Fred D. Lasswell (July 25, 1916 – March 4, 2001) was an American cartoonist best known for his decades of work on the
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 ...
''
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith
''Barney Google and Snuffy Smith'', originally ''Take Barney Google, for Instance'', is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Billy DeBeck. Since its debut on June 17, 1919, the strip has gained a large international readership, appeari ...
''.
Life and career
Though born in
Kennett, Missouri
Kennett is a city in and the county seat of Dunklin County, Missouri, United States. The city is located in the southeast corner (or " Bootheel") of Missouri, east of Arkansas and from the Mississippi River. It had a population of 10,515 at th ...
, Lasswell spent most of his childhood in
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...
, where his family moved in 1918. In Florida, Lasswell lived on a rural property with no electricity or water, an experience that is generally credited with inspiring Lasswell's portrayal of the rural setting of ''Barney Google and Snuffy Smith''.
Lasswell began cartooning during his childhood; he was in third grade when his first comic strip, ''Baseball Hits'', was published in the school newspaper, ''The Seminole Searchlight''. He later began his professional career by working for ''
Tampa Daily Times''. In 1933, Lasswell drew a poster advertising the Tampa Chamber of Commerce Jamboree, which attracted the attention of ''
Barney Google
''Barney Google and Snuffy Smith'', originally ''Take Barney Google, for Instance'', is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Billy DeBeck. Since its debut on June 17, 1919, the strip has gained a large international readership, appeari ...
'' creator
Billy DeBeck
William Morgan DeBeck (April 15, 1890 – November 11, 1942) was an American cartoonist. He is most famous as the creator of the comic strip ''Barney Google'', later retitled ''Barney Google and Snuffy Smith''. The strip was especially pop ...
. Impressed with the poster, DeBeck hired Lasswell to assist him as a
letterer
A letterer is a member of a team of comic book creators responsible for drawing the comic book's text. The letterer's use of typefaces, calligraphy, letter size, and layout all contribute to the impact of the comic-book-reading experience. The l ...
. Only seventeen years old at the time, Lasswell dropped out of high school to take the job.
During this period, DeBeck wanted to expand the appeal of his comic strip by adding a
hillbilly
''Hillbilly'' is a term historically used for White people who dwell in rural area, rural, mountainous areas in the United States, primarily in the Appalachian region and Ozarks. As people migrated out of the region during the Great Depression, ...
character to the cast. After he and Lasswell conducted a tour of the rural
southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, Dixieland, or simply the South) is List of regions of the United States, census regions defined by the United States Cens ...
to research the culture of the region, the two cartoonists introduced the character Snuffy Smith to the strip in November 1934. Snuffy was immediately popular, leading to a surge in demand for the comic strip. Throughout the 1930s, DeBeck continued to mentor Lasswell, sending him to work with preeminent illustrators of the era and to study at 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 ...
.
After DeBeck's death in 1942, Lasswell subsequently took over as the lead cartoonist of ''Barney Google and Snuffy Smith''.
Over the course of his career, Lasswell drew ''Barney Google and Snuffy Smith'' for 59 years, one of the longest careers in the field. He worked alongside several assistants during his career; these included
Fred Rhoads
Fred Rhoads (October 17, 1921 – February 26, 2000) was an American cartoonist best known for his contributions to George Baker's ''Sad Sack''.
Born in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, Rhoads studied illustration in New York from 1940 to 1942, at which ...
,
Ray Osrin
Raymond Harold Osrin (October 5, 1928 – April 3, 2001) was an American comics artist, comic book artist and cartoonist. He was most notable for his work in the Golden Age of Comic Books. Later, he took a position as the editorial cartoonist for ...
,
Tom Moore,
Bob Weber, and Lasswell's eventual successor John R. Rose. Lasswell's longest-serving assistant was Bob Donovan, whose tenure on the strip lasted from 1957 to 1987.
World War II
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Lasswell served as a flight radio operator for
Pan American Airways
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for ...
in North Africa. Later in the war, he joined the
Marine Corps
Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...
