Stan Cross
Encyclopedia
Stanley George Cross was born in the United States but was known as an Australian strip and political cartoonist who drew for Smith’s Weekly and The Herald and Weekly Times. Cross is famous for his iconic 1933 “For gorsake, stop laughing: this is serious!” cartoon as well as the Wally and the Major and The Potts
cartoon strips.
Cross was the third son born to English-born parents, Theophilus Edwin Cross, builder and architect
, and his wife Florence, née Stanbrough, who met in Brisbane, married in Sydney then sought their fortune in the United States
. His father hoped to make money there but only found work as a carpenter
(he became secretary of the American Carpenters’ Union). They returned to Australia in 1892 when Stan was four years old. Cross was a brilliant schoolboy scholar who attended Perth High School
on a scholarship. He was offered a scholarship at the University of Adelaide
but turned it down due to his father's ill-health. Cross left school at 16 and joined the Railways Department as a cadet clerk. After taking an art course at Perth Technical School, he resigned, at the age of twenty four, from his job and with the financial assistance of his brother went to study in London at St Martin's School
,, during which time some of his cartoons were accepted by Punch
. Before sailing for England he exhibited his paintings and pen-and-ink works twice in Perth, the first with the West Australian Society of Arts at their 1913 Annual Exhibition, and the second in March 1914, with another Perth artist, Michael McKinlay. On returning back to Perth
he contributed freelance drawing to the Western Mail
and The Sunday Times
, and whilst working as a railways draftsman in 1918 when he was offered a job by Ernie Brewer of Smith's Weekly at ₤5 a week. Cross accepted and arrived in Sydney in 1919.
On 31 July 1920 Cross' first comic strip, The Man Who Waited was published in Smith's Weekly, this was followed in the next week by the first episode of You & Me. Originally a satire featuring the characters, "Mr Pott" and "Whalesteeth", designed as a means of offering political comment. It was however quickly converted into a domestic humour strip. Cross continued to draw the weekly strip for nineteen years until he left Smith's in late December 1939 when the strip was taken over by Jim Russell in 1940 and renamed to Mr & Mrs Potts.
On 17 November 1924 he married a 25-year-old clerk Jessie May Hamilton (d.1972) at the Waverley Methodist Church, in Bondi Junction
.
In 1928 Cross introduced added another strip to Smith's Weekly, Smith's Vaudevillans, introducing the mis-matched characters of "Rhubarb", an alcoholic sailor, and "Norman", a fop
who plays the straight man to his drunken partner. Another Stan Cross success was the first "Dad and Dave" cartoons, also for Smith's Weekly. The strip was a straight adaptation of the radio serial, which commenced in 1936, running for 2,276 episodes, before finishing in 1951.
During his time at Smith's Weekly Cross established a reputation as a skilled draftsman, particularly in the area of single-panel cartoons. In the 29 July 1933 issue of Smith's Weekly Cross draw a cartoon featuring two men who had been working on top of a building construction. But there has been a mishap, for now one is hanging by his fingers from a girder at a frightening height over a street. His mate, to save himself, has firmly grabbed the trousers of the other, yanking them down over his ankles, and looking directly upwards is convulsed with laughter, while the other implores: ‘For gorsake, stop laughing: this is serious!’. Editor Frank Marien
immediately dubbed it "The Funniest Drawing in the World". Such was the popularity of the cartoon that it was reprinted on a quality paper and distributed throughout Australia and beyond, many being sent overseas. All through the Depression years, and after, these prints costing two shillings and sixpence were framed and hung on walls in work-places, hotel bars, barbers’ shops, even in some shop windows.
Cross became Smith's Weeklys highest paid artist and second art editor. Short-run series he devised included: Things That Make Stan Cross (political and economic criticism), Places We Have Never Visited (Law Courts, Parliament, the players’ room at a test cricket match, etc.), Museum of the Future and Firsts in Australian History (the first barmaid, the first strike, the first football match).
Towards the end of 1939 Smith's Weekly was in the financial trouble and Cross was induced by Keith Murdoch
to join the (Melbourne) Herald
. Capitalising on his reputation as a comic strip artist Cross was asked to create a newly daily strip. He published his most popular strip, The Winks on 20 April 1940. For the first three months the strip employed a domestic comedy theme and was basically a toned down version of You & Me. The characters "Mr Wink" reflected the role of Mr Potts, while the tall, thin, long-faced was similar to his character, "Whalesteeth". In the initial stages these characters were given their own weekly strip, Tidley Winks & Wally. The Winks was only moderately popular until Cross decided to change the strip's direction and take the main characters into the Army. Mr Winks became Major Winks on 15 July 1940 and the strip was renamed Wally and the Major. Over the next thirty years in newspapers throughout Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, and in eighteen annual comic books (c.1943-60), readers were able to enjoy the extraordinary, knock-about adventures and lifestyle of Private Wally Higgins, Major Winks, Pudden Bensen and a company of comedy players—in the army in World War II
and afterwards, and on their North Queensland
sugarcane
plantation
. He continued to produce the strip until failing eyesight forced him to get help with the drawings early in 1970. Carl Lyon started to ink in Cross' pencil drawings. Later Lyon took over all the drawing with Cross writing the stories and eve ntually took over complely when Cross retired later that year.
