Walt McDougall
| Walt McDougall | |
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| Born |
February 10, 1858 Newark, New Jersey |
| Died | March 6, 1938 (aged 80) Waterford, Connecticut |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist |
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Notable works
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Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz |
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Walter Hugh McDougall (February 10, 1858 – March 6, 1938) was an American cartoonist. He produced some of the earliest full color newspaper comic strips, and was one of the first producers of regular political cartoons in American daily papers. His satirical cartoons, published in outlets such as the New York World and The North American, were influential in the 1884 U.S. presidential election, and soon after political cartoons became a fixture in American papers. He also drew children's comic strips, including Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz written by L. Frank Baum, and has been called the first syndicated cartoonist for his contributions to the weekly columns of humorist Bill Nye. His books include The Hidden City (1891) and The Rambillicus Book (1903).
Walter Hugh McDougall was born in Newark, New Jersey, the son of John Alexander McDougall (1810–1894), a painter and close associate of writers such as Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving. Walt attended a military academy, and from the age of 16 was self-educated. He began his professional work in 1876 with the New York Daily Graphic, which three years earlier had become the nation's first illustrated daily newspaper. He also sold early works to Harper's Weekly and Puck. For a time he was part owner of the Newark newspaper The Suburban. He married F. M. Burns in 1878.
He began working for the New York World in 1884, and a cartoon printed on August 10 of that year became the World's first political cartoon. Several of his cartoons were influential in the 1884 presidential election. One, likening nominee James G. Blaine's dinner with millionaires and plutocrats shortly before the election to Belshazzar's feast of the Bible, is credited with contributing to Blaine's narrow loss to Grover Cleveland. The cartoon, entitled "The Royal Feast of Belshazzar Blaine and the Money Kings" and co-drawn by Valerian Gribayedoff, was reprinted on billboards across New York and Blaine lost the state, and thus the election, by little over 1,000 votes. Author Michael R. Smith writes McDougall and Gribayedoff "may have created the most influential political cartoon in United States history." "Belshazzar Blaine and the Money Kings" elevated the prominence of political cartoons, which soon after became a regular feature in daily newspapers nationwide.
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