James Robert Williams (March 30, 1888 – June 17, 1957)[1] was a Canadian cartoonist who signed his work J. R. Williams. He was best known for his long-run daily syndicated panel Out Our Way. As noted by Coulton Waugh in his 1947 book The Comics, anecdotal evidence indicated that more Williams' cartoons were clipped and saved than were other newspaper comics. A newspaper promotion of 1930 compared him to poets Eugene Field and James Whitcomb Riley.[2]
Early life
Williams was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. When he was young, his family moved to Detroit, and he was 15 when he dropped out of school to work as an apprentice machinist in Ohio, soon relocating to Arkansas and Oklahoma, where he drifted about, sometimes working on ranches during a six-year period. He spent three years in the U.S. Cavalry.[3][4]
Returning to Ohio, he married Lida Keith and settled into a steady job with a crane manufacturing firm, where he drew covers for the company's catalog. During his spare time, he created cartoons depicting ranch life and machine shop workers. He started submitting his work to newspaper syndicates, eventually receiving an offer from Newspaper Enterprise Association.[4]
Out Our Way begins
Out Our Way first appeared in newspapers on March 20, 1922. The single-panel series introduced a variety of characters, including the cowboy Curly and ranch bookkeeper Wes, and soon led to a Sunday strip, Out Our Way with the Willets. His assistants on the strip were George Scarbo and Neg Cochran.[3]
Williams used Out Our Way as an umbrella title for several alternating series. These had recurring characters, such as Bull of the Woods about the boss of a machine shop and the small town family life in Why Mothers Get Gray. Don Markstein, in describing Williams' settings and themes, lists the other series subtitles:
References
- ↑ "James Robert Williams, "California, Death Index, 1940-1997"". FamilySearch. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
- ↑ Coulton Waugh, Waugh (1947). The Comics. New York, New York: Macmillan. p. 360. Archived from the original on 10 December 2008. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
- 1 2 3 Lambiek Comiclopedia
- 1 2 University of Wyoming American Heritage Center: Rural Images[permanent dead link]
- 1 2 3 "Don Markstein's Toonopedia". Retrieved 2013-01-18.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - ↑ "J.R. Williams". Algrove Publishing. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
External links
- Sampling of panels from Out Our Way from Barnacle Press
- Michael H., Price (9 January 2006). "J.R. Williams: a cowboy cartoonist for the ages". Fort Worth Business Press. Retrieved 18 January 2013.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link) - Michael H. Price (14 October 2007). "Cowpuncher cartoonist J.R. Williams". Comic Mix.
- Christopher Stigliano (17 June 2007). "Review: Out Our Way Sampler". Blog to Comm.
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