1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:03,760 Speaker 1: Hey everybody. Tracy here with news about some live appearances 2 00:00:03,760 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: we have coming up. Saturday July seven, I will be 3 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: at History Camp Boston where I will be part of 4 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,440 Speaker 1: the History Podcaster panel. And then the next day, Sunday, 5 00:00:13,560 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: July eight, at two pm, Holly and I both will 6 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: be doing a live podcast at Adams National Historical Park 7 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:24,240 Speaker 1: in Quincy, Massachusetts, where our show will be John Quincy 8 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:27,760 Speaker 1: and Luisa Catherine Adams Abroad. This is an outdoor show 9 00:00:27,800 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: and it will happen rain or shine, and we're coming 10 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,400 Speaker 1: back to Convention Days in Seneca Falls, New York. Our 11 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:37,840 Speaker 1: show is at four pm on Saturday, July twenty one 12 00:00:37,840 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 1: in the historic Wesleyan Chapel. You can get more information 13 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:43,800 Speaker 1: about all of these shows with links to buy tickets 14 00:00:43,840 --> 00:00:48,279 Speaker 1: where applicable at missed in History dot Com. Click on 15 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: live shows in the menu. Welcome to steph you missed 16 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:07,040 Speaker 1: in History class from how Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, 17 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:09,880 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry and I'm 18 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:13,320 Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson, and today we're starting a two parter, 19 00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 1: so heads up this one. We'll take two episodes. We're 20 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:18,759 Speaker 1: going to talk about a person who has been on 21 00:01:18,800 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 1: my list for almost exact amount of time that Tracy 22 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:23,480 Speaker 1: and I have been on the show. He got on 23 00:01:23,520 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: my list almost immediately, uh, and I just never got 24 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: around to impartially because I knew he was going to 25 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:31,520 Speaker 1: take a couple episodes for me to feel like we've 26 00:01:31,600 --> 00:01:33,760 Speaker 1: covered enough of his life, even so, I think we 27 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: could have done more. But lately he has been on 28 00:01:37,240 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 1: my mind a lot because of the work I have 29 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:42,479 Speaker 1: been doing on our other podcast, Drawn, which is about animation, 30 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:47,320 Speaker 1: because he influenced so much of the media that we 31 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:53,320 Speaker 1: consume in the century, including work by people like Maury 32 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 1: Sendec and Walt Disney. And as I was doing interviews 33 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:59,920 Speaker 1: for Drawn, that show is very interview heavy. Every time 34 00:02:00,040 --> 00:02:02,800 Speaker 1: name windsor McKay's name came up, the people that I 35 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 1: was speaking with universally lauded his incredible skill and drive 36 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:11,240 Speaker 1: within the animation industry. He's really regarded as not just 37 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:15,440 Speaker 1: an icon, but almost in um you know, like saintly guys. 38 00:02:15,840 --> 00:02:18,959 Speaker 1: He's really really admired. Uh. And whether you have heard 39 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 1: of him before or not, if you have watched any 40 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:25,640 Speaker 1: animation made in the US after nineteen or frankly, if 41 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:27,960 Speaker 1: you have ever read a comic strip you have benefited 42 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: to some degree from his influence. McKay was born Zenus 43 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: Windsor Mackay on September twenty six, although the year and 44 00:02:35,680 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: the place of his birth are not consistently reported. Depending 45 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:41,400 Speaker 1: on where you look, you might see his place of 46 00:02:41,480 --> 00:02:45,960 Speaker 1: birth reported as Ontario, Canada or Spring Like Michigan. His 47 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:50,200 Speaker 1: parents married in West Zora, Ontario, in eighteen sixty six, 48 00:02:50,240 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: and they moved to Michigan not long after that. So 49 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,280 Speaker 1: the year that comes up in connection to Canada is 50 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: eighteen sixty seven, and for Michigan it's eighteen seventy or 51 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: seven anyone. And there are no records that have been 52 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:07,880 Speaker 1: found to support any of this. Yeah, the records in 53 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: Spring Like Michigan, their records office had a fire, so 54 00:03:11,720 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 1: there's not much there, and there was never anything found 55 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:19,400 Speaker 1: in Ontario. And even though they were living in Michigan already, 56 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,640 Speaker 1: there has been speculation that his mother may have wanted 57 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: to travel home to be with her family when she 58 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: had her baby. So we just don't know. His age 59 00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: is going to come up again later. The legend of 60 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,160 Speaker 1: Windsor start as an artist is actually tied to a 61 00:03:33,160 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: little bit of a family tragedy. Allegedly, one night, the 62 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: mackay family home burned to the ground and Windsor, once 63 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,360 Speaker 1: he was safely settled at a neighbor's house, used a 64 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 1: nail that he had found to etch an image of 65 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:50,640 Speaker 1: the house on fire on a frosted window pane, and 66 00:03:50,760 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: that was the beginning of his drawing obsession, something which 67 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: McKay would later say he did exclusively to please himself 68 00:03:57,440 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: rather than anyone else who might look at his work. 69 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 1: While he may have only wanted to make himself happy 70 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: with his drawings, he was also never really attached to 71 00:04:05,880 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: any of them. That's probably served him really well later 72 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: on as a cartoonist and an animator. He once wrote quote, 73 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:14,560 Speaker 1: I never saved my drawings. I would