 On Sunday April 8, 1934, Popeye's creator
E.C. Segar, his art teacher W.L. Evans, and a young boy from Cheltenham PA would begin a procession where their
lives would intersect, however briefly. On that early Spring morning, Dave Kenner -- like millions of children
of the day -- undoubtedly rushed to grab the Sunday funny papers and then settled down to be entertained by the
great King Feature Syndicate comic characters in the Philadelphia
Inquirer. It appears that the boy also harbored a desire to draw
comics himself, and he likely studied his favorite cartoonists as he read and enjoyed the adventures of Flash Gordon,
Popeye, Little Orphan Annie, Captain & the Kids, Smitty, and the other colorful characters in the funnies.
On this particular Sunday, he was in for a welcome surprise. Thimble
Theatre had entertained kids with comic stamps, play money and
Funny Films in the corner of the Sappo topper for a couple of years when Segar launched the Cartoon Club. The new
feature was like a Popeye School of Cartooning for budding young comic artists. The first 11 weeks of the panel
were numbered lessons, and Dave Kenner faithfully followed Popeye's instructions to practice his art. "Ahoy,
pals! If ya wants to belong to this club all ya got to do is draw like we show ya," Popeye told his fans.
Dave cut out every lesson and carefully glued them into a homemade tablet. Then the boy dutifully redrew each and
every exercise. |
| Segar stuck with the Cartoon Club project for 57 weeks. In addition to artistic
guidance, Popeye also presented morality messages and safety tips. Then the first week in August, the sailor invited
kids to join his Cartoon Club and implied that readers should submit their ideas and drawings. "If ya kin
get a idea, try to draw one of these cartoons." Popeye neglected to give instructions for mailing in these
creations nor did he give any details of what benefits membership in the club might entail. Many ambitious young
artists likely sent their submissions to their local newspaper and at least some of the papers forwarded this mail
to King Features who routed it on to Segar in Santa Monica CA. On 9/9/34, Popeye's Cartoon Club reproduced a lesson
on virtue drawn by Kitty Bell of West Philadelphia. But apparently, a limited number of letters reached the artist,
because over the course of the feature, Segar only used kid's cartoons on eight separate occasions, and he illustrated
ideas submitted by readers eight other times. His own children enjoyed an insider advantage. One of the 12 amateur
drawings Segar ran was by his daughter Marie, and he also worked in an idea from his eight year old son Tom. |
 Undeterred, Dave Kenner soon came up with an idea
and mailed in a drawing. His work was rewarded in early December 1934. Arriving home from school, Dave found a
small envelope waiting on him, with his name and address penned neatly like the lettering in a comic strip word
balloon. The mailing was postmarked Santa Monica and the return address said simply "From Popeye." Inside
was a printed membership card to Popeye's Cartoon Club. By virtue of the scarcity of this piece of Segar memorabilia
today, it is safe to say that Dave Kenner was one of the lucky few to be bestowed the honor of official selection
to this special club. |
|
While receiving the membership card in the mail from Popeye must have
been one of the most exciting things that ever happened in this youngster's life, it paled in comparison of what
was to come. Because on March 24, 1935, D. Kenner's cartoon appeared on the Thimble Theatre Sunday page. One can
only imagine what pride and delight the young artist felt as a result of this recognition. His cartoon extolled
as Popeye put it, "Don't feel discontented jus' because some kid has sumpin' you ain't got." The irony
is that Dave now had, in a manner of speaking, the very thing that made others say "I wish I was him."
He possessed all the fame and notoriety of being singled out and published in the funny pages by the world's most
famous sailor. No doubt his friends were incredibly envious, while Dave must have achieved new stature beyond belief.
|
 Meanwhile, in Cleveland OH, the man who had helped
in his own way to inspire the Popeye School of Cartooning was evidently struggling at the height of the Great Depression.
