Gladys Parker
| Gladys Parker | |
|---|---|
Parker in 1934
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| Born | 1910 North Tonawanda, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 28, 1966 (aged 56) |
| Occupation | Cartoonist, fashion designer |
| Years active | 1928–1965 |
| Spouse(s) |
Benjamin "Stookie" Allen (–1966, her death) |
Gladys Parker (1910 – April 28, 1966) was an American cartoonist for comic strips and a fashion designer in Hollywood. She is best known as the creator of the comic strip Mopsy, which had a long run over three decades. Parker was one of the few female cartoonists working between the 1930s and 1950s.
Growing up in North Tonawanda, New York, Parker took dance lessons at the age of seven after winning a "most beautiful child" contest. She taught herself to draw while recuperating from a leg injury, often using herself as her model, and began selling cartoons to magazines while still in high school. After graduating from Tonawanda High School, she worked in the office of a lumber yard, and then ran a dressmaking shop from her home.
She was the daughter of Caroline (who died at the age of 35 in 1914) and Wilbert C. Parker of Tonawanda. Her maternal grandparents were John and Anna Gerster of Tonawanda.
At the age of 18, Parker arrived in Manhattan to study fashion illustration. She started her newspaper career with the New York Graphic, doing a comic strip called May and Junie. She moved on to United Features for two years and Newspaper Enterprise Association for seven years.
After drawing the flapper strip Gay and Her Gang in 1928-29, she took over Ethel Hays' Flapper Fanny Says panel, which she did for NEA from 1930 to 1936. She also did a comic strip series for Lux Soap during the 1930s. Developing Mopsy in 1939, Parker modeled the character on herself. In 1946, she recalled, "I got the idea for Mopsy when the cartoonist Rube Goldberg said my hair looked like a mop. That was several years ago, and she has been my main interest ever since."
The Mopsy Sunday strip, added in 1945, gave Parker an opportunity to draw her fashion creations in a sidebar feature of paper dolls, titled "Mopsy Modes."
During World War II, Parker created the strip Betty G.I. for the Women's Army Corps, and she also stepped in to draw Russell Keaton's Flyin' Jenny from 1942 until 1944 when his assistant Marc Swayze took over.
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