give them away 74 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:17,480 Speaker 1: if anybody wanted them, or would throw them away. I 75 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:21,400 Speaker 1: do want fences, blackboards in school, old scraps of paper, slates, 76 00:04:21,520 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 1: sides of barns. I just couldn't stop. He later said 77 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 1: that his drawing was only about fifteen percent talent and 78 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:33,680 Speaker 1: about eighty five hard work. Yeah, if you subscribe to 79 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: the practice makes perfect ideology. He was constantly practicing, so 80 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: from the time he was really really young. So it 81 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,080 Speaker 1: is a little bit hard to discern what was his 82 00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 1: just natural talent versus what was his constant flexing of 83 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: those muscles. And even from a very young age, Mackay 84 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:55,840 Speaker 1: was aware of the importance of observation for an artist. 85 00:04:56,160 --> 00:04:58,599 Speaker 1: He made a point to really look at the world 86 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:01,800 Speaker 1: around him and try to remember as much detail as 87 00:05:01,800 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 1: he could so that he could easily recall realistic images 88 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,800 Speaker 1: when he was drawing, and this method served him incredibly well. 89 00:05:09,400 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: Even as a young child. People noted how accurate his 90 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:16,320 Speaker 1: drawings were in terms of perspective and proportion. He just 91 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:19,479 Speaker 1: almost always got it exactly right, and he was just 92 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 1: doing so from memory, without a subject or a model 93 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: in front of him. In his father didn't see a 94 00:05:25,839 --> 00:05:28,920 Speaker 1: future for winds Or in art, and he later expressed 95 00:05:28,920 --> 00:05:32,320 Speaker 1: some regret for not having sent him to art school. Instead. 96 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:35,960 Speaker 1: His parents sent him to business college, but business school 97 00:05:36,000 --> 00:05:38,599 Speaker 1: did not really hold his interest. Instead, he would take 98 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:41,919 Speaker 1: a train from Ipsilante, where the school was, to Detroit 99 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,760 Speaker 1: and he would draw pictures for money in a curiosity 100 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: museum called Wonderland. It's one of those museums full of 101 00:05:48,279 --> 00:05:52,160 Speaker 1: wax figures and taxidermy and a cyclorama and a menagerie. 102 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:55,279 Speaker 1: He drew pictures of museum visitors and sold them for 103 00:05:55,320 --> 00:05:57,359 Speaker 1: a quarter, and then he split his take with the 104 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: museum fifty fifty. He never finished business school, but his 105 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:05,159 Speaker 1: classmates were impressed with his steady flow of cash and 106 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: it's exciting life that he seemed to be living, traveling 107 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 1: as an artist while also skipping school. Yeah he uh. 108 00:06:13,600 --> 00:06:17,480 Speaker 1: At one point said this really fun thing about how 109 00:06:17,520 --> 00:06:19,719 Speaker 1: the best way to sell a drawing of someone was 110 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:23,120 Speaker 1: to make it really flattering. So, especially when women or 111 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: girls were in the museum and wanted to have their 112 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:29,039 Speaker 1: picture drawn, he would draw them looking like themselves, but 113 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:34,120 Speaker 1: like a prettier version of themselves, and those ones always solved, which, 114 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 1: of course I mean flattery of the subject has been 115 00:06:36,360 --> 00:06:39,640 Speaker 1: working for artists for a long time. But while he 116 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:42,160 Speaker 1: was in Ipsilanti, McKay did get a bit of an 117 00:06:42,240 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 1: art education, though certainly not through the business school and 118 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: not quite in a formal way. Instead, an art professor 119 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: at Michigan State Normal named John Goodison offered to give 120 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: the young artist private lessons. It was becoming really apparent 121 00:06:57,440 --> 00:06:59,960 Speaker 1: that while Windsor McKay's parents might not have wanted their 122 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: fun to pursue a career in art. A career in 123 00:07:03,320 --> 00:07:07,320 Speaker 1: art really seemed like a foregone conclusion. McKay had a 124 00:07:07,360 --> 00:07:10,400 Speaker 1: reputation enough that he attracted the interest of a professor 125 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: from a local college to offer to educate him. So 126 00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: like this, this was not something that he was going 127 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:19,920 Speaker 1: to walk away from, and he was really eager to 128 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: learn anything and everything that Goodison taught him, from art 129 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: history to technique in his own work, and his art 130 00:07:26,640 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: teacher was convinced that Windsor had a great career ahead 131 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:33,640 Speaker 1: of him. The lessons in perspective and composition that Goodison 132 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: taught the young artist informed his work for the rest 133 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: of his life. And it was also during this time 134 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: with Goodison that McKay started doing really fast sketch work 135 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:46,040 Speaker 1: from memory on blackboards and that skill. Keep it in mind, 136 00:07:46,120 --> 00:07:50,040 Speaker 1: because it eventually proved very lucrative. But in the more 137 00:07:50,080 --> 00:07:54,040 Speaker 1: immediate sense, McKay's work with Goodison made one thing really clear. 138 00:07:54,160 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: He could not bear the thought of a business career. 139 00:07:57,480 --> 00:07:59,960 Speaker 1: Art was the only path that he was willing to walk, 140 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: So with Goodison's encouragement, he left Ipsilante and moved to 141 00:08:04,000 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: Chicago to study at the Art Institute but this is 142 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:09,720 Speaker 1: one of those areas of his life, and there are 143 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:13,400 Speaker 1: a number of them where the actual events that took 144 00:08:13,400 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: place are real fuzzy. McKay never actually enrolled in school, 145 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: though what exactly stopped him is a little bit unclear. Instead, 146 00:08:23,080 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: he started working at National Printing and Engraving Company, which 147 00:08:26,480 --> 00:08:30,200 Speaker 1: made commercial advertising posters and pamphlets, and at that point 148 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:32,600 Speaker 1: he lived in a boarding house with another young artist, 149 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,120 Speaker 1: Jules Garrion, and the two of them sort of traded knowledge. 