March is Women’s History Month, and while I’m still working under the handicap of a mid-Winter move (and the wrong winter to do it!) with all the material I use for my scanning & research still boxed up — resulting in the long running Theatrical Cartoons I’ve presented much of this year — I did at least set aside the following images during last year’s exploration of local vanity cartoon books, for use this March.

One of the vanity cartoon books (books which depicted in cartoon, people who paid to be in the book), which I keep revisiting, is the 1911 New York City-based Them As Is Because, for the reason that the publishers of the project, solicited different professions and people than are usually found in these collections. Notably in today’s examples, women, who are absolutely absent (save as background props) in all the other such books that I’ve seen. (NOTE: I haven’t seen them all, so let’s just say women were rarely included, as I’ve no proof that this title was the sole exception.)

Above, song writer & music publisher Clarice Manning. Each of the billboards shown being held by men in this cartoon, feature a different song published by Manning.

Below, from left-to-right: Ada Humbert, who ran (started?) the Packard Theatrical Exchange (Agency); clothes designer Madame (Mitzi??) Epstein; and, uh, “Jean”, who as a dressmaker was either so well known that she didn’t use her last name, or, well… ??.

Click on the pictures above & below, to see larger versions.

Above, procurer of private entertainments, any time, at short notice… Lillian C. Price (located at the same 145 West 45th Street address as Clarice Manning, at the top). Below Left, millinery company owner Mary Anderson Warner. And below right, theatrical agent Matilda Scott-Paine.

Doug Wheeler

TheatricalCartoons AsWeSeeEm