Richard Felton Outcault (/ˈaʊtkɔːlt/; January 14, 1863 – September 25, 1928) was an American cartoonist. He was the creator of the series The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown and is considered a key pioneer of the modern comic strip.

Contents

1 Life and career

1.1 Early career

1.2 The Yellow Kid

1.3 Buster Brown

2 Personal life

3 Legacy

4 Notes

5 References

5.1 Works cited

6 Further reading

7 External links

Life and career

Outcault was born on January 14, 1863, in Lancaster, Ohio, to Catherine Davis and Jesse P. Outcalt—spelled without the u their son later added. He attended McMicken University's school of design in Cincinnati from 1878 to 1881, and after graduating did commercial painting[1] for the Hall Safe and Lock Company.[2]

Early career

Outcault painted electric light displays for Edison Laboratories for the 1888 Centennial Exposition of the Ohio Valley and Middle Atlantic States in Cincinnati. This led to full-time work with Edison in West Orange, New Jersey, doing mechanical drawings and illustrations. Edison appointed him official artist for the company's traveling exhibition in 1889–90, which included supervising the installation of Edison exhibits at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. While there, he studied art in the Latin Quarter and added the u to his surname.[1]

In 1890 Outcault returned to the US, married, and moved to Flushing in New York City. He worked making technical drawings to Street Railway Journal and Electrical World,[1] a magazine owned by one of Edison's friends.[3] On the side, he contributed to the humor magazines Truth, Puck, Judge and Life.[1]

The Yellow Kid

The Yellow Kid

The New York World newspaper began publishing cartoons in 1889. The Chicago Inter Ocean added a color supplement in 1892, the first in the US, and when the World's publisher Joseph Pulitzer saw it, he ordered for his own newspaper the same[1] four-color rotary printing press.[4] A color Sunday humor supplement began to run in the World in Spring 1893. The supplement's editor Morrill Goddard contacted Outcault via Roy McCardell on the staff of Puck and offered Outcault a full-time position with the World.[1]

Outcault's first cartoon for the paper appeared on September 16, 1894: a six-panel, full-page comic strip titled "Uncle Eben's Ignorance of the City". Though not the first strips to employ multi-panel narrative strips—even at the World—Outcault's were among the earliest. His primary subjects were African Americans who lived in a town called Possumville and Irish immigrants who lived in tenement slums.[1]

An Outcault cartoon from the June 2, 1894, issue of Judge featured a big-eared, bald street kid in a gown. Outcault continued to draw the character, who made his debut in the World on January 13, 1895. The kid appeared in color for the first time in the May 5 issue in a cartoon titled "At the Circus in Hogan's Alley". Outcault weekly Hogan's Alley cartoons appeared from then on in color, starring rambunctious slum kids in the streets, in particular the bald kid, who gained the name Mickey Dugan. In the January 5 episode of Hogan's Alley, Mickey's gown appeared in bright yellow. He soon became the star of the strip and became known as The Yellow Kid, and that May the Kid's dialogue began appearing on his yellow gown. The strip's popularity drove up the World's circulation and the Kid was widely merchandised. Its level of success drove other papers to publish such strips, and thus the Yellow Kid is seen as a landmark in the development of the comic strip as a mass medium.[1]

Outcault may not have benefited from the strip's merchandise revenue. Though he applied at least three times, he does not appear to have been granted a copyright on the strip. Common practice at the time would have given the publisher the copyrights to the strips they printed on a work-for-hire basis, though not to the characters therein.[1]

California newspaperman William Randolph Hearst set up offices in New York after buying the failing New York Morning Journal, which he renamed the New York Journal. He bought a color press and hired away the World's Sunday supplement staff, including Outcault, at greatly increased salaries. Hearst's color humor supplement was named The American Humorist and advertised as "eight pages of polychromatic effulgence that make the rainbow look like a lead pipe". It debuted on October 18, 1896, and an advertisement in the Journal the day before boasted: "The Yellow Kid—Tomorrow, Tomorrow!" The strip was titled McFadden's Row of Flats, as the World claimed the Hogan's Alley title. A week earlier, on October 11, Outcault's replacement at the World George Luks took over with his own version of Hogan's Alley;[1] he had handled the strip earlier, the first time that May 31.[5] Both papers advertised themselves with posters featuring the Yellow Kid, and soon the association with their sensational style of journalism led to the coining of the term "yellow journalism".[1]

The installment for October 25, 1896—"The Yellow Kid and his New Phonograph"—featured speech balloons for the first time.[6] Outcault's strips appeared twice a week in the Journal, and took on a form that was to become standard: multipanel strips in which the images and text were inextricably bound to each other. Comics historian Bill Blackbeard asserted this made it "nothing less than the first definitive comic strip in history". From January to May 1897, Hearst sent Outcault and the Humorist's editor Rudolph Block to Europe, a trip Outcault reported on in the paper through a mock Yellow Kid diary and an Around the World with the Yellow Kid strip, which took the place of McFadden's Row of Flats.[1]

The Yellow Kid's popularity soon faded, and the last strip appeared on January 23, 1898. Luks' version had ended the month before. The character made rare appearances thereafter. Hearst had launched the New York Evening Journal and made Outcault the editor of the daily comics page. He continued to contribute cartoons to it, as well as to the World, where he had Casey’s Corner published, a strip about African-American characters that debuted on February 13, 1898, and moved to the Evening Journal on April 8, 1898. It was the first newspaper strip to feature continuity.[1]

Outcault freelanced cartoons to other papers in 1899. The Country School and The Barnyard Club ran briefly in The Philadelphia Inquirer. In the New York Herald ran Buddy Tucker, about a bellhop, and Pore Lil Mose, the first strip with an African-American title character—a prankster portrayed in a heavily stereotyped manner.[1]

Buster Brown

Buster Brown

Outcault introduced Buster Brown to the pages of the Herald on May 4, 1902, about a mischievous, well-to-do boy dressed in Little Lord Fauntleroy style, and his pit-bull terrier Tige. The strip and characters were more popular than the Yellow Kid, and Outcault licensed the name for a wide number of consumer products, such as children's shoes from the Brown Shoe Company. In 1904 Outcault sold advertising licenses to 200 companies at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Journalist Roy McCardell reported in 1905 that Outcault earned $75,000 a year from merchandising and employed two secretaries and a lawyer.[1]

At the Herald, Outcault worked alongside fellow comic strip pioneer Winsor McCay (who at that point was mostly working on illustrations and editorial cartoons). A rivalry built up between the two cartoonists, which resulted in Outcault leaving the Herald to return to his previous employer, William Randolph Hearst at The New York Journal.[7] In the Journal, Outcault began experimenting with using multiple panels and speech balloons. Although he was not the first to use either technique, his use of them created the standard by which comics were measured.

Outcault took Buster Brown to Hearst's New York American in January 1906. The Herald continued to publish Buster Brown strips by other cartoonists; Outcault sued, and the Herald countersued the American's publishers for the character's trademark.