150 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:38,559 Speaker 1: They both excelled in different areas of art, and they 151 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: really shared their knowledge with one another. Those two also 152 00:08:41,960 --> 00:08:45,559 Speaker 1: became freemasons together during this time, and McKay stayed a 153 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: freemason for the rest of his life. McKay didn't stay 154 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:51,600 Speaker 1: in Chicago for long though, After two years he moved 155 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,600 Speaker 1: on to Cincinnati, but it's not clear why. So when 156 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:58,480 Speaker 1: he talked about himself, he liked to make it interesting, 157 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,040 Speaker 1: and as friends also tended to embellish things a lot 158 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:03,400 Speaker 1: when they talked about him. So a lot of McKay's 159 00:09:03,480 --> 00:09:06,640 Speaker 1: life is clouded by these different versions of the story, 160 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: and a lot of times not a lot of records 161 00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: to back that up, so it can be hard to 162 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,720 Speaker 1: unravel truth and half truth when trying to get to 163 00:09:14,720 --> 00:09:17,800 Speaker 1: the details of his life. Yeah, particularly this early part 164 00:09:17,840 --> 00:09:21,560 Speaker 1: before he was kind of a household name. McKay might 165 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:24,960 Speaker 1: have followed a job offered to Cincinnati. Uh, he was 166 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:27,760 Speaker 1: smart enough to know that he really kind of needed 167 00:09:28,080 --> 00:09:31,160 Speaker 1: a little bit of a plan going into a new thing. 168 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:34,640 Speaker 1: But there is also a fun apocryphal story that in 169 00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:37,560 Speaker 1: fact he was working for a traveling circus as a 170 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 1: signmaker and that that's how he ended up in Cincinnati. 171 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: We don't know if there's any truth to that either, 172 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:45,760 Speaker 1: but in any case, he ended up at another dime 173 00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,439 Speaker 1: museum similar to the Wonderland that he had worked at 174 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:52,319 Speaker 1: in Detroit, most likely hired based on the growing reputation 175 00:09:52,440 --> 00:09:55,600 Speaker 1: of his work. He wasn't making sketches for patrons this 176 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,600 Speaker 1: time around, but he was making posters and signs for 177 00:09:58,640 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: the museum itself as a regular employee. And it was 178 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:04,559 Speaker 1: while he was working in the dime Museum that mckayson 179 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:08,600 Speaker 1: edison Vitoscope moving picture for the first time. In addition 180 00:10:08,640 --> 00:10:12,239 Speaker 1: to his museum work, McKay also took jobs painting billboards 181 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:17,079 Speaker 1: and large street advertisements. This also became his first performance work. 182 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:20,360 Speaker 1: As an artist. One of the incredible skills that he 183 00:10:20,440 --> 00:10:23,240 Speaker 1: possessed was the ability to draw a figure in its 184 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 1: entirety in one single stroke. So as you can imagine, 185 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: a man drawing figures eight to ten feet tall out 186 00:10:30,040 --> 00:10:32,920 Speaker 1: in public in this incredible way would draw a crowd. 187 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:36,680 Speaker 1: People were awed by his skill, and stories of the 188 00:10:36,679 --> 00:10:40,800 Speaker 1: man who painted these huge, lifelike drawings with no reference 189 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:44,520 Speaker 1: out on the streets of Cincinnati started to spread. Yeah, 190 00:10:44,559 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: he would do this big sketch initially and then he 191 00:10:47,040 --> 00:10:49,960 Speaker 1: would paint it in And he was also a small 192 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 1: of stature person, so it really lent this extra drama 193 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: to the situation. Like a guy who was only five 194 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: feet drawing someone eight to ten ft in one single 195 00:11:00,160 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: long line was just astonishing. And so it kind of 196 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:05,280 Speaker 1: got to the point where if he went out with 197 00:11:05,320 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: his supplies to start on a billboard or assign a 198 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:12,440 Speaker 1: crowd would just gather to watch. Uh. And coming up, 199 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: we're going to talk about some unique artistic endeavors that 200 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,520 Speaker 1: McKay was part of in Cincinnati. But first we're gonna 201 00:11:18,559 --> 00:11:27,920 Speaker 1: pause for a little sponsor break. So McKay also, in 202 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 1: addition to kind of becoming an accidental street performer. While 203 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: he was painting, participated in a couple of more planned 204 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,840 Speaker 1: performance art pieces in Cincinnati that were conceptualized by his 205 00:11:37,880 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 1: employer on his billboard work, Philip Morton. For one of these, 206 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: they staged a battle from the Spanish American War on 207 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:49,120 Speaker 1: barges out in the river, but onlooker started stoning the 208 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,680 Speaker 1: barge representing the Spanish on which both McKay and Morton 209 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: were serving as actors, and both of the men were injured. 210 00:11:55,840 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: There are stories of them getting back to shore with 211 00:11:58,640 --> 00:12:02,080 Speaker 1: like cuts on their faces and arms from having rocks 212 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:05,720 Speaker 1: and garbage thrown at them. A tugboat eventually had to 213 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:08,040 Speaker 1: be signaled to pull the barge that McKay was on 214 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:10,680 Speaker 1: off of a collision course with the bridge. Like the 215 00:12:10,760 --> 00:12:15,840 Speaker 1: whole performance art piece really went south. But while he 216 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:19,000 Speaker 1: was certainly becoming a well known figure and a producer 217 00:12:19,040 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: of art in Cincinnati, perhaps the most important thing that 218 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: happens to McKay while living there was meeting maud Lenore 219 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,920 Speaker 1: dufour after just seeing her walk into the museum with 220 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:32,840 Speaker 1: her older sister Josephine one day while he was working, 221 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:35,640 Speaker 1: McKay is said to have rushed up to his office 222 00:12:35,679 