Caspar Milquetoast
Encyclopedia
Caspar Milquetoast was a comic strip
character created by H. T. Webster for his cartoon series, The Timid Soul. In 1912, Webster drew a daily panel for the New York Tribune
, under a variety of titles—Our Boyhood Ambitions, Life's Darkest Moment, The Unseen Audience. In 1924, Webster moved to the New York World
and soon after added The Timid Soul featuring the wimpy Caspar Milquetoast. Webster described Caspar Milquetoast as "the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick". In 1927, Webster trained himself to draw left-handed in three months after a severe case of arthritis impaired the use of his right hand.
In 1931, the World folded, and that same year, Simon & Schuster
published a collection of The Timid Soul reprints. Webster then went back to the Tribune, where he launched a Timid Soul Sunday strip
. He alternated his various features throughout the week: Caspar Milquetoast was seen on both Sunday and Monday. Webster continued to produce this syndicated panel until his death in 1952, after which his assistant Herb Roth carried it on for another year. The character's name is a deliberate misspelling of the name of a bland and fairly inoffensive food, milk toast
. Milk toast, light and easy to digest, is an appropriate food for someone with a weak or "nervous" stomach.
Because of the popularity of Webster's character, the term milquetoast came into general usage in American English
to mean "weak and ineffectual" or "plain and unadventurous." When the term is used to describe a person, it typically indicates someone of an unusually meek
, bland, soft or submissive nature, who is easily overlooked, written off, and who may also appear overly sensitive, timid, indecisive or cowardly. Milquetoast appears in most American English dictionaries but is not in most British English
dictionaries.
adapted The Timid Soul to television as the premiere presentation of their Program Playhouse series. Caspar Milquetoast was portrayed by Ernest Truex
.
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
character created by H. T. Webster for his cartoon series, The Timid Soul. In 1912, Webster drew a daily panel for the New York Tribune
New York Tribune
The New York Tribune was an American newspaper, first established by Horace Greeley in 1841, which was long considered one of the leading newspapers in the United States...
, under a variety of titles—Our Boyhood Ambitions, Life's Darkest Moment, The Unseen Audience. In 1924, Webster moved to the New York World
New York World
The New York World was a newspaper published in New York City from 1860 until 1931. The paper played a major role in the history of American newspapers...
and soon after added The Timid Soul featuring the wimpy Caspar Milquetoast. Webster described Caspar Milquetoast as "the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick". In 1927, Webster trained himself to draw left-handed in three months after a severe case of arthritis impaired the use of his right hand.
In 1931, the World folded, and that same year, Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
published a collection of The Timid Soul reprints. Webster then went back to the Tribune, where he launched a Timid Soul Sunday strip
Sunday strip
A Sunday strip is a newspaper comic strip format, where comic strips are printed in the Sunday newspaper, usually in a special section called the Sunday comics, and virtually always in color. Some readers called these sections the Sunday funnies...
. He alternated his various features throughout the week: Caspar Milquetoast was seen on both Sunday and Monday. Webster continued to produce this syndicated panel until his death in 1952, after which his assistant Herb Roth carried it on for another year. The character's name is a deliberate misspelling of the name of a bland and fairly inoffensive food, milk toast
Milk toast
Milk toast is a breakfast food consisting of toasted bread in warm milk, typically with sugar and butter. Salt, pepper, paprika, cinnamon, cocoa, raisins and other ingredients may be added. In New England, milk toast refers to toast that has been dipped in a milk-based white sauce...
. Milk toast, light and easy to digest, is an appropriate food for someone with a weak or "nervous" stomach.
Because of the popularity of Webster's character, the term milquetoast came into general usage in American English
American English
American English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
to mean "weak and ineffectual" or "plain and unadventurous." When the term is used to describe a person, it typically indicates someone of an unusually meek
Meek
Meek is very nearly equivalent in common usage to humble.Strictly the two are not synonyms, as they are mutually exclusive, once you know the exact meaning & appreciate the etymology....
, bland, soft or submissive nature, who is easily overlooked, written off, and who may also appear overly sensitive, timid, indecisive or cowardly. Milquetoast appears in most American English dictionaries but is not in most British English
British English
British English, or English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere...
dictionaries.
Television
On June 22, 1949, the DuMont Television NetworkDuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
adapted The Timid Soul to television as the premiere presentation of their Program Playhouse series. Caspar Milquetoast was portrayed by Ernest Truex
Ernest Truex
Ernest Truex was an American actor of stage and film.-Career:...
.
Cultural references
- The character is referenced in the musical Reefer MadnessReefer MadnessReefer Madness is a well-known 1936 American propaganda exploitation film revolving around the melodramatic events that ensue when high school students are lured by pushers to try "marijuana" — from a hit and run accident, to manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape, and descent into madness...
. - The song "The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening with Pete King)The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) (An Evening With Pete King)"The Piano Has Been Drinking ", often referred to as "The Piano Has Been Drinking", is a song written and performed by Tom Waits...
" by Tom WaitsTom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
has the line, "As the bouncer is a sumo wrestler creampuff Caspar Milquetoast". - In the 1954 film Carmen JonesCarmen Jones (film)Carmen Jones is a 1954 American musical film produced and directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Harry Kleiner is based on the libretto for the 1943 stage production of the same name by Oscar Hammerstein II, which was inspired by an adaptation of the 1845 Prosper Mérimée novella Carmen by...
(based upon the musical of the same nameCarmen JonesCarmen Jones is a 1943 Broadway musical starring Muriel Smith in the title role, later made into a 1954 musical film; the play also ran for a season in 1991 at London's Old Vic and most recently in London's Royal Festival Hall in the Southbank Centre in 2007. It is an updating of the Georges Bizet...
), Sgt. Brown (Brock PetersBrock PetersBrock Peters was an American actor, best known for playing the role of Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird...
) flirts with the vixenish factory worker Carmen Jones (Dorothy DandridgeDorothy DandridgeDorothy Jean Dandridge was an American actress and popular singer, and was the first African-American to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress...
). When her boyfriend Joe (Harry BelafonteHarry BelafonteHarold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
) objects, Brown insultingly refers to him as "Lieutenant Caspar Milquetoast". A fight ensues and Brown is beaten into unconsciousness by Joe, a soldier under his command.
Further reading
- Webster, H.T. Introduction by Ring LardnerRing LardnerRinggold Wilmer Lardner was an American sports columnist and short story writer best known for his satirical takes on the sports world, marriage, and the theatre.-Personal life:...
, The Timid Soul, Simon and Schuster (1931). - The Best of H. T. Webster: A Memorial Collection, Simon and Schuster (1953), hardcover, 254 pages.