Gladys Parker (March 21, 1908 – April 28, 1966) was an American cartoonist for comic strips and a fashion designer in Hollywood. She is best known as the creator of the comic strip '' Mopsy'' (1929-1965), which had a long run over three decades. Parker was one of the few female cartoonists working between the 1930s and 1950s.

Background

Gladys Parker was born in 1908 and grew up in

Tonawanda, New York Tonawanda (formally ''City of Tonawanda'') is a city in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 15,130 at the 2010 census. It is at the northern edge of Erie County, south across the Erie Canal ( Tonawanda Creek) from North To ...

. She was the daughter of Caroline (née Gerster) and Wilbert C. Parker. She taught herself to draw while recuperating from a leg injury, often using herself as her model, and began selling cartoons to magazines. She also ran a dressmaking shop from home while still in high school. After graduating from Tonawanda High School, she worked in the office of a lumber yard. At the age of 18, Parker arrived in Manhattan to study fashion illustration. Parker attended the

Traphagen School of Fashion Traphagen School of Fashion was an art and design school in operation from 1923 to 1991, and was located at 1680 Broadway in New York City. The school was founded and directed by Ethel Traphagen Leigh (1883–1963) with a focus on the foundational ...

, graduating in 1928 in Illustration. She started her newspaper career with the '' New York Graphic'', doing a comic strip called ''May and Junie''. She moved on to

United Features United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media (along wi ...

for two years and

Newspaper Enterprise Association The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary news ...

for seven years. She was given the opportunity to draw for the comic strip '' Flapper Fanny'', and later took over the publication entirely.

Comic strips

After drawing the flapper strip ''Gay and Her Gang'' in 1928-29, she took over

Ethel Hays Ethel Hays (March 13, 1892 – March 19, 1989) was an American syndicated cartoonist specializing in flapper-themed comic strips in the 1920s and 1930s. She drew in Art Deco style. In the later part of her career, during the 1940s and 1950s, sh ...

' '' Flapper Fanny Says'' panel, which she did for NEA from 1930 to 1936. She also did a comic strip series for Lux Soap during the 1930s.Lambiek: Gladys Parker
/ref>Developing ''Mopsy'' in 1939, Parker 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.""Meet the Artists"
''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', September 25, 1946. The ''Mopsy'' Sunday strip, added in 1945, gave Parker an opportunity to draw her fashion creations in a sidebar feature of paper dolls, titled "Mopsy Modes."

WWII

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Parker created the strip ''Betty G.I.'' for the

Women's Army Corps The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States ...

, and she also stepped in to draw Russell Keaton's '' Flyin' Jenny'' from 1942 until 1944 when his assistant Marc Swayze took over. Mopsy held such wartime jobs as a nurse and a munitions-plant worker, and the feature grew in popularity. After World War II ended, Mopsy was fired from her defense job in 1947 and went back to civilian life.

Licensing and reprints

By the end of the 1940s, ''Mopsy'' was published in 300 newspapers. In 1947, ''Mopsy'' began in St. John Publications' ''Pageant of Comics'' #1. Two years later, St. John gave her a title of her own, and ''Mopsy'' ran for 19 issues (February 1949 to September 1953). Charlton Comics reprinted several of those comic books in 1951. In 1955, Berkley Books published a ''Mopsy'' paperback collection. St. John also ran ''Mopsy'' as filler pages in its romance comics.

Clothing designs

Under the name Gladys Parker Designs, her clothing line was sold in stores as early as 1934, capitalizing on her fame as the artist of ''Flapper Fanny Says''. Parker also designed for films, such as her 1940 white sharkskin suit worn by actress

Louise Platt Louise Platt (August 3, 1915 – September 6, 2003) was an American theater, film, and TV actress. Early years Platt was born in Stamford, Connecticut, and grew up in Annapolis, Maryland. Her father was a dental surgeon in the Navy. Career ...

. Living in Hollywood with her two black cats, Parker also wrote a daily column, "Dear Gals and Guys", during the 1960s.

Personal life

On May 9, 1930, Parker was married to illustrator Benjamin "Stookie" Allen, who drew for pulp magazines and comic books. They divorced in 1951.Saunders, David
"Stookie Allen,"
''Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists'' (2019). Parker was a member of the

Society of Illustrators The Society of Illustrators is a professional society based in New York City. It was founded in 1901 to promote the art of illustration and, since 1959, has held an annual exhibition. History Founding The Society of Illustrators was founded on ...

and the National Cartoonists Society. When she retired in 1965, ''Mopsy'' retired with her. She was 58 when she died of lung cancer in 1966.

References

External links

Toonopedia: ''Mopsy''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Gladys 1908 births 1966 deaths American comic strip cartoonists American female comics artists Female comics writers People from North Tonawanda, New York American fashion designers American women fashion designers American women illustrators American illustrators 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American women artists Traphagen School of Fashion alumni