With Summer officially arriving in another month, the time will soon be past for these Arrival of Spring cartoons, all from the May 1913 issue of Cartoons Magazine.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read their captions.

Above, Fred Morgan‘s cartoon, “Waking Him Up”, serves as the frontispiece to the May 1913 issue.

William Kemp Starrett, Drew, Harry K. Godwin, and Walker O’Loughlin, below, give us various signs of Spring.

Two more signs of Spring, above, both by Clare Briggs.

Beneath, the forced duty of Spring House Cleaning, by cartoonists Robert Satterfield, O’Loughlin, and Ole May.

Doug Wheeler

— Doug

It wouldn’t be Mother’s Day, without an R.F. Outcault comic strip of Buster Brown tormenting his mom! Above, “Buster Brown Kidnapped”, scanned from the 1905 promotional giveaway magazine, “Mr. Melville B. Raymond’s Buster Brown”, used to advertise upcoming performances of the touring musical stage play.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the pages in detail, and be able to read the text.

Beneath, two pages of photos from the play.

Doug Wheeler

Richard Felton Outcault

For this year’s Cinco de Mayo, we have a number of cartoons that appeared in first half of 1913, in various newspapers, and from there were reprinted in Cartoons Magazine.

In the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920, February & March 1913 were particularly volatile. The occupants of the National Palace changed hands several times, inspiring the James H. Donahey cartoon that appeared below, on the front cover of the April 1913 edition of Cartoons Magazine.

Above, the May 1913 issue reprints cartoonist Ole May‘s prediction of the end of President Franciso Madero.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read the text.

The U.S. had supported dictator Porfirio Diaz, whome Madero had overthrown. The above cartoon by Harry J. Westerman, suggests a return to power by Diaz.

U.S. cartoons in general — such as the one by Charles “Doc” Winner below — reflected the racist attitude of white America, which viewed all of Latin America as inferior, requiring their Uncle Sam to tell them how to behave.

Above, and in the three double-page scans that follow, we have the article “Cartoons and Cartoonists of Mexico”, written by Harry H. Dunn, formerly the news editor of the publications La Prensa, and The Daily Mexican.

Dunn’s opening paragraph about Mexican cartooning having died with the destruction of the Aztec Empire by Spanish Conquistadors (implying that their codices were merely cartoons, rather than the written language that they were), and that Mexican cartoons do not begin again until 1910, is pure hogwash (in addition to being off by at least a century — click here to view a Mexican comic book from 1801.)

However, in his description of the then-“current” situation in Mexico, and of four of its then-prominent cartoonists — S.R. de la Vega, Telas Allendez, L.R. Noriega, and F. Ariza — the article is worth reading. So long as you also keep in mind that Dunn himself, was not Mexican, anymore than Mitt Romney’s ancestors, who lived in Mexico in flight from U.S. Law, were. Dunn’s article, thus, also carries a U.S. point-of-view.

Above & below — all from April 1913 — more U.S. cartoons concerning the Mexican Revolution, including several with patronizing attitude on full display.

Above, cartoons by Lynch, James E. Murphy, and Taylor.

Cartoons above, by Nelson Harding, Bronstrup, Shonkwiler, Barnett, and Donahey, Shonkwiler & Barnett (not incorrectly, and not for their first time) suggesting that the (at thi spoint) oft-threatened U.S. intervention in the Mexican Civil War, was motivated more by protecting the investments of U.S. millionaires, than by protecting anyone or anything else.

Below, by Ben Franklin Hammond, Charles Henry Sykes, W.A. Ireland, James H. Donahey, and Robert Minor, Jr..

Doug Wheeler

Billy Ireland Focus on Cartoonists

To Close out this year’s April Fools’ Month, we bring our focus not on fools, but on some of the orchestrators of fun — the cartoonists. Above and below are the pages concentrated on cartoonists, from the April 1913 issue of Cartoons Magazine.

Above, a brief auto bio written by artist Billy DeBeck, along with an Income Tax cartoon appropriate for this month.

Click on the above & below pages, to enlarge them enough to read the text.

Beneath, short bits involving cartoonists William Kemp Starrett, Harry Murphy, Homer Davenport, and B.F. Hammond.

Above, nostalgia from 1910, about the good old days of the 1890′s, by artist Frank Wing, known for his series of cartoons — Yesterdays — which looked back to that past (and I suspect, from a 1920′s published collection I have, came across as dated, even then)…

In the fourth entry of Henry C. Williamson‘s articles about 19th century cartoonists, below, he writes about artist Bernhard Gillam‘s “Tattooed Man” series, depicting 1884 G.O.P. Presidential nominee James G. Blaine, as a man whose sins are written on his body, head-to-toe (and ran in Puck magazine, during that campaign). Clicking on the above links will take you to our postings of those same cartoons, last year.

Above, a short bio on cartoonist Karl K. Knecht.

Beneath, commentary about some of the cartoon subjects appearing in the April 1913 issue (which I’ve been gathering with cartoons from other months, into theme-based postings). Subjects include the ongoing Mexican Revolution (we’ll see many of those this coming Sunday); Cubist & Futurist Art, and the Women’s Suffrage Movement.

Finally, we have an article on “The Influence of Cartooning”, written by cartoonist J.E. Whiting.

