The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, October 26, 1928, Page 9

Wi mtr SAUTE RTA STITUTE ot 5 ae ee 5 DM on €) : x a as) ct MUN TNT 4 some ; Serenes..|\oee Finds the Reat Hean of Human Nature HE WoRO. GUT Wiente us A, ViTHEN, WHEN, TS a wd yi In His Cantons of Cowboys. Children And Mechanics of Kitchen’ or Shop ae And Here He Sheds a Tear on the Passing: Of the Golden Age of American Boytood MO | 9 HAVASU RH iM UTIL ZT | The amusing domestic situations that Cartoonist Williams uts into his drawings are not taken from his own home, v4 says. . . but Mrs. Williams tells a diferent story. . f HE Golden Age of boyhood ended about two A illiams’ decades ago, when the age of asphalt pavements, he itera: movies and automobiles began.. A kid. nowadays on” They pla doesn’t quite have the opportunity for irresponsible the pranks that delighted TE pees uy boyhood’s way of spelling the the hearts of the boys of { ja al ‘r had, That, at least, is the conclusion Hella ba of Jim Williams, the stocky, gray- ing man who has raised the bare- footed, freckle-faced playmates of his younger days to something like immortality through He famous ‘Out Our Way” sketches that Williams draws for some 800 ~ i daily newspapers. 3 lobody can draw the pranks, exploits and heartbreaks of boy- hood unless he has within his own soul a boyish other self that never quite grew up. Jim Williams has that; it peers out at you, now and then, from the quiet eyes that shine sat a fee} of paged gra air, and makes you cadersacil why his drawings are loved by millions of people. And that understanding of b boyhood is what makes Jim's comment inter- esting. : He was asked if he “got his ideas” (and how a comic artist hates that expression!) for his drawings from the activities of his own son, a healthy youngster of 13. He shook his head and The famed creator of characters familiar to the read- ers of 800 newspapers . . . works ina little den littered with photographs of his days in the west, in the army . . . with pistols, muskets, Indian war clubs, half-finished ship models. chine shop job, he didn’t propose to remain there. He de- cided to fit himself for something worth while, and the first step seemed to be additional study in the matter of making sketches. So Jim began studying, evenings. “Boy, that was a grind,” he admits. “Used to get up at daylight, work all day in that boiler-factory place, then come home and study at night. I was busy then, all right.” But it paid. In the course of time Jim was emboldened to For seven years send samples of his work out for inspection. One sample Jim Williams reached the office of NEA Service, at Cleveland, where comics, was a real cow-puncher news features and photographs are distributed daily to some 800 . viding herd over newspapers. oe grinned. the plains where sunsets “T didn’ i i . ‘ ‘tNot so much,” he He . 1 = ialaneed ithe beauty, ef pointed mesas, silting rane Jim cher agp pally de aot en cine back, inogtly, to the days’ when y campfires un ie stars . . . things tha m asking m re was a kid. You know, | don’t give richness and color to a man's memory. eee ale: i shea GD Bel en) think boys nowadays have quite so much fun as they used to. They seem more formal, somehow— more restrained. They used to be dirty, bare-footed, kinda tattered, and‘ so on. now—” He jerked a thumb at his son. a » here, has got on my best pair of golf socks right this ul minute. Bobby was, undeniably, well 3 h more 30 than his The sample had done its work. The unerring insight into hu- man nature, the knowledge of the world, the tinge of romance . and beauty, that the long years had given Jim Williams, had been reflected on paper at last—and the editor in Cleveland who saw the sketches recognized the fact. IM WILVIAMS does his work in a J little den that opens off his dining room —a den that is just as littered up and filled with mementoes as ‘an artist's work- toom is supposed to be. On the walls there japon abies sande core are pictures of Jim in cowboy regalia, pic- ‘, But perhaps Bobby wouldn't agree tures of his chums of the old western days, that ae boys don’t get much pictures of army buddies. There are guns fun. There was a merry twinkle and pistols in profusion; pistols that range in his eye that announced that here, ‘ . all the way from the ee automatic to x at any rate, was one kid who was The Williamses—Jim, Mrs. Williams, chubby Bobby, charming the ancient, single-shot flintlock. An Indian ’ ‘ having a great time in his boyhood. Helen—are a happy, contented, cheerful family . . . excited war eh hangs peat close to an ancient -| c at the prospect of moving into a fine new home, thanks to the smooth-bore musket. ere is a little table, ‘was just about 40 years bee national popularity of Artist Williams’ pen characters. Eeatiaisnaey — a late ekakeere, and fi ili ie bey mode: ot ae ee hull of the clipper ship, Sovereign of the : Now Scotia. oe oe les Sh ieataried men—a grandfather “That's Curly,” he remarks. shad been an officer in the British navy during the War of 1812 You recall Curly; the towsle- and if the family had stayed in Nova Scotia Jim might have headed, button-nosed scamp~ of obeyed tradition and gone to sea himself. But he was just a Jim's cowboy drawings, who is for- little shaver when his father and mother pulled up stakes and ever getting into scrapes, pursuing Seas. It’s a hobby of his, the construction of ship models. “I don’t suppose this is a good sort of hobby for a man who does all his work in- doors,” says Jim. “I ought to get out and f ! down i [Peo y mours with over-buxom cowtown i 3 i They joie hy ag while, a in Benet for a while and waitresees aod « itting saline wise- Pa care a mle ayrent Ge sec | at one time Jim's father, who worked in an engine house, had cracks about the world as seen from sense to knocking a ball all over a vacant | 