BAR-ELAN REMY

BAR-ELAN Remy

ILLUSTRATOR:

PERIODICAL GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY:

Cover :

Wrap around: Andromeda, 2-4, Dec. 1978.

BAPTISTE

BAPTISTE

A cartoon strip created by André-Phillipe Côté.

BANFIELD June

BANFIELD June

The first evidence of Joan Banfield’s involvement in Anglo-American comes from her signature on the “Pte. Penny” cartoon in the January 1943 edition of Grand Slam. From the quality of the illustrations, there can be no doubt she was already an accomplished artist. Her signature appeared only in this issue. For subsequent issues the contributor to “Pte Penny” stories was unidentified although from the illustration style, it is reasonable to conclude it was still June. It would appear the character and stories came from Fawcett Publications scripts.

The character disappeared from Grand Slam after the March 1943 issue, probably because June’s time was consumed by drawing “Freelance” and “Kip Keene”. According to Ed Furness, she and Priscilla Hutchings took over the finished drawing of “Freelance” and June drew “Kip Keene of the Mounted”. He remarked she had a very fine brush line.

Ed remembered that she couldn’t wake up in the morning and was always coming in late. Even getting her an alarm clock didn’t help but she always stayed late at night after the others were gone and got her work done. He also remembered that years later he attended an exhibition of her paintings. She had married by that time and her name was different. Unfortunately Ed couldn’t remember it.

WORK:

CARTOONIST:

PERIODICAL GRAPHIC ANTHOLOGY: Published by Anglo-American Comics. Two colour cover. Black & white interior.

Content serial:

Grand Slam Comics …: “Pte. Penny.” Car., June Banfield: ….

2-2, January 1943: “…”: 55-62.

2-3, February 1943: “…” Car., unidentified probably June Banfield: 56-63.

2-4, March 1943: “…” Car., unidentified probably June Banfield: 55-62

No further stories.

SOURCE:

Interview:

From interviews with Ed Furness.

GALLERY:

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE CARTOON\IMAGE CARTOON P\PTE PENNY, Grand Slam Comics, 2-2, Jan 1943,55_0001.jpg$ Grand Slam Comics, 2-2, January 1943: 55.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE CARTOON\IMAGE CARTOON P\PTE PENNY, Grand Slam Comics, 2-2, Jan 1943,56.jpg$ Grand Slam Comics, 2-2, January 1943: 56.

BALOUNE

BALOUNE

See ÉDITIONS BALOUNE

BALL Walter

BALL Walter

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE OF PERSON\B\BALL Walter, Given by Walter Ball.jpg$ Received from Walter Ball. Origin unknown.

“… I just find some of the things people do rather incongruous and I appreciate the humour of the situation.”

“Cartoon creator finds humour in everyday life.” Inter.,., Sharon Hay. Richmond Hill Liberal, 10 Sept. 1980.

Walter was born 7, April 1911 on a farm near Cookstown Ontario, an only child, and since the family had no tractor, electricity or milking machines he had “plenty of chores to do”. He attended a one room county school house, and later went to the Cookstown High School which he reached by driving a buggy in the summer and a cutter in the winter. If the roads were impassible he rode horseback. There was a stable for the horse at the school and Walter took feed for it along with his lunch. His first ambition was to be an electric engineer, but he was needed on the farm and so remained there for three years after high school graduation.

From childhood he had begun drawing as a hobby and eventually he saw this as his exit from the farm to Toronto. Every six months or so, he wrote to the Star asking for a job and sending samples. Finally, he got a letter from the late H.C. Hindmarsh, the Star’s manager asking him to drop in the next time he was in Toronto. He was in Hindmarsh’s office the next day and was hired immediately to do photo retouching and some illustration at $15.00 per hour. This was April 1932. Ironically, two weeks after he was hired his mother forwarded a letter to him from another department of the Star offering regrets that the samples he’d sent didn’t show high enough quality for them to hire him.

Until his employment, Walter had been self taught, but on getting the job he took a series of evening classes at the Ontario College of Art, Central Technical School and Northern Vocational School. His illustrations as seen in both the Toronto Daily Star and the Star Weekly in the early 1940’s show that he had mastered of both realistic illustration and caricature. His sports illustrations often included both. Indeed Walter’s sports cartoons can be included with those of Lou Skuce and Dave Elston as among the best produced in Canada. But his illustrations were not limited to sports. Jocko Thomas a Star crime reporter once commented:

“He often illustrated many of my police stories with policemen vaulting over backyard fences, shooting their guns in the air or tracing the route a murderer took through a house or neighbourhood.”

In 1956, Star management changed the format of the Star Weekly, and wanted a cartoon unique to that publication. Walter was asked if he knew any cartoonist who could fill that role. He didn’t, but asked the management if he could try out. He drew three samples, all dealing with farm life but trying different formats, ie. single panel, cartoon strip etc.. “Rural Route” began in November 1956 as an experiment. The feature touched the hearts of readers, most often commanding first place in their affections and never falling below third. One survey showed that it was regularly read by 85 percent of the audience. It ended only when the Star Weekly whose name had been changed to SW Magazine, came to an end when it was purchased in 1968, by Southam Inc and merged with The Canadian.

