O Rare Harrison Cady

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O Rare Harrison Cady, published by the Sandy Bay Historical Society in Rockport, is one of the very few sources of biographical information about Harrison Cady that I've been able to find. It is essentially a memoir done in collaboration with the journalist, John L. Cooley. It is a charming book, breezing through Cady's childhood (he loved animals, circuses, and his drawings were praised by P.T. Barnum), his early career struggles, and his eventual successes. Cady's worldview is peaceful and urbane--though he always considered himself a "country boy"--and he had a lot of famous friends, listed at length.

I was hoping to find information that would flesh out his bibliography. Here the book is a mixed success. On the one hand, Cady provides very useful details about the ways he ended up at certain publications. On the other hand, there are serious factual problems with the information he provides, particularly around dates. My concern is that Cady's inclination to just make stuff up--which is an explicit theme later in the book--makes this memoir less than reliable.

With that disclaimer in mind, here is the early career chronology I was able to distill from his account.

During the autumn of 1895, at the age of 18, Cady moved to New York City. (He states 1897 in the book, which is completely inconsistent with his bibliography).

Almost immediately, he sold a drawing to Harper's Round Table--a "gnome with a lily" published in the November 1895 issue. He would end up selling Harpers a handful of similar images.

He sold fifteen decorative initial letters to the humor magazine, Truth. These ran in 1896.

He starved for a little while.

He then got a 3-month position at the New York Journal drawing decorative frames for the comics page. He notes that Hearst had just bought the publication--the first Hearst issue was November 1895, so this would be late 1895/early 1896.

The position ended and he starved some more.

He then got a stable job with an advertising firm, W.H. Wagstaff and Co., that specialized in transit cards. He had a relatively peripheral position but contributed at least one illustration to a widely displayed ad--for a brand of beef extract.  According to Cady's account, he was still at Wagstaff when the U.S.S. Maine exploded (Feb. 1898).

Cady's first published piece in St. Nicholas

While at Wagstaff he put together a package of drawings, including a set of illustrated original poems, which he sold to the children's magazine, St. Nicholas. The first drawing ran in August, 1898. [The poems that Cady indicates were part of this initial batch did not run until 1903 and 1904. Either Cady mis-remembers or St. Nicholas sat on them for an awfully long time!]

After the job at Wagstaff ended (the company was a casualty of restricted ad spending during the Spanish-American War), he "conserved his funds" and picked up a few "odd jobs" but was soon contacted by the advertising manager of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, who offered him a salaried staff position. Eventually, Cady moved to the news department, doubled his salary, and never struggled again. This would appear to have been mid to late 1898.

He describes himself as a pictorial reporter for the Eagle, offering drawings to accompany a wide variety of stories, from fires and murders to special events such as America's Cup and horse shows. He recounts some specific events he covered:

With my pencil I reported the funeral of Henry George, the noted advocate for a single tax....I also recorded the reception given to Angelina Asnoras [sic--a transcription error of "Cisneros"] after her rescue from Morro Castle by Karl Decker, a big story of the day. (p. 41)

Here's the problem: both events happened during the fall of 1897, before the sinking of the Maine that supposedly precipitated the end of Cady's work for Wagstaff.  Moreover, a review of these stories as covered in the Eagle reveals that none of them were accompanied by illustrations. I have to assume that Cady is just making stuff up here. Cady's primary responsibility--well documented--for the Eagle was similar to his work for the New York Journal: the design of decorative frames for photo layouts.

An example of Cady's decorative frame work, 1901.

Cady discusses his most famous work for the Eagle, a series of sketches of typical Brooklyn girls, as well as the nearly fatal illness (pleural pneumonia) that curtailed his work on the project.

The Heights Girl, 1902.

It turns out that this project led directly to an illustration job for one of the leading romance writers of the day, Laura Jean Libbey. Cady does not discuss, however, the series of cartoons that first put his name before the public (in Brooklyn anyway).

The Horse Show as seen by Harrison Cady

A semi-regular feature on Sundays from August 1901 to February 1902, these "...as seen by Harrison Cady" cartoons were humorous pictorial reports of events and life-style trends around the New York area. I wonder if Cady conflated these later efforts with his recollections of his earliest responsibilities for the Eagle.

