JOHNSTON Gordon
University of Western Ontario Alumni Gazette: circa 2009.
Gordon Johnston was typical of cartoonists operating in twentieth century Canada. He was an editorial cartoonist, he co-created the cartoon strip “Jeff Buchanon”, and later he created the cartoon panel “It Happened In Canada”. The small Canadian market made it necessary to wear several hats.
Johnston was born 11 July 1920 in Tillsonburg Ontario but grew up in Toronto. Like so many cartoonists in this encyclopedia he began drawing early in life. He was reprimanded in high school for following this practice and ignoring his studies. He persisted and attended art classes at the Art Gallery of Ontario where he was taught by Arthur Lismer of the Group of Seven who he credits as the greatest influence on his life as an artist. This was the only formal art education he received.
When the Second World War broke out, he joined the Highland Light Infantry and shipped to England. He took part in the Dieppe Raid and D-Day invasions and served in Sicily and North Africa. He was awarded the Miliary Cross and ended the war as a Captain. He returned to Canada but went back to England in 1947 and opened an animation company with two ex-service associates. Film was in increasing short supply and the company didn’t survive. He then for a year taught cartooning to interested servicemen at Tangmere Air Force base in preparation for their return to civilian life. Then came the East Anglican Daily Times in Ipswich for four years. There he created the cartoon strips “Ippy Switch and Margaret Catchpole” while at the same time working as the newspaper’s editorial cartoonist. He also briefly cartooned a colour comic book on the adventures of “Johnny Canuck of the RCMP” While in England, he kept in contact with the Canadian cartoon community. In the Canadian Cartoonist I-3, 15 August 1947, it was announced that he joined the Canadian Cartoonists Association while still in Canada and he was the market representative for that organization in the United Kingdom. Later in The Canadian Cartoonist II-3, November 1948, members were reminded that he was the organization’s representative there and for a small fee covering costs he would act as an agent for any members who wanted to test the market or he would provide contacts for those who wanted to deal directly with the publishers. While in England, he met Patricia Rogers who became his wife. They had two daughters one born in England and one in Canada.
He returned to Canada in 1952 and became an editorial cartoonist with the Ottawa Citizen. For them he also illustrated a series of articles taken from the records of the R.C.M.P. Although continuing to appear regularly in the Citizen he left that paper in 1956 to become a freelance cartoonist. About this time, the Ontario College of Education asked him to prepare a monogram on cartooning in Canada. It was the first such monogram prepared. In 1957, in partnership with Gerald Waring, a syndicated columnist, he began syndicating his editorial cartoons. It was Canada’s only syndicated editorial cartoon feature and was distributed in sixty-five newspapers. In this part of his career, he devoted himself to cartoon projects with a “decidedly nationalistic flavor”. In May 1960 he and Gordon Dewar a parliamentary reporter for the Ottawa Citizen launched the cartoon adventure strip “Jeff Buchanon”. Unfortunately, it lasted only a little over a year.
Gordon moved to London Ontario in 1963 where he became an illustrator and co-developer of Programmed Learning at Western University.
In 1967 he launched what would become his most enduring work, a daily cartoon panel called “It Happened In Canada”. He continued it until 1981 when he had to give it up due to ill health. At its peak it appeared in 71 newspapers. At Gordon’s retirement it appeared in 65. Interestingly for the last part of its run Johnston distributed the panel without the benefit of syndication. Truly it must have been a project of love. In 1970 Gordon using the “It Happened In Canada” format launched a second panel called “It Happened at Western”. It was a campus history feature that ran in the University of Western Ontario Alumni Gazette.
After he discontinued “It Happened In Canada” in 1981, he engaged in oil painting and assembled a final collection of “It Happened In Canada” which was published by Methuen in 1983. He died August 3, 1983. His two daughters have followed their father’s creative legacy. One graduated from the Ontario College of Art and became an artist. The other graduated from the University of Toronto and became a writer.
WORK:
CARTOONIST:
BOOK GRAPHIC COLLECTION:
Content panel history cartoon & Cover book front:
Johnston’s It Happened in Canada v. 2. Toronto Star Reader Service, 1971.
It Happened in Canada. Richmond Hill: Scholastic-TAB Publications Ltd., 1973. No date. (Adapted from It Happened In Canada, v. 2.)
It Happened in Canada. Toronto: Methuen, 1983. (A collection of the best of It Happened in Canada.)
More It Happened In Canada.: Scholastic-TAB Publications Ltd., 1976. (Adapted from It Happened In Canada, 1.)
SOURCE:
Article periodical:
The Canadian Cartoonist, I-3, 15 August 1947: “Great Britain Representative”: 2. The Gordon Johnston papers at the Western University London Ontario.
The Canadian Cartoonist, II-3, November 1948: “Cartooning For Britain”: 1. The Gordon Johnston papers at the Western University London Ontario.
Today 10 Apr.1982: “You asked us: Only in Canada? Pity”: 5.
The University of Western Ontario Alumni Gazette, 29 June 2009: “Canadian comic artist Gordon Johnston found inspiration in historical facts.” Writ., Jeet Heer.
Archive:
The Gordon Johnston papers at the Western University London Ontario.
Toronto Star, 29 June 1981.
GALLERY:
From the Gordon Johnston Papers archived at The University of Western Ontario.
From the Gordon Johnston Papers archived at The University of Western Ontario.