James Nathaniel Simpkins (November 26, 1910 – February 1, 2004) was a
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...
-born
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 ...
and
artist
An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...
. He was one of the original artists at the
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
where he worked for many years before launching a successful
freelancing
''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...
career. His cartoon character Jasper the Bear was famous throughout Canada from 1948 to 1972 and remains as the mascot of
Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park, in Alberta, Canada, is the largest national park within Alberta's Rocky Mountains, spanning . It was established as Jasper Forest Park in 1907, renamed as a national park in 1930, and declared a UNESCO world heritage site ...
.
Youth
James Simpkins' father, Arthur, was a proofreader for a Winnipeg newspaper and his mother, Mary, looked after the family which included James and his two older brothers. He attended
Luxton public school and began by drawing in his school books. He attended the Winnipeg School of Art and studied under
Group of Seven
The Group of Seven (G7) is an Intergovernmentalism, intergovernmental political and economic forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union (EU) is a "non- ...
artist
LeMoine FitzGerald
Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald L.L. D. also known as L. L. FitzGerald (March 17, 1890 – August 5, 1956) was a Canadian artist and art educator. He was the only member of the Group of Seven based in western Canada. He worked almost exclusively in Mani ...
.
Career
His professional life began by contributing to the
Hudson's Bay's company magazine and submitting cartoons to Macleans. He was drafted into the army in World War II, but was still able to continue to make use of his artistic skills. He was with the
Signal Corps
A signal corps is a military branch, responsible for military communications (''signals''). Many countries maintain a signal corps, which is typically subordinate to a country's army.
Military communication usually consists of radio, telephone, ...
security and intelligence group producing training posters and film strips. He recounted that during this period, on a trip to New York for training with the U.S. Signal Corps, he met
Charles Addams
Charles Samuel Addams (January 7, 1912 – September 29, 1988) was an American cartoonist known for his darkly humorous and macabre characters. Some of his recurring characters became known as the Addams Family, and were subsequently populari ...
who had just begun to sell cartoons to
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
.
After the war, he became one of the original animators of the
National Film Board
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...
in Ottawa where he worked for 16 years.
In 1948 he began a regular cartoon feature for Maclean's magazine, ''Jasper the Bear'', which would prove to be his most famous and enduring creation. In 1955, Simpkins provided the artwork for a 5¢ Canadian stamp which was the idea of Canadian hockey great and member of parliament
Lionel Conacher
Lionel Pretoria Conacher ( ; May 24, 1900 – May 26, 1954), nicknamed "the Big Train", was a Canadian athlete and politician. Voted the country's top athlete of the first half of the 20th century, he won championships in numerous sports. ...
. The stamp featured three Canadian hockey players in action. On August 6, 1962, while living in
Beaconsfield
Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, northwest of central London and southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High Wycombe.
The ...
, Montreal he began a thrice-weekly cartoon feature for the Montreal Gazette called ''Simpkins' Montreal''.
He eventually moved to
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
where he continued freelancing to the
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division.
...
, ad agencies, book illustration, and numerous magazines in
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
and the US.
His clients have included General Motors, The National Enquirer and Jasper the Bear has been used by the Boy Scouts of Canada and Jasper National Park.
He had five collections of his cartoons published in book form. Four collections of his Jasper cartoons and also his medical cartoons from ''
The Medical Post
''The Medical Post'' is a semimonthly magazine, published 21 times a year, aimed at Canadian physician
A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, whi ...
'', ''When's The Last Time You Cleaned Your Navel?'', were published. He also provided the illustrations for other writers' books, most frequently for Canadian humourist
Eric Nicol
Eric Patrick Nicol (December 28, 1919 – February 2, 2011) was a Canadians, Canadian writer, best known as a longtime humour columnist for the Vancouver, British Columbia newspaper ''The Province''. He also published over 40 books, both origin ...
.
Jasper the Bear
His most famous creation was the cartoon Jasper the Bear which appeared in ''
Maclean's
''Maclean's'' is a Canadian magazine founded in 1905 which reports on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, trends and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian ...
