Most of the time though, he just drew impressions on a theme, the way he does above. His editors kept him on a very loose leash. Today only certain writers have that kind of freedom.
You can see (above) that Herriman could easily have made it as an illustrator if newspaper comics hadn't panned out. The guy was a killer draughtsman.
Not everyone here likes Herriman so I thought I'd throw in some cartoons by other artists working in his time. How do you like this one (above)? Geez, there sure was a lot of ethnic humor in those days.
Here's (above) an interesting one. The staging is a bit unorthodox, and it's very sedate. In view of that, you wonder where the strip gets its high energy level. I've seen other strips by this artist, and every one was as quietly dynamic and demented as this one. How did he manage to pull it off?
Here's (above) an ad from...er, the thirties I think. It's great that advertisers chose to use cartoons like this one to sell their wares. The public associated cartoons with entertainment by and for the common man, and advertisers naturally wanted to get in on that.
This is Allan Holtz, the benefactor of humanity, whose blog, "Stripper's Guide" (link on the right sidebar) is where I got these cartoons.
Whoa! I didn't know Baby Peggy had her own comic strip! She was a silent movie star, a child actress in slapstick film comedies long before The Little Rascals. Her full name is Diana Serra Cary, and she's still alive and well at the age of 92!
ReplyDeleteThe vast majority of Baby Peggy films have not survived, which is tragic - because those that do are astonishing. They reveal her to be an incredibly accomplished, gifted and extremely funny child actress. She went on to have a career as a book publisher, historian and author on Hollywood subjects, according to Wikipedia, but she deserves to be better known.
Thanks for some wonderful Herriman. I am a Krazy Kat fan and seeing some of the early work shows what a skilled and prolific artist he was. He had many strips going simultaneously, and was doing political commentary too before the Kat took over for a 45 year run. Yes,45 Krazy years!
ReplyDeleteOkay the dates change from sources to source but I found Krazy Kat ran from 1913-1944. That's still 31 Krazy years!
ReplyDeleteMike: After reading your comment I looked up Baby Peggy on YouTube. She was great! Here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi1kdnWAQ2o&feature=related
ReplyDeleteJoel: Forty Five Years!!?? Unbelievable! My favorite Herriman period is the early one , represented by the Republican Boss cartoon that leads the article.
Joel,
ReplyDeleteCorrection: Krazy Kat ran 31 years (1913-1944). 34 years if you count his first appearance in "The Family Upstairs" in 1910.
Pretty good run, regardless. The strip ran in very few papers; it lasted long because Hearst was a big fan of the strip.
cant help but bring this up, i recently found out that george herriman was black! came as a surprise to me! puts a whole different slant on krazy kat in my opinion!
ReplyDeleteHerriman was technically neither black nor white. Both his parents were listed as "mulatto" in the 1880 census, and both are described as "light-skinned." His heritage was as much European as African, and he's been designated as "Louisiana Creole" in modern unauthorized biographies. Comic enthusiasts and historians have assumed this is the reason almost no photographs of Herriman with his hat off appear to exist. He passed for Greek during his life, and was listed on his death certificate as "Caucasian."
ReplyDeleteI love these none Krazy Kat comics of his. Like you I don't always read all the captions, but I stare at and copy the drawings for hours on end. I try to distill just what it is that makes them so awesome.
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