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: to change out of his painter's garb and into a 223 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: nice suit so that he could go up to this 224 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 1: young woman who had captivated him from the first time 225 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:47,800 Speaker 1: that he saw her licking his absolute best. Yeah, he 226 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:51,680 Speaker 1: was a snappy dresser, So he had his suit upstairs 227 00:12:51,679 --> 00:12:53,920 Speaker 1: and had changed into something a little grubbier to do 228 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: work with his paint and art supplies, and so he 229 00:12:57,240 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 1: wanted to go back to his fancy ensomb before he 230 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:03,800 Speaker 1: met this young lady. And Windsor and Maud hit it off, 231 00:13:03,840 --> 00:13:07,120 Speaker 1: and they began dating immediately, And it was really quite 232 00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: shortly after their courtship began that they rode to Covington, 233 00:13:10,480 --> 00:13:13,240 Speaker 1: Kentucky to get married before a Justice of the peace 234 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:16,959 Speaker 1: in an elopement. This gets a little weird here because 235 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:19,840 Speaker 1: Maud was a full decade younger than Windsor. She was 236 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,520 Speaker 1: only fourteen at the time and he was twenty four. 237 00:13:23,080 --> 00:13:27,319 Speaker 1: So while it initially sounds very romantic sounding by today's standards, 238 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:29,559 Speaker 1: it's kind of scandalous and even a little bit icky 239 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:33,679 Speaker 1: to think about. But to further compound confusion over the 240 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 1: age gap, it appears that Windsor Mackay, who was already 241 00:13:36,520 --> 00:13:39,280 Speaker 1: known to lie about his age, had lost track of 242 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:42,400 Speaker 1: his real date of birth entirely. Uh, he may not 243 00:13:42,520 --> 00:13:44,840 Speaker 1: have realized just how far apart they were in years, 244 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,439 Speaker 1: or another theory is that he fudged it even more 245 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:51,680 Speaker 1: to make the difference in their ages a little less scandalous. Yeah, 246 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: people did get married a little younger on average then, 247 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:58,720 Speaker 1: but still in the eighteen nineties, the the median age 248 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:03,880 Speaker 1: for women was more like twenty two. Not yeah, I mean, 249 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,320 Speaker 1: I certainly like I look back on some old family 250 00:14:06,320 --> 00:14:08,320 Speaker 1: records and there are certainly people that got married at 251 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:12,000 Speaker 1: at fifteen and sixteen, but it was not that was 252 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:17,360 Speaker 1: still really young. So while McKay had seemed really eager 253 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:20,640 Speaker 1: to marry Maud, he did have some ambivalence about actually 254 00:14:20,640 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: being a husband. So as a young man, he had 255 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: spent his young adult years doing whatever he wanted and 256 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 1: pursuing his art above everything else, so being a responsible 257 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: family man felt confining, especially because Maud's mother also lived 258 00:14:35,160 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 1: with them at the same time. Though the couple stayed 259 00:14:37,760 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: together and maybe to hang on to a sense of freedom, 260 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:44,880 Speaker 1: McKay moved the family from home to home, and the 261 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:48,520 Speaker 1: first twelve years of their marriage, the McKay's had ten 262 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 1: different addresses. Yeah, there's a lot of uh theorization and 263 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:58,280 Speaker 1: discussion when you look at biographies of him that he 264 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:03,880 Speaker 1: was a little bit unhappy with this arrangement just in 265 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: terms of being married, and it wasn't always smooth sailing. 266 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: But at the same time, any of the letters or 267 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: notes that he wrote to his wife and his family 268 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:14,760 Speaker 1: were very loving, and he was generally believed to have 269 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,320 Speaker 1: been really quite dedicated, but he still had that part 270 00:15:18,320 --> 00:15:20,680 Speaker 1: of him that just yearned to be out on his 271 00:15:20,760 --> 00:15:24,120 Speaker 1: own and able to do whatever he wanted. Maud and 272 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:29,240 Speaker 1: Windsor welcome his son Robert on June one. The McKay's 273 00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:31,960 Speaker 1: had been married for five years at that point, and 274 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,880 Speaker 1: their surprise, they got pregnant again almost immediately. They had 275 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: a daughter, Mary and Elizabeth on August. And throughout all 276 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:44,280 Speaker 1: of this the artist continued in his jobs at the 277 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 1: museum and the billboard company. Eventually McKay got into newspaperwork, 278 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,760 Speaker 1: largely because the papers that sold ads for the Dime 279 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:55,960 Speaker 1: Museum didn't have any artists on hand who were willing 280 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: to draw the bizarre artwork that was needed for these ads, 281 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: so McKay was asked to do the art himself. He 282 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:06,400 Speaker 1: learned an entirely new skill set to do so. While 283 00:16:06,440 --> 00:16:09,640 Speaker 1: he was talented and accomplished as an artist, the tools 284 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 1: of the trade and the parameters of work were a 285 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:14,200 Speaker 1: lot different when a piece of art was going to 286 00:16:14,240 --> 00:16:18,120 Speaker 1: be printed in a paper versus being printed as a poster. 287 00:16:18,920 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: So he had to learn how to draw his art 288 00:16:20,840 --> 00:16:23,520 Speaker 1: for a larger size to be reduced for the paper, 289 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:27,000 Speaker 1: and to pay really careful attention so that his lines 290 00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:29,320 Speaker 1: and the image wouldn't just be a mess when they 291 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:32,160 Speaker 1: were reduced down for the paper. Yeah, there were also 292 00:16:32,240 --> 00:16:34,640 Speaker 1: just different supplies involved that he had to get used 293 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: to using. But McKay, always a quick and eager learner, 294 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: impressed the leadership of the Commercial Tribune, which was the 295 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:43,720 Speaker 1: paper that had asked him to do this, so much 296 00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,560 Speaker 1: so that they offered him a full time job. And 297 00:16:46,600 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 1: at that point, he had been at the Dime Museum 298 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:51,800 Speaker 1: for eight years and he was kind of reluctant to leave. 