Ethel Hays (March 13, 1892 – March 19, 1989) was an American syndicated

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 ...

specializing in

flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women prominent after the First World War and through the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee length was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their ...

-themed

comic strips 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 ...

in the 1920s and 1930s. She drew in

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style. In the later part of her career, during the 1940s and 1950s, she became one of the country's most accomplished children's book

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

Biography

Early training

Hays was born on March 13, 1892, in

Billings, Montana Billings is the most populous Lists of populated places in the United States, city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, i ...

, where she was raised. After high school, where she was an illustrator for the school newspaper, she attended the Los Angeles School of Art and Design and then the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...

.Hays' profile at lambiek.net
/ref> She won a scholarship to the

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

in Paris, but the start of

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 ...

derailed her studies there. At the time, Hays was on course to become a

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art (or, fine arts) is made primarily for aesthetics or creativity, creative expression, distinguishing it from popular art, decorative art or applied art, which also either serve some practical function ...

painter. She learned, in her words, "how to paint pretty pictures—never dreaming that I was no pretty picture painter." During

, she took on the task of teaching painting to convalescing soldiers in Army hospitals. After encountering a group of students much more interested in learning cartooning instead, she determined to learn that subject herself. She enrolled in the

Landon School of Illustration and Cartooning Charles Nelson Landon (December 19, 1878 – May 17, 1937) was an illustrator for ''The Cleveland Press'', art director for the Newspaper Enterprise Association and art editor of ''Cosmopolitan''. He is most notable as the founder of the Landon ...

correspondence course and, "keeping a couple of lessons ahead," was able to instruct her class. In this environment, her style of drawing pretty women met with great approval.

Newspaper comics and illustrations

This experience with comic art changed the course of her career. Hays was subsequently offered work as a staff illustrator for the ''

Cleveland Press The ''Cleveland Press'' was a daily American newspaper published in Cleveland, Ohio from November 2, 1878, through June 17, 1982. From 1928 to 1966, the paper's editor was Louis B. Seltzer. Known for many years as one of the country's most in ...

'', a job procured for her by the designer of the correspondence course himself,

Charles N. Landon Charles Nelson Landon (December 19, 1878 – May 17, 1937) was an illustrator for ''The Cleveland Press'', art director for the Newspaper Enterprise Association and art editor of ''Cosmopolitan''. He is most notable as the founder of the Landon ...

. Soon after, Landon would be touting Ethel Hays as among the "former students who are now successful comic strip artists" in his magazine ads of the 1920s. Hays' first work at the ''Cleveland Press'' was for a trendy feature called ''Vic and Ethel'', which consisted of

-themed satire and social commentary—including stories of "steeple-climbing and swimming in ice-filled lakes" and interviews with visiting celebrities—accompanied by Hays's cartoons. Her first comic strip for

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary new ...

(NEA) was derived from that feature and was called simply ''Ethel''. Here Hays continued to chronicle the era when women "bobbed their hair and took up active sports." Even at the beginning of her career, Hays' style was "already polished and breathtakingly lovely." Flapper Fanny Says 1925-01-26

Hays also drew the noted one-panel cartoon series '' Flapper Fanny Says'', also for NEA and starting in about 1924, with a Sunday page following in 1928. In this panel, which featured a flapper illustration and a witticism, Hays "moved away from the fancy style of

Nell Brinkley Nell Brinkley (September 5, 1886 – October 21, 1944) was an American illustrator and comic artist who was sometimes referred to as the "Queen of Comics" during her nearly four-decade career working with New York newspapers and magazines. S ...

, drawing sleeker women with short hair—some even wearing pants." Her panel inspired competition for a time from Faith Burrows' similarly-themed '' Flapper Filosofy'' from the rival

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 ...

. Ethel Hays was married in 1925 to W.C. Simms of

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

(she continued to use her maiden name in signing her art throughout her career). By 1928 she was a mother. After she had her second child, she found the daily workload becoming too heavy, and she turned ''Flapper Fanny Says'' over to promising newcomer

Gladys Parker Gladys Parker (March 21, 1908 – April 28, 1966) was an American cartoonist for comic strips and a fashion designer in Hollywood. She is best known as the creator of the comic strip ''Mopsy'' (1939-1965), which had a long run over three decades. ...

around 1931. Between 1931 and 1936, however, Hays did find time to illustrate at least 17 stories by noted and prolific author

Ellis Parker Butler Ellis Parker Butler (December 5, 1869 – September 13, 1937) was an American author. He was the author of more than 30 books and more than 2,000 stories and essays and is most famous for his short story "Pigs Is Pigs", in which a bureaucratic s ...

