Ferd Johnson
Encyclopedia
Ferdinand Johnson aka Ferd Johnson, was an American cartoonist, best known for his 68-year stint on the Moon Mullins
comic strip
.
Born in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania
. Johnson's youthful interest in cartooning had the support of his family after he won an Erie Dispatch Herald
cartoon contest: "I think I was 11 years old. And then I won a newspaper cartoon drawing contest, and I think the prize was two or three tickets to Peck's Bad Boy
, and that got my dad to thinking, and he gave me a $28 correspondence course. I went through that and worked on the high school yearbook all the time. I did lots of drawings there. At 13, I sold my first cartoon for money to a railroad magazine. It paid me $10 a month for years and years."
He began hanging around the Chicago Tribune
offices when he was 17. After graduating from high school in 1923, he attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts for three months. He dropped out and became Frank Willard
's assistant at the Tribune two months after Willard launched Moon Mullins in 1923. Johnson worked at the Tribune as a color artist and sports illustrator.
to do a cowboy strip, Texas Slim, and he was promoted by the Tribune as the youngest cartoonist in American newspapers. Syndicated beginning August 30, 1925, Texas Slim ran for three years, and Johnson launched another strip, Lovey-Dovey in 1932. On Moon Mullins, after starting on the lettering and backgrounds, Johnson gradually progressed to the point where he was handling the entire operation.
On March 31, 1940, he revived Texas Slim as a Sunday half-page
in Texas Slim and Dirty Dalton (with the companion strip, Buzzy), which ran for 18 years. It was only after Willard's death that he began signing Moon Mullins. When Willard died January 11, 1958, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate
hired Johnson as Willard's logical successor. Johnson recalled, 'Texas ran until 1958 when I took over Moon completely. Up to then I was working on both Moon and Texas and some advertising work, and taking some time off to eat and sleep."
Like Willard, Johnson had a natural gift for funny, slangy dialogue. He stayed with the strip until it concluded in 1991. In 1978, his son, Tom Johnson, signed on as his assistant (drawing the Sunday page and assisting on the dailies). Ferd Johnson worked on Moon Mullins for 68 years–a stint that probably stands as the longest tenure of an artist on a single feature in the entire history of American comics.
In 1989, Ferd Johnson reflected on his long career, beginning with his initial encounter with Frank Willard when he was in art school:
Johnson continued to draw and paint after he moved into a retirement home in Irvine, California
in 1995, and he died 15 months later. Doris, his wife of 57 years, whom he met in art school in Chicago, died in 1986. Johnson was survived by his younger brother, George H. Johnson of Portland, Oregon; his son, Tom, and his wife Anne of Newport Beach; four grandchildren and one great grandson.
Moon Mullins
Moon Mullins, created by cartoonist Frank Willard , was a popular American comic strip which had a long run as both a daily and Sunday feature from June 19, 1923 to June 2, 1991. Syndicated by the Chicago Tribune/New York News Syndicate, the strip depicts the lives of diverse lowbrow characters who...
comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
.
Born in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. Johnson's youthful interest in cartooning had the support of his family after he won an Erie Dispatch Herald
Erie Times-News
The Erie Times-News is a daily morning newspaper in Erie, Pennsylvania. It has a daily circulation of about 56,124 and a Sunday circulation of about 75,680...
cartoon contest: "I think I was 11 years old. And then I won a newspaper cartoon drawing contest, and I think the prize was two or three tickets to Peck's Bad Boy
Peck's Bad Boy
Peck's Bad Boy is a 1934 American drama film directed by Edward F. Cline. It was based on the series of books by George W. Peck.- Cast :*Jackie Cooper as Bill Peck*Thomas Meighan as Henry Peck*Jackie Searl as Horace Clay...
, and that got my dad to thinking, and he gave me a $28 correspondence course. I went through that and worked on the high school yearbook all the time. I did lots of drawings there. At 13, I sold my first cartoon for money to a railroad magazine. It paid me $10 a month for years and years."
He began hanging around the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
offices when he was 17. After graduating from high school in 1923, he attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts for three months. He dropped out and became Frank Willard
Frank Willard
Frank Henry Willard was a cartoonist best known for his comic strip Moon Mullins which ran from 1923 to 1991. He sometimes went by the nickname Dok Willard....
's assistant at the Tribune two months after Willard launched Moon Mullins in 1923. Johnson worked at the Tribune as a color artist and sports illustrator.
Texas Slim
When he was 19, he was hired by Joseph PattersonJoseph Medill Patterson
Joseph Medill Patterson was an American journalist and publisher, grandson of publisher Joseph Medill, founder of the Chicago Tribune and a mayor of Chicago, Illinois.-Family:...
to do a cowboy strip, Texas Slim, and he was promoted by the Tribune as the youngest cartoonist in American newspapers. Syndicated beginning August 30, 1925, Texas Slim ran for three years, and Johnson launched another strip, Lovey-Dovey in 1932. On Moon Mullins, after starting on the lettering and backgrounds, Johnson gradually progressed to the point where he was handling the entire operation.