299 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:54,880 Speaker 1: He felt the loyalty to them, But thankfully, when he 300 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:57,600 Speaker 1: discussed it with his boss, his boss encouraged him to 301 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:00,280 Speaker 1: take that new job, but no hard feeling in the 302 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:01,920 Speaker 1: mix because it was going to be a move up 303 00:17:01,960 --> 00:17:04,399 Speaker 1: and he had a family to look after, and the 304 00:17:04,400 --> 00:17:08,000 Speaker 1: Tribune wanted McKay to work as an artist reporter, illustrating 305 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:11,920 Speaker 1: stories and drawing cartoons. If you look at McKay's work 306 00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:15,359 Speaker 1: from this time as an illustrator, it's really astonishing. He 307 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:18,399 Speaker 1: was able to capture moments for these stories with almost 308 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: the same level of detail that you would see in 309 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:25,720 Speaker 1: a photograph. In crowd scenes like capturing parades, the details 310 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:28,439 Speaker 1: on all the buildings are very carefully rendered, and the 311 00:17:28,520 --> 00:17:30,920 Speaker 1: people in the crowd are drawn in a lot of detail, 312 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:34,280 Speaker 1: right to the point that it would be impossible to 313 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:39,600 Speaker 1: put any more detail into the images. Receding perspective. Yeah, 314 00:17:39,600 --> 00:17:43,639 Speaker 1: there's one in particular where there's a crowd of people 315 00:17:43,680 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: watching a parade, and he even draws all of the 316 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:48,840 Speaker 1: hats on the people until it's just like the point 317 00:17:48,840 --> 00:17:52,560 Speaker 1: where they would be thoughts, Like, everything is really really detailed, 318 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:55,280 Speaker 1: and his sense of perspective that he had learned under 319 00:17:55,280 --> 00:18:00,440 Speaker 1: Goodison was serving him so beautifully because they looked peccable 320 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,199 Speaker 1: in terms of how they were laid out. And McKay 321 00:18:03,240 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 1: also started working as a freelancer for the humorist magazine 322 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:08,800 Speaker 1: Life during this time. As we go on, you will 323 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:11,719 Speaker 1: hear over and over that he almost always had multiple jobs. 324 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:16,200 Speaker 1: Life was a satirical magazine with spectacular art, and McKay 325 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:18,840 Speaker 1: was actually a fan of many of their regular artists. 326 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 1: Heads up, just in case this peaks anyone's interest and 327 00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:25,119 Speaker 1: you want to go looking for work from this magazine. 328 00:18:25,520 --> 00:18:28,159 Speaker 1: There is a lot of racist humor in it, including 329 00:18:28,240 --> 00:18:31,639 Speaker 1: some of McKay's work. Many of McKay's cartoons during this 330 00:18:31,760 --> 00:18:35,760 Speaker 1: time focused on the relationship between the US and the Philippines, 331 00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:38,679 Speaker 1: which the US had gained control over with the signing 332 00:18:38,680 --> 00:18:43,720 Speaker 1: of the Treaty of Paris. In a larger paycheck lured 333 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: mackay away from the Commercial Tribune to the Cincinnati Enquirer 334 00:18:47,200 --> 00:18:50,000 Speaker 1: in nineteen hundred, and he quickly rose to be head 335 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 1: of the art department. He drew hundreds of cartoons for 336 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:55,400 Speaker 1: the paper and the three years that he worked there. 337 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,959 Speaker 1: Among the most significant were his illustrations for a series 338 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,760 Speaker 1: called A Tale of the Jungle Imps by Felix Fiddle 339 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 1: On that byline is part of the title. The series 340 00:19:06,359 --> 00:19:09,720 Speaker 1: depicts animals deciding to change their physicalities to try to 341 00:19:09,720 --> 00:19:13,480 Speaker 1: outwit three impish children of the jungle who are taunting them. 342 00:19:13,560 --> 00:19:16,119 Speaker 1: For example, and one of them the imps, tickle a 343 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:19,840 Speaker 1: giraffe's nose until the giraffe sneezes, So then the giraffe 344 00:19:19,840 --> 00:19:22,480 Speaker 1: has a group of skilled monkeys make him a longer neck, 345 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:26,159 Speaker 1: so when the imps approached him, he picks one up 346 00:19:26,200 --> 00:19:29,120 Speaker 1: by the hair shakes it flings him around to teach 347 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:32,680 Speaker 1: him a lesson. The Jungle Imps series ran for most 348 00:19:32,760 --> 00:19:37,120 Speaker 1: of the three calendar year and was immensely popular. Yeah, 349 00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:39,400 Speaker 1: these were based on ratings by someone else, but they 350 00:19:39,440 --> 00:19:43,240 Speaker 1: basically explain evolution in a really bizarre way, where animals 351 00:19:43,320 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: consciously make the decisions to evolve so that they could 352 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:50,600 Speaker 1: stop being teased by these children. But by the time 353 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: the last of that series was publishing, McKay had actually 354 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:58,040 Speaker 1: already moved on to another job. In h three, McKay 355 00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:01,000 Speaker 1: started working at the New York Herald as a cartoonist, 356 00:20:01,400 --> 00:20:04,399 Speaker 1: so similar to his previous job move, he turned to 357 00:20:04,480 --> 00:20:06,720 Speaker 1: his boss for advice when the Herald had made him 358 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 1: this offer, and his editor at the Cincinnati Inquirer told 359 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: him that to take the position if the Harold would 360 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:15,480 Speaker 1: agree to pay for his move to New York, which 361 00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:18,840 Speaker 1: it did. So this move was something of a shock 362 00:20:18,920 --> 00:20:22,160 Speaker 1: for the family. They had had this lovely house in Cincinnati, 363 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:23,920 Speaker 1: but then when they moved to New York, they first 364 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:26,879 Speaker 1: had to stay in a hotel, but they wanted a 365 00:20:26,880 --> 00:20:30,080 Speaker 1: house like they had had before. And eventually, after feeling 366 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: overwhelmed by the options in the city, particularly Maud, she 367 00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:37,320 Speaker 1: did not really love their options for living in Manhattan, 368 00:20:37,760 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: they moved into a home in Sheep's Head Bay, Brooklyn. 