The Independent-Record from Helena, Montana • Page 16

I MacGill, Comic Artist Who Started His Career Putting Designs on Tombstones This is the story of a comic car- i luuiijil who got hi; start putting itesijtiii on tombstones. The professional artistic career of Harold A. -MacGill began iu his father's monument plant al Yarmotuh, Nova Iscotia. It developed into the pio-iluclioll of a newspaper comic strip which has had the longest run in Perry and Fecdic. the Hall-Room flo.vs, have been on the newspaper flags lur eighteen years.

It is remarkable hnw they have kept their youth, snail and swank, after appearing 365 times a year since they sprang to life under MacGill's ptli in a New York newspaper office lung ago. I'crcy a nd 1-crdic now swagger through a weekday suit1 j-iirl Full Sunday uttge in over one hundred newspapers among the numher being The Helena Independent, amusing with their hlllff and effrontery, hundreds of thousands of readers in this city and oUicts from Maine to California, and from tlic Tslliuins of Panama to the Arctic Circle. Harold A MacGill was hnrn in Yarmouth of N'eiv England-Scottish parents in 1881. He at tended the Yarmouth schools, hut cave more attention to caricaturing Ins teachers, putting, wigs on the pictures of bald statesmen in the history and turning to comics Ihr serious il lnslr.nl ions in the geog-raphy than lie gave to his studies He covered the backs of map; with design! of till own which pleased his fellow students hut annoyed his instructors, and decorated the nf 1hc Y. M.

C. A. locker room witli a skill which began his considerable Incal reputation. I was old cnoiiiih." he raid, "my father put inc to work in the monument plant. There I was I supposed to draw the conventional ivy leaf and the cross and crowd, for the luiubstones of the town's trlebritics.

my heart was not in the work," he added, with a twinkle in his eye. "Much of the time that I was supposed lo be designing stone lambs and wreathes 1 wis in a little abandoned shop ite.xt door to the plant which I had arranged as a studio. As 1 had the door as well as the walls coveted with drawings and paintings, my father could not sec inc. at work, and am afraid tip a many a time when he tried 1hc knob and get no answer was in side, quietly working with pen atni The fame of young MacC.III got him a number of odd jobs making irivcrlising earns, posters fo street railroad and signs for va Harold also collected usual number of rejection slip saved his money with the idea rif going, to York and make fortune. In he s-ealizcd his a bitiou in enming to the city and lo whether he has made his fortune his six-cylinder car and comfort able suhurhan home tan testify.

With the parental blessing Tie re reived a gold piece which is stll his possession, ami fortifies hi i i claim that he was ncevr really "broke." MacGill did not exactly! in a garret at any time in his but when he first arrived he did Spend a week in a hoarding house which gave hiin the back ground for the Hall-Room boys, who live out of tin cms, cool; over the gas when ihe landlady docs not catch them and put all of their slender capital into clothes. I'rom the boarding house he moved 1o a little apartment which was dignified by the name of studio. Here he and other cactDOllisls now famous bad many a gcod time in the. irresponsible joyousncss "of their impecunious youth. Like the heroes of the Alger hooks, MacGill was soon rewarded with a position, and he got a newspaper job but it didn't bring him into contact for a long time with the illustrators he yearned to mcct-He became a "slip boy" in the old Nrcw York police headquarters on Mulberry street.

The slip boys handled Ihe. routine police reports lor the newspapers and assisted the older reporters. "I wasted several years dovsti there," be said. "1 should have been carrying around photographs retrieving erasers in the art room of sonic newspaper office However, 1 went lo Cooper Union for a while at night, where llicy tricd to teach nlc lo draw hands and feet. Finally 1 drew intentions." THE HKLEKA DAILY INDEPENDENT SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE IS, 1923.

ters which pleased the. editor New York daily nrwspap he gave me a job. I drew for a while and later worked reporter a I $5 week. This re 1 fit ted iur or interested in, SO I tie ivsed a scries on "future punish wittrh go! me a job on an olhcr evening newspaper. In this i 1 imagined a viist lor men various walk-, of ah driver, for instance, would cvmjiellrd to get between the shafts nd pull Satan as passenger ar Tlic oldsters will perhaps remember annthci scries which MacGill devised for the same newspaper, "The Importance of Mr.

