Clifton Meek’s Nobody sprung out of nowhere near the beginning of 1912 to frustrate folks in need of a hand but sadly did not make it to 1913. The repetitive nature of the gags probably did it in, though looking at our few samples, Meek certainly manages to wring some chuckles out of these initial offerings at least. I definitely appreciate the look of the title character, no body and all…perhaps a bit too on the nose, but when has that ever been an issue for the funny pages?
Hopefully you enjoyed Gibson’s full length tale a few days ago; this time around we have one from our ol’ pal James Montgomery Flagg. Like A Widow and Her Friends, The Adventures of Kitty Cobb was published in book form and subsequently became a special weekly feature in newspapers across the land. It’s the exciting tale of a small town girl going to the big city, or as an ad for the book touts, “[Mr. Flagg] tells, by means of thirty-one inimitable pictures and short descriptive legends, a delightfully humorous and tender love-story.” For some odd reason the paper from which I culled our run, The Washington Herald, chose to re-write the captions for many of these; I can’t help but wonder why they decided to go this route as the new text is a big step down from the original material. Compare the Sanford & Son(!) outings from the Herald to the original nos. IX and X to see what I mean. As well, the Herald stops running the story at no. XXV; far be it from me to question the wisdom of a newspaper editor from 101 years ago, but why not just see the thing through if you made it that far?! I’ve cheated and collected the final episodes under names that reflect the dates they should have appeared. Start here and enjoy!
Lazyest Gallery cannot access Gibson, Charles Dana/
This one is long overdue; tonight is the grand opening of our Charles Dana Gibson archive! To honor an artist of this stature, we’re kicking it off with a complete 24 part story: A Widow and Her Friends. This story was originally published at the turn of the century, but I luckily stumbled upon a weekly reprint from 1913. This series of illustrations was extremely popular in its day; it’s not hard to see why. Enjoy!
Lazyest Gallery cannot access Brinkley, Nell/
We’re heading back to the Nell Brinkley archive for another short series of portraits: I Know a Girl There! Once again I’ve only located a handful which is hard to believe as this seems an idea that could easily sustain itself for dozens of cities. I’m hopeful I’ll at least stumble upon Chicago some day…for now enjoy the few we have.
Lazyest Gallery cannot access Brinkley, Nell/
I’ve added a handful of these odes to old flames to our Nell Brinkley archive; I’m guessing there may be more of them out there, but these are all I’ve been able to find thus far. If you think the illustrations are overwrought, wait until you get to the text…sheesh! I say that with affection, of course.