369 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:45,720 Speaker 1: Starting in November of three, McKay started churning out illustrations 370 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,400 Speaker 1: for the New York Harold and the Evening Telegram, which 371 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:52,440 Speaker 1: was also owned by The Heralds publisher James Gordon Bennett Jr. 372 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: His work ranged from the political to social commentary to 373 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:00,240 Speaker 1: unique illustrations depicting like a horse show that he covered 374 00:21:00,240 --> 00:21:03,600 Speaker 1: as a journalist. Instead of just making straight drawings of 375 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:07,159 Speaker 1: these horses, he drew them from unusual angles, so he 376 00:21:07,200 --> 00:21:11,560 Speaker 1: created a really stylized look to the story. The idea 377 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:14,320 Speaker 1: of the comic strip was just getting legs in the 378 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,800 Speaker 1: US at this point, influenced in part by previous podcast 379 00:21:17,840 --> 00:21:21,240 Speaker 1: subject Rodolph top Fur, and McKay was quick to start 380 00:21:21,240 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: experimenting with it. He wanted, like many artists of the 381 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:28,639 Speaker 1: time to secure a regular syndicated strip, and he wanted 382 00:21:28,640 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 1: the income and notoriety that would come with it. This 383 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:34,679 Speaker 1: is kind of a time when being a popular cartoonist 384 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,560 Speaker 1: was kind of like being a famous actor today. The 385 00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:42,360 Speaker 1: newspaper industry had been in steep competition to lure readers 386 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:45,560 Speaker 1: with comics, and McKay stepped into the New York scene 387 00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:47,920 Speaker 1: just as this was starting to hit its fever pitch. 388 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,600 Speaker 1: For the first half of nineteen o four, When's They're 389 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:54,640 Speaker 1: tried out a number of comics, including Mr Goodenough, who 390 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:56,880 Speaker 1: was about a wealthy gent who decided to be more 391 00:21:57,080 --> 00:21:59,679 Speaker 1: energetic and lively in his life, but his efforts to 392 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: do it always end in disaster. Another was Furious Finish 393 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:08,679 Speaker 1: of Foolish Philip's Funny Frolics. All those fs are really phs. 394 00:22:10,440 --> 00:22:13,560 Speaker 1: They featured two clowns and a show girl, harkening back 395 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:15,439 Speaker 1: to the Museum and the circus art that he had 396 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:19,520 Speaker 1: done earlier in his career, and Windsor McKay was just 397 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:22,960 Speaker 1: about to hit his stride as a cartoonist. But before 398 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,679 Speaker 1: we get into the details of his early successes in 399 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:30,920 Speaker 1: that medium, we're gonna pause for a little sponsor break, 400 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:38,440 Speaker 1: so while McKay had started trying some things, but they 401 00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:41,760 Speaker 1: didn't quite catch on. Starting in mid nineteen o four, 402 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,639 Speaker 1: he created two comic strips for the paper that became 403 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:49,200 Speaker 1: very successful. The first was Little Sammy Sneeze Starting, a 404 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:51,879 Speaker 1: little boy who, over the course of five frames in 405 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:55,119 Speaker 1: each installment, had a sneeze build up in a situation 406 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 1: where sneezing would be inconvenient or inappropriate. The six panel 407 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:02,920 Speaker 1: would always feature the unfortunate aftermath of the sneeze that 408 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,199 Speaker 1: Sammy just couldn't suppress. The title of the comic was 409 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 1: framed on either side every week with the phrases he 410 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 1: just simply couldn't stop it, and he never knew it 411 00:23:12,560 --> 00:23:16,639 Speaker 1: was coming. Sammy and his Sneezing Problem debuted on July. 412 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:23,160 Speaker 1: Sammy's Adventures evidenced a certain level of darkness in McKay's 413 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:27,440 Speaker 1: comedic sensibilities, and one strip, Sammy is visiting the country 414 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:30,639 Speaker 1: and watching a farmhand milk a cow as the sneeze 415 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:34,480 Speaker 1: starts building up. When it finally lets loose, the cow bolts, 416 00:23:35,080 --> 00:23:37,320 Speaker 1: kicking the man that's milking her, and then the man 417 00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:41,320 Speaker 1: kicks Sammy in the rump. I feel like this goes 418 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:47,000 Speaker 1: back to some of Rudolph toppers. Yes, spankings, Yes, like 419 00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:50,320 Speaker 1: the cycle of violence that just continues from one character 420 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:53,359 Speaker 1: to another. Yeah, and another of them. Sammy is riding 421 00:23:53,359 --> 00:23:55,800 Speaker 1: in a crowded trolley with his mother, and as the 422 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:59,680 Speaker 1: sneeze builds up, the passengers or gossiping and reading their papers, 423 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:03,080 Speaker 1: his sneeze sends the whole car into complete chaos, with 424 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:06,200 Speaker 1: hats flying off of people a dog escaping from its owner. 425 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:09,919 Speaker 1: The last panel is simply as mother leading Sammy away 426 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: and saying I shall never take you with me again. 427 00:24:12,880 --> 00:24:18,600 Speaker 1: Yeah it's uh. It struck me as really somber and sad. Uh. 428 00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:21,480 Speaker 1: The second strip that McKay created in nineteen o four 429 00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,160 Speaker 1: was Dream of the rare Bit Fiend. So rare Bit, 430 00:24:25,520 --> 00:24:28,720 Speaker 1: also some sometimes called Welsh Rabbit, is a dish that 431 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,480 Speaker 1: in fact contains no rabbit at all, but it is 432 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: a rich cheese based sauce that served over toast. It's 433 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,280 Speaker 1: sometimes a little bit spicy, it's always very very rich. 434 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,200 Speaker 1: And because it has long been a popular wives tale 435 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:46,600 Speaker 1: that rich food causes strange dreams, the entire concept of 436 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,359 Speaker 1: this comic was that it depicted the dreams of someone 437 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:52,600 Speaker 1: who absolutely loved the dish and ate it before bedtime. 