Peewcc, 1hc Great Utile Man." Mr. Pec-wee was a small person with great dignity which was always heiug rnf-ried. On newspapers which persons in Ihe picture were leaning or which newsboys were selling, he leltrrcd in some travesty "scare-heads" which became a very popular feature. They ran like litis: ONE THOUSAND KILLED IF Smith Hadn't Closed the Switch, BLOWS tIP BROADWAY TERRlBf.F. COLLISION! Ferryboat Runs Into Her Slip, iinnlvuig Ific police fiead- I Tin; illiirtr.

a tremendous hit with New Yorkers of the day, and ters Jiy the iackfnll poured in th suggestions for misleading adlines. This led tu his joining staff of another newspaper and that 'office he began lite Percy id 1-Vriie series'. "You want to know where I got Die idea for. (lie Halt-Room Beys?" lie said. "Well, I got a number of suggestions, Iroiu real life.

As an illustration: One evening on the Pill )-f-r bite way of the Broadway theatrical district I sasv an elegantly dressed man, in a top hal and all he accessories, with a young lady whom knew, I was curious as to who he was, and found out thai lie lived in a boarding house, kept his shiny hat under the bed, timed his rising1 in (he morning by an alarm rlock, punched the time clock at a department store, and there juggled rug; in the rug department for Ihe balance of Ihe day. "Another young fellow who displayed the same, kind of swank lived where I did, He was good looking and appeared to advantage in a dress suit. One he suggested that we go lo the Waldorf, where there was a fashionable affair of some sort. "What do vou want to go (here ror?" I asked. "You haven't an invitation" "He explained that he wanted lo stand around in the lobby where people could see him.

It gave, him a good time just 1o be. looked at." MacGill is neither a Percy nor a Fcrdic. The more he draws flashy persons the deeper becomes his dread of being like them. The features of Fcrdio might he a caricature of MacGili's but that's jiisl a coincidence. The cartoonist is smooth-shaven, and does not slinw all his forty years.

He is of medium height and i xi-rci5c I itii iijiofd a cu tler Figure. He has a heavy shock it light hair on which (line yet laid a finger, and he shows pride ui it by wearing it a Uttle long but not of poetical leneth. The author of Percy and Fcrdic is quiet in manner, deliberate in peerh, unaffected and ea: iroach. He has a quaint chuckle vlnch goes well Willi his dry Scotcl minor, but he is no more a loud back-slappcr than he i rluui. He svould probably fail com pletely as a hook-agent.

am ii ml ol outdoor sports, such as mowing lawns and clipping hedges," he said, "hence my atten lalcd waistlicie. This proved es pecially advantageous when th I loctor called one (lay tor my ap Aooitol iiilmils he is even-tem pered. He claims to be the only vooi -oothont losing hi-. equanimity taught his own wife the to relurn (o Percy and Fcr- boys have hecn on the stage now in their third year in ivies. They appear also be book covers.

Through the of the Fifth av-enm (heir styles. In ISPS, for their peglops were mot than the clothiers could Ihe days when collars biij closed, you couldn't ailors high ten into Percys or Ferdie's without a call opener. Today their waists arc narrower than Ihosc in the clothing posters, Through the Sunday papers, Percy acid Fcrdic are: today trying lo realize their social aspirations through one Mr. Spuggi, the 'millionaire manufacturer of Spuggs Nerve Sothcficr, Although reluctant to talk ahnut his work, MacGill need not he urged to discuss his two beautiful children. He is exceedingly proud of thcni and tile fact (hat Mrs.

MacGill is more likely to be mistaken for their sister Iban their mother, Laurence I.cightnn MacGill is Ij, antf will probably resent the word as applied lo him. He is at present filled with the radio fever, and keeps the electric light switches in good repair. Laurence's father was first convinced of Ihe hoy's genius when he refilled a nuu-rcfillable bottle. While the son has emharktd on in mechanics, his sister, i year younger, hesiiates 1:1 the graphic iirinff. at which she shows grace rbe home is in a suburb of Yi.rk City on Long, island.

out where (he lawns begin. The village in which It is situated, which contains a considerable is "in Greater New. York, but i lualiv rural and has not yet rived at Ihe metropolitan dignity of -1 1 ci umbers. In this peace and quiet, MacGill can work without interruption and need only rro inlo New York once week with his drawings, If he ivi'lirs lo atici'd the thcatr tn-i takes him (o the heart nf Manhattan in half an hour. The grounds nf the inviting home show (he car-(noitist has hecn busy with the lawn inciwer and hedge clippers when he could get away from his drawing hoard.