4, the acquaintance of a third-assistant engineer in the Edison the back of a contrary broncho. lot. I love a horse, now. But how can f shops—an undistinguished looking chap named Henry Ford. Curly, it seems, is taken from life, ie go hones riding in the middle of a ig city, e Cynara a ange a saat You can bet,” grins Jim, “that if nn eae the lites Sree ae es ai being gi ith second sight, Jim didn’t. Instead, he quite without premeditation, is bl ag pig gl op Sogdian BT Toone began the study of art at Mount Union ColJege there. “I was in a town along the border, along abou At this point in stroll Jim's children. Bobby, mentioned earlier, 1s chubby and jovial. As his father complained, he is wearing the gay golf sox of the elder Wil- im imight i is Christmas time, one year,” he says. “A detach. lia lelen, , is i = anne a amir hope thet Jia ight some pve, by hie ment of regulars, just back trot tihe Philippines, me Pi tery Se hs Hy = ment, Jim had other ideas, ‘There were glamorous figures in came through. ey were all feelii eat nes charming. When you meet her, however, I the world for a to admire; railroad engineers, cowboys, having a good time, and’ they all looked 80° neat there flashes through your mind the image : 5S pap eigennag Wad, last three divisions, to be sure, were Any and trim that I envied ‘em. | was— of the girl in “Out Our Way” who is 'for- a never seen in Alliance. But rai engineers were, and Jim Well, you can imagine how a cowboy looks; kinda “ ever beset by the antagonism of a rowdy = = = made up his mind to become dhe of the romantic fraternity. So dirty, and unshaven, with rips and patches on his breeches—and Bobby Williams . . . filches his dad's best golf socks, just younger brother. You turn to Jim.. = = = he qu bis studies and got a job as fireman on the Pennsylvania _ thought I'd like to belong to an outfit like that. So I enlisted.” can’t agree with his father's opinion that the good old days for “Do you get your stuff about brothers and sisters scrapping == =- : “ Jim served an enlistment in the cavalry, without finding it so. faa Young America are gone forever. from your own family?” you ask. ; = = 5 = int engineett have to be firemen first, and-Jim fully realized terribly exciting. When the enlistment expired he formed the ~ “No,” grins Jim, mindful of the honor of the family, = = = But firing is a job, with not so many thrills _resolve to go to Canada and aicia the famous Northwest Mounted. Mrs. Williams, however, spills the beans. As Jim says “No,” = = | = as an outsider might suppose; in time, Jim decided to But on his way he met The Girl, and shortly afterward he pride. We just didn’t have any money. So I went down to a the smiles and chimes in, “Most of it.” —— | ae another of his ambitions, He left the and dri plans for becor a policeman, and got married. machine shop and got a job as laborer—at 35 cents an hour. ey => = | = ‘weet, landing eventually in New Mexico, heart of the fabled When you meet and talk with Mrs. Williams it is easy to And boy, but that was work! In between jobs, when they IGHT now the Williamses are very much excited, for Jim == | = cow country. Before js he was a full-fledged cowboy. stand why. didn’t have anything else for us to do, they'd take us over to R is building a house. - He shows you the blueprints, It will a = | = oe “Once married, a more or Jess lucrative job was ' a siding and have us unload cars of coal.” “be a charming place in stone and timber. on a lot directly a | = YOR seven years Jim Williams was a cowboy. His eyes get And Jim bethought himself of his sketching ability 2 : Tt was in this shop that Jim met another of the famous “Out overlooking the cool blue expanse of Lake Eve, As he shows == = 'a sort of faraway expression when he talks about those days. to in on it. Our Way" characters—the great Bull o’ the Woods, whose the blueprints, you cannot be thinking of the day when he = = ~ They.were, one oe t days; not filled with the shoot- Tt worked very well, at first. Jim caught on wit' ? black-and-white likeness has been cli rom papera and clutched, in desperation, at a 35-cents-an-hour job in a shop. = | = = ing, harum-scarum, thrintbe-dark adventures of the novels, — that was making animated cartoons for the movi: 4 pasted-on factory walls all the way from Baltimore to Seattle. Jim Williams is a fortunat ; doubly f fer wans he = = | = = Eas packed svi beter thinee-commrncaminy Jeng Fides over she ae See ee gs Te Bull, Ji loge don was pe bs dew bows able, has cored Ee tee g: doi eyaosed Oak he ssa nt tae = 2 | ——) rising plains, silent eveningy | Prairies around “Just as we were getting established,” ex-' “dl dominant, energetic i t, ruling hi ike a czar, many Hp SS = = = Se coven fe Oe seemete ee af reat septs company went broke.” f sod tale ley ht cB by apc epee whe bas cotrarsed Piymnne piace ped people, an evets, aod = = = painted mesas; things | richness Hl apprentices r of the wrath to come, i y : 3 —s Salcole 10 a mets mena fooe tae ACK to Alliance came Jim and Mrs. . There The Bull is still living; moreover, you will be gad. to know, he en ie ee, Caen oe 2 = — There isin Jim Williams’ workroom a picture of a slen- were various money-making expedients; .. diss. is no longer a-foreman, but is:a factory superintendent, well. his boyhood co: back, too, with rich vi dventu — 2 deg, blackbaired young mas stig on a:pony.” Jim calla your” “I nally gotta the point where I had 4. oave'a job fixed Gaancally. "He greatly chriahes Jim Wiliam’ drawings, aah add mening’ wath, rss of the ad ris = 4 attention toi in order to cat says Jia, “here wart any tine for fale But if forme pitched Jim Wiliams into'a peorlysad aa tngthal | a x ‘ ‘ (Copyright, 1928, NEA Magasine) == =. = \ @ == ee { ‘ == te = = | eA ce OL ny tN mn mm = Ae Miaiaeiitinindvoninomes . «UTP MAA Att z -eILUIVALUULUAO OAL AL LALLA ELA AAY