Outcault had not applied for a copyright to Buster Brown, but asserted a "common-law title"—what comics historian Don Markstein asserted is one of the earliest claims to creators' rights. The court decided the Herald owned the Buster Brown name and title and the copyright on the strips it published, but the characters themselves were too intangible to qualify for copyright or trademark. This freed Outcault to continue the strip in the American as long as he did not use the Buster Brown name.[a][1]

Outcault continued the untitled Buster Brown strip until 1921, though increasingly the work was done by assistants. He focused rather on merchandising, and set up an advertising agency in Chicago at 208 South Dearborn Street to handle it. In 1914 he proposed unsuccessfully a Buster Brown League for boys too young to join the Boy Scouts.[1]

Outcault retired from newspapers and spent the last ten years of his life painting. After a ten-week illness[1] he died on September 25, 1928, in Flushing, New York.[4]

Personal life

Outcault married Mary Jane Martin, the granddaughter of a Lancaster banker, on Christmas Day 1890.[1] The couple had two children.[4]

Legacy

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Comics historian R. C. Harvey considered "that Outcault belongs in the ranks of the great cartoonists".[1]

Outcault was a 2008 Judges' Choice inductee into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.[9]

Lancaster High School in Lancaster, Ohio (Outcault's birthplace) awards the R. F. Outcault Innovation Award to journalism students annually. Betsy Noll (2011) was the first recipient, Riley Theiss and Ohio State and Harvard Linebacker Luke Roberts were the 2012 recipients, Jeremy Hill & Alek LaVeck were the 2013 co-recipients, and Connor McCandlish received the honor in 2014.[10]

Notes

 Many sources erroneously assert this case was over the Yellow Kid; no records exist of a lawsuit over the Yellow Kid.[8]

The American comic artist Richard Felton Outcault was one of the pioneers of the medium. Together with Rodolphe Töpffer and Wilhelm Busch he is widely regarded as one of the key artists in the early history of the comic strip. Famous for two popular series, 'The Yellow Kid' (1895-1898) and 'Buster Brown' (1902-1921), he is often regarded as the first genuine comic artist. 'The Yellow Kid' featured sequential illustrated narratives, complete with speech balloons. It revolved around one recurring character, was published on a daily basis and brought all the hallmarks of our modern-day definition of a comic strip together. Even more important, it was single-handedly responsible for launching the comics industry. 'The Yellow Kid' was so popular that people bought issues just to read the "funny pages". Soon every paper in the U.S. and across the world had to have their own comic pages. Outcault's characters were heavily merchandized in an unprecedented way for a comic strip. They appeared on numerous products, including the very first U.S. comic magazine (The Yellow Kid, 1897). Outcault proved that comic artists could be paid for their work and occasionally even make a living out of it. He was also the first cartoonist to experience the downside of the job. He had to fight over copyright issues, was exploited by his publishers and discovered that overexposure can result in audiences growing tired of a comics series. The artist is furthermore significant for creating the first comic to regularly refer to daily news events ('The Yellow Kid') and the first to star a black character in the title role ('Poor Li'l Mose', 1900-1902). Last but not least his work inspired two neologisms: "yellow journalism" and the very term "comics" itself.

The Yellow Kid, by R. F. Outcault 1908

The Yellow Kid visits Buster Brown.

Early life and career

Richard Felton Outcalt (a name he changed to "Outcault" in 1889) was born in 1863 in Lancaster, Ohio as the son of German immigrants. Between 1878 and 1881 he studied at McMicken University School of Design in Cincinnati, Ohio after which he became a commercial painter for the Hall Safe and Lock Company. In 1888 Outcault created mechanical drawings and advertisement illustrations for Thomas Alva Edison. The famous inventor had just patented his light bulb and wanted to promote the invention during the Centennial Exposition of the Ohio Valley and Middle Atlantic States in Cincinnati, Ohio. Edison was pleased enough with the results to send Outcault to his company's official exhibit at the 1889 World Exhibition in Paris (best remembered for the introduction of the Eiffel Tower). As the artist stayed in the French capital he studied art at the Quartier Latin. Back in the United States, Outcault continued his job at Edison Laboratories. He married banker's daughter Mary Jane Martin on Christmas Day 1890 after which he moved to Flushing, Queens, New York City. There he created technical illustrations for magazines like the Street Railway Journal and Electrical World for a while.

Untitled one-panel cartoons and the Yellow Kid's debut

On the side Outcault also created more humorous cartoons for the weekly magazines Puck, Judge, Life and Truth. One of them was an untitled one-panel cartoon series which debuted in Truth on 2 June 1894. The cartoon depicted street life in Manhattan, New York City. At first the series had no official characters, left alone a title. But readers still liked the feature since it was a very recognizable portrayal of New York, from the buildings to its immigrant population. Many people enjoyed looking at the illustrations to spot every possible scene-within-a-scene and comically portrayed people. One seemingly insignificant background character was present from the very first episode. It was a bald, big-eared, buck-toothed boy who always had a grin on his face. The character, later named 'The Yellow Kid', still appeared in black-and-white at the time and few would've expected at the time that this little boy would drastically change the course of comic history!

'Uncle Eben's Ignorance of the City'. 16 September 1894.

Early comic strips

Many people assume 'The Yellow Kid' was Outcault's first comic strip, but in reality this feature was still nothing but an one-panel cartoon. His first genuine comic strips appeared later that same year. On 16 September 1894 he created a six-panel text comic named 'Uncle Eben's Ignorance of the City' for The New York World. It follows a man from the countryside, who mistakes a fire alarm pole for a letter box. As he hopelessly tries to jam the letter inside the pole the police eventually jails him for vandalism. On 18 November of that same year Outcault drew another comic strip, 'Origin Of A New Species', this time a pantomime comic, in which a clown takes his dog for a picnic in the woods. A huge anaconda slithers drown from a tree and devours the dog whole, but the clown slits the reptile's body open so the dog can stick its paws through it and walk along home. Interestingly enough a similar gag occurs in Hergé's 'Tintin in Congo' (1930).

The invention of Sunday comics

While Outcault's cartoons were slowly catching on, many newspapers started adding more daily cartoons and comics to their pages. Joseph Pulitzer's The New York World had published an illustrated cartoon section since 1889. On 23 June 1892 the Chicago newspaper Inter Ocean launched a Sunday edition with illustrations and cartoons in full colour, modestly titled: The Illustrated Supplement. Readers liked this novelty and on 21 May 1893 Pulitzer introduced his own Sunday colour supplement in The New York World. Staff member Morrill Goddard was placed in charge of the Sunday editions and published one of the earliest American newspaper comics in its pages: Charles Saalburg's 'The Ting-Lings' (1894-1897), though this was often more an one-panel cartoon than a comic strip. As such the long tradition of a newspaper comics supplement on Sundays, nicknamed "The Sunday Funnies", was born. Since many of these drawings were comical in nature people started naming them "funnies" or "comics" and thus a new literary genre finally received a proper name.

Down in Hogan's Alley, aka The Yellow Kid

Yet the true revolution only came about on 13 January 1895 when Outcault's still unnamed cartoon series appeared in The New York World too. On 5 May of that same year it was titled 'Down in Hogan's Alley', inspired by the opening line of the song 'Maggie Murphy's Home' from Edward Harrigan's play 'Reilly and the Four Hundred' (1890). The same day it was also published in colour, still a novelty for most newspapers at the time. The Yellow Kid still sported a blue, sometimes grey gown in those days. Yet one day Charles Saalburg, who was in charge of the colour prints, got the bright idea of colourizing the gown yellow. This was still an experimental given at the time, since yellow ink didn't dry properly. Nevertheless, on 5 January 1896 'The Yellow Kid' was finally born! Thanks to his brightly coloured shirt he instantly stood out in the daily crowd drawings. Even in the newspaper stand and in the paper themselves, readers' attention was instantly drawn to the comics supplement. He became more prominent in the series, eventually becoming the main character. Contrary to popular thought, The Yellow Kid did have a proper name, Mickey Dugan, but it never quite caught on. The series itself on the other hand did!