He was a foundation member and served as president of the Black and White Artists Society (later Club), Sydney from 1931 to 1954. Their annual trophy "The Stanley
" was named for him, with the award taking the shape of the figures in his classic cartoon, "For gorsake, stop laughing: this is serious".
Cross also wrote books on accountancy, economics and English grammar and treatises on soil conservation. He painted watercolours and there is some speculation that Cross and George Finey held the first exhibition at David Jones’s Art Gallery. In 1970 he retired from the Melbourne Herald and joined his family at Armidale, New South Wales
where he died on 16 June 1977 at the age of eighty eight. The epitaph on his tombstone reads, 'Stop laughing, this is serious’.
The Potts
The Potts is said to be the world's longest-running cartoon strip drawn by the same artist. The strip appeared in Australia's The Sun News-Pictorial. It was syndicated in the United States from 1957 to 1962, during which time it was renamed Uncle Dick...
cartoon strips.
Cross was the third son born to English-born parents, Theophilus Edwin Cross, builder and architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, and his wife Florence, née Stanbrough, who met in Brisbane, married in Sydney then sought their fortune in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. His father hoped to make money there but only found work as a carpenter
Carpenter
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....
(he became secretary of the American Carpenters’ Union). They returned to Australia in 1892 when Stan was four years old. Cross was a brilliant schoolboy scholar who attended Perth High School
Hale School
Hale School is a selective, independent, Anglican day and boarding school for boys, located in Wembley Downs, a coastal suburb of Perth, Western Australia....
on a scholarship. He was offered a scholarship at the University of Adelaide
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide is a public university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third oldest university in Australia...
but turned it down due to his father's ill-health. Cross left school at 16 and joined the Railways Department as a cadet clerk. After taking an art course at Perth Technical School, he resigned, at the age of twenty four, from his job and with the financial assistance of his brother went to study in London at St Martin's School
St Martin's School
St Martin's School is a comprehensive school in Hutton, Brentwood.St. Martin's is a co-educational, comprehensive, foundation school for pupils aged 11 to 19 years. In 2000 the DfES designated St. Martin's as a national beacon school of excellence and in 2005 the DfES designated St...
,, during which time some of his cartoons were accepted by Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
. Before sailing for England he exhibited his paintings and pen-and-ink works twice in Perth, the first with the West Australian Society of Arts at their 1913 Annual Exhibition, and the second in March 1914, with another Perth artist, Michael McKinlay. On returning back to Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
he contributed freelance drawing to the Western Mail
Western Mail (Western Australia)
The Western Mail, or Western Mail, was the name of two weekly newspapers published in Perth, Western Australia.-West Australian newspapers:...
and The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (Western Australia)
The Sunday Times, owned by News Limited, is a tabloid Sunday newspaper printed in Perth and distributed throughout Western Australia.-History:...
, and whilst working as a railways draftsman in 1918 when he was offered a job by Ernie Brewer of Smith's Weekly at ₤5 a week. Cross accepted and arrived in Sydney in 1919.
On 31 July 1920 Cross' first comic strip, The Man Who Waited was published in Smith's Weekly, this was followed in the next week by the first episode of You & Me. Originally a satire featuring the characters, "Mr Pott" and "Whalesteeth", designed as a means of offering political comment. It was however quickly converted into a domestic humour strip. Cross continued to draw the weekly strip for nineteen years until he left Smith's in late December 1939 when the strip was taken over by Jim Russell in 1940 and renamed to Mr & Mrs Potts.
On 17 November 1924 he married a 25-year-old clerk Jessie May Hamilton (d.1972) at the Waverley Methodist Church, in Bondi Junction
Bondi Junction, New South Wales
Bondi Junction is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Bondi Junction is located 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the Waverley....
.
In 1928 Cross introduced added another strip to Smith's Weekly, Smith's Vaudevillans, introducing the mis-matched characters of "Rhubarb", an alcoholic sailor, and "Norman", a fop
Fop
Fop became a pejorative term for a foolish man over-concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th century England. Some of the very many similar alternative terms are: "coxcomb", fribble, "popinjay" , fashion-monger, and "ninny"...
who plays the straight man to his drunken partner. Another Stan Cross success was the first "Dad and Dave" cartoons, also for Smith's Weekly. The strip was a straight adaptation of the radio serial, which commenced in 1936, running for 2,276 episodes, before finishing in 1951.
