Ben Batsford (June 5, 1893 - February 11, 1977) was an American cartoonist. He is best known for a celebrity comic based on the puppet duo

Mortimer Snerd Edgar John Bergen (born Edgar John Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, actor, comedian, vaudevillian and radio performer, best known for his proficiency in ventriloquism and his characters Ch ...

and

Charlie McCarthy Charlie McCarthy is Edgar Bergen's famed ventriloquist dummy partner. Charlie was part of Bergen's act as early as high school, and by 1930, was attired in his famous top hat, tuxedo, and monocle. The character was so well-known that his popularit ...

Biography

Batsford worked for the

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

as an

editorial cartoonist An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary. Their cartoons are used to convey and question an aspect of daily news or curren ...

. He also served in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After the War, he moved to America and became a police reporter. In 1921, he created the strip Billy's Uncle, which was syndicated by George Matthew Adams Service until 1926. After that he joined King Features Syndicate, where he drew Doings of the Duffs for a while. From 1929-1930, he drew

Little Annie Rooney ''Little Annie Rooney'' is a comic strip about a young orphaned girl who traveled about with her dog, Zero. King Features Syndicate launched the strip on January 10, 1927, not long after it was apparent that the Chicago Tribune Syndicate had ...

, and from 1934-1938, he drew Frankie Doodle. In 1939, he drew '' Mortimer & Charlie'', based on Edgar Bergen's popular radio show, and in the early 1940s, he illustrated the comic book Helpful Herbert."Ben Batsford

2009-03-20

References

American comic strip cartoonists American comics artists 1893 births Canadian comic strip cartoonists Canadian comics artists 1977 deaths {{comics-artist-stub