First appearance of the Yellow Kid in his yellow shirt, 5 January 1896 (Source: San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State Univeristy Cartoon Research Library).

In the 1890s cartoons picturing street children, like those by Michael Angelo Woolf, were quite popular in the United States. Outcault just followed the popular trend. He also got a lot of inspiration from just looking around in New York City. Modern audiences might not realize how many scenes in 'The Yellow Kid' weren't drawn from fantasy, but based on reality. Many European and Asian immigrants walked around in their native clothing. Poor people could be spotted everywhere. African-American people hung out in the streets. Outcault just caricatured them. Even the Yellow Kid himself wasn't an unusual sight at the time. Children were often so poor that they wore cut-down nightshirts or dresses previously worn by an older sister. Head lice were a serious problem and to avoid it parents often shaved all hairs on their children's heads. Outcault illustrated everything in beautiful artwork which perfectly captured the atmosphere of late 1890s NYC city life. Amidst all the mayhem, The Yellow Kid often provided witty commentary to everything that went on in the background. No matter what happened: he saw the fun in it, which he expressed with his signature line: "Hullygee!". This was the first instance of a catchphrase in comic history. Another first was The Yellow Kid's tendency to reference recent news events. Political cartoonists had done this as early as the late 18th century, but in comics this was still a novelty. Most earlier comics only appeared on a monthly or weekly basis , which made topical jokes less inviting to do. But in a newspaper, daily events could be far more easily referenced, particularly since readers could look up more information in the paper's articles. Outcault took full advantage of this novelty and in that sense he was a precursor of later political-satirical newspaper comics like Al Capp's 'Li'l Abner', Marc Sleen's 'Nero', Walt Kelly's 'Pogo', Wally Fawkes' 'Flook', Quino's 'Mafalda', Peter van Straaten's 'Vader en Zoon', Garry Trudeau's 'Doonesbury', Matt Groening's 'Life In Hell', Steve Bell's 'If...', Philippe Geluck's 'Le Chat', Berkeley Breathed's 'Bloom County', Lloyd Dangle's 'Troubletown', Pol Medina Jr.'s 'Pugad Baboy', Tom Tomorrow's 'This Modern World', Aaron McGruder's 'The Boondocks', Jean-Marc van Tol, John Reid and Bastiaan Geleijnse's 'Fokke en Sukke', Pieter Geenen's 'Anton Dingeman' and the comics of Ted Rall.

Hogan's Alley by RF Outcault

'Hogan's Alley' of 13 September 1896.

In order to let readers carefully look at every detail, Outcault was allowed more and more space. By 24 May 1896 new episodes were published on an entire newspaper page. This practice was soon copied by other papers. By the end of the century and particularly the first half of the 20th many newspaper comic artists were able to express their graphic and lay-out skills on full-colour pages. Classic artists like Winsor McCay, Lyonel Feininger and George Herriman may otherwise never have gained their chance to shine. As 'The Yellow Kid' became the very reason why many people bought copies of The New York World, Outcault was eventually bought away by William Randolph Hearst, owner of the rival newspaper The New York Journal, to star in their Sunday colour supplement: The American Humorist. On 18 October 1896 The Yellow Kid appeared in its first issue. Since Hearst couldn't legally use the name 'Hogan's Alley' the series was now renamed 'McFadden's Row of Flats'. New episodes of 'Hogan's Alley' kept appearing in The World, but these were drawn by George Luks. It has often been claimed that this spawned the first court case over the publishing rights of a comic strip. In reality there was never a court case, only a legal decision on behalf of the Treasury Department and advised by the Librarian of Congress to inform the New York Journal that only the comic strip's title was copyrighted, not the character itself. It was issued on 15 April 1897. But it is true that Outcault was the first example in history of a cartoonist so popular that newspapers actually tried to outbid one another to have him sign an exclusivity contract with them.

The Yellow Kid and his Phonograph. 25 October 1896.

First comic strip in history?

Still, 'Hogan's Alley', or 'The Yellow Kid' as most people called it, was not yet quite a comic strip in those days. All episodes were one-panel gag cartoons and the dialogue didn't appear in speech balloons but written on the kid's gown. The big transition only occurred on 25 October 1896. That day an episode named 'The Yellow Kid and his Phonograph' was published. It told a gag in five separate scenes. Even though the kid's dialogue is still printed on his gown most of the time he does use speech balloons here and there. It's therefore that historians have cited this day as the "official birth of comics". In 1996 this date was also chosen to celebrate the medium's first centennial. Outcault would make more use of the comics format from that moment on, even though he still used speech balloons rarely and mostly reserved them for the background animals. The Yellow Kid apparently preferred communicating through "talking T-shirts".

Naturally, the status of 'The Yellow Kid' as the "first comic strip in history" is debatable. Denis Gifford famously claimed Marie Duval and Charles Henry Ross' 'Ally Sloper' (1867) was more deserving of that title. Others point to Wilhelm Busch's 'Max und Moritz' (1866) or the even older 'Histoire de M. Vieux Bois' (1837) by Rodolphe Töpffer. While all of them are significant series in the history of the medium, they were in essence text comics, with the story and dialogue written underneath the images. This is not to say that Outcault pioneered speech balloons: these had been around since the Middle Ages in various paintings, engravings and book illustrations. The earliest artist to use them and sign his name underneath them was Francis Barlow in 1672 with the one-shot cartoon 'The Cheese of Dutch Rebellion' and his combination of a text and balloon comic: 'The Horrid Hellish Popish Plot' (1682). Various late 18th and early 19th century cartoonists like Richard Newton, James Gillray, George Cruikshank, Isaac Cruikshank, Isaac Robert Cruikshank and Thomas Rowlandson often used speech balloons, but rarely in a sequential narrative. George Cruikshank's 'The Preparatory School' (1849) is one of the few exceptions. Even in the 19th century most cartoonists made text comics with only a few using speech balloons, like Charles Jameson Grant and Charles Keene. But even they created just one-shots. All comic artists who used recurring characters, like George Cruikshank, Rodolphe Töpffer, Gustave Doré, Félix Nadar, Charles Henry Ross and Mary Duval, Wilhelm Busch, Léonce Petit, Palmer Cox, Georges Colomb and Jimmy Swinnerton hardly used speech balloons either. The only comics before Outcault to use sequential narratives with speech balloons based around recurring characters are Arthur Racey's 'The Englishman in Canada' (1893-1894) and Charles Saalburg's 'The Ting-Lings' (1894-1897). But only 'The Ting-Lings' lasted quite long. In that regard Outcault's 'The Yellow Kid' was the first comic strip to be published with speech balloons, narrative sequences, a clear recurring protagonist and to appear on a daily basis for nearly four years straight. None of the elements on their own were innovative, but the sum of its parts was. Last but not least, it was the first comic strip to spawn an industry.

"The Yellow Kid", 27 December 1896. (Source: San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State University Cartoon Research Library).

