Caspar Milquetoast is a

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

character created by

H. T. Webster Harold Tucker Webster (September 21, 1885 – September 22, 1952) was an American cartoonist known for '' The Timid Soul'', ''Bridge'', ''Life's Darkest Moments'' and others in his syndicated series which ran from the 1920s into the 1950s. Because ...

for his cartoon series ''The Timid Soul''. Webster described Caspar Milquetoast as "the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick". The character's name is derived from a bland and fairly inoffensive food,

milk toast Milk toast is a breakfast dish consisting of toasted bread in warm milk, typically with sugar and butter."An Alphabet For Gourmets" by Mary Francis Kennedy Fisher, MacMillan Salt, pepper, paprika, cinnamon, cocoa, raisins or other ingredient ...

, which, light and easy to digest, is an appropriate food for someone with a weak or "nervous" stomach.

History

In 1912, Webster drew a daily panel for the ''

New-York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...

'', under a variety of titles—''Our Boyhood Ambitions'', ''Life's Darkest Moment'', ''The Unseen Audience''. In 1924, Webster moved to the ''

New York World The ''New York World'' was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers. It was a leading national voice of the Democratic Party. From 1883 to 1911 under publi ...

'' and soon after added ''The Timid Soul'' featuring the wimpy Caspar Milquetoast. Milquetoast developed out of the design of another character, Egbert Smear, or ''The Man in the Brown Derby''. The character was said to have ushered in a new era of timidity in comics. In 1927, Webster trained himself to draw left-handed in three months after a severe case of

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

impaired the use of his right hand. In 1931, the ''World'' folded, and that same year,

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

published a collection of ''The Timid Soul'' reprints. Webster then went back to the ''Tribune'' (now known as the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

''), where he launched a ''Timid Soul''

Sunday strip 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 ...

. He alternated his various features throughout the week: Caspar Milquetoast was seen on both Sunday and Monday. The character was featured in books, film, radio programs and vaudeville acts. Webster continued to produce this syndicated panel until his death in 1952, after which his assistant Herb Roth carried it on for another year. In November 1945, Webster was featured on the cover of ''Time'' magazine. The accompanying article said, "millions of Americans know Caspar Milquetoast as well as they know

Tom Sawyer Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), ''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and ''Tom Sawyer, Dete ...

and

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

, better than they know George F. Babbitt, and any amount better than they know such world figures as Mr. Micawber and

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

. They know him, in fact, almost as well as they know their own weaknesses."

Adaptation

On June 22, 1949, the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...

adapted ''The Timid Soul'' to television as the premiere presentation of its

anthology series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

Program Playhouse ''Program Playhouse'' was an anthology television series aired on the DuMont Television Network on Wednesdays from June 22 to September 14, 1949. The first program starred Ernest Truex as Caspar Milquetoast in ''The Timid Soul''. Others appearing ...

''. Caspar Milquetoast in that episode, now lost, was portrayed by

Ernest Truex Ernest Truex (September 19, 1889 – June 26, 1973) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Career Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Truex learned acting at an early age after his father, a doctor, treated actor Edwin Melvin, who ...

Legacy

Because of the popularity of Webster's character, the term ''milquetoast'' came into general usage in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...

to mean "weak and ineffectual". When the term is used to describe a person, it typically indicates someone of an unusually

meek Meekness is an attribute of human nature and behavior that has been defined as an amalgam of righteousness, inner humility, and patience. Meekness has been contrasted with humility alone insomuch as humility simply refers to an attitude towards o ...

, bland, soft, or submissive nature, who is easily overlooked, written off, and who may also appear overly sensitive, timid, indecisive or cowardly. ''Milquetoast'' appears in most American English dictionaries, but is not in many other English dictionaries.Not in Chambers, Collins, or even Longman (which includes most US expressions), an
Compact Oxford English Dictionary
says "chiefly N. Amer." One journalist has suggested that

Casper the Friendly Ghost Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. He is a pleasant, personable and translucent ghost, but often criticized by his three wicked uncles, the Ghostly Trio. T ...

, a cartoon character originating in the late 1930s, was a spoof named partially after Webster's Milquetoast, although there has been no official confirmation of this relationship.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Hairy Green Eyeball: ''The Timid Soul''
1924 comics debuts 1953 comics endings Milquetoast, Caspar Comics characters introduced in 1924 Gag cartoon comics Gag-a-day comics Milquetoast, Caspar

History

Adaptation

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links