that were distributed to newspapers. Hays continued to produce a variety of other work for NEA, including full-page illustrations and montages for '' Every Week'' magazine, a Sunday newspaper supplement. Her final comic strip for NEA was ''Marianne'', beginning around February 1936, which ran weekly. Comic strip historian

Allan Holtz Allan Holtz () is an American comic strip historian who researches and writes about newspaper comics for his Stripper's Guide blog, launched in 2005. His research encompasses some 7,000 American comic strips and newspaper panels. In addition to h ...

wrote, ''"While the art was vintage Hays, the gags were strictly jokebook material. You could tell her heart was no longer in it."'' Her final installment ran on December 26, 1937, though the strip continued without her for another year or two.

Transition to children's book illustration

In 1938–1940, Hays worked for ''

The Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...

'', drawing cartoons to accompany a series of poems called "Manly Manners." An instructional children's book collecting the feature was published. During this time her work was also featured on a twelve-month calendar (1939). These painted illustrations of children at play presaged in style and content the work of the next stage of her career. Hays had created art for books early in her professional career. Leaving newspaper comic strips behind, she began to work more extensively for children's book publishers, illustrating a variety of

nursery rhymes A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and other European countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. Fro ...

, Christmas stories and alphabet books. Some of her more notable art was '' Raggedy Ann and Andy'' material for the Saalfield Publishing Company of Akron Ohio. Saalfield had secured the license from the

Johnny Gruelle John Barton Gruelle (December 24, 1880 – January 9, 1938) was an American artist, political cartoonist, children's book and comics author, illustrator, and storyteller. He is best known as the creator of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls and ...

Company in 1944 to produce ''Raggedy Ann'' storybooks, coloring books,

paper doll Paper dolls are figures cut out of paper or thin card, with separate clothes, also made of paper, that are usually held onto the dolls by paper folding tabs. They may be a figure of a person, animal or inanimate object. Paper dolls have been use ...

sOpdag.com
/ref> and booklets. Most of the artwork fell to Hays, ''"whose exuberant, curvilinear style perfectly captured the whimsy and energy of Gruelle's characters"''. Having been trained in painting, she was well-suited for this type of full-color artwork. In the 1930s and 1940s, Hays illustrated ''Puzzle Pages'' for the publisher McCormick-Mathers of Wichita, Kansas. ''Puzzle Pages'' has been described as "a reading seatwork series" for schoolchildren. The workbook pages included sections for reading and writing, as well as words and pictures for cut-and-paste activities. Students might do coloring in Hays' illustrations. The copyright on the series was renewed until at least the 1970s.''The Catalog of Copyright Renewal Records'' (1972) by United States Copyright Office, United States Copyright Office Staff. Published by Kessinger Publishing, 2007.

Assessment and legacy

Ethel Hays has been called "one of the more successful women cartoonists of the 1920s." Comics historian

Trina Robbins Trina Robbins ( Perlson; August 17, 1938 – April 10, 2024) was an American cartoonist. She was an early participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first women in the movement. She co-produced the 1970 underground comic '' I ...

wrote that Hays was "without a doubt the most brilliant of the women cartoonists influenced by

Russell Patterson Russell Patterson (December 26, 1893 – March 17, 1977) was an American cartoonist, illustrator and scenic designer. Patterson's art deco magazine illustrations helped develop and promote the idea of the 1920s and 1930s fashion style known as t ...

and John Held, Jr. have also been numbered among her early influences. The artist

Roy Crane Royston Campbell Crane (November 22, 1901 – July 7, 1977), who signed his work Roy Crane, was an American cartoonist who created the comic strip characters Wash Tubbs, Captain Easy and Buz Sawyer. He pioneered the adventure comic strip, estab ...

was influenced by Hays, especially in the drawing of beautiful women. Hays' ubiquitous newspaper illustrations helped promote the idea of the 1920s and 1930s fashion style known as the

. She continued to produce newspaper and book illustrations for many years. One source says she retired from commercial art in the 1950s, while at least one other references work into the 1960s. She died in 1989, aged 97.

Notes

External links

''Hogan's Alley'' #13: Hays art, including ''Flapper Fanny Says''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hays, Ethel 1892 births 1989 deaths People from Billings, Montana American comic strip cartoonists American women comic strip cartoonists American women illustrators Art Students League of New York alumni American children's book illustrators American women children's book illustrators American female comics artists Place of death missing Art Deco artists 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American illustrators Artists from Montana