Yellow Kid: merchandising phenomenon and influence

Previously Thomas Rowlandson's 'Dr. Syntax' (1812/1820/1821) already inspired some small-key merchandising, but this was nothing compared to the commercialization of 'The Yellow Kid'! The grinning infant appeared on countless objects, from buttons, key-rings, statuettes, chewing gum to cigarettes and household appliances. In March 1897 the character received its own magazine published by Howard, Ainslee & Co. Before this only Ross and Duval's 'Ally Sloper' had received that honor with 'Ally Sloper's Half Holiday' (1884-1916), though this magazine lasted much longer. The Yellow Kid magazine ran for nine issues, and was then renamed The Yellow Book. Although it ran only a few cartoons and strips, with Outcault's character appearing only in the first six issues, The Yellow Kid is often cited as the launch of the US comic book industry. The publication date of the first issue, 20 March 1897, is therefore generally coined as the start of the "Platinum Age of Comic Books". The industry would peak during its Golden Age in the 1940s and the Silver Age in the 1960s. Gus Hill adapted the 'The Yellow Kid' into a series of vaudeville plays, which were further adapted into the silent slapstick films 'McFadden's Flats' (1927 and 1935, respectively). No other comics character before had ever been subject of so much media adaptations and commercial products! It proved to many people that comics had commercial potential. Many newspapers now had to have their own comics supplement, especially on Sundays. Hundreds of cartoonists suddenly received a chance to publish their own comic strips. Most of them directly copied Outcault's drawing style, lay-out and use of speech balloons. By the time the 20th century rolled along most American comics had adapted the balloon format. Text comics were almost wiped out of extinction.

'Around the World with the Yellow Kid', 14 February 1897 (Source: San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State Univeristy Cartoon Research Library).

Between 14 November 1896 and 7 May 1897, Outcault had his own illustrated column, 'A Leaflet From The Yellow Kid's Diary', which featured supposed pages from the Yellow Kid's diary. Most of the stories directly related to events that were in the news back then. Between 18 October 1896 and 10 January 1897 the character also starred in a cartoon feature called 'McFadden's Row of Flats'. On 20 January 1897 The Yellow Kid travelled to Europe for four months and kept readers informed with daily updates in the series 'Around the World with the Yellow Kid'. In one episode he even met Queen Victoria. The idea to send The Yellow Kid to another continent came from Hearst, who wanted to popularize the comic strip elsewhere in the world too. The editor of The American Humorist, Rudolph Block, even travelled to Europe to make local newspaper owners more interested. Block's own travel diary was published next to The Yellow Kid's daily escapades. Unfortunately, 'The Yellow Kid' never caught on outside the United States. One explanation might be its use of speech balloons, which were still an unusual phenomenon globally and not fully understood by most readers. Another reason was probably the very New Yorkian atmosphere. All characters speak phonetically written local dialect and all backgrounds are clearly set in local streets and hoods. This didn't translate well with European audiences. Most people at the time associated the United States with cowboy stories and New York City with skyscrapers and the Statue of Liberty, rarely much else. As such 'The Yellow Kid' always remained an American phenomenon. This was fine as long as the series remained popular, but 'The Yellow Kid' soon became the first heavily commercialized comic strip to succumb under audience fatigue, resulting in its eventual cancellation.

'Ryan's Arcade', 26 December 1896 (Source: San Francisco Academy of Comic Art Collection, The Ohio State Univeristy Cartoon Research Library).

The Yellow Kid - Decline

The first signs that the popularity of the series was waning occurred on 30 May 1897. That day 'The Yellow Kid' suddenly disappeared from Hearst's papers, without any explanation. On 25 September of that same year the comic strip made an equally unexplained comeback, this time in a half-page strip called 'Ryan's Arcade'. Yet its return didn't change much. On 23 January 1898 the final episode appeared in print. Interestingly enough, Luks' 'Hogan's Alley' also briefly disappeared from Pulitzer's papers in August and September, only to return one week after The Yellow Kid's comeback. But 'Hogan's Alley' was even less popular than 'The Yellow Kid' and vanished from the papers on 5 December 1897. There are a few reasons why Outcault's once so popular comic strip suddenly ran its course. It had attracted far too much publicity within the past few years. Due to Hearst's aggressive commercialisation the character appeared everywhere which eventually tired many people. Since the comic strip was only successful in the U.S. it also meant that once it lost its popularity there it was doomed to fade away. Last but not least Outcault's creation had also attracted negative publicity. First of all, Outcault's portrayal of vulgar street kids from the New York slums got much criticism from the local elite establishment. When The New York World and The New York Journal used sleazy and screaming headlines to promote "their one and only official version of 'The Yellow Kid'" people began to refer to such marketing and journalism techniques as "yellow journalism." The association stuck since cartoonists in other papers who satirized Hearst's lack of ethics often caricatured The Yellow Kid within the same drawing. And thus the same force who was responsible for the Yellow Kid's success now tainted it beyond repair. Today the term "yellow journalism" is still in use, even among people who have no idea of its origin. Another bad association was American con man Joseph Weil, who was nicknamed 'The Yellow Kid' during his lifetime. The whole affair was socially embarassing for the artist, who therefore lost his interest in his creation.

Casey's Corner by R.F. Outcault

'Casey's Corner' (13 March 1898).

Casey's Corner

In February 1898 Outcault made a remarkable return to Pulitzer's New York World, for which he created a new comic strip, 'Casey's Corner' (1898), which appeared from 13 February until 8 April 1898. The series featured stereotypically portrayed black people who were bossed around by a strong black man referred to as "The New Bully". It directly referred to the Spanish-Cuban War and had Casey's group of military volunteers prepare themselves for battle. When the series was transferred to The New York Evening Journal on 9 April both its title as well as its format changed. From now on the comic strip was named 'Huckleberry Volunteers'. Each episode featured an one-panel cartoon with text on rhyme underneath the illustrations, written by staff member Paul West. Once again Outcault broke new ground by making each panel part of a continuous narrative, published on a daily basis. In order to understand the story readers had buy each issue and keep yesterday's issue nearby. The series was abruptly ended on 21 April, when president William McKinley ordered the blockade of Cuba, whereupon the United States entered the Spanish-Cuban War. Mocking a real-life war seemed less funny and Outcault brought back The Yellow Kid to lead the troops in his cartoons. The cartoons became more patriotic in tone and had little to do with the previous storylines, making it a completely different series.

Minor comics

By 1898 Hearst had also appointed Outcault as editor of the New York Evening Journal's comics section. The artist furthermore created two installments of 'The Evening Journal's Private Asylum' on 3 and 17 June 1898. The feature was revived by Jimmy Swinnerton between 1900 and 1902. Outcault continued to work for the World as well, creating the screwball panel 'Kelly’s Kindergarten' (16 October 1898-6 August 1899), as well as the short-lived 'Persimonville (With Rastus)' (13 August until 26 November 1899) and 'Gallus Coon' (10 June until 1 July 1900). Some of these features were also distributed to other Pulitzer newspapers like the St. Louis Post Dispatch.