438 00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:55,639 Speaker 1: So in one strip, a man dreams that he begins 439 00:24:55,640 --> 00:24:58,879 Speaker 1: to grow antlers, and he is initially dismayed and his 440 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 1: concern grows. His wife and baby and even pets also 441 00:25:03,040 --> 00:25:06,000 Speaker 1: start to grow antlers. But just as he starts to 442 00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,440 Speaker 1: become comfortable with the idea, there's a moment where he's 443 00:25:08,440 --> 00:25:10,520 Speaker 1: looking at nature and he's like, no, nature is beautiful, 444 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 1: antlers are great. Uh. He is awakened from this nap, 445 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:17,960 Speaker 1: And in another the main character is dreaming that he's 446 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,480 Speaker 1: a sketched fashion model, but that the artist keeps smudging 447 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:24,240 Speaker 1: the drawing and leaving ink blurs on him. And as 448 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:26,760 Speaker 1: he continues to complain about the pen and ink artist 449 00:25:26,880 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 1: creating him, he becomes slowly engulfed by smears and blotches 450 00:25:30,840 --> 00:25:33,760 Speaker 1: of ink, and the character becomes convinced that he will 451 00:25:33,800 --> 00:25:36,119 Speaker 1: be torn up and thrown on a fire. And the 452 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,119 Speaker 1: final panel is the dreamer awakening and swearing that he 453 00:25:39,160 --> 00:25:41,800 Speaker 1: will never eat rere bit again. I will tell you 454 00:25:41,840 --> 00:25:44,119 Speaker 1: this if you ever watched a lot of Looney Tunes. 455 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,119 Speaker 1: This makes me wonder if this was not a direct 456 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:51,600 Speaker 1: inspiration for UH that cartoon Duck a muck where Daffy 457 00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:53,640 Speaker 1: Duck is yelling at the animator and he gets drawn 458 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: into all kinds of crazy situations because it it vibes 459 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:02,080 Speaker 1: very similarly, McKay actually had to sign a different name 460 00:26:02,240 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 1: to these rarebit strips. He could use his own name, 461 00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:08,440 Speaker 1: because his editor wanted to keep this child oriented art 462 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:12,199 Speaker 1: of sneezing Sammy separate from the Rabbit comedy, which was 463 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,800 Speaker 1: aimed at an adult audience. McKay was really irritated by 464 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:18,480 Speaker 1: this requirement, so he started to sign the name Silas 465 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 1: on the rabbit strips, which was the name of the 466 00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:24,840 Speaker 1: trash collector and Harold Square, where the newspaper offices were. 467 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,200 Speaker 1: They also asked readers to send in their own dreams 468 00:26:28,200 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: in the paper for inclusion into the strip. Yeah, it 469 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:35,240 Speaker 1: was definitely ah. I like that. He was like, fine, 470 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 1: I'll use the garbage man's name. It wasn't like he 471 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:40,240 Speaker 1: wanted to honor the garbage man. He just wanted to 472 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:42,640 Speaker 1: kind of stick it to his editor in a weird way. 473 00:26:43,359 --> 00:26:46,120 Speaker 1: But he used the name Silas as his secondary moniker 474 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:50,919 Speaker 1: forever after that, and even as McKay was producing Sammy 475 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:53,360 Speaker 1: Sneeze in the rare bit fiend on a regular schedule. 476 00:26:53,840 --> 00:26:57,239 Speaker 1: He was also still fulfuit fulfilling his other duties at 477 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: the paper as an illustrator. He also continued to test 478 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: out new strips. He started one called The Story of 479 00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 1: Hungry Henrietta in January nineteen o five, and it featured 480 00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:10,320 Speaker 1: a little girl that began as a three month old 481 00:27:10,359 --> 00:27:13,119 Speaker 1: infant and then showed her growing up over the strips 482 00:27:13,200 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 1: six month run. It provided a commentary on parenting, as 483 00:27:17,280 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 1: Henrietta's parents always gave her food instead of affection when 484 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: she appeared upset, and the main character, Henrietta, became a 485 00:27:24,760 --> 00:27:29,119 Speaker 1: compulsive eater, and all that work started to grind on him. 486 00:27:29,240 --> 00:27:31,920 Speaker 1: He was making sixty dollars a week and he loved 487 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:34,480 Speaker 1: working at the Herald, but McKay also knew that he 488 00:27:34,520 --> 00:27:37,800 Speaker 1: deserved more. In nineteen o five, he wrote a very 489 00:27:37,880 --> 00:27:40,840 Speaker 1: direct letter to his boss outlining the breakdown of his 490 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:43,480 Speaker 1: work each week and the quality of that work, and 491 00:27:43,560 --> 00:27:46,560 Speaker 1: pointing out that the artists at other publications were giving 492 00:27:46,760 --> 00:27:49,800 Speaker 1: were given much longer lead times for their work, and 493 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:53,080 Speaker 1: they were assigned fewer things, and they were making twice 494 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,159 Speaker 1: what he made. The letter came back with the letters 495 00:27:56,240 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 1: okay in the top right and a silly drawing which 496 00:28:01,080 --> 00:28:04,720 Speaker 1: would annoy me. But mackay got his race. He was 497 00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:07,560 Speaker 1: bumped up with seventy five dollars a week, and later 498 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 1: on he would negotiate more than double that when his 499 00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:14,480 Speaker 1: contract was renewed based on the ongoing success of uh 500 00:28:14,480 --> 00:28:19,560 Speaker 1: strip we're talking about next time called Little Nemo. Yeah, 501 00:28:19,640 --> 00:28:22,040 Speaker 1: he really was just like banging stuff out at a 502 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:24,720 Speaker 1: shocking rate, partially because he was so fast, but even 503 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 1: then he was like, my quality suffers because I am 504 00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,560 Speaker 1: turning out like ten pieces of content for you every 505 00:28:30,560 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: week when normal artists are getting to assigned to them. 506 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:37,359 Speaker 1: And part of it he brought in himself though, because 507 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:41,080 Speaker 1: he was always doing two or three jobs at least 508 00:28:41,120 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: at a time, so it was an interesting time for him. 509 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,000 Speaker 1: He created another adult audience strip for the Evening Telegram 510 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:51,760 Speaker 1: under the pseudonym Silas, and that was called A Pilgrim's 511 00:28:51,800 --> 00:28:55,560 Speaker 1: Progress by Mr Bunyan. Again, that byline is part of 512 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,680 Speaker 1: the title, and this was a comic strip interpretation of 513 00:28:58,800 --> 00:29:02,280 Speaker 1: John Bunyan's spelled a different way by the way Christian 514 00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: allegory of the same name, although of course that does 515 00:29:05,320 --> 00:29:08,800 Speaker 1: not have the