, 1923-01-03
Bruiser's Fist Induced Fox to Give
Up a Literary Life for Cartooning
BY WESLEY w. STOUT

DOMAINE FOX. whose car.
j. toons appear daily In this paper,
wanted to be a writer. and had no
gift for drawing. according to his
telling.
Mr. Fox vas born and reared In
Louisville and still talks like II.
High School, where his English
teacher had encouraged him to take
up literature as a goal. the got 4
job as reporter on the Louisville
Herald.
Fox went to work with high jour
nalistic ideals which survived the
better part of a week. He was
given what was known IN the Her
aid city room as the West End
run" That is. he made his head
quarters in the reporters room at
City Hall. called on a few under
takers. justices of the peace. and
politicians. and waited for telephone
calls from the city editor.
In practice he spent his time
shooting craps with the opposition
reporters. He learned. moreover.
that scoops or beats were bad form.
At 5 p. m. the reporters divided up
their ~gleanlngs. each returning to
his office with the same grist. This
left small opportunity for independ.
mi effort by an ambitious cub.
Som n told him that a colony
of men and women were conduct.
Ing themselves scanda!ously on an
island in the Ohio river Just below
the city. Islands being GU Of
bounds. Fox didn't share his tip.
Instead he hired. a farmer to row
him to the island.
On landing Fox said to the farm.
er: You better wait for me here
Tn with the Herald, and I'll be GO.
ing back as soon as I get this
story"
A Blow on the Jaw.
Oh, 0 re-. are your" exclaimed
a male member of the colony, am
MT Fox with force and accuracy on
the point of the jaw. This blow
knocked Fox 81 per cent OF the dis.
lance froms literature to art.
Fox told the city editor, who told
every one. A political reporter
named Peters. with a robust sense
Of hunlor. had Fox assigned to &C
company him to tho Churchill
Downs race track. In the paddock
Peters pointed out n large. hook.
nosed person and said: Get a good
sketch of him. my boy"
The hook-nosed man was Ed Coz
riEan. Master Of Hawthorne, a no.
torious camera smasher and sketch
artist Gamer. Fox got in range ana
began sketch'ng under the impress
sion that Corrigan would be flat.
tered. The sketch was almost fin.
ished before Corrigan noticed him
The Master Of Hawthorne's cane
Just missed the a-sst's head. Fox
dropped his pencil in getting away.
but saved the sketch. Back at the
office the sketch was praised as a
likeness and the sketcher for his
temertty. Fox confined himself
thereafter to art.
A a boy I had sketched as most
boys do" he will tell, you, but I
had no real gift for drawing and no
thought of caricature. Instead, I
had a very real desire to write,
forced myself later on to a stiff
curse Of reading as a preparat'o n
and worked much harder at it than
I ever did al drawing.
The lilo Monon Train,
After that summer on the Herald
went to Indiana university. In my
c year there I decided to carr
part of my expenses and I made a
decker with the Herald to send then,
a cartoon a day for Sc a week. 1
not only had to find time to work
out the cartoons. but I had to stay
up until 1:10 o'clock every morning
to mail them on the Monon train.
The cartoons wouldn't fit in the
first'c.ass boxes, the other boxes
were not emptied at night. and IL 1
left the cartoons on top OF the box
the village kids would use them for
their own ends. Two semesters of
this nearly finished me. When I
went back to Louisville In the sum.
mer I decided to stay and went 70
work regularly as a cartoonist and
sketch artist.
Il did what all beginners do: L
followed in the paths of the great
ones. albeit some distance behind.
The cartoon was a very serious at.
fair then. Its subject was either
political or topical. You read the
days news and searched for an idea
or the managing editor gave you
one. Realizing that I had little
natural bent for the work. I studied
the technique of my betters. I
earned to draw as n man can learn
to do anything-by plugging away.
Il attracted enough notice after
several years to get an offer from
the Chicago Post. John T. Nc.
Cutcheon was in his zenith then.
and had begun the revolution Of the
newspaper cartoon by introducing
boy life and other homeiy topics.
To try to follow Mccutcheon on
boys was thought nothing less than
heresy. But McCutcheon'a boxa