Kelly's Kindergarten by RF Outcault

Outcault created comics and cartoons for other papers as well, like The Philadelphia Inquirer where the short-lived Sunday panels 'The Country School' (1898) and 'The Barnyard Club' (1898) appeared in print. In The New York Herald 'Buddy Tucker' (1899) also had a short lifespan, though the series is notable for being the first comic strip to star a bellhop, almost 40 years before Rob-Vel created 'Spirou' (1938). Another significant series was 'Pore Li'l Mose' (1900-1902), which starred a little black boy who enjoyed playing pranks but always became the hoist of his own petard. His best friends were a bear named Billy, a cat named Pussy and a monkey simply named Monkey. The series debuted in The New York Herald and continued until August 1902. 'Pore Li'l Mose' goes down in history as the first comic to star a black character. Black people had been featured in American and European comics before but usually as side characters, like Outcault's own 'Casey's Corner'. Unfortunately 'Pore Li'l Mose' hardly broke any racial barriers. Its stereotypical portrayal of a black person merely confirmed prejudices. Black children were also the subject of 'Shakespeare in Possumville' (1899-1900), a series of twenty drawings by Outcault for Judge magazine, which reflected black interpretations of the plot and language of William Shakespeare. Other creations for the New York Herald were 'Nixie' (18 March until 23 September 1900) and 'Budd and his Aunt Becky' (28 October until 30 December 1900).

Buddy Tucker, by R.F. Outcault 1905

'Buddy Tucker.

Buster Brown

It took until 1902 before Outcault created a comics character with the same staying power as The Yellow Kid: 'Buster Brown' (1902-1921). Once again the hero was a little boy, but whereas his predecessor was a street kid, Buster had wealthy parents. He and his parents lived in a beautiful mansion, with their own butler and maids. Little Buster dressed accordingly too. He wore a long hat, a bowtie and a fancy pink suit, all directly borrowed from the title character in Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's' novel 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' (1886), as well as a little boy the artist used to know named Granville Hamilton Fisher. Buster Brown's sweetheart, Mary Jane, took her looks and name from the cartoonist' own daughter. Buster's pitbull Tige was a more innovative character. The little mongrel usually commented on everything that happened. While readers could read his opinions, all other characters apparently didn't, as they never reacted to what he said.

Buster Brown merchandize, 1905

First published in James Gordon Bennett's The New York Herald on 4 May 1902, 'Buster Brown' was an instant success. Each episode featured the title character playing a prank on someone and getting punished for it. At the turn of the century such characters were very popular in juvenile literature, given the success of series like Wilhelm Busch's 'Max und Moritz' (1866) and the direct rip-off 'Der Katzenjammer Kids' (1898-2006) by Rudolph Dirks. The main difference was that 'Buster Brown' still had a very clear moral. After being punished Buster usually addresses the audience and tells them what he has learned from his ordeal. Oddly enough some of his morals don't always directly refer to the prank in question, but are more general life lessons. And to the close observer it becomes clear that Buster rarely means what he says. His facial expressions and comments give his true intentions away. Outcault knew that the censors would never inspect his drawings that closely and thus he got away with this subversive streak time and time again. 'Buster Brown' may also be the first instance in comic history of two characters from different series making a crossover. The Yellow Kid paid Buster a visit four times, twice each in 1907 and 1910.

Buster Brown, by Outcault

'Buster Brown'.

Despite being quite preachy, 'Buster Brown' far outlasted 'The Yellow Kid' in terms of enduring fame and longevity. In 1904 the artist made a deal with the Brown Shoe Company to use Buster Brown as their mascot. This marks the first instance in history of a comics character being commercialized by a company with no ties to the publishing world. The firm toured across the United States so that salesmen could promote their shoe products, while dwarf actors appeared dressed up as Buster and - in a dog suit - as Tige. Several shoe stores gave away copies of 'Buster Brown' comics as premium to customers. The comic strip also boosted the sales of belted, double-breasted jackets with straw hats, round collars, floppy bows and knickerbockers shorts. Many parents bought them for their infant sons and the suit in question was quickly nicknamed "Buster Brown suit". It won't surprise anybody that mothers loved these outfits more than the kids who had to wear them. Except for one: Eugene Jacques Bullard, who one decade later would become America's first African-American military pilot during the First World War. As a child he was such a fan of the comic strip that he saw it as an honour to wear these costumes. Another piece of clothing inspired by the series were a type of girls' shoes named "Mary Janes". 'Buster Brown' was also used to advertise raisins, cigars and whiskey. In 1905 the comic was adapted into a Broadway play, followed by two live-action slapstick films in 1925 and 1929. In 1943 it became an audio play broadcast on the radio and was adapted to television seven years later. Such was its impact on popular culture that it inspired a few American playground rhymes.

Buster Brown by RF Outcault

'Buster Brown' also had a significant influence on other comics. Joseph A. Lemon's title character in 'Willy Cute' (1902-1906) looks nearly identical to Buster, except for a different colour of costume. J.R. Bray's animated series 'Bobby Bumps' (1915-1925) featured a mischievous boy and his dog directly inspired by Buster Brown. Martin Branner modelled Perry Winkle in 'Winnie Winkle' (1920) on Buster, while Frans Piët's 'Sjors van de Rebellenclub' (1936) in the Netherlands was further derived from Winkle. In Brazil 'Buster Brown' appeared as 'Chiquinho' in the children's magazine O Tico-Tico, where local artists like Luís Gomes Loureiro often loosely adapted the stories. The idea of a talking pet commenting on events while characters in the comic strip ignore him can also be found in the dog Snowy (from Hergé's 'Tintin'), the squirrel Spip (from Rob-Vel's 'Spirou) and the horse Jolly Jumper (from Morris' 'Lucky Luke').

As 'Buster Brown' became a commercial success, Hearst once again bought Outcault away on 31 December 1905 so he could publish this hit series in his own newspaper, The New York American (named The American by then), from January 1906 on. This led to a lawsuit and by court decision 'Buster Brown' was allowed to run in both papers. Yet The New York Herald could only keep the title and as such a different artist was hired, William Lawler, to redesign the characters slightly but keep the overall concept intact. Other artists contributing to this version were Winsor McCay, Wallace Morgan, Norman Jennett and Worden Wood. Meanwhile Outcault's version continued in The New York American under the new title 'Buster and Tige'. While Lawler's imitation already ended in 1911, Outcault's original continued well until December 1921. He even hired assistants to help him out, such as Penny Ross and Doc Winner. Like with the Yellow Kid, Outcault also created a text feature around his character. 'The Autobiography of Buster Brown' appeared from 25 March 1906 until 13 January 1907. Between 1945 and 1959, new 'Buster Brown' stories were produced by Custom Comics in commission of the Buster Brown Shoe Stores. Reed Crandall, Dan Barry, August Froehlich and Fred Kida were artists for these premiums.

'Buster Brown', 16 August 1903.

Final years and death

Later in his career Outcault only created two other short-lived comics series for The New York Herald named 'Tommy Dodd' (1904) and 'Aunt Ophelia' (1904). In 1910 he even founded his own eponymous advertising agency, The Outcault Advertising Company, to oversee the merchandising related to 'Buster Brown'. Although Outcault never actually owned the copyright to his own work, this didn't prevent him from frequently suing anyone who violated it. Richard F. Outcault spent his final years painting, while reprints of 'Buster Brown' continued to circulate in newspapers as late as 1926. The artist died in 1928 in Queens, New York, at the age of 65.

