The Rake and the Hussy (part 6, Liberty Magazine, Sept 7, 1929)
By Norman Mills Price (1877-1951)
4.4 x 8 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

European-trained, Price moved to NY in 1912 and established himself as an illustrator. A stickler for detail, he was almost instantly successful for his well-researched images with authentic costumes and accuracy in all aspects of his portrayals. People generally enjoyed looking at the details of his illustrations. His magazine illustrations were published by American Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Liberty, St. Nicholas, and Women’s Home Companion. At the time of his death, Price was honorary president of the Society of Illustrators in New York.

The illustrations that Price is most fondly remembered for are the novels of Robert W. Chambers, namely The Rogue’s Moon, and The Rake and the Hussy. Robert Chambers said of Price’s illustrations: “I am at a loss for words to describe my admiration for Norman Price’s work. Drawing, composition, and character are unusually fine. I am most grateful to Mr. Price for putting the vital spark into my stuff.”

This drawing is an illustration from part 6 of Robert Chamber’s serialized novel, The Rake and the Hussy, which appeared in the Liberty Magazine Weekly in 22 parts during the end of 1929.

“Lord,” she murmured, “what a scrape you did get into to be sure!”

The Rake and the Hussy (part 8, Liberty Magazine, Sept 21, 1929)
By Norman Mills Price (1877-1951)
3.5 x 4.7 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

European-trained, Price moved to NY in 1912 and established himself as an illustrator. A stickler for detail, he was almost instantly successful for his well-researched images with authentic costumes and accuracy in all aspects of his portrayals. People generally enjoyed looking at the details of his illustrations. His magazine illustrations were published by American Magazine, Cosmopolitan, Liberty, St. Nicholas, and Women’s Home Companion. At the time of his death, Price was honorary president of the Society of Illustrators in New York.

The illustrations that Price is most fondly remembered for are the novels of Robert W. Chambers, namely The Rogue’s Moon, and The Rake and the Hussy. Robert Chambers said of Price’s illustrations: “I am at a loss for words to describe my admiration for Norman Price’s work. Drawing, composition, and character are unusually fine. I am most grateful to Mr. Price for putting the vital spark into my stuff.”

This drawing is an illustration from part 8 of Robert Chamber’s serialized novel, The Rake and the Hussy, which appeared in the Liberty Magazine Weekly in 22 parts during the end of 1929.

“When at last I staggered in the clearing, and had fearfully reconnoitered the silent stockade, I discovered that Fort Pierce had been evacuated.”

Rowntree’s Chocolate (advert) c. 1931
John Millar Watt (1895-1975)
6.25 x 14.75 in., ink on board

Watt was apprenticed to an advertising agency while attending evening classes at the Westminster School of Art. His apprenticeship was interrupted in 1915 by World War I. After being discharged, he studied briefly at Slade School of Art before returning to advertising work.

This drawing is my second example from an advertising campaign for well-known British chocolate maker “Rowntree’s Chocolate,” which routinely identified the color of its confections with the skin tones of Black people, particularly young girls, or here with blackface characters during the minstrel revival in the 1930s. Although not identified by name, the drawings may well represent Alexander & Mose, blackface radio show minstrels Billy Bennett and Albert Whalen, from the US, who were popular at this time.

These depictions did not improve (see: the “Honeybunch” campaign, in the late 1940s and early 1950s).

Although now owned by Nestle, the history of Rowntree’s is that of a business selling ‘commodities of empire,’ with its production and manufacturing derived from colonial indenture, with enslaved and/or unfree workers recruited from India and Southeast Asia to work on plantations in the Caribbean and West Africa.

1957.03.21 Mopsy
By Gladys Parker (1908-1966)
6.4 x 8 inches, ink on drawing board
Coppola Collection

The May 21, 1957 date is Parker’s 49^th birthday (and one month after I was born). One of the few women cartoonists working through the time of the 1950s, Parker developed Mopsy in 1939, and modeled the character on herself. In 1946, she recalled, “I got the idea for Mopsy when the cartoonist Rube Goldberg said my hair looked like a mop. That was several years ago, and she has been my main interest ever since.” When she retired in 1965, Mopsy retired with her.

Parker’s own cartoon style was striking in its use of design tropes. Her lines were thin and clean. She favored geometric shapes and had a great sense of symmetry to her panels. Her characters often expressed sentiment through dramatic poses, much like a runway model. Not coincidentally, she was a master of the pantomime cartoon. Many of her Sunday Mopsy strips were wordless, where panel progression, design and expression told the whole story.

“The Glamorous Blondes” (Among Us Mortals, 08/14/1950)
by W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962)
18.5 x 15 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection

W.E. (William Ely) Hill (1887-1962) was known for his masterful black and white Sunday page, “Among Us Mortals,” sometimes referred to as the Hill Page. Please see the Gallery description for more about Hill.

From this August 14, 1950 edition, titled “The Glamorous Blondes” some quotes:

“Unglamorous male blonde trying with no success to get a tan at the beach. He’ll get a mean sunburn that will peel and peel for days.”

“Else is one of those unfortunate blondes with straight, stringy hair that won’t stay in a curl. Life is made hideous for her and her mother by return trips to hair dressing emporiums to show Miss Rose or “our Mr. Ernest” their perfidy, and the air is blue with threats and recriminations.”