The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-05-02

~ HE regular, systematic manu-
facture Of smiles and grins is
one of the most profitable BUSH
ness enterprises in which a
man may engage at the present time.
This fact is known to comparatively
few. 6ut 1t Is a fact none the less:
and it is being proved day after day
by a group OF men who earn all the
way from $4,000 a year up to 100000
or $4,000. Indeed. II Is said that one
Of these manufacturers of merrment
actually saw his income for the past
year run well up above the 100000
mark.
The men who carry on this unusual
vocation are those who draw the
comics which adorn so many of the
morning and evening newspapers, as
WI as the Sunday issues. Almost all
of them are young men: a majority
being nearer 80 than 40 years of age
yet they command salaries which
many bank president does not re-
c,ive and their work Is in constant
demand. The daily morsel of fun may
be single drawing by Ketten or
Briggs; a strip" by Goldberg or Gene
Carr: a contribution by McCutcheon.
Outcault. Mrs. Drayton. Fontaine Fox.
Sterrett. Lawrence Semon. Upper.
Winsor McCay, Tad. Powers or any
other of the we'll known group ac-
cording to the paper being read. But
no matter whether a morning or an
evening edition. the comic" has some
thing in tit IS highly remunerative
To the artist.
Almost all of the most successful
comic artists We're born in the middle
West-lndiana, Ohio. Wisconsin. Illi-
nois. one of the best known. of course.
is Richard FELTON, Outcault who first
saw light of day at Lancaster. Ohio. in
1868. file was 80 when he began his
lifework as a comic artist and in the
course of half dozen years had
created Hogan's Alley. the Yellow Kid,
Pore LII Nose, and that astonishing
success. Buster Brown. out OF which
he is supposed to have cleared not less
than a quarter Of million Of dollars
since Buster first appeared a dozen
years ago. All Of these series of char
acters have been dramat.zed. and from
each a book has been made. When
he first made a success. back in 1902.
he came to New York, where he still
has headquarters. although he spends
much of his time in Flushing. his
residence town. An excellent example
of his work. showing the Buster Brown
characters. Is herewith reproduced.
The great drawback to drawings such
as he makes is that they lose so much
because rapidly printed on inexpensive
paper and with g,aring inks.
Mr.. Outcault is probably as old in
years as any OF the comic artists.
Next to him in seniority. perhaps. IS
John Tinney McCutcheon. who is
really more II a Cartoonist in the true
sense OF the word. McCutcheon OF
course resides in Chicago, which his
work has helped To make more famous
than il otherwise would have been
and to which he emigrated AT the age
of 10 from the farm near South Raub.
Tippecanoe county. Ind, where he was
born in 1870. How much money Me-
Cutcheon earns by means of his keen
mind and facile pen may be on.y esti-
mated but some of those in a COR
responding field OF work say that his
income probably does not fall short Of
$780, 900 a year. Which is a tidy little
sum. sufficient to pay for mans
too much and wears reversible collars
and cuffs. Whatever the income. there
is no doubt McCutcheon earns every
cent of il for the great newspaper OF
whose staff he has been a valued MEM
Der since 1903.
Another lad from the middle West
who has made good and who is not
a cartoonist more than genuine
humorist is Briggs-Clare \. Briggs,
born in Reedsburg. Wis. some 200
miles north of Chicago. a little less
than forty years ago; the creator of
"Sk!n-nay" and THE Days of Real
Sport" and when a Teller Needs a
Friend" among other series of pic
lures.
Briggs, by the way. has an interest
ing history. When he was years
old his family removed to Dixon,
ILL.,. where he stayed five years, and
then went to Lincoln. Neb., prepared
for college and entered the State uni
vcrsity. There he met young man
named Kinsley, who later was to lie
known as a handwriting expert in
New York and who was to be of
service to the younger student. All
through his hoyhood years Briggs had