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Carl Thomas Anderson (American, 1865-1948)
Air Polo, The Next thing in games (Illustratation for Puck Magazine, 1911)
Pen and black ink over pencil
Signed ‘Anderson’ (lower left) Inscribed in pencil on the reverse and stamped ‘overlay dept pm Tues May 2 1911’
13.3/4 x 19.3/4 in. (35 x 50.2 cm.)
Carl Thomas Anderson was a cartoonists and comic strip artist most well-known for his drawings of Henry. He was hired by Arthur Brisbane for the New York World at the end of the 1890’s where he worked on a strip he created called “The Filipino and the Chick”. The comic, in turn, attracted the attention of William Randolph Hearst, who offered Anderson more money at the New York Journal. There, Anderson created two comic strips that ultimately did not take off, called “Raffles and Bunny” and “Herr Spiegelberger, the Amateur Cracksman”. Since these comic strips were never great successes, Anderson also freelanced in this period of his career for various magazines, doing illustrations and small gag cartoons. Having exhausted his prospects by the beginning of the 1930’s in the midst of the looming depression, the 64 year old Anderson moved home from New York City in 1932. In his hometown of Madison, he cared for his ailing father and took up again his earlier woodworking trade for income. In addition, he taught a night-class in his hometown on how to draw cartoons, creating the character Henry to help along his lessons. This character would turn out to be a huge hit. Anderson mailed this character to the Saturday Evening Post, selling the first Henry cartoon for $50. Henry ultimately became a regular, weekly cartoon in the magazine. After grabbing the attention of William Hearst yet again, Henry became a running cartoon published in 50 American papers, 15 of those which were owned by Hearst. Anderson continued working on Henry until his retirement in 1942, finding it hard to continue drawing with arthritis, at which point his assistants took over. Before his death in 1948, Anderson published “how to draw cartoons successfully” , with lessons for all readers to become successful cartoonists.