He was doing all he could to make a living recruiting new clients to take his art correspondence course. Details
about W.L. Evans are sketchy at best. Evans had been a successful and widely published editorial cartoonist for
the Cleveland Leader
starting in around 1900. It appears he left the paper and opened his School of Cartooning and Caricaturing in about
1909. His motivation may have been that he saw the handwriting on the wall. The Leader, begun in 1854, was presumably losing readers and would ultimately be bought
by the rival Cleveland Plain Dealer
in 1917 and cease publication in 1921. Or maybe Evans just had an entrepreneurial spirit and was ready to make
good on his own.
Whatever the case, it had been 20 years since Elzie Segar had completed Evans' course and gone on to start a productive
comic artist career. While his student prospered, it is not unlikely -- considering the nature of his business
-- that Evans' sales may have been languishing in the tough economic times of the 1930s. |
 Segar never forgot the contribution to
his career by his mentor and acknowledged him in a June 1935 Sappo strip where the character proudly holds his
diploma from the W.L.E. correspondence course in cartooning. Evans would write, "I never gave Segar a diploma,
for the students' drawings are the best diploma they could ask for. But Segar put it in just to add humor to the
strip."
After Dave Kenner's drawing appeared in Thimble Theatre, Evans wasted little time dictating a two page personal recruiting letter to
the boy. "I do not know whether you know it or not, but I am sure that you will be interested in knowing that
Cartoonist Segar himself is a former student of mine." The art school director not only took the time to compose
the lengthy letter, but he also embellished the outside of the envelope with a hand drawn sketch of Popeye and
addressed D. Kenner as Cartoonist. |
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| In the sales pitch, Evans included a reprint of a full page advertisement
that he ran in the celebrated, but short-lived, Cartoons magazine featuring Segar soon after he went to work for the Chicago Herald in 1916. In addition,
he enclosed a copy of a letter of appreciation that Dick Tracy's Chester Gould wrote to him after completing the
course and landing a job on the Tulsa Democrat. In his letter to Dave, Evans also recited an endorsement that Segar had sent
after he moved to NYC in 1919 and began Thimble Theatre from the King Features bullpen: "Yes, Mr. Evans," Segar wrote, "I
am getting along fine. NICE FAT CHECK EVERY WEEK. Thanks to you, old man: you certainly put me on the right road.
I have had very few bumps. Your course is, without a doubt, a one way ticket to the Big Town -- SUCCESS."
Evans slogan was "Yours for results," and Segar's statement surely affirmed that motto. |
| A somewhat telling insight into Evans' business fortunes or misfortunes
at the time is that he followed up the first letter with a second solicitation for the boy's patronage just a week
later. In this pitch, he detailed a special tuition offer for monthly installment payments that might make taking
the course more affordable. Tuition was $20 when paid in advance for the full course of 20 lessons and criticisms,
or students could pay only $2.50 a month for 10 months. A dollar a lesson was all Segar had paid years earlier.
Correspondence reveals that the boy's parents mailed Evans the $20 enrollment fee. Evans added a P.S. in his acknowledgment
letter saying: "I am sure Cartoonist Segar will be glad to know that he has enrolled." |
 
Left: Evans illustrative talents in the editorial cartoon genre are displayed
in his skilled rendering of Teddy Roosevelt from Lesson 5 of his course. Right: The businessman and artist hand-signed
all his office letterheads. |
Another Evans letter to the boy's mother and father a couple months later
suggests that the young artist may have been losing interest in the work it took to complete the lessons. Evans
letter begins: "For some time I have been intending to write asking how Dave is getting along with his cartoon
lesson. If he is having any trouble with it, he should not hesitate to let me know." But the rest of this
story has been lost as no further evidence exists to enlighten us of what became of D. Kenner or his relationship
with W.L. Evans after this point.
But for a moment in time in the mid 1930s, the divergent paths of a genuine cartoon legend, a merchant of artistic
dreams, and an eager unknown boy converged in the hallways of the Popeye School of Cartooning. No one knows
the actual extent that one affected the other. But for Dave Kenner of Cheltenham PA, it had to be a gratifying
memory that kept Popeye alive in his heart throughout his life. |