Many yflung persons, ambitious fnr surrrss fn the cartooning field, write to hi in for. advice. He uniformly Iclls them to get an idea, develop Iheic own sfyle and keep on plunging. The idea, he says, is iitiporlant, hut style only secondary; a comic cartoonist need not have beautiful execution; in fact rules of art might get in his way, CHILD KILLED BY CAR. Ill Aisnclalnl I'rens.

Ogdeu, Utah, June a result of his injuries, 11-year-old Kllis Rarkcr, son of G. Darker of Ogrten, died within a few intitule) after having been struck by an automobile here this afternoon. The skull was fractured. fliKK am beins the the Answers to Questions (Any re-adtr run the answer t'russ .1, jlR.kfi,. Dirtclr.r limloii, D.

O. Tlila offer 4.HI.1I Information. The nnrfi car.nol iilva advice on legal, medic hi-i. financial matters. It to reosur v.in.'.i pllti dlrr-ct to tHo Do yon know the oat oldest active newspaper in orlrtf F.

J. A. This honor belongs MaUle' Saint-fris, a. Kiel vsho is HOW im He slill cniitrihuies lo a newspaper mirier the pen ably V. ti-i! dtrt the.

labor XantucVet lightship. me of tin for shorter hours start in this country? J. P. M. Agitation for a shorter work day, started concretely as a demand ten hour day instead of the dawn-to-dark day.

svis begun in the United States in Who was the first -woman called to the bar in England? H. D. Miss Joy Williams, a lecturer was the first to receive Ihat honor, -She was vailed lo Ihe ll- on May 10th of this year. What is a magnetic storm? E. V.

D. A Occasionally compass needles II show a much great variation an (lie usual minor oscillations. When the needles continually move ii i cgularly, a nnu.r.et:.- -trtrm said to prevail. They are asso-iaieil with auroras and occur all vcr the earth at the same time. One (it the greatest magnetic slorms occurred October 21.

1903, when needles varied three degrees 0. For whom was the Walter Reed Hospital in Washington named? D. N. H. A.

rtnrinjr the American occupation of Cnha following the war with Spain, Major Walter Reed, nf the H. S. Medical corps, demonstrated that both nrdinary. malaria and deadly yellow fever sverc spread by the bites of mosquitoes. In recognition of this contribution to kind the army hospital in Washing.

his rid? World War, the economists, while agreeing; that accurate statistics were not obtainable, estimated that tiine-tcntlir, of Ihe world's wealth held by Due tenth of the population. No recognized authority lias undertaken to fix the ration of distribution since P. M. prior to the ,1 State, into the World commercial submarine submarine brought the intc American ports the TJcutscliland at Baltimore. The the U-5J, which entered rhor and after depart commercial vessels off What was the first incut: la n- obscrvatory in this country? S.

K. A. Charles H. Hitchcock, while ate geologist of Mew Hampshire :r.jr the winter ol meteorologtcal station on Mount Washington which was the rliest high-mouiitsin observatory the United Statrj Q. How long is the.

coast line of Great Lakes? M. L. A. The shore line uf (lies 8X0 lllilts. They rfac of square miles.

From Monal, the head of ocean navigalior the head nf Lake Superior, the ling disiance is about 1,340 miles Xenia, Ohio, June warrant for his arrest on a desertion charge was on file, today against Kcv. W. W. Culp, .15, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church al Spring Valley, near here, who early Wednesday morning eloped with Miss Esther Hughes, an 18-ycar-ahl music teacher, who was boarding at his home. Mcs.

Culp, with their nine children, the younkesi of whom are six months old twins, signed the warrant last nighl. Police of the slate have been notified to be on the lookout for the couple, whose pictures were broadcasted over the state today. Mrs. Ctilp told aulhorities tl her husband's parting words Iter before the minister and Hughes left together were: "I Ii her heller than I do you and think I am doing (lie right tiling by leaving you and going with In a letter to the district supci intendent, Rev. Cirlp, conipla iuing of hardships, among Ihein being it-, I BIT PREMATURE.

