Charles Brooks (cartoonist)
Encyclopedia
Charles G. Brooks was a former editorial cartoonist
for The Birmingham News
in Birmingham, Alabama
, USA.
in Covington County, Alabama
. After high school he moved to Birmingham and studied at Birmingham-Southern College
for two years, and then transferred to the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts where he was instructed by Vaughn Shoemaker (Chicago Daily News
) and Don Ulsh. While in Chicago, Brooks met his future wife, Virginia. They had a daughter, Barbara, and son, Charles G. Brooks, Jr.
In 1942 Brooks enlisted in the United States Army. After training he was enrolled in Officers Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 531st Engineer Shore Regiment. His unit participated in the D-Day
landing at Utah Beach
on June 6, 1944, mainly helping to establish a supply port at the beachhead. Later that winter the unit, re-commissioned as the 3053rd Engineer Combat Battalion, which deployed from Liège
deep into Germany
with the 9th Army and saw action in the Battle of the Bulge. During his army service Brooks drew several cartoons which appeared in Stars and Stripes
.
Candy Company and as a bank guard before he found representation at the Fred Zaner Advertising Cartoon Syndicate. Hopeful that he could become an editorial cartoonist he wrote to friends in Birmingham and received mild interest from the Birmingham News. He took a gamble and made the trip to meet with News officials and was offered the position beginning in 1948.
Brooks' cartoons were immediately popular in Birmingham. He used the platform to express great faith in the character of the American people and harsh criticism of anyone or anything that attacked or insulted that character. He did not withhold criticism of the Ku Klux Klan
, a group which is believed to have counted many of the city's powerful men among its members. In addition to cartooning, the News lent Brooks out to work with police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to create sketches of suspects from eyewitness descriptions.
for the most outstanding editorial cartoon of 1959. His winning panel, entitled "Two Deadly Weapons" depicted a hand holding a revolver and a second hand holding an automobile in the same manner, labeled "reckless speeding driver." Another cartoon on the same subject, which appeared during the holiday season, showed the Biblical Magi
on camels following the Star of Bethlehem
in the top panel and two colliding cars in the lower panel with the caption "Then...Bethlehem. Today...Mayhem." The Texas Highway Patrol
distributed copies of the cartoon instead of warnings in 1960 and partially-credited Brooks with a drop in the number of fatalities during the Christmas season.
Brooks' farewell to Walt Disney
in 1966 showed dozens of Disney's cartoon characters gathered mournfully at his grave. Thousands of copies were requested from across the country and the original hands at Disney Studios. A 1975 cartoon lambasting Vice President Nelson Rockefeller
for ignoring parliamentary procedure during debate of an anti-filibuster bill was passed around the Senate floor. A 1973 "The Wizard of Id
" strip, drawn by Brooks' friend Brant Parker, shows an editorial catroonist named "Charles" being punished by the King for lampooning him. Parker sent a personally-inscribed copy to Brooks. A 1976 editorial in The Wall Street Journal
referenced a Brooks cartoon entitled "All Things to All People" which showed presidential candidate Jimmy Carter
standing at a church pulpit with a Bible in one hand and a copy of Playboy
in the other.
Brooks was invited to the White House
in 1982 and presented an original of a cartoon making fun of Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill
to President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office. Senator John Glenn
's wife, Annie, requested the original of another cartoon showing Glenn rowing alone in the center of a river while a donkey leads Walter Mondale
, Gary Hart
, George McGovern
and Jesse Jackson
in a larger boat on "the left". Glenn wrote Brooks that it was the best gift his wife had given him and that it was the only cartoon he hung in his office. Former head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, also requested a Brooks original cartoon, which he hung in his office.
He served as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists
in 1969 and edited an annual volume of the Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year since 1972 for Pelican Books. He retired from the News in 1985. Since 1982 the University of Alabama at Birmingham
's School of Community and Allied Health has presented a "Charles Brooks Award" annually to a graduating senior who made a creative contribution to the school.