The creation of “Rural Route” altered Walter’s relationship with the Star very little. He continued to work a full eight hour day in the office then came home to his basement studio to work on “Rural Route” in the evenings. He was paid $100 for each half tab he did.

He was made supervisor of the Art Department at the Star around 1970, and finally retired in 1976, although at the request of management, he continued to work on a part-time basis till 1986.

An exhibition of his work was held in December 1976 at the Grimsby Public Art Gallery. This Gallery now has part of his work as a permanent collection. From June 25 to September 17, 1994, the Brant County Museum and Archives held Comic Relief a Tribute to and an exhibit of his work. Many artists at the inception used Walter’s characters “Elmer” & “Myrtle” to draw incidents of their own imagination.

He died 18 February 1995 at York Central Hospital.

WORK:

ILLUSTRATOR:

BOOK TEXT:

Content & Cover:

Frankincense and Myrrh. Writ., Heywood Brown. Grimsby: Pool Hall Press, no date. A Christmas Keepsake edition of 130 copies.

A Shepherd. Writ., Heywood Brown. Grimsby: Pool Hall Press, no date. A Christmas Keepsake edition of 164 copies.

SOURCE:

Article periodical:

“His Heart Is In His Rural Route.” Writ., John Brehl. Star Weekly Magazine, June 1 1957: 16+.

Article newspaper:

“Cartoon creator finds humour in everyday life.” Writ., Sharon Hay. Richmond Hill Liberal, Sept. 10 1980: 1.

Editorial News.” Writ. Pat Brennan. Star Beat (a Monthly Publication for Active & Retired Employees of the Toronto Star) Dec. 1986: 10.

“Elmer and Myrtle live on as comic strip Canadiana.” Writ., Paul Wilson. Hamilton Spectator, Dec. 30, 1981: 10.

“Museum gives “Comic Relief.” Writ., Marie Shantz. Prime Time, July 1994: 2.

“Walter Ball, 84 top Star artist.” Writ., Desmond Bill. Toronto Star, 22 Feb. 1995: A9.

Interview:

Interviews with Walter Ball September 1 to 30 1982.

GALLERY:

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\B\BALL Walter, Toronto Daily Star, 13 June 1941.jpg$ Toronto Daily Star, 13 June 1941

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\B\BALL Walter, The Star Weekly 27 Feb. 1943 b.jpg$ A part of the illustration that appeared in The Star Weekly, 27 Feb. 1943.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\B\BALL Walter, Portion of Xmas card given by Walter Ball.jpg$ A Christmas card featuring the Ball’s dog Pat, 1989.

BALL Walter: A TRIBUTE

BALL Walter: A TRIBUTE TO …

This exhibit, called Comic Relief was mounted by Robert MacMillan, June 25 to September 19, 1994 at the Brant County Museum in Brantford Ontario. It was an exhibition of Walter Ball’s work plus the cartoons in which contemporary cartoonists integrated Elmer and Myrtle with their own characters. At this time Walter was too ill to attend and so a VHS tape on which the participating cartoonists congratulated Walter on his achievements was made and given to Walter at the York Central Hospital in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He died 18 February 1995 .

GALLERY:

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\B\BELL-LUNDY Sandra, Tribute to Walter Ball.jpg$

Sandra Bell-Lundy 17 June 1994.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\C\CHERKAS Michael, A Tribute to Walter Ball.jpg$

Mike Cherkas 17 June 1994.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\TRIBUTE TO WALTER BALL_0008.jpg$

Ed Furness, 17 June 1994.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\G\GALLANT Gregory, A Tribute To Walter Ball.jpg$

Gregory Gallant (Seth) 17 June 1994.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\H\HETHERINGTON Janet, SUTTON Ron, A Tribute To Walter Ball .jpg$

Janet Hetherington and Ron Sutton, 17 June 1994.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\HONOR Peter, A Tribute To Walter Ball_0001.jpg$

Peter Honor, 17 June 1994.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\TRIBUTE TO WALTER BALL_0007.jpg$

Ron Kasman, 17 June 1994.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\TRIBUTE TO WALTER BALL_0004.jpg$

Dave Sim, 16 June 1994.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\TRIBUTE TO WALTER BALL_0002.jpg$

“Something told Myrtle and Elmer that the stranger wasn’t from around these parts.”

Chris Kemp, 17 June 1994.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\TRIBUTE TO WALTER BALL_0001.jpg$

James Simpkins, 17 June 1994.

$C:\Users\Robert\Documents\CARTOONING ILLUSTRATION ANIMATION\IMAGE BY CARTOONIST\TAYLOR Rick, A Tribute To Walter Ball_0002.jpg$

Rick Taylor, 17 June 1994.

BALDWIN Michael

BALDWIN Michael

He began at the Burlington Gazette with two weekly comics then graduated to becoming their editorial cartoonist. He then transferred to the Hamilton Spectator’s advertising art department where he worked as an advertising artist, editorial cartoonist and finally art director. At 23 years old he created a humorous cartoon panel called “Pokus” which appeared in the Saturday Spectators. He followed this up with the cartoon panel/strip “Cornered” which first appeared in the Spectator 1 April 1996.