Telegram-herald., 1890-03-22
WOES OF A COMIC EDITOR
Fsltcttousiy Set Forth "A . Very
Distinguished Symposium
kdttor saRaer % ~Pzek ar. Srsxory
Il ~J4dxs 4ad M. a<tc.ifs sf
~LLfs Give Iazi4e F4sts Abs.s
aansso4s Jsars4iA


70 % 1915 no humorous iouraal had
managed % establish itsslf IA thts
sogasry Fer saat nay % called = ''zsn-
tssl 2ermansnce IEls Nas not FOR
ssAt Of tFyiag-ths Lat % faiilres ?
- 1871 vas HeI OEsF hundred
Thousands OF dollars hundreds OF
thousands indeed had been spent Ia
Eas enGsaEor 20 1estSs Punch
apoa America. AL that had been se-
eonplisEed sAs the establishment Of
tas facts that America al not van
-Panch. and &c cost money ~ learn N 8
simple truth.
No doubt their imitation % foreign
model tod against the founders Of ths
hundred aud odd humorous journals
that died prior 20 1917, .nd for this and
othsr reasons h came A5ous that craft
after craft g4s launched upon the sea
0f popularity only 20 sink Into the
depths OF oblivion some % them were
vel manned some we're not All
shared the same fate. "PunchinsllO,"
Vanity Fair. and Mrs. Grundy" lett
something Of ripple behind them as
they vent down but that was all The
ripple vas unremunerative.
But IN 1871 paper came out, which
vas not copy OF foreign model, and
the originality OF It's appearance
attracted popular attention, aud
held IL long enough 20 make good It's
claims 20 favor. That Was enough.
When the conservative public once ac-
eepted the new idea. IL became consclou.
OF that long felt want" OF which 10
had never before been sentient- There
Vas room FOR the humorous journal
and that room has been pretty we'll oc-
cupied by Puck" from that day TO this.
During these twelve years four or five
other journals OF a similar character
have Won success in the city of New
York alone, and but one humorous
journal-that was really worthy OF the
nAne-has failed. And that one failed
only because the capital OF It's founders
Nas more in brains than in cold cash
and in their case, brains could not pay
the printer.
Puck" mas grown with the times. IL
began its existence a. . time when
Americans were earnestly asking each
othsr what in thunder = dado Was. At
that time the literary and artistic ma
terial IL had 20 draw on was meager in
the extreme. Outside OF the artistic
sta@ % that first paper, (which At one
time consisted OF one solitary man,
,hers were but ave or six artists in New
York City who devoted themselves 10
the business OF drawing comics As
% literary matter. there vas certain
sunplv from thA nrOfesSional nara
graphers and funny men; bat these
mainly chronicled acrobatic misha ps-
TOO often their highest fight OF humor
vas sketch OF gentleman who. re-
turning home during period OF house
cleaning and general devastation,
stepped upon cake OF soap at the top
of a fight OF stairs, and descended
humorouslv 70 the bottom upon his
Soine, settling down eventually in a
pail Of water The gsntlemans name
vas generally HOopenhammer, or the
like.
But all that is changed to-day. A host
OF bright young men and women make
their living out OF the papers whose
unhappy predecessors could not even
make living fo- themselves. The lit
erary and artistic quality OF their work
q graduate By far higher standard
than the humorists OF the cake of-soap-
rail-of-water variety ever dreamed of.
They draw on human nature to- their
inspiration. and they seek FOR humor in
the actual life about "a. In this growth
and change lies the promise OF their
performance II. c. BUyNER.