, where he created posters and illustrated military manuals.
Lasswell worked on all editions of ''
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 ...
'', for which he created cover art, humorously illustrated stories, and the wartime comic strip ''Sgt. Hashmark''.
Inventions and educational materials
Lasswell was a prolific inventor and early adopter of certain new technologies. His inventions included a
Braille
Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...
comic strip, as well as a mechanical citrus fruit harvester that he patented in 1962. In the 1990s, Lasswell became one of the first cartoonists to embrace computers in the production of his comic strip: he began
lettering
Lettering or Lettering design is an act or result of artfully drawing letters, instead of writing them simply. Lettering is considered an art form, where each letter in a phrase or quote acts as an illustration. Each letter is created with attent ...
his comic digitally and submitting strips to
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 ...
by email. He also created a digital archive of his work, which was designed to provide reference material for future art teachers and students.
Beginning in the late 1970s, Lasswell ventured into the educational field, where he designed several educational games and books. His work was used to teach about the alphabet, fruits and vegetables, and environmental awareness.
One of Lasswell's educational products, the "Uncle Fred's Draw and Color" series of videos, received the following praise from U.S. Secretary of Education
Shirley Hufstedler
Shirley Ann Mount Hufstedler (August 24, 1925 – March 30, 2016) was an American attorney and judge who served as the first United States secretary of education from 1979 to 1981. She previously served as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Ninth ...
: "Fred Lasswell has created a unique and whimsical way to bring fun and focus into our K-6 classrooms... The simplicity, low cost and genuine effectiveness of his teachers' manuals and methods, (for students at all levels of language proficiency) are a breath of fresh air for our children and their teachers." One video in the series, ''Draw and Color Far-Out Pets'', also received a Parents Choice Award in 1987.
Views on cartooning
In 1996, Lasswell reflected on the increase of social commentary into comic strips:
Personal life
Lasswell married
Shirley Slesinger in 1964, and had three sons and a daughter. He died of heart failure in 2001. Upon Lasswell's death, production of ''Barney Google and Snuffy Smith'' was taken over by his assistant John R. Rose.
Lasswell was a member of the
American Society of Agricultural Engineers.
Legacy and honors
Fred Lasswell received several honors from the
National Cartoonists Society
The National Cartoonists Society (NCS) is an organization of professional cartoonists in the United States. It presents the National Cartoonists Society Awards. The Society was born in 1946 when groups of cartoonists got together to entertain the ...
; in 1963, he was awarded both the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year and the National Cartoonists Society Award for the Best Humor Strip. Lasswell also received the Elzie Segar Award twice, in 1984 and 1994, making him (alongside
Mort Walker
Addison Morton Walker (September 3, 1923 – January 27, 2018) was an American comic strip writer, best known for creating the newspaper comic strips ''Beetle Bailey'' in 1950 and ''Hi and Lois'' in 1954. He signed Addison to some of his strips. ...
) one of the only two cartoonists to receive the award twice. In 2000, the
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...
awarded Lasswell an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree.
Lasswell was also awarded by the Banshees Society, a
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
-based association of media professionals, who gave him the Silver Lady Award in 1962.
Lucy Shelton Caswell, Professor and Curator of the Cartoon Research Library at
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
, has described Lasswell as "one of the few cartoonists to inherit a successfully syndicated comic strip and transform it into his own creation".
Cartoonist
R.C. Harvey
Robert C. Harvey (May 31, 1937 – July 7, 2022) was an American author, critic and cartoonist. He wrote a number of books on the history and theory of cartooning, with special focus on the comic strip. He also worked as a freelance cartoonist. ...
memorializes Lasswell as follows:
References
External links
Uncle FredNCS Awards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lasswell, Fred
American comics artists
American comic strip cartoonists
20th-century American inventors
United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II
1916 births
2001 deaths
Artists from Tampa, Florida
Reuben Award winners
United States Marines
People from Kennett, Missouri
Artists from Missouri
People from Gainesville, Florida