The Washington herald., 1921-08-14
|leeporkcity
|Da!By.D'ayg D

INTRODUCING CLARE BRIGGs.
NEW YORK, Aug. 1S.-rhe plum
little fellow you: see i'm the Brfsks
cartoon with the cigar at 4 Joe
Cannon angle is Briggs himself.
His first name iss CisreA-a toe
girlish name for so masculine 4
man. Briggs was. born in Reeds
burg. Wis., where was born also
experiences that @humanise III,
when a, Felier Nsesse ) Friend. :
.skin-nay.. and the rest of the
delicious small town: flavor that he
imparts, to his sketching. - ,
The wonder OF the Briggs cartoon
is that when you see n YOU are,
amazed that Il hasn't been thou 81
Of before-becanse the incident
portrayed has happened. to Won. ne
has o way Of picking out the trivial.
everyday incidents Of the every!
day man. =: ~. .F.s'
|. He was educated at the University
OF Nebraska and began his news.
paper career on the st. Louis Globe
Democrat then to the New York,
World, back West again to- the chi
cago American. then to the Chicago
tribune, and on again to New York
70 the Tribune, where he is now en-
pioyed-perhaps the highest paid of
all the newsbaper cartoonists. :. -
At heart Briggs. iis small town
man. He Is honored by, clubs, I'm,
vited everywhere and, has a towf,
nome and a magnificent country
show place-Blue Anchor--at New
Rochelle! Yet give him fishing
ROD, a can of bait and. a pair of
oyeralls and he's supremely happy.
He likes to talk to the boys at the
store, sit out in front Of the hotel
In the evening dusk and watch the
suspender drummers, drive the cows
home from pasture, and 20 swim
ming sans bathing suit in the old
swimming hole.
Briggs is married. the father OF
three lovely children-and yet he
has never grown up. He is still the
boy. The first time ever met him
he was wrestling on the floor of his
studio in West Fifty-seven street
with a celebrated illustrator who
had playfully jerked out his necktie.
He is great artist and can con-
vey an impression in a few brief
strokes. He knows all the tricks
OF the new schools-the Modernists,
the Cubists. the Post Improssionists,
etc. He has studied at rEcole Ma
tional des Beaux-Arts, but Briggs
is essentially American and he has
developed with extraordinary sue
cess the typical American cartoon.
He Is swsyed more by "a stone
bruise" than he is by the prospect
of an award from the Salon des
Artistes Francais..
No one can know Briggs with
out being impressed by his supreme
shyness and modesty. Now and then
in the mass of congratuiatory and
laudatory mail that he receives daily
is the Shiny missive Of the anony-
NOUS writer. Nest people who write
and draw for the daily newspapers
receive them and toss them away
without further thought-but II
Briggs receives one he is like a
hurt boy. II is because he gives his
best and is ever ready to help the
other fellow and to bestow his
praise that an unkind remark finds
him a receptive target
His summers are spent on Maine
Street Island-an island he purchas-
ed at Meddybemps Nc His only
neighbors for miles around are Fl.
T. Webster and r. NJ. Brinkerhoff,
fellow artists.
He loves the smell Of fresh bacon
on the camp fire skillet. the magic
rustic of the forest night. the glor-
ious dawns, and the tang of lake
breezes. He lives in New York be-
cause his work demands II. Broad
ways glitter. Fifth avenues pomp
and the rest OF the metropolitan
razzle-dszzle finds no echoing re-
sponse in his big, understanding
heart. Like -"Skin-nay" he's a small
town feller. and II he knows you
real well he is liable to stop you in
front of some towering building and
suggest a game of leap frog. New
Workers would, OF course, think he
was crazy. but back in Reedsburg.
Wis, Briggs can dig UP a lot of
folks who will look at the average
New Yorker and tap their forehead
significantly.