We wanted to share an upcoming event that was shared with us recently! :
“THE PUN IS MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD:” The Art of Editorial Cartooning at The Standard, 1936-1961 – Overview
The Pun is Mightier than the Sword will showcase the careers of six editorial cartoonists who worked at The St. Catharines Standard:
- 1936-1938 Josh Silburt (1914-1991)
- 1938-1945 Rubin Kaell (aka ‘James Allen’) (1913-1968)
- 1941-1951 Harold Marten (1879-1953)
- 1950-1951 Charles Pratt (1923-2003
- 1952-1956 John Ednie (1920-1975)
- 1956-1961 Harry Harley (1929-1971)
Arden Phair (retired Curator of the St. Catharines Museum), has undertaken extensive historical research and a biographical study into the lives and careers of six editorial cartoonist who were regular staffers/contributors at The St. Catharines Standard. It has resulted in many new discoveries about a previously undocumented aspect of local newspaper history.
The 45-minute presentation will briefly explore their work at The St. Catharines Standard over a twenty-five year period, 1936 to 1961. The cartoonist/artist position was created by the progressive Burgoyne family of publishers as another means of providing the best service possible to their readers.
The presentation broadly sheds light on the example of ‘regional’ cartoonists at smaller circulation newspapers in Canada. The six cartoonists are probably representative of many who were not in the big metropolitan centres, but who still had aspirations to share political commentary through their art and wit.
It is a story of struggling in a low-paying job at a vocation that they all loved, of interpreting the news daily as it unfolded not only around the world but also in their community’s own backyard, of how a couple of the cartoonists had to deal anti-Semitism in Canadian society, of an unsuccessful initiative by the newspaper to nationally syndicate the work of one of them, and it concludes with an overview of where their careers took them after The Standard, including one who briefly published a comic strip that appeared in The Globe and Mail and other newspapers.
The Pun is Mightier than the Sword features many interesting visuals, including a sampling of cartoons by each that appeared in The Standard, as well as additional illustration work that was published in other newspapers and journals.”
To join this meeting, enter this link in your computer’s browser:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84619388459