Cady's first cartoon for Life, May 21, 1903.

While still working at the Eagle, Cady began to contribute cartoons to the prestigious humor magazine, Life.  After "several months" of successful submissions, he had his first official meeting with the editor, John Ames Mitchell, and according to Cady's account, Mitchell encouraged him to quit the Eagle and join the staff of Life.  Here again the chronology doesn't quite work, unless by "several months" Cady means "a year and a half." (Cady's last credited piece for the Eagle ran in February 1905.) It also doesn't explain why Cady, as a well-paid staff artist for Life, would continue to submit material to Life's direct competitors, Puck and The Judge, throughout 1905 and 1906. Even taking into account the possibility that the other publications held onto material submitted far earlier, it seems likely there was a significant gap between the end of Cady's work for the Eagle and the start of his full time job at Life. Indeed, Cady's account of his meeting with Mitchell suggests as much:

"Have you saved any money?" he asked, with a trace of a smile.
"Yes," I told him. "I have saved a little. I live with my mother and she, a good Yankee, has managed on what I earn."
"Well," said Mr. Mitchell, "I suggest you go back to the Eagle and quit. Life will pay you much better. We can use your talent."(p. 49)

Cady would remain on the Life staff for over two decades (this overlaps with the beginning of his partnership with Thornton Burgess). Eventually he would move beyond the "beetlebug" material he began with and would begin to reflect Mitchell's editorial vision. This included both a strong sense of social justice and an unfortunate tendency toward antisemitism.

Those interested in the earliest stages of Cady's career are invited to check out my Harrison Cady TumBlog, where I have collected the majority of Cady's efforts, in roughly chronological order, up until the end of 1908 until 1923. That project will continue until I exhaust Cady's available public domain work. O Rare Harrison Cady may be ordered directly from the Sandy Bay Historical Society.

New Harrison Cady Tumblr Blog

Harper's Round Table, January 21, 1896.

I've been collecting public domain images created by Harrison Cady. I thought Tumblr might be a good way to display them. Here's the link.

Thornton Burgess and the Nature Study Movement

TWB feeding a squirrel. New England Homestead, February 25, 1905

Reading Kevin Armitage's recent book, The Nature Study Movement: The Forgotten Popularizer of America's Conservation Ethic, I was struck by how many Nature Study themes informed the work of Thornton Burgess, from theories of recapitulation and the promotion of gardening to the encouragement of direct observation of nature, birds in particular. I placed TWB as a second-generation Nature Study proponent--influenced by but not directly involved in the movement during its initial years. I was mistaken.

By 1904, Burgess was the "Young Folks' Editor" at the New England Homestead. During this period he instituted an "Outdoors Club" and, foreshadowing his bird sanctuary campaign work at the People's Home Journal, established a correspondence feature, "Friends of our Native Birds." Children were asked to write in with lists of birds they had observed (and gently scolded for their lack of close observation when they would list things such as "brown hawk" or "woodpecker.") They were also asked to write about what they had done for birds, such as putting out food or building houses (or removing house sparrow nests). Readers of this blog will remember that this "help the birds" theme runs through the rest of TWB's career, from his Bedtime Story "personal letters" to the Green Meadow Club, through the various incarnations of the Radio Nature League.

The key text is from December 24, 1904, p. 22 (TWB has a credited Christmas poem on the same page). Following a column on bird study by Lee A. Stafford (about whom the internet is silent), Burgess writes "A Plea for our Feathered Friends."

It begins:

In an apple-tree on the edge of an old orchard which the Young Folks' Editor visits frequently, is fastened by means of wire a suet bone with plenty of suet clinging to it. In another tree in the same orchard hangs a big lump of suet would around with string to prevent some greedy fellow from taking more than his just share at a time. Thither every day come a host of grateful little bird folk and after thoroughly searching the trees for insect eggs and hidden larvae, they complete their meal on the suet. And the Young Folks' Editor knows that, no matter how severe the winter, his little guests will weather it safely, for with full stomachs to keep up the life heat they can withstand almost any weather.