By Ansnclateu Proas. $1,000 in Prizes Offered for the Best Photographs Picturing Durability of Copper, Brass and Bronze utt who Augusta, June Waminc agninst any general effort to the prices of which the mass of consumers must buy, w.it sounded here tonight by Coiuplro! ler of ihe Currency Crissinger in an address before Die Maine crs' association. There have been manifestations of a tendency late, he declared, to advance prices in directions "where they could reasonably he considered a bit mature." 1 to notary ejilbn 33 of Aitilo-Suon (rltndthlp. en the jih.lpD i'diir ear win proLsbly blockedl Tliera will hfl Is prliefl for photo-1 The pbotofltrauhca Braphs i caatcnt liisttji slrl with a picture tit MDlfrhbor pipes, and yc-ui list hptui in nsle fhv'dlJuavanlH-irda1 of Ths priie will be. 1 150, unco tTn, fourth and til) eaeb.

Ons of (ha rantrli-tln (Ion of the 'he and brann and The Haskin Letter they THE CASE OF THE CORSET New York City. June The fern-, line, corset, which heretofore has iv. ays been subjected to' the harsh-st criticism and ridicule, is now suddenly bciiiir endorsed by prom incite It. is. they say, necessity to every woman, and hriulrt nor he discarded.

Throughout the centuries women have wnru tins curious appliance one Torni or another, in spite of persistent jibes and protests from the masculine sex, because each changing fashion demanded it. Now for the first time in many long years the corset is practically out oT style, and tlic tide o( professional criticism is-furning unexpectedly in its favor. Dr. lioval Cupeland, health commissioner of Mew York City, savs thai he cannot ncge too strongly upon women the advisability of wearing corsets. thru ions disorders arc apt from their abandonment that hundreds of years that they hav enmc to need them, arm many 1 1 Or.

Adolf I.crcii/. the famous Vienna surgeon, who spent, last wit ler in Mew York, adso adds his re oniuicndatioii of the corscl. "Every woman should wear a co set" he savs. "ft not only brae vital oiRans that nceri bracing, but troubles." Of course Dr T.orenz does not ad-1 vor.ate a relurn 1o the old wasp-waistcd high corsets which cramp (be body and prevent free movement oi the muscles. He believes (hat the all important consideration is that the corset should in every perfect fit, perhaps modeled aFler casls made om the person who is to wear it.

Yet it is doubtful if Dr. Loreilz' dvicc will make much of an im-tessiou upon the rising generation young women, as long as the orijCt remains out of style. Just their Rreat grandmothers insist ed that they were healltiy ana comfortable with waisls even while Ihcv swooned, so the, modern prom girls are prepared to risk the stravest anatomical injuries rather Ihau be sticmameil as iro sides" al the college rlanr.es. Fn.hioni The corset controversy has from lite very earliest limes, and always fashion has pre over health. The.

dale ni Nrsl annearancc of the corse is not known, hut among the arl works discovered in the rums one of the mysterious lorcst or of South America, wiiosc In remote anhrmtty. tlK-'c bas-relief representing a iciiiaie. ng-nre which shows unitiistakably thai i mnlrlvnirf similar to the mode: corset was thru in use. This con- sistcd of a complicated and elali orate' waist bandage, which liy systcni of circular ai)d transvers fnldint: anif looping, confined lb waist from just below Ihe hips a firmly and compactly as Ihe. mo: rorset of modern tunc authorities gis-c the Cer mans the credit for inventing the first I'ltropcai! rorset and introducing it into Rome- At any it It known that the early nun wninen and the fine Roman fariir.s worse much the s.ime type, of haudages.

That the corset was found rtdicu fons even in the somewhat ndicu Ions Middle Ages, is shown by sketch dated found in the Bm isli Miiseiini, which cartoons not i only the rcslrictinp; coricl, but also (Hal. rtlr-l- ii the lrailihp draperies of llic- period re of I long that llicy needed knot-be kept from ground, vy steel corsets of the time tie Medici, ttr.d Ih.c it in get: steel hi or the depending bar of steel over which the long peaked bodice of the dress was adjusted, affected bv Queen liliza- hcth, also produced much sardonic amusement and demincialu Never in all these years has pub lic opinion triumphed ova the dictates of fashion. Corset styles havi changed not because they were injurious or grotesque in hut because some world leader of fashion, ill the days usually a queen, decided to change the lines of her figure. Twice before corsets have been abolished, or at reduced to small proportions, not as a concession to health or comfort hut he-cause style demanded it. The first uceasion was in" the seventeenth cciitmy in the Netherlands, Spain and Italy when a drastic change occurred iu the feminine, beauty.