Legacy and influence

For a long while Outcault sank away in oblivion, only remembered for 'Buster Brown' since its run lasted much longer. While he had a strong impact on many late 19th-century and early 20th-century American cartoonists like J.R. Bray ('The Quality Kid', 1913), Lank Leonard, George McManus, Frank H. Ladendorf, Martin Branner, E.C. Segar and Walt Disney, his stature diminished after his death. Particularly 'The Yellow Kid' was almost forgotten. Yet in 1956 Norman Mingo created a mascot for Al Feldstein and William M. Gaines' Mad Magazine named Alfred E. Neuman, whose grinning face, buckteeth and Dumbo ears had a lot in common with The Yellow Kid. Still it took until the early 1960s before 'The Yellow Kid' was rediscovered and revaluated by historians. Many books, articles and documentaries now cited it as the first comic ever, particularly in the field of newspaper comics and U.S. comics. As noted before this claim is up for debate, but Outcault is certainly one of a select few who had a key influence on the history of the medium. It's virtually impossible to imagine comic history without him. And nobody but him can claim to have single-handedly launched the comics industry. Today Outcault's name and his two signature creations 'The Yellow Kid' and 'Buster Brown' are booked for the ages, never to be forgotten again. The Yellow Kid is still instantly recognizable to many comics aficionados. The character was one of many to have a cameo in Mort Walker and Jerry Dumas' self-reflexive comic strip 'Sam's Strip' (1961-1963). In 1970 the Italian city Lucca organized an annual comics award festival named the Premio Yellow Kid ("The Yellow Kid Awards"), which lasted until 2005. In 1994 Tom Heintjes and Rick Marshall named their magazine for fans of comics and cartoons Hogan's Alley, even using the Yellow Kid as their official mascot on every cover. When the 100th anniversary of comics was celebrated in 1996 'The Yellow Kid' naturally received a lot of media attention again. In 2008 Outcault was posthumously inducted in the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall Of Fame.

Who is the Yellow Kid and why is everybody making a fuss over him? The answer is that he was the first successful comic strip character to achieve a popularity so great that he not only increased the sales of newspapers carrying him, but he was also the first to demonstrate that a comic strip character could be merchandised profitably. In fact, for these two reasons, the Yellow Kid and his creator, R. F. Outcault, are generally credited with permanently establishing the comic strip and making it a part of American society. Now let's take a closer look at how this historical milestone actually occurred.

Richard Felton Outcault, known to all who know his work as R. F. Outcault, was the comic genius who took advantage of the Zeitgeist. Others had tried but failed--Outcault was the first to have the intellect and artistic ability to see and depict New York City as many of its residents did, and to be able to present it to them in a manner that made them laugh. And for being in the right place at the right time, and for possessing unusual innate and learned talent, R. F. Outcault became the anointed father of the American comic strip.

Outcault was born in Lancaster, Ohio, on 14 January 1863, the son of Jesse and Catherine Outcault, and died at his Madison Avenue residence/studio in New York City on 25 September 1928. Even as a child it was apparent that he had artistic talent, and he developed that talent with training in the community. He later entered the McMicken University's School of Design in Cincinnati in 1878 and continued his studies for three years. When he left in 1881, he took a job as a painter of pastoral scenes for the Hall Safe and Lock Company. In 1888, the Centennial Exposition of the Ohio Valley and Middle Atlantic States was held in Cincinnati. The Edison Laboratories electric light display needed some sophisticated illustrations and hired Outcault to do the work. His drawings were superlative, and he soon moved to Edison's West Orange, New Jersey, headquarters as a full-time employee. In 1889, Edison named him the official artist for his travelling exhibit and sent him to Paris for the World's Fair, where he also continued his art studies in the Latin Quarter. While in Paris, he developed what was to become a life-long preference for berets and capes.

Outcault returned to New York City in 1890 and joined the staff of Electrical World magazine, which was owned by one of Edison's friends. He also freelanced jokes and cartoons to some of the weekly humor magazines like Truth. His humor and art were well received, and his work appeared more and more frequently, typically focusing on Blacks living in the imaginary town of Possumville or Irish tenement street children living in New York City. Let there be no mistake about it, these cartoons were created for adults, not children. Adults bought the magazines, not children, and the humor was aimed at adults, not children.

Feudal Pride in Hogan's Alley

2 June 1894, p. 4: Feudal Pride in Hogan's Alley

Feudal Pride in Hogan's Alley

Little Rosilla McGraw -- No; we won't come and play with you, Delia Costigan. Our rejuced means may temporary necessitate our residin' in a rear tenement, but we're jist as exclusive as when we lived on the first floor front and papa had charge of the pound in the Department of Canine Captivity!

Interestingly, virtually no one realizes that the Yellow Kid first appeared in Truth magazine four times before his initial appearance in the newspaper, and at least once more after that date. It is my pleasure to be able to list those four seminal appearances and provide pictures of those cartoons.

1. 2 June 1894, p. 4: Feudal Pride in Hogan's Alley

2. 15 July 1894, p. 14: A Fair Champion

3. 15 September 1894, p. 11: Going by Precept

4. 9 February 1895, p. 10: Fourth Ward Brownies

It must be noted that the last cartoon, "Fourth Ward Brownies," was reprinted eight days later in The New York World and thus also became the first newspaper appearance of the Yellow Kid. The practice of newspapers reprinting cartoons from magazines was not uncommon during that era.

A Fair Champion

15 July 1894, p. 14

A Fair Champion.

Lorreena Lafferty (as a parting shot)--Remember dis, Issy Silberman may be a motzer. But de day will come as a millionaire banker, an' me his bride, de dust his carriage wheels makes t'roo Forsythe street will not be able den to build youz to his good qualities.

By late 1894, Outcault began submitting work to The New York World, the publication with the largest circulation in America. Morrill Goddard, the Sunday editor, hired him to do popular scientific drawings. His first technical illustration for The New York World was published in September, 1894. Outcault also continued to submit work to Truth and other humor magazines through the end of the 1890's.

Going By Precept 

15 September 1894, p. 11

Going By Precept

Mr. Dugan (watching the dinner preparations)--Sure, that's too much cabbage for such a little bit of corn bafe! Mrs. Dugan (authoritatively)--Arrah! doesn't everybody say that two heads are better than wan?

Exactly when the Yellow Kid first appeared in the newspaper seems to vary according to the sources that a given author uses, thus perpetuating existing errors. To avoid this problem, I have personally reviewed the microfilm of The New York World for 1894 and 1895, and the Yellow Kid's appearances are very clear. I am now going to list the first ten appearances of the Yellow Kid in the newspaper.

 1. 17 February 1895 "Fourth Ward Brownies" [reprinted from Truth]

 2. 10 March 1895 "The Fate of the Glutton"

 3. 5 May 1895 "At the Circus in Hogan's Alley"

 4. 7 July 1895 "The Day after 'The Glorious Fourth' down in Hogan's Alley"

 5. 22 September 1895 "The Great Cup Race on Reilly's Pond"

 6. 10 November 1895 "The Great Social Event of the Year in Shantytown"

 7. 17 November 1895 "The Horse Show as Reproduced at Shantytown"

 8. 24 November 1895 "An Untimely Death"

 9. 15 December 1895 "Merry Xmas Morning in Hogan's Alley"

10. 22 December 1895 "A Hopeless Disappointment"

The first Yellow Kid cartoons were small, only one column by two inches, and published in black and white as were the other cartoons of the day. In fact, the Yellow Kid was only a secondary character in the early cartoons. However, as the strip rapidly gained in popularity, and the Yellow Kid received a bright yellow nightshirt, he soon became the central figure in a full-page cartoon. All of these developments and many others are characteristic of the interaction between the artist of a new comic strip and the public, and it took about a year for the strip to reach maturity and for the Yellow Kid to become the toast of New York City. The early newspaper cartoons, like the magazine cartoons before them, were clearly aimed at the adult market.

