James Swinnerton | ||
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In 1896 Swinnerton moved to New York City to work for Hearst's Journal American where he worked alongside George Herriman, Tad Dorgan, Harry Hershfield, George McManus and others. The main purpose of the move was that Hearst neeeded to have his "men on the spot" so to speak. The previous year, Jospeh Pulitzer's "The World" had introduced "the Yellow Kid" whihc had become an enormous success. Hearst was no idiot and he saw from both Swinnerton's success with the Little Bears and the the Yellow Kid's success at the World what a goldmine there may have been under his nose. These were fertile times for the fledging medium, and many seeds needed planting. Once in New York Swinnerton created a strip known as "Noah's Ark" (or "Mount Ararat") and then another animal strip featuring tigers instead of his bears. The Little Tigers as the strip became known was an immediate hit. The cute felines and Swinnerton's wry wit entranced kids from six to sixty. |
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In the west he began to paint western scenes and it was not very long before he became a very popular western artist. He is recognized as one of the top artists in the field of western oil painting and many of his paintings hang in museums throughout the southwest. Multi talented and ever famous, Jimmy Swinnerton is one of a small handful of people responsible for the birth and proliferation of the comic medium. He died in Palm Springs September 8, 1974. |
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