Issue four of Cartoons Magazine once again included a focus on the cartoonists whose work they were collecting and reprinting. April 1912 placed its spotlight upon two of the better known cartoonists of the day.

Above, a photo and brief biography of Robert Minor, Jr., cartoonist of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, known for his concentration on social issues. Below, a page of cartoons on “Wheels of Death”, including one on train deaths, by Minor, Jr.

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

The second cartoonist spotlighted in the April 1912 issue, was Boardman Robinson of the New York Tribune, also a social cartoonist. He, too, created one of the cartoons in the above page. His photo, and a brief bio, are below.

Beneath, another Boardman Robinson cartoon. Ostensibly, this appears to be an anti-Women’s Suffrage cartoon. Perhaps it is, though more likely it is meant to force reality into words casually expressed by those who are anti-suffrage. At any rate, by 1914 Boardman was a regular contributor to The Suffragist, and was known as a strong supporter of voting rights for women. (If this cartoon represents an earlier attitude — and I doubt it does — he wouldn’t be the only cartoonist who started out anti-suffrage, and later became pro.)

In addition to the spotlight on Minor and Robinson, Cartoons Magazine featured a few pages by cartoonists, about cartoonists.

Above — in addition to a strip about the privileges of “newspaper men” (which in 1912, cartoonists could consider themselves to be) — is a single panel cartoon by Denver Times cartoonist Hopkins, picturing fellow cartoonist Clare Briggs.

Below, “Three on Themselves”, including one depicting the joy of editorial cartoonists, at the news that T.R. would indeed run for President (providing them with plenty of comical fodder). This could just as well be Daily Show “reporters”, celebrating the political survival of their favorite target.

Doug Wheeler

Ole May