Fourth Ward Brownies

9 February 1895, p. 10

Fourth Ward Brownies

Mickey, The Artist (adding a finishing touch) -- Dere, Chimmy! If Palmer Cox wuz t' see yer, he'd git yer copyrighted in a minute.

William Randolph Hearst, the publisher of The New York Journal, was well aware of the Yellow Kid fever in the city, and finally lured Outcault away from Joseph Pulitzer's World and put him to work at a much higher salary drawing the Yellow Kid for the Journal. One of the myths about the Yellow Kid is that Pulitzer and Hearst both claimed ownership of the Yellow Kid, the case went to court, and the decision resulted in a Yellow Kid comic in each newspaper. Most of this myth is true, and there is no question that George B. Luks began drawing the Yellow Kid for Pulitzer immediately upon Outcault's acceptance of Hearst's offer. Luks continued drawing the Yellow Kid in Hogan's Alley and Outcault created a new neighborhood called McFadden's Flats. Thus, while the Yellow Kid only appeared in New York City newspapers, he did appear in two of them simultaneously! The weak link in the myth is the court decision--there doesn't appear to be any record of such a decision, and I know a lot of people who have looked for it. Regardless, New York now had two Yellow Kids!

Hearst and Pulitzer did everything they could to win the circulation battle. In fact, they seem to have published exciting stories about events that never occurred, and printed artists' drawings about scenes that didn't exist. Because of the furor over the Yellow Kid, the World and the Journal became widely known as "The Yellow Kid Papers." This was eventually shortened to "The Yellow Papers," which soon became "Yellow Journalism" when emotions increased even further over the Spanish-American War. There are dozens of political cartoons featuring the Yellow Kid relating to both the publishers and the expression, but the best of them was published in VIM by Leon Barritt and is reproduced in this article.

The Big Type War of the Yellow Kids

The Big Type War of the Yellow Kids

When he finally arrived, however, the public couldn't get enough of him. At his peak, he was appearing several times during the week as well as on the cover, in a full-page panel, and a half-page sequential comic strip each Sunday. The public wanted more and soon the Yellow Kid was being merchandised in every imaginable form from soap to whiskey.

Because he was the first successful comic strip character, the Yellow Kid was the first comic strip character to inundate the public with his face! Today, Yellow Kid collectibles are all rare, highly desirable, and sought after by a small but intense cadre of collectors. Please remember that the Yellow Kid only appeared in New York City newspapers from 1895 through 1898, and that the merchandising took place in the same time and place, making it very rare today. A variety of items are presented in The R. F. Outcault Gallery to illustrate the variety of Yellow Kid collectibles that still exist today.

In conclusion, R. F. Outcault and the Yellow Kid demonstrated that the Sunday comics could sell newspapers and other forms of merchandise, and firmly established the comics as a permanent part of the American newspaper. The Yellow Kid, coupled with the artist's subsequent creations, Kelley's Kids, Pore Li'l Mose, Buddy Tucker, and Buster Brown, has firmly established R. F. Outcault as one of the most important comic artists of all time. Every Sunday when I read the comics, I thank him for making it all possible.

Richard Felton Outcault (January 14, 1863 - September 25, 1928) was an American comic strip scriptwriter, sketcher, and painter in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Popularly known as R.F. Outcault, he is considered the inventor of the modern comic strip and credited for making comic strips a lasting part of American society. Starting out as a technical illustrator for Thomas Edison, Outcault later wrote articles for humor magazines, which spawned his career in creating series of comic strips for the New York World and the New York Journal newspapers.

In 1895, Outcault introduced his popular comic strip, Hogan's Alley, featuring his famous "Yellow Kid" cartoon character. "The Yellow Kid" was the first recurring comic strip character, and his yellow colored nightshirt ushered in the era of colored comic strips. Outcault later introduced the popular cartoon, Buster Brown, in 1902. "The Yellow Kid" and "Buster Brown" cartoon characters eventually led to a line of products including toys and shoes (Buster Brown Shoes).

Contents

1 Life

2 Work

2.1 The Yellow Kid

2.2 Buster Brown

3 Legacy

4 References

5 External links

6 Credits

Outcault was a key creator of the art of cartoons and comic strips. From fine art to political commentary and entertainment, these have played an important role in shaping the modern world.

Life

Richard Felton Outcault was born on January 14, 1863, in Lancaster, Ohio, the son of Jesse and Catherine Outcault. He demonstrated an artistic talent at a young age, and in 1878, at the age of fifteen began studying art at the McMicken University School of Design in Cincinnati. After studying there for three years, Outcault started working as a painter, yet soon found himself doing technical illustrations for Thomas Edison's Edison Laboratories. As a traveling artist for Edison, Outcault spent time in Paris, France, while he was working at the World's Fair, and studied art in the there. Outcault enjoyed his stay in Paris, and discovered a love for berets.

When he returned to the United States, Outcault settled in New York City, and married Mary Jane Martin on Christmas Day, 1890. They had two children, a boy and a girl. In New York, he did freelance illustrator jobs and started working at Electrical World magazine, which stimulated his creativity and desire to produce comic strips. Outcault then proceeded to work for several different newspapers, where he created the famous cartoon characters The Yellow Kid and Buster Brown.

During his retirement, Outcault spent time painting portraits and landscapes.

He died on September 25, 1928, in Flushing, New York, at the age of 65.

Work

Outcault began his career in 1881, as a painter for the Hall Safe and Lock Company. In 1888, Thomas Edison hired Outcault to produce sophisticated technical illustrations for the Edison Laboratories this electric light display of the Exposition of the Ohio Valley and Middle Atlantic States in Cincinnati, Ohio. Edison was so impressed with the quality of Outcault's work, that Edison hired him to work in his West Orange, New Jersey, facilities.

Outcault returned to New York City and wrote some humor sketches for magazines including Judge, Life, and Truth, but soon joined Joseph Pulitzer's New York World.

The Yellow Kid

Pulitzer used Outcault's comics in an experimental color supplement, using a single-panel color cartoon on the front page called Hogan's Alley, depicting an event in a fictional slum, based on life in New York City. A character in the panel, The "Yellow Kid," was a bald kid named Mickey Dugan, a ghetto urchin living in the street, whose oversize nightshirt always had some kind of saying written on it. Hogan's Alley debuted on May 5, 1895. The color yellow was picked because it was difficult to print at the time, and one of the foremen at the newspaper wanted to try yellow on the kid's nightshirt as a simple test. Outcault loved it and "The Yellow Kid" became a very successful comic strip in the Sunday newspapers. Hogan's Alley was the first recurring cartoon in newspapers, and the success of The Yellow Kid ushered in the era of the colorful comics in newspapers.

Did you know?

Richard Felton Outcault created the cartoon characters "The Yellow Kid" and "Buster Brown"

The popularity of The Yellow Kid fueled a bitter battle between rival publishers over property rights. In October 1896, Outcault defected to William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal. The result of a lawsuit awarded the title, Hogan's Alley to the World and "The Yellow Kid" to the Journal. The combination of Hearst's sensational journalism and the flashy bright The Yellow Kid cartoon character associated with his newspaper gave rise to the phrase, "yellow journalism."

