Mabel Returns
Here’s “Now Listen Mabel” from 10-19 to 10-25-1919. They come from the pages of the San Francisco Examiner. Here Mr. Herriman is dealing in silent comedy slapstick, as Jimmie Doozinberry’s rivals for the attentions of Mabel Millarkey (including Jimmie) get tossed out of her front door repeatedly. In the 10-19, Herriman says “We who have ever dealt in gentle humor..”, a well placed caption introducing this knockabout comedy sequence. I love the crazy poses the suitors take as they go sailing through the effulgent ether. “Mr. Bibbles” in the 10-24, wearing the striped coat, is a ringer for Charlie Chaplin, out of his tramp costume. I wonder if George Herriman ever played tennis at the Hearst San Simeon estate with Charlie Chaplin? Make sure and blow these up as large as you can, so you can appreciate the lettering and the pen work of Garge. You know how to do it, don’t you? If not, just click on the image with your mouse and select “Open Image In New Tab”. This should open the selected strips in a separate tab. Within that tab, just click on the image and they will be displayed larger. Nearly as large as the S F Examiner used to run them, which was clear across the page (more than 10 columns wide). Please enjoy the strips and Happy Holidays to you all.
Cameron M. says:
Mr. Kausler, thank you for sharing these!
I really love the style of humor from this era. There is such a nice use of vocabulary—someone (I believe it was Big Daddy Kane…he is a fantastic hip-hop MC who was prominent in the late 80s and early 90s, an excellent lyricist whose writing skills were top-shelf) once said that you shouldn’t inundate someone with big words, but it’s nice to send them to the dictionary every once in a while.
The lettering is really nice and unique…it definitely grabs my attention and makes the words stand out. And of course the inking, the shading, and the perspective usage is gorgeous too. The entire style of these is so captivating. I am not well versed in the stuff of this era, but am grateful to learn more.
Mr. Kausler, I hope that you will have a great Christmas…all the best to you and your family, sir!
Mark says:
Hi Cameron,
So glad that you enjoyed Now Listen Mabel. I have been a big fan of Garge’s lettering since I was 9 years old. I love his “E”‘s, the top line has such a dynamic slant downward.
George Herriman worked on very thick, 3-ply Bristol board. The paper was 3 layers glued together. If Herriman made a mistake on the top layer, he just scratched through to the second layer and continued to ink. He also liked to scratch in to a solid black layer of ink, to complete a rain storm, snow storm, scenes in a dark cave, etc.
May your family also have a terrific Holiday season, Mark and Itza
Cameron M. says:
Mr. Kausler, thank you for sharing that knowledge!
It is fascinating to learn about the methods that different artists use. That is very cool how Herriman had that workaround for any mistakes made on the top layer!
It seems like every artist, once they’ve been at it long enough, figures out these little ‘tricks’.
Garge’s lettering has so much soul to it…and yes, the way he drew his E’s was amazing. (His K’s are quite unique too!)
If you’ll forgive me for going off a bit, as a boxing fan, I’ve noticed how the ring-savviest fighters manage to utilize tricks that an inexperienced fighter wouldn’t think to use. The Jorge Castro-John David Jackson bout from 1994 is a great example.
In the ninth round, while the referee was separating the fighters during one exchange, Castro actually managed to quickly use the referee’s shirt to wipe the blood from his eyes and clear his vision. That is a true ‘veteran trick’. It’s not something most fighters would think to do, but Castro was a throwback in every sense.
He ended up winning 130 fights before retiring, which is just jaw-dropping to think about–I don’t think there is a single active pro boxer now who has had 100 fights, never mind 100 wins.
It would be interesting to learn of more ‘veteran tricks’ that the older artists used. It seems many of them were superb at getting the most out of what they had, especially in terms of not wasting paper and turning mistakes into opportunities.