Charles Reamer Keller (January 11, 1905 – January 17, 1994), better known as Reamer Keller, was an American cartoonist. He often drew 50 cartoons a week and routinely published a thousand cartoons annually for decades.''Portsmouth Times''
Biography
Early life and education
Born in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
between the Massanuttan and
Blue Ridge Mountains
The Blue Ridge Mountains are a Physiographic regions of the world, physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range. The mountain range is located in the Eastern United States, and extends 550 miles southwest from southern Pennsy ...
, Keller grew up at 1919 Baird Avenue in
Portsmouth, Ohio
Portsmouth is a city in and the county seat of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky, just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. ...
, where his father, Harvey F. Keller (1867-1958), was a machinist with the Norfolk & Western Railway shops until his 1940 retirement. The young Reamer Keller honed his art abilities during employment in Portsmouth at the Compton Engraving & Printing Company.
Keller studied architecture at the
University of Cincinnati
The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,0 ...
, continuing with that as his major 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 ...
, where he was a member of the
Alpha Rho Chi
Alpha Rho Chi () is a professional co-educational college fraternity for students studying architecture and related professions. The fraternity's name is derived from the first three letters of the Greek word for architecture, ἀρχιτεκτ ...
architectural fraternity and contributed to the school's magazine. After he sold his first cartoon to '' The Columbus Citizen'', he took a job in the newspaper's art department. In addition to a job with '' The Ohio State Journal'', he also worked with architectural firms, with labor gangs and on the Cincinnati suspension bridge. He left Columbus to travel about the country, eventually returning to Portsmouth.
Cartoon marketing and marriage
Leaving Ohio in 1930, Keller relocated to Staten Island, began making gag cartoon sales to major New York magazines and married his Brooklyn-born wife in 1934. By 1937, the couple had two children (plus pigeons, chickens, ducks and rabbits). Working under a self-imposed schedule, Keller spent two days at the drawing board and three days making rounds to sell his cartoons. He recalled, "I was always deluged with requests for the original drawing. To an artist this is positive proof that you have produced a good, funny cartoon— one that has been right on target.""Cartoon Laughs in a Medical Vein". ''The Daily Review'' (Hayward, California), January 19, 1966.
He returned to Portsmouth to spend a week with his father in 1946, one of many annual visits. Keller and his wife remodeled their
Rumson, New Jersey
Rumson is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough’s population was 7,343, reflecting a 3.1% increase from the 7,122 enumera ...
, during the 1960s and 1970s, the couple sold the Portsmouth family house at 1919 Baird Avenue in 1970. During the 1980s, Keller moved to 4500 Ocean Boulevard in
South Palm Beach, Florida
South Palm Beach is a town located in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The town is situated on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and the Intracoastal Waterway. The entire town is approximately 5/8th of a mile (1 km) long ...
. Retiring in the 1990s, he lived in
Naples, Florida
Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flori ...
Dude
''Dude'' is American slang for an individual, typically male. From the 1870s to the 1960s, dude primarily meant a male person who dressed in an extremely fashionable manner (a dandy) or a conspicuous citified person who was visiting a rural ...
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
Liberty
Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom.
In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...
'', ''
Life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
'', ''
McCall's
''McCall's'' was a monthly American women's magazine, published by the McCall Corporation, that enjoyed great popularity through much of the 20th century, peaking at a readership of 8.4 million in the early 1960s. It was established as a small-f ...
'', ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...
'', ''
Reader's Digest
''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wif ...
'', ''
The Saturday Evening Post
''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine, currently published six times a year. It was issued weekly under this title from 1897 until 1963, then every two weeks until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely ...
'', '' This Week'' and many other magazines. For '' Family Weekly'' he drew the cartoon feature ''Addle-essence'' about teenagers, and another series was ''Pedro'' for ''
Boys' Life
''Scout Life'' (formerly ''Boys' Life'') is the monthly magazine of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Its target readers are boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 18. The magazine‘s headquarters are in Irving, Texas.
''Scout Life'' is pu ...
''.
''Collier's'' cartoon editor Gurney Williams wrote about Keller's wacky sculpture constructions:
Syndication
In the early 1950s, Keller began ''Kennesaw'' in ''Collier's'' and then expanded this series of hillbilly characters as a comic strip, launched December 7, 1953. Distributed by the
Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate
Tribune Content Agency (TCA) is a syndication company owned by Tribune Publishing. TCA had previously been known as the Chicago Tribune Syndicate, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate (CTNYNS), Tribune Company Syndicate, and Tribune Media S ...
, ''Kennesaw'' ran until 1955. In 1966, he launched his gag panel series ''Medicare'' about doctors and nurses. Keller explained why he started this series, "I found that invariably whenever I did a cartoon about doctors, nurses and their patients, there would be an immediate reaction." ''Medicare'' ran until 1975, syndicated by
Field Enterprises
Field Enterprises, Inc. was a private holding company that operated from the 1940s to the 1980s, founded by Marshall Field III and others, whose main assets were the ''Chicago Sun'' and ''Parade'' magazine. For various periods of time, Field Enter ...
.
Books
His books include ''Why the Long Puss?'' (Bantam, 1956) and ''Mating Manual'' (Bantam, 1957).