Editorial cartoonist
An editorial cartoonist, also known as a political cartoonist, is an artist who draws editorial cartoons that contain some level of political or social commentary....
for The Birmingham News
The Birmingham News
The Birmingham News is the principal daily newspaper for Birmingham, Alabama, United States, and the largest newspaper in Alabama. The paper is owned by Advance Publications...
in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, USA.
Early life
Brooks was born in Hopewell, near AndalusiaAndalusia, Alabama
Andalusia is a city in and the county seat of Covington County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census the population was 8,794.According to the 2007 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a population of 8,705...
in Covington County, Alabama
Covington County, Alabama
Covington County, Alabama, is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of Brigadier General Leonard Covington of Maryland. As of 2010 the population was 37,765...
. After high school he moved to Birmingham and studied at Birmingham-Southern College
Birmingham-Southern College
Birmingham–Southern College is a 4-year, private liberal arts college located three miles northwest of downtown Birmingham. Founded in 1856, it is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Approximately 1400 students from 30 states and 23 foreign countries attend the college...
for two years, and then transferred to the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts where he was instructed by Vaughn Shoemaker (Chicago Daily News
Chicago Daily News
The Chicago Daily News was an afternoon daily newspaper published between 1876 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.-History:The Daily News was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty in 1875 and began publishing early the next year...
) and Don Ulsh. While in Chicago, Brooks met his future wife, Virginia. They had a daughter, Barbara, and son, Charles G. Brooks, Jr.
In 1942 Brooks enlisted in the United States Army. After training he was enrolled in Officers Candidate School and was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to the 531st Engineer Shore Regiment. His unit participated in the D-Day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
landing at Utah Beach
Utah Beach
Utah Beach was the code name for the right flank, or westernmost, of the Allied landing beaches during the D-Day invasion of Normandy, as part of Operation Overlord on 6 June 1944...
on June 6, 1944, mainly helping to establish a supply port at the beachhead. Later that winter the unit, re-commissioned as the 3053rd Engineer Combat Battalion, which deployed from Liège
Liège
Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....
deep into Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
with the 9th Army and saw action in the Battle of the Bulge. During his army service Brooks drew several cartoons which appeared in Stars and Stripes
Stars and Stripes (newspaper)
Stars and Stripes is a news source that operates from inside the United States Department of Defense but is editorially separate from it. The First Amendment protection which Stars and Stripes enjoys is safeguarded by Congress to whom an independent ombudsman, who serves the readers' interests,...
.
Professional life
After his discharge in 1945 Brooks returned to his wife and new daughter in Chicago. He worked for Brach'sBrach's
Brach's Confections is a candy and sweets company which produces and invented many modern icons of the sugary world; it is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. In November 2007, Brach's Confections was sold to Farley's & Sathers Candy Company and the corporate office moved to Round Lake,...
Candy Company and as a bank guard before he found representation at the Fred Zaner Advertising Cartoon Syndicate. Hopeful that he could become an editorial cartoonist he wrote to friends in Birmingham and received mild interest from the Birmingham News. He took a gamble and made the trip to meet with News officials and was offered the position beginning in 1948.
Brooks' cartoons were immediately popular in Birmingham. He used the platform to express great faith in the character of the American people and harsh criticism of anyone or anything that attacked or insulted that character. He did not withhold criticism of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
, a group which is believed to have counted many of the city's powerful men among its members. In addition to cartooning, the News lent Brooks out to work with police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to create sketches of suspects from eyewitness descriptions.
Honors
Brooks won the Sigma Delta Chi AwardSigma Delta Chi Award
The Sigma Delta Chi Awards are presented annually by the Society of Professional Journalists for excellence in journalism.- History :The Awards, according to the SPJ, did not begin in 1932 when the society chose six individuals for their contributions to journalism. In 1939 the awards program began...
for the most outstanding editorial cartoon of 1959. His winning panel, entitled "Two Deadly Weapons" depicted a hand holding a revolver and a second hand holding an automobile in the same manner, labeled "reckless speeding driver." Another cartoon on the same subject, which appeared during the holiday season, showed the Biblical Magi
Biblical Magi
The Magi Greek: μάγοι, magoi), also referred to as the Wise Men, Kings, Astrologers, or Kings from the East, were a group of distinguished foreigners who were said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh...
