Clare A. Briggs (August 5, 1875 – January 3, 1930) was an early American

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

artist who rose to fame in 1904 with his strip '' A. Piker Clerk''. Briggs was best known for his later comic strips ''When a Feller Needs a Friend'', ''Ain't It a Grand and Glorious Feeling?'', ''The Days of Real Sport'',"Claire Briggs - Cartoon Genius Dies at 54"
/ref> and ''Mr. and Mrs.''

Early life

Born in

Reedsburg, Wisconsin Reedsburg is a city in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. Its population in 2020 was 9,984. The city is located northwest of Madison, Wisconsin, Madison within the Madison metropolitan area, Baraboo micropolitan area. The city is surrounde ...

, Briggs lived there until the age of nine. In 1884, his family moved to

Dixon, Illinois Dixon is a city in Lee County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The population was 15,274 as of the 2020 census. The city is named after founder John Dixon, who operated a rope ferry service across the Rock River (Mississippi River ...

, where he started his newspaper career at age ten, delivering the local paper to subscribers for 40 cents a week while wearing a red, white and blue cap with the name of the newspaper. Briggs had three brothers, who grew up to all have creative careers, one as a musician, one as a writer, and the third in advertising. After five years in Dixon, Briggs was 14 when his family relocated to

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...

, where he lived until 1896 when he was 21. Life in the Midwest gave Briggs the source material for the small town Americana that he later depicted in his cartoons.

A push from Pershing

While attending the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

for two years, he studied drawing and stenography. Employment as a stenographer brought him six dollars a week when the work was available. One of his art instructors was an editor with ''Western Penman'', where his first published drawings appeared. His mathematics teacher was Lieutenant

John J. Pershing General of the Armies John Joseph Pershing (September 13, 1860 – July 15, 1948), nicknamed "Black Jack", was an American army general, educator, and founder of the Pershing Rifles. He served as the commander of the American Expeditionary For ...

. "If ever a fellow needed a friend, I did in mathematics," said Briggs. "It happened that Lieutenant Pershing was my instructor, and I believe he will testify that it was easier to conquer Germany than to teach me math. One day he ordered me to the blackboard to demonstrate a theorem, and while I was giving the problem a hard but losing battle, he remarked: 'Briggs, sit down, you don't know anything.' Right then and there, I decided to become a newspaper man." On July 18, 1900, he married Ruth Owen of Lincoln. He began his career as a newspaper sketch artist in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

with the '' Globe-Democrat'', which sent him off to cover the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

as an

editorial cartoon A political cartoon, also known as an editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically co ...

ist. Relocating in New York, his drawings for the ''

New York Journal :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 ...

'' prompted

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American newspaper publisher and politician who developed the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His extravagant methods of yellow jou ...

to send Briggs to the '' Chicago Herald'' and the '' Chicago's American'', where he created '' A. Piker Clerk'', often described as the first daily continuity comic strip. After 17 years in Chicago (living in the community of

Riverside, Illinois Riverside is a suburban village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population of the village was 9,298 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of Chicago, located roughly west of downtown Chicago and outside city limits. A significant por ...

), Briggs returned to New York to spend the remaining 13 years of his life with the ''

New York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' (from 1914: ''New York Tribune'') was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s ...

''. He lived in to the suburban community of

New Rochelle New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtown Manhattan. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the 7th-largest city and 2 ...

, a well-known

art colony Art colonies are organic congregations of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, who are often drawn to areas of natural beauty, the prior existence of other artists, art schools there, or a lower cost of living. They are typically mission ...

and home to a majority of the top commercial illustrators of the day. During the 1920s, the New Rochelle Art Association commissioned its best known artists to create a series of signs on major roadways to mark the borders, including "New Rochelle The Place To Come When a Feller Needs a Friend", which was created by Briggs representing one of his major comics, "When a Feller Needs a Friend". Clare and Ruth Owen Briggs were together for 29 years and had three children. They divorced in February 1929. Briggs died ten months later, leaving his estate of $90,067 to Ruth Briggs. However, the will was challenged by his second wife, Marie C. Briggs, aka Maggie Touhey.

Vaudeville, films and radio

Briggs was a popular lecturer, earning $100 for a single speech. He accepted a five-week contract for $500 a week to appear on the

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

circuit in 1914. In 1919, he produced four comedy film shorts for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

. The ''Mr. and Mrs.'' radio series, based on Briggs' strip, starred Jack Smart and Jane Houston as Jo and Vi. The series was broadcast on CBS from 1929 to 1931. National

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

s caught on from the titles of some of his newspaper cartoon features: ''Ain't It a Grand and Glorious Feeling?'', ''Danny Dreamer'', ''The Days of Real Sport'', ''Movie of a Man'', ''Mr. and Mrs'', ''Real Folks at Home'', ''Someone's Always Taking the Joy Out of Life'', ''There's at Least One in Every Office'' and ''When a Feller Needs a Friend''. ''Mr. and Mrs.'' ran during the last years of his life and continued in syndication by the

New York Herald Tribune Syndicate The New York Herald Tribune Syndicate was the Print syndication, syndication service of the ''New York Herald Tribune''. Syndicating comic strips and newspaper Column (periodical), columns, it operated from c. 1914 to 1966. The syndicate's most no ...

after his death under his name. (The names of

Arthur Folwell Arthur Fitzgerald Folwell (23 September 1904 – 14 October 1966) was a British-born Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, coached in the 1940s, and was an administrator in the mid-20th centur ...

and Ellison Hoover finally appeared on the strip in 1938;

Frank Fogarty Frank Fogarty (1887-1978)
''Lambiek's Comiclopedia''. Accessed Dec. 23, 2017. was an American

Kin Platt Kin Platt (December 8, 1911 – November 30, 2003) was an American writer, artist, painter, sculptor, caricaturist, and comics artist, best known for penning radio comedy and animated TV series, as well as children's literature, children's Myster ...

, who continued it until 1963. His daughter, Clare Briggs, also was a comic strip artist and had an eponymous strip syndicated from 1939 through 1941. She used the name "Miss Clare Briggs" to distinguish her work from her father's. In September 1929, neuritis of the optic nerve led Briggs to Baltimore for treatment at

Johns Hopkins Hospital Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its school of medicine are considered to be the foundin ...

. He died at the Neurological Institute of pneumonia on January 3, 1930. As he had requested, his ashes were scattered over New York Harbor. Briggs' death in 1930 prompted Franklin P. Adams to write:

References

Sources

* Strickler, Dave. ''Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924–1995: The Complete Index.'' Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995.

External links

Lambiek Comiclopedia
*
Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, Clare 1875 births 1930 deaths American comic strip cartoonists American comics artists American humorists St. Louis Globe-Democrat people People from Reedsburg, Wisconsin Artists from New Rochelle, New York University of Nebraska–Lincoln alumni