He proposes a club:

Now let us get down to work. Let us band ourselves together informally as "Friends of our Native Birds," until a better name suggests itself. All you have to do is to put out food for the birds and then drop a card to the Young Folks' Editor, this office, telling what you have done. Your name will then be added to the roll and published. This is for older folks as well as boys and girls...

Note, this is a clear model for the Radio Nature League "silver star" membership some 20 years later. Even the hard-sell model of solicitation is familiar:

WHO WILL BE FIRST from his or her county to be enrolled? Think of the suffering you can relieve at no trouble to yourself. ...DON'T DELAY. Think of the vivacious beauty of the plainest of our songsters and then picture to yourself that happy little sprite perishing miserably of starvation and exposure. Don't delay, girls and boys! Did you ever have the cold nip your fingers and toes until you cried? Then think of the little birds who cannot help themselves. If they have enough to eat they will keep warm. Won't you help in this great work? GET OTHERS TO HELP. Don't stop with your own efforts. Get all of your friends to do likewise. When they are also feeding the birds, send in their names to be added to the roll. Let us see what town will lead in this good work. Begin now. Don't postpone.

And thus Burgess effectively begins his first of many nature study clubs.

Note, I am extremely grateful for Michael Dowhan's TWB magazine bibliography, which lists almost all the New England Homestead articles credited to Burgess under his various pseudonyms (with page numbers!) Dowhan, however, does not list uncredited material, which means that much of Burgess's writing as "Young Folks' Editor" goes unmentioned.

Bedtime Story Personal Letters

In September, 1915, Thornton Burgess began writing a weekly column designed to appear on Sundays in newspapers running his bedtime story feature and hosting a Bedtime Story Club. (The Boston Daily Globe, which apparently didn't have a club, ran reprints of Mother West Wind stories instead). These were called "personal letters"--Burgess addressed his readers directly and attempted to guide club activities. 

In many ways this column prefigures the Radio Nature League, not just in the kinds of concerns addressed (feed the birds, make bird houses) but in the way Burgess tries to create a personal connection with his audience. Google News Archive offers access to these personal letters via its Milwaukee Journal collection. Not all of them are indexed, but I was able to browse through a few months worth to give you links to the first 25 or so of these columns. 

You may remember that the Bedtime Story club concept was an invention of the Kansas City Star and was then picked up by other papers, most notably the New York Globe. The Milwaukee Journal first announced the club on May 20, 1915.

   

 To read the copy, click on the image below.  

Children were instructed to clip a coupon from the following Sunday's paper to become a member (and receive a cool badge). It wasn't necessary to formally sign a pledge to be kind to animals; club membership was enough.

   

 Here's the coupon

   

 The club was advertised again the following week. Three thousand had signed up; the Journal wanted tens of thousands.

   

As far as I can tell, the club's main business for the first few months was a story contest. That changed, however, when Thornton W. Burgess himself became the effective club leader.

  Here's the opening column, dated September 26, 1915. 

 

Burgess charges the membership to be "kind to Mother Nature's children" and "protect them from their enemies", adding that he wants to make the club a "tremendous power for good." He also invites readers to imagine that he has a personal relationship with each one of them. 

Pauline stories, or, how to get readers to read the ads

As early as 1903, Good Housekeeping was running advertising-related puzzles. Readers could win cash prizes and advertiser merchandise by solving the puzzles and finding the associated Good Housekeeping ads. Beginning in 1906, Good Housekeeping ran a series of advertising puzzle stories. The stories featured Pauline, as narrated by her husband, James, in a variety of domestic situations. Thornton Burgess wrote the stories. Here's an example from June 1906. (click to read it).

 Look through the ads before and after the Pauline story. Got the answer? No, it's not "Hand-I-Hold Babe Mits."

 Here is the answer, pretty simple in my opinion.  

The Pauline stories work in two ways. First, in an era of increasing advertising clutter (yes, this was a problem even 100 years ago), the contest was a way to focus attention on magazine ads. 

Second, this was essentially branded entertainment. While the stories are not strikingly original, they are well-written and lightly humorous. Good solid slice-of-life long copy ads, really. This was an era in which the relationships between media, advertisers, and readers were still being worked out. 

Next: Bedtime Story Personal Letters

The Colgate Incident

Illustration for "Great fun on a slippery slide" (May 17, 1915).

