Judge — December 1936 — page 40: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

BOOKS BY TED SHANE SCRATCH GRANDMOTHER and find an old Gibson Girl beneath. his Dream Girl, put aside his pen and ink and turn to oils and canvas. ™~ IM CANADA youll SUOHTLY HeonER 30°60! Alkalize t you On your feet na pu lass of Alka-Seit zer's great ‘A victory or defeat T lo a c And if by chance you celebrate Ag jases rise, Seltzer-/ze th Alka-Seltzer .f2itrs If youre prepared twill do no harm. After you eat, Just simply Allee: £ 2. = 3 Fd é z S z < s z 3 e % pian is simple, plain and brief . 1ze Wl Upon the question of RELIEF Take Alka-Seltzer, tried and true. It good for colds and headaches too. My Alkal Scratch mother and it’s pure John Held flapper. Scratch big sister, get slapped for your ns and told she’s heard of the Gibs never Girl or flappers and to get the hell out of her room as she's fixing to go out with Peter Arno, her creator. The point is once upon a time the Gibson Girl was Someone indeed. Sprung from the gifted ink of hand. some, wholesome, kind, behorse- collared Charles Dana Gibson, she was andmother mother of the Flapper, and of Arno’s Googoo.eyed Silly. She stood out in society like a rednose on a dow- ager. She was clegantly, impossibly tall. She was cool and acious. In eight petticoats, her virtue was strongly in. trenched and padded. The gals of her generation tried to walk, eat and toss the beanbag like her. Her face graced wallpaper, spoons, salad plates, pillows, mudwalled huts, imperial palace: g. on corsets, shirts and her name was in sor | shoes. She was Helen of Troy in a figure 8. She ruled the world for 25 years. The recounting of such glory as was this First Glorified Girl and more you will find in an ivylecish biography of Charles Dana Gibson called “Portrait of an Era” by Between the prose, and Fairfax Downey pedestrian ish collection of Gibson drawings it is quite worth your eye- strain and Mr. Dow- ney’s excess-adoration Tho Mr. G hardly a Cellini when it came to swordclashing or jumping from bal- was cony windows he was pretty much of a fine gent of the old school. Of sturdy all-American stock, he started as a struggling you a drawing accepted by thereby and finally hit his stride, un- accountably pulling the Gibson Girl out of his Sir Galahad-about-town adoration of women. He nursed ber till she was worth many thousands a year, a | $100,000 contract with Collier's and as much as $2000 for a single drawing. He also married her in the form of a lovely F.F.V., managed to live a very unclouded and happy life but for one thing. Mr. Gibson wanted to divorce ng artist, got was spurred Truth is Mr. with a remarkable pen, just wasn’t des. His was the high duty to lampoon the social foible sock the political grafter. And father the Gibson Gal. These he did to y high purpose and we for one could Gibson, while gifted tined for Rembrandthood and V hold a Rembrandt to his work and find them both good. After all could Rem. brandt write and illustrate two line jokes like this—He: Will you share my lot Penelope? She: Yes, if it has a brownstone front on it!; or “Are you exhibiting at the horse show this year?” Yes, I'm sending my daughter”? The answer is No. We think shortcomings as a despite Mr. Downey's Frederick Allen crossed with a Boswell, “Portrait of an Era sock. The book's plentifully illustrated, will hand you the old nostalgic thank Heaven, and we think the Gibson Gal in modern dress would knock ‘em all for a row of Shermunds were she revived, There is one drawing of a mod. ern Gibson gal that is breathtaking ir Gibson's life should inspire every young artist. All its exquisiteness. Mr. the tyro must do to succeed is live clean, keep his nose to the drawing board and create a Gibson Girl Gibson something of a wit. For was also instance he was asked to submit a drawing to a motor car contest which promised give him a prize or keep the draw- ing if rejected. He re- plied: “Iam running a contest for automobiles. Kindly submit one. If acceptable, it wins an award. If rejected, company to cither it becomes my property!” There are two distinct sides to Upton Sinclair's onesided crusading _ nature. There is the side which thinks clearly, sympathetic with the underdog, is terri- bly effective in cleansing our Augean stables. This is the side that gave us “The Jungle,” “Boston,” “The Brass Check” or even “William Fox.” Then there is the side which goes in for paper- bag cookery, mental telepathy, EPICk- ing and pure nutwork. This side gave us “The Wet Parade” and now “Co-op.” 38 comicbooks.com