Martin Michael Branner (December 28, 1888 – May 19, 1970), known to his friends as Mike Branner, was a cartoonist who created the popular comic strip '' Winnie Winkle''.

Early life

Branner was born in

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. stat ...

on December 28, 1888. He was a twin and one of nine children of Bernard Brenner, a Jewish immigrant lacemaker.

Career

Vaudeville

In 1905, Martin Branner was an assistant to two men who booked

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic compositio ...

acts. He was a dancer who met Edith Fabbrini (1892–1966) when he was 18 and she was 15. They married a few days after they met, and the couple then entered vaudeville as a dance team. Billed as Martin and Fabbrini, they spent 15 years performing in stock, musical comedy and vaudeville on the Keith Orpheum and Pantages circuits. In Manhattan, Martin and Fabbrini played the Palace Theater the second week it opened, and they often made return engagements. Some of Branner's earliest artwork was published during this period when he did advertising illustrations for '' Variety''. Two shows a day sometimes increased to three and more shows daily, but bookings for the dance team became fewer during and following

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

World War I and a career transition

Branner served his

military duty with the

Chemical Warfare Service The Chemical Corps is the branch of the United States Army tasked with defending against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear ( CBRN) weapons. The Chemical Warfare Service was established on 28 June 1918, combining activities that until ...

of the U.S. Army. On his return after World War I, he left vaudeville and launched a new career as a cartoonist in 1919, beginning with a short-lived strip, ''Looie the Lawyer'', for the

Bell Syndicate The Bell Syndicate, launched in 1916 by editor-publisher John Neville Wheeler, was an American syndicate that distributed columns, fiction, feature articles and comic strips to newspapers for decades. It was located in New York City at 247 West ...

. He followed with a Sunday page, ''Pete and Pinto'', which ran for 20 weeks in the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the ''New York Herald Tribune''. Hist ...

'' and '' The Sun''.

''Winnie'' begins

Branner launched '' Winnie Winkle the Breadwinner'' as a daily strip in September 1920, followed by a Sunday page in 1923. Edith Branner served as the model for the character of Winnie Winkle. Branner's 1934 to 1936 assistant was the French cartoonist Robert Velter. By 1939, ''Winnie Winkle the Breadwinner'' was printed in 125 newspapers in America and Europe for a combined circulation of more than eight and a half million. The title was shortened to ''Winnie Winkle'' in 1943. After Velter, Branner's long-time assistant was Max Van Bibber, who took over ''Winnie Winkle'' after Branner suffered a stroke in 1962. Following the stroke, Branner began to use a wheelchair. Without the use of his right hand, he continued to draw with his left.

Personal life

Branner was a noted wit and drew on his vaudeville background for some gags appearing in his cartoons. After they retired their dance act, the Branners became the parents of Bernard Donald Branner and the art historian Robert Branner. Martin Branner converted to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

shortly after leaving the stage. Martin and Edith Branner lived at 27 Riverside Drive in

Waterford, Connecticut Waterford is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. It is named after Waterford, Ireland. The population was 19,571 at the 2020 census. The town center is listed as a census-designated place (CDP) and had a population of 3,07 ...

, and they were the designers of Waterford's town seal. During their many visits to

, the Branners enjoyed living in hotels; they were frequent guests at the Iroquois Hotel, which Branner called "the poor man's Algonquin." The Branner family usually spent summers boating and swimming in Connecticut. In 1957, Branner was a guest challenger on the television panel show '' To Tell the Truth''.

Death

Branner died at age 81 on May 19, 1970, at the Nutmeg Pavilion Convalescent Home in

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decades ...

Awards

Branner wrote and drew ''Winnie Winkle'' from 1920 to 1962, receiving the National Cartoonists Society Humor Comic Strip Award in 1958.

Books

''Winnie Winkle and the Diamond Heirlooms'' by Branner and Helen Berke was a 248-page hardcover novel published by Whitman in 1946.

References

External links

An inventory of his cartoons at Syracuse UniversityBilly Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum Art DatabaseNational Cartoonists Society: Martin Branner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Branner, Martin 1888 births 1970 deaths Chicago Tribune people American comic strip cartoonists Vaudeville performers