Carl Thomas Anderson - From Cabinets To Cartoons

From Cabinets To Cartoons

At the age of 25, he developed a strong interest in drawing and went to Philadelphia because the Pennsylvania Museum & School of Industrial Art was the only school he found specifically advertising a pen-and-ink course. In 1894, his first art job was with the Philadelphia Times where he earned $12 a week drawing fashion illustrations.

He was hired by Arthur Brisbane for Joseph Pulitzer's New York World at the end of the 1890s. His strip The Filipino and the Chick ran on the Sunday page of the World, attracting the attention of William Randolph Hearst, who offered more money at his New York Journal. For Hearst, Anderson created Raffles and Bunny, and for the McClure Syndicate in 1903 he drew Herr Spiegelberger, the Amateur Cracksman.

Since these strips received only a mild reaction from readers, Anderson began freelancing for Judge, Life and Puck. With the Great Depression looming and his markets diminishing, Anderson was 65 years old when he left New York in 1930, returning to Madison to care for his dying father. Anderson lived in Madison with his three sisters in the house his father built at 834 Prospect Place near Lake Mendota, and he resumed his earlier trade as a cabinetmaker while teaching night classes.

He also taught through his mail order cartoon course from "The Carl Anderson School, Madison, Wis." Small ads in 1930 issues of Popular Mechanics announced:

Cartoon & Comic Strip Course for only $2.98 complete. The Ace of Cartoon Courses. For fun and profit learn to draw cartoons and comic strips. Amazingly simple system developed by Carl Anderson, famous contributor to The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, Life, Judge, New York Journal, New York World and other leading publications give complete instructions in drawing, cartooning, comic strip and illustrations. These easy lessons make drawing as easy as writing.