Clarence D. Russell (August 19, 1896–October 23, 1963) was an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

best known for his syndicated comic strip ''

Pete the Tramp ''Pete the Tramp'' is an American comic strip by Clarence D. Russell (1895–1963) which was distributed by King Features Syndicate for more than three decades, from January 10, 1932 to December 22, 1963. Howard Eugene Wilson, in the ''Harvard Ed ...

''. Born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

, Russell studied at the Chicago Art Institute and began working as a freelance artist. Just prior to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, he arrived in New York City, where he held the position of sports editor for ''

Leatherneck Magazine ''Leatherneck Magazine of the Marines'' (or simply ''Leatherneck'') is a magazine for United States Marines. History and profile The first ''Leatherneck'' was published Nov. 17, 1917, as a four-page newspaper. It was called ''The Quantico Leat ...

''. With the outbreak of World War I, he went overseas with the American Expeditionary Force. When he returned to America in 1920, he began working for two newspapers, the ''

New York Evening Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost.com; PageSix.com, a gossip site; and Decider.com, an entertainm ...

'' and the ''

New York Evening Mail The ''New York Evening Mail'' (1867–1924) was an American daily newspaper published in New York City. For a time the paper was the only evening newspaper to have a franchise in the Associated Press. History Names The paper was founded as the ' ...

''. While contributing artwork to the weekly ''

Judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

'', Russell often sat in

Bryant Park Bryant Park is a , privately managed public park in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan. It is located between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) and between 40th Street (Manhattan), 40th and 42 ...

on 42nd Street and watched tramps as they fed pigeons and approached people to ask for a nickel for a cup of coffee. Soon Russell's work for ''Judge'' included cartoons of homeless men, as he recalled, "I started drawing tramps for ''Judge'', the old humorous magazine, and pretty soon Pete began to evolve. He was my escape valve. Pete did the things I always wanted to do. It would make a nice story if I told you I used to be a tramp myself, but I wasn't. Even if some people say I was."

Comic strips

After Russell signed a contract with

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is an American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product License, licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, columnist, newspape ...

in 1930, ''Pete the Tramp'' was launched on January 10, 1932. Russell continued working for King Features for the next three decades, and during that time he created several other strips, ''The Tucker Twins'', ''Snorky'' and ''Pete's Pup'', which ran as topper strips alongside ''Pete the Tramp''. He usually sat at his drawing table working eight weeks ahead of the publication dates. During World War II, Russell and

Otto Soglow Otto Soglow (December 23, 1900 – April 3, 1975) was an American cartoonist best known for his comic strip ''The Little King''. Born in Yorkville, Manhattan, as a child of German-Jewish parents, Soglow grew up in New York City, where he held va ...

drew their characters at kids' bond rallies in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

and elsewhere. Under the auspices of the

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

, Russell and Soglow also did their chalk talks in veteran's hospitals during World War II and in the post-war years.Stuart, Lyle. ''Mary Louise''. Citadel, 1972
''Pete the Tramp'' ended December 12, 1963, following Russell's death on October 22 of that year.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Clarence D. American comics writers American comics artists American humorists 1890s births 1963 deaths American comic strip cartoonists