Bye, Mr. Bunyan Byeline uh that was 516 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: published in six Considering McKay's fascination with dreams that we 517 00:29:13,400 --> 00:29:16,120 Speaker 1: already saw in rere bit Fiend and that will fuel 518 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:19,200 Speaker 1: other work in the future, it is probably no surprise 519 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: that he drew inspiration from a book that was written 520 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:26,200 Speaker 1: entirely as a dream. The next year, Windsor McKay would 521 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,280 Speaker 1: create his most popular comic strip, and we are going 522 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 1: to talk about that and his work in animation in 523 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 1: our next episode. Yeah, we're about to get to some 524 00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 1: really fun stuff and the person that get me probably 525 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,320 Speaker 1: choked up. It is really fun to go back and 526 00:29:41,480 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 1: look through his early comics because they hold up. They 527 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:50,479 Speaker 1: are still very funny and very weird and surreal. And 528 00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:54,160 Speaker 1: his artwork is beautiful, Like the style of it is 529 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:58,440 Speaker 1: so elegant and unique. Even when he's drawing like Sammy 530 00:29:58,520 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: Sneeze is kind of drawn to look like kind of 531 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:06,680 Speaker 1: a UM. He is not an appealing looking child. I 532 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,600 Speaker 1: will put it away, but the artwork itself is still 533 00:30:09,640 --> 00:30:12,840 Speaker 1: really lovely. Okay, So I have a little bit of 534 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:16,400 Speaker 1: listener mail. I'm doing a choosy on this one, um, 535 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,800 Speaker 1: because we have multiple fabulous little postcards and we haven't 536 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:22,080 Speaker 1: done a postcard catchup in a bit. But I also 537 00:30:22,120 --> 00:30:24,480 Speaker 1: want to start with an email that we got from 538 00:30:24,480 --> 00:30:28,000 Speaker 1: our listener Lisa, and that is about our episode on Ephesis, 539 00:30:28,360 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: and Lisa writes, hello, y'all. I just listened to the 540 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,920 Speaker 1: Ephesis episode and Holly mentioned that going to the Amphitheater 541 00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:36,680 Speaker 1: was on her bucket list. A few years ago, I 542 00:30:36,720 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 1: got the chance to go on a college trip through 543 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:41,680 Speaker 1: the Mediterranean. The college choir paired with a class on 544 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:45,000 Speaker 1: early Christianity, and one of the stops was in Ephesis. 545 00:30:45,320 --> 00:30:47,800 Speaker 1: The ruins were really cool. I kept trying to read 546 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,680 Speaker 1: the ancient inscriptions with my very limited ancient Greek. It 547 00:30:50,760 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 1: did not work. But per the subject line of her letter, 548 00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:57,200 Speaker 1: because this was in part a music trip, when we 549 00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:00,600 Speaker 1: got to the Amphitheater, we sang a few pieces. Apparently 550 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,560 Speaker 1: amphitheaters at the time were constructed in such a way 551 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:06,720 Speaker 1: that if you stood just in the right spot, everyone 552 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:09,080 Speaker 1: in the audience could hear you without the need to yell, 553 00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:11,200 Speaker 1: even from way in the back of the twenty thousand 554 00:31:11,240 --> 00:31:14,560 Speaker 1: seat Amphitheater. According to the religions professor that was on 555 00:31:14,600 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: the trip, that construction still holds up several thousand years later. 556 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:21,200 Speaker 1: It was a really amazing experience, even though the Turkish 557 00:31:21,240 --> 00:31:24,560 Speaker 1: officials staffing the site came and told us off for singing. 558 00:31:25,400 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your great podcast. What an 559 00:31:28,080 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 1: amazing experience that must have been. I can't imagine what 560 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:33,800 Speaker 1: that would be like, one because I can't sing to 561 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:35,880 Speaker 1: begin with, but two because that had to be a 562 00:31:35,880 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: little bit surreal. Uh. It probably felt a little like 563 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:42,280 Speaker 1: you're singing through time at that point. Uh. The other 564 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:45,280 Speaker 1: mail that I wanted to acknowledge and I have trouble 565 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:47,480 Speaker 1: reading it, but I will explain why. It is from 566 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:52,360 Speaker 1: our listener Grace, who sent us an absolutely beautiful postcard 567 00:31:52,520 --> 00:31:55,560 Speaker 1: from Tokyo Disney, and the reason that it is hard 568 00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:58,920 Speaker 1: to read. Her writing is spectacular. However, it looks like 569 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:01,920 Speaker 1: she mailed it from the Tokyo Disney resort and they 570 00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:06,360 Speaker 1: put a big, fat like stamp on it. Perhab scars 571 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: almost all of the writing because it's dark blue, and 572 00:32:10,160 --> 00:32:13,760 Speaker 1: so it's hard to read. But um, she is. It's 573 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:16,360 Speaker 1: a really lovely thirty fifth anniversary card and it is 574 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:19,520 Speaker 1: spectacularly beautiful and very colorful, so it seems like a 575 00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:23,960 Speaker 1: good one to read On today's episode since uh you know, 576 00:32:24,600 --> 00:32:28,760 Speaker 1: animation is is largely in debt to Windsor McKay, which 577 00:32:28,760 --> 00:32:30,440 Speaker 1: we will talk about more as we said on the 578 00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:32,720 Speaker 1: next episode. If you would like to write to us, 579 00:32:32,760 --> 00:32:34,920 Speaker 1: you can do so at History Podcast at house to 580 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,000 Speaker 1: works dot com. You can find us across the spectrum 581 00:32:38,040 --> 00:32:41,760 Speaker 1: of social media as missed in History, where it missed 582 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 1: in History dot com, where you will find every single 583 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:48,120 Speaker 1: episode of the podcast that has ever existed before Tracy 584 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:50,080 Speaker 1: and I were ever here, and then show notes for 585 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:51,840 Speaker 1: the ones that Tracy and I have worked on. So 586 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,240 Speaker 1: come and visit us and missed in History dot com 587 00:32:54,280 --> 00:33:01,360 Speaker 1: and we can all explore history together. For more on 588 00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: this and thousands of other topics, visit hawstaff works dot com.