Slim waists and narrow shoulders were suddenly passe, and the Venus de Mifo with her Z8 inch waist became the popular model. This vogue is evident in a drawing by Adrian Boise of, a rich Dulcli lady about Ihe year I6.W, in which it is apparent that the feminine fig tosc days was little restrict ty artificial device. ccdiii! period followed tin evolution when the be inirtccnlh century of the Tlnipi: evolved. This was built on Grecian tcs and required no corse! except band passing below the bust and kept iu place by shoulder straps 11 was doubtless lo comlortablc style Id last, for it soon vanished ltd was rcte.i by a. period ol stagger a led titiit 3 A i i ir.

America our grandniotiieis anr great grandmothers laced them selves literally to the point of suffocation. Women swooned constantly, largely from lack of breath ml more than ol lea(h followed some sudden cxer- imdcrtakcn by a tightly en cased woman. At iliis time the gen teel waist was 1.1 inches, which circumference the ladies id by tying their corset laces cdpost and Iheu walking away, producing heavy pressure. The Shifiir.fi W.iitlin-. i tight lacing continued even though the.

feminine figure uiidcr- toiol 1-r -os'-t: i I -s so" the period of Hi Spanish-American when ihe. straight iron hip form corset became The effect nf this lengthen Ihe. apparent wais-Acuor 'll rounded over Ihe hips and enilcd a. point in front, gividg to cvrn tlti stoutest women a degree oi slen derness. On the other hand, (hi style was just as highly and plans ibly recommended for slender worn en.

The chief charm of such a cor- forced an erect carriage, It was manifestly impossible toj slouch or relax in it. This type of corset probably aroused a greater storm or protest from the medical profession than any of its predecessors. One who raised an outraged voice against tl declared that it was responsible for many cases of floating kidneys among women. Another predicted would result in a permanent to ft )j public Ii tn- pornuEElblQ to sond also a pbalo nf the, building Itself. If tt lends additional Interest.

Such Information ns the hiek of such nlc11 the eontcst of ttts- pointed out that already Ihe fetmic ttte moment was taring iriotis, unnatural twist, likely and increased Slill another callrd eloquently for the abolition of all corsets forever. His plea was just a decade too socn. Ten years laler, the feminine reaction against tight anil heavy corsets started in, with the result lhal today rorsets are practically unknown among the flapper popula- say 11: til tin- vho clain i. Kly here; that the woman of today, never having them, probahly never will. El uf history.

Ibis conclusion seems a bit uncertain. Already there are faint signs thai it is returning to favor-not because physicians now approve of it but because the Parisian designers do. YEAH BOOK OF HELENA HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT TO CLASS AND THE EDITORS Vigilante (he Year Dook of the Helena high school, published by the senior class and edited by a staff chosen by the mi llieir number, was is-g the week past, and iu every from klvcr lo kiver is a credit lo "the bunch, collective and individually speaking, Dcdic.lerf to Fur-idty. 'the work is dedicated lo the faculty of (he high school, whose photographs and pedigrees aic given a place oi honor in the niakc-up. The frontispiece is a picture of William Wilkes Roberts, a chubby youngster about lv.0 feet "Our Future Principal." The.

Seniors, Juniors, Sophs and Frosh arc seen ill photographs, and the record of the seniors' school activities, and a characteristic line about each one, arc chronicled. The various dramatics, athletics, society and clubs in short, the school year of 1921-22 is historically recorded most interestingly. Kokad all humorous, reproduced, and the joke de partment has many a spicy line. "Iniida Mutt. The class histdry, the class will, Tom and the class rophecy by Gwendolyn let the reader in on a cluster of "do ings" and thoughts which have been "mostly nuicrmosi tnese iths past, be cover is arlistic in brown anil gold, with the lettering and numerous artistically displayed.

Advertisements reflect a liberal attitude of llic patrons of the business department. Editor-in-chief, Harold S. Hcp-ncr; nssociale editors, Karl Brady and Joyce Sccly; business manager, Thomas li. Miller, so-cietv editor. Sarah Virginia Gould; arl editors, Margaret McLaren and Marjory Molrinc dramatic editor, Edilh Jorgctison; literary editor, Winifred fcfills; athletic editors, Russell Spraguc and Mildred Hay; advertising editors, Art Neil! anil Oliver Blirgan, The class is especially proud of artist- we yen nrid Molrinc.

The last page is "Just Pale," with spaces, for autographs. LOCUSTS INVADE. The Associated Vast swarms oi locusts have invaded 28 Philippine provinces from centra! Luzon southward, destroying' 'crops ir deformed race of women, aiidjmany localitif-.