Dudley Fisher
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Dudley Tyng Fisher Jr. (April 27, 1890 – July 10, 1951) was a syndicated newspaper cartoonist, best known for his character Myrtle who was introduced in his
Sunday page The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies. The first US newspap ...
, '' Right Around Home'', distributed by King Features Syndicate under various titles from 1937 to 1964. Fisher drew ''Right Around Home'' until his death on October 6, 1951, after which his assistant, Bob Vittur, managed the strip with assistance from King Features’ bullpen stalwart Stan Randal until its end on May 2, 1965.


Early life

Fisher was born in Columbus, Ohio to Dudley T. Fisher Sr. and Marion Garner Fisher and grew up on the city's north side. He was known as Ting by the other children because Dudley was considered too fancy. His first work appeared in the juvenile magazine
St. Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day Demre ...
. In high school he drew for the school newspaper which was edited by W. M. Kiplinger. As an adult, he studied to be an architect at
Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...
and was recruited into Sigma Pi fraternity by Kiplinger and Ray Evans. While at OSU, he was an art editor for the '' MakiO'' yearbook. At the encouragement of Evans, a cartoonist, he left school after two years to work as a newspaper layout artist at ''
The Columbus Dispatch ''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in 19 ...
''. He remembered that his first interview with editor Arthur Johnson Sr. was composed of them yelling at each other over the noise of the printing presses.


Comic strips

When hired by the ''Dispatch'' in 1911, Fisher was a retouch artist under the direction of Evans and Billy Ireland. He later worked side by side with another famous cartoonist,
Milton Caniff Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips. Biography Caniff was born in Hillsboro, Ohio. He was an Eagle Scout and a r ...
. He served in an aerial photography unit in 1917 during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. Re-joining the ''Dispatch'' after the war, he created the two-color daily panel ''Jolly Jingles'' (1924–37). In 1937, tired of devising the ''Jolly Jingles'' rhymes, he created ''Right Around Home'' depicting a suburban family. He immediately attracted attention with the experimental concept of an elevated down-angle view showing numerous characters in a large single panel filling an entire Sunday page. He attributed its success and charm of this page to his stumbling "upon the truth that what readers like most is to read about themselves and the things they all do." He confirmed that the characters were all based on people, and animals, that he knew with Myrtle being based on his daughter's mannerisms. Five years after its first publication, King Features asked Fisher to do a daily version of ''Right Around Home'' in a conventional comic strip format, and ''Myrtle'' began in 1942.


Personal life

Fisher married Anne Potts on December 31, 1919 and they had a daughter, Marion. In later life, he learned to build and play pipe organs. Friends said he could play very well but he did not think his ability was good enough to play in public Fisher advised young artists to "put all your energy into what you draw and stop worrying about which pen and paper to use. Make the most of your chances. You' ll never know which were the big chances until long after you try them." Fisher worked for the ''Columbus Dispatch'' and on his two newspaper strips until his death in 1951 while on vacation in Rockport, Massachusetts.


After his death

Bob Vittur stepped in to draw ''Right Around Home'' through 1952, when it was retitled ''Right Around Home with Myrtle''. It continued under that title until 1964.Lambiek: Dudley Fisher
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Reprints

''Right Around Home'' was reprinted in the first issue (December 2011) of Russ Cochran's ''
The Sunday Funnies ''The Sunday Funnies'' is a publication reprinting vintage Sunday comic strips at a large size (16"x22") in color. The format is similar to that traditionally used by newspapers to publish color comics, yet instead of newsprint, it is printed on ...
''.


References


Sources

Strickler, Dave. ''Syndicated Comic Strips and Artists, 1924-1995: The Complete Index.'' Cambria, California: Comics Access, 1995.


External links


The Cagle Post: ''Hogan's Alley''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Dudley 1890 births 1951 deaths American cartoonists American comics artists Austin E. Knowlton School of Architecture alumni