Older Comic Art in America

Here are more cartoons from Comic Art in America by Stephen Becker. It's a book about the history up to that point (1959). I've been posting excerpts every Thursday, the previous installment is ""here where there's a hyperlink to the one before it which has the one before that and so on and so on an so forth.

The chapter before this, called Added Attractions just featured stills and model sheets from animated films so I won't bother with that. This is the next chapter, A Century of Magazines: From Corny Almanacks to The New Yorker. As the captions on the cartoons say:

”Dicky Colwell”, a drawing by JAMES ARKIN in 1808, when it was still practicable to quote Othello.

ALEXANDER ANDERSON's most famous cartoon, “Ograbme”, a sharp comment on the Embargo of 1813.

“Johnny Bull and the Alexandrians” by the great WILLIAM CHARLES, drawn in 1818.

An old CHIP BELLEW gag, which is practically a strip. BELLEW loved to draw dogs.

One of C. J. TAYLOR's he-she cartoons, done about 1907. From Judge

A fine HY MAYER from Puck, in about 1910.

A page is cut out here for some reason. I didn't print an ethnic stereotype cartoon they featured earlier so whatever was here must have been so much worse, If anyone else has this book and wants to send me copies or scans of pages 121-122 (and they're not so offensive), I'll post them.

Continuing with the captions:

There's no caption here. The cartoon is by T. S. Sullivant. Don't know the source or the year.

*Ahem* Continuing with the captions:

The primitive pun, by A.S. DAGGY, who was a popular cartoonist of the turn of the century. From Judge.

The Great ZIM (EUGENE ZIMMERMAN) drew this in 1908. After the first world war the Irishman ceased to be a victim of cartoonists, possibly because he was better assimilated. From Judge.

The next two cartoons are by JAMES THURBER in 1937, this and the rest (except for one) are from The New Yorker.

Helen Hokinson, 1926

PERRY BARLOW (mislabeled as Percy), 1954

MARY PETTY, 1940

RICHARD DECKER, 1958

OTTO SOGLOW, 1947

CARL ROSE, 1953

MISCHA RICHTER, from newspaper strip Strictly Richter

World Encyclopedia of Cartoons T-Z

Here's the last of The World Encyclopedia of Cartoons, the 1980 book I got these from. I'm sure I missed some (that are scannable), so I'll probably go back to it at some later date.

Hilda Terry's feature Teena


Arne Ungermann


Still from Duṥan Vukotić's Concerto for Sub-Machine Gun



Werner Wejp-Olsen (WOW)


Gluyas Williams


Adolphe Willette, 1903


Artist unknown, it was between the W and Y sections. Is it supposed to represent the letter X or is it just a nice drawing?


The Yarns of Captain Fibb, for Judge in 1909


Bill Yates, for Saturday Evening Post


There was a syndicated strip of Yogi Bear in the early '60s.


Pino Zacarria (“Zac”)'s Kirie and Leison.


Heinrich Zille for Simplicissimus

World Encyclopedia of Cartoons Pid-Spa

Here we go again with more of the reproducible cartoons from the 1980 World Encyclopedia of Cartoons.

Here's something from from Australian Women's Weekly by William Edward (Wep) Pidgeon.


Terrytoons looked like they were from the 30s until the 50s, when they looked like they were from the future. Here's a still from Terrytoons' Flebus, one of my all-time favorite cartoons, from the entry for Ernest Pintoff.



Another animation, Professor Balthasar, by Zlatko Grgić.



Hans Quist, who in lieu of no internet presence, is represented by his entry in the World Encyclopedia. Keep in mind that when something is referred to in present tense, it's as of 1980.

“HANS QUIST (1922-?) Born in Fasbourg, Denmark. Hans Quist started out as an apprentice in a sportswear shop, finding out after three years that this was not for him. He tried out his luck as a cartoonist and tennis player in his spare time and was most successful with the latter. Then, in 1950, he managed to get his first cartoon in print. Today he can 'look back in anger' at some dull years as a sporting goods salesperson until 1953 he was able to support himself through his cartoons.

“His drawing style leans toward the absurd, and though one cannot exactly call him a student of Virgil Partch and Cosper Cornelius, it is their artistic effects he has especially adapted into his own highly personal way of expressing himself. His world is one of domineering women and small, cowed, half-bald men with fat stomachs, as well as horrible little boys in short pants and sailor caps with the inscription Pax. His first comics character, Skrækkellige Olfrert,had his debut in the weekly magazine Hjemmet in 1955.

“Gradually he won fame and popularity in the Scandanavian countries, in Germany and throughout Europe. With his immense productivity, he is today seen often in the dailies in magazines. Quist cartoons can regularly be found in competing magazines in the same town (In Copenhagen, for example Ekstra Bladet and B.T.., In Stockholm Expressen and Aftonbladet--the editors seem to have decided to overlook copyright infringements).

“He is an illustrator of numerous books on crazy humor, practical jokes, etc., and he publishes an annual album of Skrækkellige Olfrert, his favorite comic character, who is seen in a daily strip as well as in thousands of panels.”


Hans-Georg Rauch


Dudley Fisher's Right Around Home


John Rouson's Boy Meets Girl


Charles Nicholas Sarka, from Judge 1905.


Charles Saxon


Filiberto Scarpelli


Jean-Jacques Sempé, for Samedi-Soir.



Ronald Searle


I kept looking for information about David Souter, but could only find things about the Supreme Court justice, until I typed his middle name into search engines as well.


Jürg Spahr (Jüsp) for Nebelspalter

World Encyclopedia of Cartoons D-G

Gus Dirks, 1901


Boris Drucker, Saturday Evening Post.


Dr. Seuss before becoming a children's book author, doing a cover for Judge.


John B. Gruelle, Judge


Rose O'Neill, The Kewpie Korner


Kukrynisky, The Big Three Will Tie the Enemy in Knots. The top was cut off like that.


Albert Levering, Christmas page for Puck


Sandro Lodolo


Jacques Faizant


André François, Punch


Joseph Farris


Rube Goldberg, Foolish Questions 1912


Franz Füchsel, Hendes Verden. Füchsel was one of the cartoonists who drew the infamous Muhammad cartoons.


Alfred Freuh, caricature of Winifred Linehan as Saint Joan.


Orla Getterman (“Get”)