Washington University docs in 1903
In 1903, over 500 prominent St. Louisans forked over cash to appear in a local vanity cartoon book, St. Louisans as we see ‘em: cartoons and caricatures. Nineteen of them were Washington University doctors, who appear in the sections below.
The doctors
In the 1903 caricatures, the doctors’ faces are serious and sympathetic as they teach, care for patients, and do surgery. So, the 1903 docs are doing what faculty doctors at a medical school still do. In two respects, they differ from today’s faculty physicians: they make house calls and they don’t do research. While no mad scientists are pictured, the surgeons look alarming as they hold, carry, sharpen, and use rather large knives.
The cartoonists
The seven cartoonists are pictured below. The introduction to the book calls them “Little gods of ink pots.” Most of the seven worked for St. Louis newspapers and magazines.
The cartoonists: George McManus, S. Carlisle Martin, Lee F. Conrey, T. K. Hedrick, J. Gay Martin, Dick Wood and Edw. Grinham.
George McManus (1884-1954) worked first for the St. Louis Republican and is best known as the creator of Irish immigrant Jiggs and his wife Maggie, the central characters in a syndicated comic strip, Bringing Up Father. McManus’ successful strip was animated in 1916-1917 by Edward Grinham, another cartoonist for St. Louis as we see ‘em.
Edward Grinham was also one of the animators for a 1916-1917 film, Krazy Cat
S. Carlisle Martin drew The Weatherbird for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch from 1910 to 1932. Under his pen, the Weatherbird took on his froglike quality.
John Gay Martin was Carlisle’s brother. The brothers were students at the school of Fine Arts at Washington University in 1888.
Lee F. Conrey (1883-1976) pursued a career in St. Louis and New York as a graphic illustrator of books, newspapers, and magazines like Cosmopolitan and McClure’s.
Tubman K. Hedrick was assistant editor of Reedy’s Mirror and wrote for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
Dick Wood was an illustrator who worked for the art department at the St. Louis Globe-Democrat where he illustrated Theodore Dreiser’s stories and became Dreiser’s friend.
Resources:
St. Louisans as we see ‘em, Press: A. Noble Printing Co., St. Louis, MO, [1903], page 169.
Ibid, page 176.
Ibid, page 187.
Ibid, page 172.
Ibid, page 169.
Ibid, page 194.
Ibid, page 179.
Ibid, page 174.
Ibid, page 171.
Ibid, page 191.
Ibid, page 171.
Ibid, page 177.
Ibid, page 188.
Ibid, page 170.
Ibid, page 172.
Ibid, page 168.
St. Louisans as we see ‘em, Press: A. Noble Printing Co., St. Louis, MO, [1903], p. 2-3.
The Holloway Pages: Bringing Up Father, Accessed 4 February 2011.
Crafton, Donald. Before Mickey: the animated film, 1898-1928, University of Chicago Press, 1993, p. 285.
International Film Service, From Wikipedia, Accessed 4 February 2011, File:Krazy Kat goes a-wooing 1916 silent.ogv
Allen, Jim. Dan Martin and the St. Louis cartoon connection.
Annual catalogue, Washington University, 1888, p. 117 lists John Gay Martin and Samuel Carlisle Martin; A catalogue of the officers and students of Washington University, 1885-86, p. 85 lists only Samuel Carlisle Martin.
Putzel, Max. The man in the Mirror: William Marion Reedy and his magazine, University of Missouri Press, 1998, p. 312.
Loving, Jerome. The last titan: a life of Theodore Dreiser, University of California Press, 2005, p. 57, 59, 366.
Created on June 13, 2011
