Marge (cartoonist)
Marge | |
---|---|
Born | Marjorie Lyman Henderson December 11, 1904 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Died | May 30, 1993 Elyria, Ohio, U.S. | (aged 88)
Nationality | American |
Notable works | Little Lulu |
Marjorie Henderson Buell (née Marjorie Lyman Henderson, December 11, 1904 – May 30, 1993) was an American cartoonist who worked under the pen name Marge. She was best known as the creator of Little Lulu.
Early life
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Marjorie Lyman Henderson was born in 1904 in Philadelphia to Horace Lyman Henderson and Bertha Brown Henderson.[1] She and her two sisters grew up on a farm outside Malvern.[1] The three sisters drew comics for birthday cards and family events while they were growing up.[2] At the age of 8 she began selling her work to friends.[2] She attended and then graduated from Villa Maria Academy High School in 1921.
Career
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At 16, she sold her first
In 1934,
Paramount Pictures approached Buell in 1943 with a proposal to develop a series of animated shorts. She traveled to New York to meet with Paramount executives and tour the animation facilities, and there was introduced to William C. Erskine, who became her business representative.[7]
Thereafter, Little Lulu was widely merchandised,[8] and was the first mascot for Kleenex tissues;[5] from 1952 to 1965 the character appeared in an elaborate animated billboard in Times Square in New York City[9] designed by Artkraft Strauss.[7]
The character appeared in comic books, animated cartoons,
Personal life
On 30 January 1935, she married Clarence Addison Buell[7] who had a career in the Bell Telephone Company. The two reached a compromise in their career ambitions, in that the husband agreed to turn down promotions that would result in relocation, and the wife would keep her creation enough in check that she would be available for her children.[3] The couple had two sons: Larry, born in 1939; and Fred, born in 1942.
She shied from the spotlight, rarely giving interviews or allowing publication of photos of herself.[7] She also shied away from politics, and resisted requests from her sons to include progressive elements such as a black playmate for Lulu or overtly feminist themes. Her son Larry stating in 2007 that "she didn't think of Lulu as a part of politics. She drew a line between entertainment and didacticism." [3]
After the sale of the Lulu copyrights in 1971, the Buell couple retired to Ohio, where their son
Legacy
The nonprofit organization
In July 2006, Buell's family donated the "Marge Papers" to the Schlesinger Library at Harvard University. The papers include a collection of fan mail, comic books, scrapbooks of high points in Lulu's history and a complete set of the newspaper cartoons.[3]
In 2005, Heritage Auctions sold the original art to the first Little Lulu panel for $9,200.[13] In recent years, Buell's original art from Little Lulu panels regularly bring between $2,000-$3,000 at auction.
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
- ^ a b "Pennsylvania Center for the Book". pabook.libraries.psu.edu. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f Gewertz 2006.
- ^ a b c Reynolds 2003, p. 95.
- ^ a b c Robbins 2013, p. 452.
- ^ Robbins 2013, p. 453.
- ^ a b c d e f Gotwals 2010.
- ^ Robbins 2013, p. 455.
- ^ Sagalyn 2001, p. 335.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 8, 2019.
- ^ Cuda, Amanda (August 5, 2003). "Women's Wit: Holy comics, Batman, it's women cartoonists!". Connecticut Post.
- ^ "Lulu Award". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Archived from the original on January 26, 2013.
- ^ "Marge Buell - The First Little Lulu Panel Page Original Art, dated 2-23-35 (Saturday Evening Post, 1935)", Heritage Auctions
Sources
- Collins, Glenn (June 3, 1993). "Marjorie Buell, 88, Pioneer Cartoonist Of 'Little Lulu' Strip". New York Times.
- Gewertz, Ken (November 2, 2006). "Little Lulu comes to Harvard". Harvard Gazette. Archived from the originalon February 23, 2007.
- Gotwals, Jennifer (2010). "Marge and Lulu: The Art of the Deal". Hogan's Alley. Archived from the original on May 1, 2013. Retrieved December 29, 2014.
- Reynolds, Moira Davison (2003). "Marjorie Henderson Buell". Comic Strip Artists in American Newspapers, 1945–1980. McFarland. pp. 95–96. ISBN 978-0-7864-8150-7.
- ISBN 978-0-313-39923-7.
- Sagalyn, Lynne B. (2001). Times Square Roulette: Remaking the City Icon. ISBN 978-0262692953.
- Taylhardat, Karim (2007). La Pequeña Lulu/The Little Lulu & M. Henderson. Madrid, Spain: Ediciones Sinsentido.
External links
- Papers, 1856-1994. Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University.