor of streamlined art deco bullet trains. This very large cartoon looks like a million bucks, and imagine how a railroad enthusiast would love to display this on their wall. Shoemaker art doesn’t often come up for sale in my experience. (By the way, this comes from a collection I purchased of railroad-themed cartoons, so be on the lookout for more neat train stuff in coming auctions).

That’s it for this week’s auction, but stay tuned for more. And please remember that if you enjoy Stripper’s Guide, feel free to bid a little extra as a thank you for the blog. Hey, I’m not proud!