Doug Wheeler

NYPuck Tattooed-Man James Blaine

We have one more cartoonist-illustrated theater giveaway for April Fools’ Month, advertising the travelling comedic play Turn to the Right, showing at Garrick Theatre in Philadelphia during the Christmas Season. (An internet search shows this play was at that theater during Christmas 1916, so unless it played there in other years on Christmas as well, we can deduce that this pamphlet was distributed in 1916.)

The advertising angle here, was to show big name cartoonists and their characters, sitting enjoying the play, sitting in a theater box and enjoying the play, as drawn by the cartoonists themselves. (Who drew the play scenes they are watching, is not given.)

Above, we have the back & front covers of the pamphlet, with photos of the five cartoonists who depicted themselves within.

Click on the above & below pictures, to enlarge them and read the text.

Beneath, Rube Goldberg‘s self-portrait, of himself with some of the characters from his Boob McNutt strip.

Next, we have Clare Briggs (left page), known for his cartoons featuring kids.

On the right page, we have Richard Felton Outcault, seated with his creations, Buster Brown & Tige.

Beneath, left page, is T.E. Powers with his Joys & Glooms characters.

Right page, George McManus, with his characters from Bringing Up Father.

For prior postings of cartoons involved with theater, click here.

Doug Wheeler

TheatricalCartoons AdvertisingStrips Focus on Cartoonists R.F. Outcault

We reach the end of our April Fools’ Month presentation of Box Set 1 of the Rube Goldberg‘s “Foolish Questions” card game, published in 1919 by the Wallie Dorr Company. Beneath, the final twelve cards of the 52-card set.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view them in greater detail, and be able to read their texts.

Below, the last page of the list of cards in Set 1:

Doug Wheeler

As shown in these cartoons, 1913 was a year in which puritanical America looked at all forms of theater — Vaudeville and silent cinema — as sources of sin, moral decay, and danger.

Above, from when America had a patchwork of local censor boards, controlling movies, books, publications, and shows could be shown or sold within their towns and cities, cartoon by Ole May, depicting the kind of movies (on the billboards behind the cop), that the local censor boards would like to see in theaters. From the February 1913 issue of Cartoons Magazine.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read their captions.

Above, by Boardman Robinson, from February 1913, a stage actress collecting her paycheck, in The wages of sin is — among other things — cash.

Beneath, James H. Donahey depicting a worried mother, waiting for daughter’s safe return from the dens of sin, known as theater… From the March 1913 edition.

From April 1913, above, cartoonist Charles MaCauley labels theaters “fire traps”.

Beneath, Robert Minor, Jr. (from March 1913).

Click here to find previous postings involving Theatrical Cartoons.

Doug Wheeler

TheatricalCartoons

With yet another major oil spill (the oil pipeline rupture spilling tar sands-derived oil, in Mayflower, Arkansas), and oil industry representatives using spin to try to deivert attention from facts, this year’s Earth Day posting returns to the theme of Big Oil.

Above, “Bubble, Bubble, Oil and Trouble” by Fred Ellis, from the February 14th, 1924 issue of The Daily Worker, scanned from its reprinting in the 1926 book, Red Cartoons.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read their captions.

Beneath, Ellis’ “I Didn’t Do It…”. From the book Red Cartoons 1928, which reprinted this cartoon from the February 24th, 1928 issue of The Daily Worker.

Beneath, I’ve shown this image before (two years ago), but it’s just so appropriate! We have a portrait of Chicago coal energy man, W.T. Delihant, from the 1904 cartoon vanity project, Illinoisans As We See ‘Em. Delihant apparently was proud of his sideline as a magician, promoting (in 1904) that not only was he a “washed coal” man, he also was a “Sleight of Hand Performer”…

Two more from Fred Ellis. Above, “The Forty Thieves”, from the February 25th, 1925 Daily Worker, and the 1926 Red Cartoons.

Below, “The Leaning Tower”, from the February 17th, 1928 Daily Worker, and the book “Red Cartoons 1928″.

(Note that these are only some of artist Fred Ellis‘ oil cartoons. These just happen to be ones I had available to scan.)

Doug Wheeler

— Doug

We continue with our April Fools’ Month extracts from the 1905 promotional giveaway magazine, “Mr. Melville B. Raymond’s Buster Brown”, used to advertise upcoming performances of the touring musical stage play. Above & below, two more Buster Brown Sunday comic strips by Richard Felton Outcault, reprinted in the pamphlet.

Click on the above & below pictures, to view the cartoons in detail, and read the text.

Above, more photos from the play. Below, the rear cover.

There are still a few pages left to show. This final part will appear in 3 weeks. Next week, meanwhile, we’ll feature a different theatrical advertising giveaway, illustrated by several famous cartoonists.

Doug Wheeler

AdvertisingStrips TheatricalCartoons R.F. Outcault Richard F. Outcault

Above, a loose flyer advertising the 1919 card game of Rube Goldberg‘s “Foolish Questions”, that came inside the game box. (Why advertise an item, to people who had already bought it? The other side of the flyer is advertising something unrelated – this piece of paper was likely placed inside both games, and perhaps inside others as well.)

Click on the above & below pictures, to view them in greater detail, and be able to read their texts.

Beneath, we have cards numbers 25 thru 40 (of 52 total). Well, almost – cards 26 (“Is that a surveying instrument?” ) & 30 (“Gee, Bill, where did you get the new coat?”) are missing from my copy of the set – I’ve left gaps where those two cards should have appeared.

Next week, the last twelve cards in Set 1.

Doug Wheeler