By 1901, Outcault had become weary of legal battles between the New York World and New York Journal so he created the comic strip Poor L'l Mose for the New York Herald. However, Outcault would be lured back to the Journal the following year.

In 1902, Outcault introduced Buster Brown, a mischievous boy dressed in Little Lord Fauntleroy style, and his dog, Tige. The Buster Brown comic strip was featured weekly every Sunday, until 1920, in the New York Journal. The strip and characters were very popular and Outcault eventually licensed the name for a number of consumer products, most notably Buster Brown shoes. For example, a hosiery manufacturer used the image of Buster Brown's dog Tige unsuccessfully trying to rip his socks in order to demonstrate the strength of its product.

In the Journal, Outcault began experimenting with using multiple panels and speech balloons. Although he was not the first to use either technique, his use of them created the standard by which comics are measured. Many cartoonists would imitate Outcault's style and make it their own.

Outcault also created other comic strips during his career, such as Tommy Dodd and Ophelia, in the New York Herald in 1904, and another called Bobby Tucker.

Because Outcault wisely protected his property rights to his cartoon characters, by 1905, he was earning more by selling cartoon character clothing and paraphernalia than he was making as a cartoonist.

In 1909, Outcault created the Outcault Advertising Agency. Outcault accumulated a great deal of wealth and retired, leaving his son to run the company, to painting portraits and landscapes.

The Yellow Kid

The Yellow Kid

The Yellow Kid was a bald, snaggle-toothed boy who wore a yellow nightshirt and hung around in a ghetto alley filled with equally odd characters, mostly other children.

With a goofy grin, the Kid habitually spoke in a ragged, peculiar ghetto argot printed on his shirt. The Yellow Kid's head was drawn wholly shaved as if having been recently ridden of lice, a common sight among children in New York's tenement ghettos at the time. Outcault commented on him:

The Yellow Kid was not an individual but a type. When I used to go about the slums on newspaper assignments I would encounter him often, wandering out of doorways or sitting down on dirty doorsteps. I always loved the Kid. He had a sweet character and a sunny disposition, and was generous to a fault. Malice, envy or selfishness were not traits of his, and he never lost his temper (Outcault 1995).

Average readers loved the cartoon, but the comic strip was not without controversy. New York elites were upset about the depiction of New York City slums in Hogan's Alley. Nonetheless, Outcault had the ingenuity and artistic talent which combined to depict situations in New York City which could make people laugh. The Yellow Kid brought humor to the social and political concerns of the day.

Buster Brown

Buster Brown

The comic strip Buster Brown began in the New York Herald on May 4, 1902. Buster Brown, his sister Mary Jane, and his dog Tige, an American Pit Bull Terrier, soon became well known to the American public. Tige is thought to be the first talking pet to appear in American comics, and, like that of many of his successors, his speech goes unnoticed by adults.

Buster Brown is a young city-dwelling boy with wealthy parents. He is disturbingly pretty (contrast him to The Yellow Kid, or Frederick Opper's creations), but his actions belie his looks. He is a practical joker who might dress in a girl's outfit and have her wear his clothes, break a window with his slingshot, or play a prank on a neighbor. The trick or transgression is discovered and he is punished, usually by being spanked by his mother, but it is unclear if he ever repents. Many strips end with Buster delivering a self-justifying moral which has little or nothing to do with his crime. For example, a strip from May 31, 1903, shows him giving Tige a soda from a drugstore soda fountain. The drink splashes, not only the front of his own clothes, but the skirts of a woman's splendid dress. Horrified by his clumsy misadventure, Buster's mother takes him home and flogs him with a stick. In the last panel the boy has written a message beginning, "Resolved! That druggists are legalized robbers; they sell you soda and candy to make you ill, then they sell you medicine to make you worse."

Outcault left for William Randolph Hearst's employ in 1906, and after a court battle, Outcault continued his strip, now nameless, in Hearst papers, while the Herald continued their own version of Buster Brown with other artists. The latter lasted until 1911 or so, and the former until at least 1921.

Buster Brown's association with shoes when the Brown Shoe Co. purchased rights to the Buster Brown name, and the brand was introduced to the public at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The logo is still used on Brown shoes today.

Busterbrown15.jpg

Buster Brown baby.jpg

Buster Brown valentine.jpg

Buster Brown small black and white.JPG

Legacy

Richard Felton Outcault was a gifted newspaper comic artist, painter, and sketcher, who combined his talents to pioneer the creation of the modern comic strip. He created the first recurring comic strip character in 1896, the "Yellow Kid" of Hogan's Alley. He also created Buster Brown in 1902. Although Outcault was not the first cartoonist to utilize dialog boxes or panel strips, he popular comic strips set the industry standard for "funny pages" in newspapers. Outcault's cartoon genius led to the birth and development of comic strips, which continue to influence modern culture.

His pioneering work demonstrated that comic strips could increase newspaper revenues and also spawn sales of associated toys and paraphernalia. The success of the "Yellow Kid" led to lines of toys and products being developed. Buster Brown was also extremely popular and, after Outcault sold the license for Buster to the Buster Brown Shoes Company, "Mary Jane" shoes, based on the shoes Buster and his sister Mary Jane wore, became very popular and continue to be so to this day.

Richard Felton Outcault was born on January 14, 1863 in Lancaster, Ohio. Having an early talent toward the arts he enrolled at McMicken University in Cincinnati majoring in art. After graduating he moved to New York City and secured work doing cartoons and illustartions for various newspapers as well as Judge and Life magazines.

In 1895 Outcault found himself at Joseph Puliter's "The World" filling it's pages with his drawings. While ther he created a large panel cartoon that became known as "Hogan's Alley". In the strip was a silent street urchin dressed only in a frock upon which was always written some phrase or saying.

At the same time that Outcault's first panels are being published, the newspapers are experimenting with four color inks. Quite a bit of experimentation is required to get proper colors and when an engraver for the World wanted to try a new yellow he chose to spot it in the comig Sunday's paper on the "kid's" frock, and the kid became known as "the Yellow Kid".

The success of the kid raised many earbrows however and one of those brows belonged to rival news publisher William Randolph Hearst of the Journal American. Before successfully launching his own Sunday color suplement, Hearst hired Outcault away from the world at an increased salary late in 1896. Pulitzer fumed over the loss and it was not long before he hired Outcault back from Hearst. Then the same ritual played out again and finally a third time, in which Hearst not only hired away Outcaiult but the World's entire editorial staff! The legal squabbles that ensued led to the creation of the term "Yellow Journalism" centered as it was on the Yellow Kid.

Tired of the legal difficulties and looking for new avenues, Outcault left the Journal in 1901 and created for the New York Herald a forgotten strip called "Poor Li'l Mose" before finally creating the eternally famous "Buster Brown" in 1902.

But once again Hearst would lure him back to the Journal and he would remain there until 1920 when he discontinued the strip to concentrate his efforts on painting. Having owned the rights to Buster Brown, he was an immensely wealthy man and had exhibited his works in several galleries and museums.

Of all cartoonists in history Outcault is recognized as the father of the comic strip. Most certainly his creation of the little kid in the yellow shirt is one of the seminal moments of the comic strips evolution in America, contributing heavily to our culture and entertainment.

The Yellow Kid's first appearance

He died in his home in Flushing, New York on September 25, 1928.