On March 31, 1940, he revived Texas Slim as a Sunday half-page
Sunday strip
A Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
in Texas Slim and Dirty Dalton (with the companion strip, Buzzy), which ran for 18 years. It was only after Willard's death that he began signing Moon Mullins. When Willard died January 11, 1958, the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate
Tribune Media Services
Tribune Media Services is a syndication company owned by the Tribune Company.The company has two divisions, "News and Features" and "Entertainment Products"...
hired Johnson as Willard's logical successor. Johnson recalled, 'Texas ran until 1958 when I took over Moon completely. Up to then I was working on both Moon and Texas and some advertising work, and taking some time off to eat and sleep."
Like Willard, Johnson had a natural gift for funny, slangy dialogue. He stayed with the strip until it concluded in 1991. In 1978, his son, Tom Johnson, signed on as his assistant (drawing the Sunday page and assisting on the dailies). Ferd Johnson worked on Moon Mullins for 68 years–a stint that probably stands as the longest tenure of an artist on a single feature in the entire history of American comics.
Full Moon
Willard and Johnson traveled about Florida, Maine and Los Angeles, doing the strip while living in hotels, apartments and farmhouses. At its peak of popularity during the 1940s and 1950s, the strip ran in 350 newspapers. According to Johnson, he had been doing the strip solo for at least a decade before Willard's death in 1958: "They put my name on it then. I had been doing it about 10 years before that because Willard had heart attacks and strokes and all that stuff. The minute my name went on that thing and his name went off, 25 papers dropped the strip. That shows you that, although I had been doing it 10 years, the name means a lot."In 1989, Ferd Johnson reflected on his long career, beginning with his initial encounter with Frank Willard when he was in art school:
- The owner of the school knew Willard and got him to teach a cartoon class up there. He did it for two weeks and couldn't take it anymore. Meantime, he saw all the work, and he thought I had something, and he invited me up to the Tribune. I stood around there for hours watching him work. He finally turned around and said, "Ferd, if you're going to hang around here all this time, I'm going to put you to work." So I got a job as assistant at 15 bucks a week. I wrote home, and I said, "Don't send me anymore money. I've got it made."... The Tribune had a bunch of cartoonists there. They were the best in the country at the time, so if I got into trouble, I'd ask them. They were great to me: Chester Gould (Dick TracyDick TracyDick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...
) was one; Harold Gray (Little Orphan AnnieLittle Orphan AnnieLittle Orphan Annie was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and syndicated by Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James Whitcomb Riley, and made its debut on August 5, 1924 in the New York Daily News...
); Sydney SmithSydney SmithSydney Smith was an English writer and Anglican cleric. -Life:Born in Woodford, Essex, England, Smith was the son of merchant Robert Smith and Maria Olier , who suffered from epilepsy...
(The GumpsThe GumpsThe Gumps, a popular comic strip about a middle-class family, was created by Sidney Smith in 1917, launching a 42-year run in newspapers from February 12, 1917 until October 17, 1959....
). Frank KingFrank KingFrank Oscar King was an American cartoonist best known for his popular, long-run comic strip Gasoline Alley...
(Gasoline AlleyGasoline AlleyGasoline Alley is a comic strip created by Frank King and currently distributed by Tribune Media Services. First published November 24, 1918, it is the second longest running comic strip in the US and has received critical accolades for its influential innovations...
) was right next to us... But the guys couldn't get any work done down there. There were card games, shooting craps–so they started working at home, and then they started spreading out over the country. A cartoonist can be wherever there is a mailbox... Ever since I was a kid I sketched. Frank King told me, "If you want to learn how to draw, get a sketchbook. Go out and sketch everything. Come back and try to repeat it from memory. If it doesn't work, keep going back and forth." Those old-time cartoonists could do that. There's a guy named Gaar WilliamsGaar WilliamsGaar Campbell Williams was a prominent American cartoonist who worked for the Indianapolis News and the Chicago Tribune. His scenes of horse-and-buggy days in small towns of the Victorian era included situations taken from memories of his childhood in his hometown of Richmond, Indiana...
who had an office next to ours. He could draw anything. If I was stuck, I wouldn't have to go look up anything. I'd show it to him, and he'd draw it for me... I work two or three hours. I get in around 9am or 9:30am and leave at noon. That's just the drawing part. The ideas are at home, wherever I am. Most people retire at 65. I wouldn't think of retiring. It's something to do. It's fun... I know how Moon thinks. It's not like Plushbottom thinks or all the other characters. It's like a stage play almost.
Johnson continued to draw and paint after he moved into a retirement home in Irvine, California
Irvine, California
Irvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
in 1995, and he died 15 months later. Doris, his wife of 57 years, whom he met in art school in Chicago, died in 1986. Johnson was survived by his younger brother, George H. Johnson of Portland, Oregon; his son, Tom, and his wife Anne of Newport Beach; four grandchildren and one great grandson.