CLEVELAND, Ohio — What has been a sunshine weekend seems fitting to shine light on my three predecessors as the primary Editorial cartoonist for The Plain Dealer, James Donahey, Edward Kuekes and Ray Osrin, with this post showing some of their original work from my collection, with some added extras at the end.
JAMES DONAHEY
James Donahey, also known as ‘HAL’ was the first Editorial cartoonist for The Plain Dealer from 1900 to 1949.
Prior to the advent of news photos, Donahey’s cartoons regularly appeared on the front page, as they had with the Cleveland World newspaper who Donahey had started with. Below are front pages from both newspapers.
Donahey’s original cartoon artwork is large averaging about 20″ x 15″ all done in pen and ink. The size was common at the time. No need to worry about it fitting on a computer ‘scanning bed’
Below are a few Donahey originals on the Cleveland ‘Group Plan’ and ‘3 Cent Fare’ for streetcars pushed by Mayor Tom Johnson.
Had the ‘3 Cent Fare’ cartoon hanging on my office wall, but didn’t know what it was about. Told Rep. Dennis Kucinich that when he stopped by after meeting with the Editorial Board, and he immediately knew, explaining what former fellow Mayor Johnson wanted.
The following are photos of how Cleveland looked at the time Donahey served as the PD’s Editorial cartoonist. They are taken from a vintage book the Plain Dealer published on Cleveland at the time, with the title page shown.
Two more original Donahey cartoons in the format he often drew them.
Donahey was a world traveler and a book of his cartoons on his travels was published along with one of his Editorial cartoons.
EDWARD KUEKES
Following James Donahey’s passing in 1949 as a result of a stroke, Edward Kuekes became The Plain Dealer chief Editorial cartoonist until he retired in 1966.
Kuekes had joined the PD in 1922 and served as Donahey’s understudy and staff artist.
PULITZER PRIZE WIN
In 1953, Kuekes won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartoons. The cartoon is shown below.
Below on the left is an original Kuekes cartoon from my collection.
After Kuekes retired in 1966, Ray Osrin took over for him. At the time, Ray had been working on the art staff as Kuekes had been.
In 1971, Osrin won The National Headliners Award for Editorial cartooning.
The following is a look at some Osrin originals and photos of him in the office and at the drawing table over the years.
EXTRA, EXTRA !!
Below is an original Editorial cartoon drawn by Tom Wilson, creator of Ziggy. Wilson lived in Lakewood at the time and had also worked for American Greetings.
1916 Plain Dealer Sports Cartoon
OTTO GRAHAM CARTOON
With Dylan Gabriel making his debut as the Browns new starting QB in London, fitting to end this gallery with an original Fred Reinert cartoon on arguably the Browns greatest QB Otto Graham.