 In the Thornton Burgess collection at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University, there is a folder marked "Colgate Incident." I don't know if Burgess tells this story elsewhere (I don't see a reference in his autobiography) or ever refers to it this way. [UPDATE: the incident is central to a 1929 People's Home Journal profile, titled "Why is Thornton W. Burgess]. Nevertheless, it is an amusing story.

Sometime during 1923, Burgess happened to see an advertisement for Colgate Ribbon Toothpaste featuring an illustration of an otter sliding down a river bank. Burgess wrote a letter to Colgate asking why the otter was sliding with its front legs erect. Had anyone ever seen an otter slide like this? The authorities he had consulted made it doubtful. [Note: I wonder if he was worried that Harrison Cady's 1915 illustration--above--had spread false information.]

Burgess received his reply and soon received an invitation to write stories for a series of six Colgate ads (for a significant amount of money). Colgate's agency at the time was Thresher Service Advertising in New York.

The six stories have Peter Rabbit, in his finest Burgess Bird Book for Children form, visiting a series of animal friends and learning how important their teeth are to them. Animals featured included Paddy the Beaver, Billy Mink (needs sharp teeth to catch fish), Reddy Fox (needs sharp teeth to challenge Old Man Coyote), Happy Jack Squirrel, and Prickly Porky. In one story Peter himself is caught in a trap and needs to gnaw his way out. Clearly teeth are important--maybe "the most important thing anyone can have."

What is remarkable about these ads is how masterfully the stories make the persuasive point (you must care for your teeth; Colgate is the best way to do it) while preserving the integrity of the truthful animal story. It is in fact, completely true that these animals wouldn't survive if they lacked sound teeth.

The HGARC offers other examples of Burgess characters and advertising: "The Baby Turtle that Startles Peter Rabbit" written for the Animate Toy Company in 1920; "Wah Wah Taysee" written for Mohawk Ozonate Beverages; "Peter Rabbit Puts on Airs," licensed for use in an advertising booklet for Frozen Mints chewing gum. Unlike the Colgate Incident, however, the archive only provides the manuscripts, not the background information.

Finally, though this is more Harrison Cady than Burgess per se, a famous (among collectors, anyway) ad for Fisk Redtop Tires.


Next: Pauline stories, or, how to get readers to read ads

Happy Jack's Thrift Club

 

 Thornton Burgess lays out the story of Happy Jack's Thrift Club in his autobiography as well as in a March 1923 profile in The Rotarian (Burgess was a long-standing member of the Rotary Club). I've used the Rotarian account below: 

During the war when the thrift and war-savings stamps were introduced, I was appealed to by a local committee for aid in interesting the school children in buying these stamps. They had not taken hold well in the schools of my city. Patriotism and thrift were the only appeals. Thrift is a dry subject at best even to the adult mind. I wrote a series of stories of Happy Jack Squirrel, the thriftiest of animals, and how he formed a thrift club in the Green Forest to which only such of his neighbors as laid up food for future use and thus were thrifty could belong. Peter Rabbit, happy-go-lucky and thriftless, wanted to become a member, and in his misdirected endeavors to be thrifty made plain even to the smallest child the difference between thrift and thriftlessness. 

 Five Happy Jack thrift stories appeared in the Springfield Republican starting March 21, 1918. 

Burgess masterfully frames the natural behavior of the gray squirrel in moral and persuasive terms. In subsequent episodes, Peter Rabbit attempts to join the club, which includes most of his quaddy friends, and when he fails (Happy Jack breaks the truth to him: "You're lazy") Peter initially thinks to set up his own "thriftless" club but eventually becomes an "associate member" by helping other animals with their collections. The last story in the series makes the sell: "Happy Jack helps Uncle Sam."

   

Burgess's stories were a hit. 

Happy Jack Thrift Clubs immediately sprang up in every school. There were Happy Jack parades, plays and other activities. The relation of thrift to patriotism was so obvious that no child could miss it. The success of the plan was immediate. The idea was taken up by the state committee and later spread to other states. 

 Burgess's skillful use of the natural behavior of animals to communicate about human morality would also be of service in advertising. 

Next: The Colgate Incident