on camels following the Star of Bethlehem
Star of Bethlehem
In Christian tradition, the Star of Bethlehem, also called the Christmas Star, revealed the birth of Jesus to the magi, or "wise men", and later led them to Bethlehem. The star appears in the nativity story of the Gospel of Matthew, where magi "from the east" are inspired by the star to travel to...
in the top panel and two colliding cars in the lower panel with the caption "Then...Bethlehem. Today...Mayhem." The Texas Highway Patrol
Texas Highway Patrol
The Texas Highway Patrol is a division of the Texas Department of Public Safety and has the responsibility for general police traffic supervision, traffic, and criminal law enforcement on the rural highways of Texas...
distributed copies of the cartoon instead of warnings in 1960 and partially-credited Brooks with a drop in the number of fatalities during the Christmas season.
Brooks' farewell to Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
in 1966 showed dozens of Disney's cartoon characters gathered mournfully at his grave. Thousands of copies were requested from across the country and the original hands at Disney Studios. A 1975 cartoon lambasting Vice President Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
for ignoring parliamentary procedure during debate of an anti-filibuster bill was passed around the Senate floor. A 1973 "The Wizard of Id
The Wizard of Id
The Wizard of Id is a daily newspaper comic strip created by American cartoonists Brant Parker and Johnny Hart. Beginning in 1964, the strip follows the antics of a large cast of characters in a shabby medieval kingdom called "Id". From time to time, the king refers to his subjects as "Idiots"...
" strip, drawn by Brooks' friend Brant Parker, shows an editorial catroonist named "Charles" being punished by the King for lampooning him. Parker sent a personally-inscribed copy to Brooks. A 1976 editorial in The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
referenced a Brooks cartoon entitled "All Things to All People" which showed presidential candidate Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
standing at a church pulpit with a Bible in one hand and a copy of Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
in the other.
Brooks was invited to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
in 1982 and presented an original of a cartoon making fun of Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill
Tip O'Neill
Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill, Jr. was an American politician. O'Neill was an outspoken liberal Democrat and influential member of the U.S. Congress, serving in the House of Representatives for 34 years and representing two congressional districts in Massachusetts...
to President Ronald Reagan in the Oval Office. Senator John Glenn
John Glenn
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. is a former United States Marine Corps pilot, astronaut, and United States senator who was the first American to orbit the Earth and the third American in space. Glenn was a Marine Corps fighter pilot before joining NASA's Mercury program as a member of NASA's original...
's wife, Annie, requested the original of another cartoon showing Glenn rowing alone in the center of a river while a donkey leads Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
, Gary Hart
Gary Hart
Gary Hart is an American politician, lawyer, author, professor and commentator. He served as a Democratic Senator representing Colorado , and ran in the U.S...
, George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
and Jesse Jackson
Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr. is an African-American civil rights activist and Baptist minister. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as shadow senator for the District of Columbia from 1991 to 1997. He was the founder of both entities that merged to...
in a larger boat on "the left". Glenn wrote Brooks that it was the best gift his wife had given him and that it was the only cartoon he hung in his office. Former head of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, also requested a Brooks original cartoon, which he hung in his office.
He served as president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists
Association of American Editorial Cartoonists
The Association of American Editorial Cartoonists is a professional association concerned with promoting the interests of staff, freelance and student editorial cartoonists in the United States, Canada and Mexico...
in 1969 and edited an annual volume of the Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year since 1972 for Pelican Books. He retired from the News in 1985. Since 1982 the University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System...
's School of Community and Allied Health has presented a "Charles Brooks Award" annually to a graduating senior who made a creative contribution to the school.
Publications
- Brooks, Charles, ed. (May 1972) The Best Editorial Cartoons of 1972. Pelican Publishing Company. ISBN 0911116958
- Brooks, Charles G., Jr, editor (1986) Best of Brooks: 38 Years of Cartoons. Birmingham: EBSCO Media.
- Brooks, Charles, ed. (February 2007) The Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year: 2007 Edition. Pelican Publishing Company. ISBN 1589804597