During his time at Smith's Weekly Cross established a reputation as a skilled draftsman, particularly in the area of single-panel cartoons. In the 29 July 1933 issue of Smith's Weekly Cross draw a cartoon featuring two men who had been working on top of a building construction. But there has been a mishap, for now one is hanging by his fingers from a girder at a frightening height over a street. His mate, to save himself, has firmly grabbed the trousers of the other, yanking them down over his ankles, and looking directly upwards is convulsed with laughter, while the other implores: ‘For gorsake, stop laughing: this is serious!’. Editor Frank Marien
Frank Marien
Francis Joseph Marien born in Sydney, Australia of Irish and Italian parents was an editor of Smith's Weekly....
immediately dubbed it "The Funniest Drawing in the World". Such was the popularity of the cartoon that it was reprinted on a quality paper and distributed throughout Australia and beyond, many being sent overseas. All through the Depression years, and after, these prints costing two shillings and sixpence were framed and hung on walls in work-places, hotel bars, barbers’ shops, even in some shop windows.
Cross became Smith's Weeklys highest paid artist and second art editor. Short-run series he devised included: Things That Make Stan Cross (political and economic criticism), Places We Have Never Visited (Law Courts, Parliament, the players’ room at a test cricket match, etc.), Museum of the Future and Firsts in Australian History (the first barmaid, the first strike, the first football match).
Towards the end of 1939 Smith's Weekly was in the financial trouble and Cross was induced by Keith Murdoch
Keith Murdoch
Sir Keith Arthur Murdoch was an Australian journalist and the father of Rupert Murdoch, the CEO and Chairman of News Corp.-Life and career:Murdoch was born in Melbourne in 1885, the son of Annie and the Rev...
to join the (Melbourne) Herald
The Herald (Melbourne)
The Herald was a broadsheet newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia from 1840 to 1990.The Port Phillip Herald was first published as a semi-weekly newspaper on 3 January 1840 from a weatherboard shack in Collins Street. It was the fourth newspaper to start in Melbourne.The paper took its name...
. Capitalising on his reputation as a comic strip artist Cross was asked to create a newly daily strip. He published his most popular strip, The Winks on 20 April 1940. For the first three months the strip employed a domestic comedy theme and was basically a toned down version of You & Me. The characters "Mr Wink" reflected the role of Mr Potts, while the tall, thin, long-faced was similar to his character, "Whalesteeth". In the initial stages these characters were given their own weekly strip, Tidley Winks & Wally. The Winks was only moderately popular until Cross decided to change the strip's direction and take the main characters into the Army. Mr Winks became Major Winks on 15 July 1940 and the strip was renamed Wally and the Major. Over the next thirty years in newspapers throughout Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, and in eighteen annual comic books (c.1943-60), readers were able to enjoy the extraordinary, knock-about adventures and lifestyle of Private Wally Higgins, Major Winks, Pudden Bensen and a company of comedy players—in the army in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and afterwards, and on their North Queensland
North Queensland
North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the state of Queensland in Australia. Queensland is a massive state, larger than most countries, and the tropical northern part of it has been historically remote and undeveloped, resulting in a distinctive regional character and...
sugarcane
Sugarcane
Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...
plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
. He continued to produce the strip until failing eyesight forced him to get help with the drawings early in 1970. Carl Lyon started to ink in Cross' pencil drawings. Later Lyon took over all the drawing with Cross writing the stories and eve ntually took over complely when Cross retired later that year.
He was a foundation member and served as president of the Black and White Artists Society (later Club), Sydney from 1931 to 1954. Their annual trophy "The Stanley
Stanley Award
Named after Stan Cross, the Stanley Awards, also known as The Stanleys are issued annually by the Australian Cartoonists' Association and recognise the best of Australian cartoonists and cartooning....
" was named for him, with the award taking the shape of the figures in his classic cartoon, "For gorsake, stop laughing: this is serious".
Cross also wrote books on accountancy, economics and English grammar and treatises on soil conservation. He painted watercolours and there is some speculation that Cross and George Finey held the first exhibition at David Jones’s Art Gallery. In 1970 he retired from the Melbourne Herald and joined his family at Armidale, New South Wales
Armidale, New South Wales
Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale Dumaresq Shire had a population of 19,485 people according to the 2006 census. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region...
where he died on 16 June 1977 at the age of eighty eight. The epitaph on his tombstone reads, 'Stop laughing, this is serious’.
Sources
- Conversation with Stan Cross (sound recording) / as interviewed by Hazel de Berg, 18 August 1969
- ACE biographical portraits: the artists behind the comic book characters: the Australian comic book exhibition, Australian comics 1930s-1990s, touring Australia during 1995/96 / edited by Annette Shiell and Ingrid Unger (1994, ISBN 0-7326-0829-5)
- Australian humour in pen and ink / Stan Cross (1921)
- Golden years of cartooning 1920-1940: Stan Cross and 23 other artists whose work appeared in Smith's Weekly / Brenda Rainbow (1998, ISBN 0-9586271-0-X)
- Stop laughing, this is serious!: the life and work of Stan Cross, 1888-1977 / Vane Lindesay (2001, ISBN 0-522-84980-6)
- Wally and the Major / Stan Cross
- John Ryan collection of Australian comic books, ca. 1940-1960 (manuscript)
External links
- Lambiek.net - Stan Cross
- Carl Lyon - Wally and the Major cartoons for The Herald and Weekly Times - held and digitised by the National Library of Australia