'' magazine for over 20 years and became popular across Canada. The character first appeared in the November 15, 1948 issue and ran as a regular feature until 1968. It was then syndicated by Canada Wide Features running in newspapers across Canada for four more years until Simpkins retired in 1972. Jasper was also featured in several books.
Simpkins' anthropomorphic Jasper was an urbane, friendly bear with a wife and two cubs. A typical Jasper cartoon involved a hibernating Jasper being woken by a golf ball flying into the den and hitting him in the head. Jasper, happily calls out to his sleeping family, "Wake up, everyone. It's spring." On another occasion, Jasper approached a beehive cup in hand saying to the swarm, "Could I borrow a cup of honey?"
In 1962 Jasper was adopted as the official mascot for
Jasper National Park
Jasper National Park, in Alberta, Canada, is the largest national park within Alberta's Rocky Mountains, spanning . It was established as Jasper Forest Park in 1907, renamed as a national park in 1930, and declared a UNESCO world heritage site ...
in
Alberta
Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
erecting a statue of Jasper at the train station.
Jasper cartoons were also reprinted internationally in England, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Mexico. In the 1960s Jasper's copyright was sold to Irwin Toys who produced a line of Jasper toys.
In 1968 Jasper was used as the official mascot of the charity
The United Appeal. As part of their fundraising campaign, Jasper visited various locations including
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill (), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern bank of the Ottawa River that houses the Parliament of Canada in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. It accommodates a suite of Gothic revival buildings whose ...
in Ottawa. This larger-than-life Jasper, a live person in a costume, had his picture taken hugging Canadian
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Pierre Trudeau
Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...
.
In 1968 a seven-year-old Ottawa boy was being sent to
Boston's Children's Hospital Medical Centre for corrective heart surgery paid for by private charity. In a gesture of encouragement Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau gave the boy a picture with the words "A thousand best wishes". It was a picture of the Prime Minister with Jasper the Bear.
In 2004 vandals damaged a statue of Jasper the Bear which had been a local landmark for 40 years, but the statue was replaced and moved to a more secure location 160m due north of the Jasper Information Centre. The Mayor of Jasper was quoted as saying that vandalism is not unknown to the area, but until now, "not to poor ol' Jasper".
Jasper continues as a promotional tool of Jasper tourism. Having one's picture taken with the statue of Jasper is still a must-have photo when visiting Jasper and, keeping up with the times, Jasper is even on
Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
.
In 2005, in celebration of Alberta's centennial, a Jasper the Bear coin was issued.
Personal life
James Simpkins was married to Ethel Mary Thom who died in 2001. They had five children and at the time of his death he had ten grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Simpkins died on February 1, 2004, at the age of 93, in
Dundas, Ontario
Dundas () is a community and urban district in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is nicknamed ''Valley Town'' because of its topographical location at the bottom of the Niagara Escarpment on the we ...
.
Canadian cartoonists have argued that Simpkins has failed to fully get the recognition he deserves. For example, despite his major contribution to Maclean's Magazine, they neglected to mention him or Jasper in their anniversary issue.
Books
Cartoon collections
* Subsequently reprinted by Rinehart (1960) and
McClelland & Stewart
McClelland & Stewart Limited is a Canadian publishing company. It is owned by Random House of Canada, Penguin Random House of Canada, a branch of Penguin Random House, the international book publishing division of German media giant Bertelsmann.
...
(1972).
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Illustrated
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References
External links
Jasper Chamber of Commerce webpage of Jasper the BearSimpkins family websiteJasper Tourism Youtube video featuring Jasper The Bear''"Where's Jasper" Episode 1''
Jasper Tourism Youtube video featuring Jasper The Bear''"Where's Jasper" Episode 2''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpkins, James
1910 births
2004 deaths
Artists from Winnipeg
Canadian animators
Canadian comics writers
Canadian comics artists
Canadian humorists
Canadian stamp designers
Military personnel from Winnipeg
Canadian Army personnel of World War II
Royal Canadian Corps of Signals soldiers
Canadian advertising artists and illustrators