Emile Mercier (cartoonist)
Encyclopedia
Emile Mercier was an Australia
n cartoonist.
He was born in New Caledonia
and settled in Australia after World War I
. His popularity reached its height during the 1950s. Emile Mercier died in Sydney
from Parkinsons Disease.
Mercier's work was aimed squarely at the lower-middle class Australian reader. His daily single-panel newspaper cartoons were often topical, and mildly satirical. His humour took a neutral stance in politics, preferring to poke fun at politicians in general, rather than any recognisable figure. Generally, Mercier encouraged his readers to laugh at the vicissitudes of daily life. Some of his regular targets included drunks and tramps, fads and fashions in dress or house design, horse-racing, golf, food prices and motoring, all of interest to 1950s Australians.
Mercier enjoyed including strange words in his cartoons, like 'ETAOIN' and 'SHRDLU'; nonsense words formed by the first two rows of keys on the old Linotype
machines; words which sometimes - to Mercier's amusement - were accidentally included in real-life newspaper articles. 'CMFYP', the third line of keys on the keyboard, was sometimes used by Mercier as the name of a fictitious politician; the Honorable C. M. FWYP.
Mercier also found the word 'GRAVY' humorous and included it a variety of contexts, including a trio of racehorses who were named 'GRAVY BONES', 'GREY SHRDLU' and 'CURLAMO' on signs above their stalls. Other Mercier's whims were depicting buildings, footpaths on floors supported by bed-springs, eccentric three-wheeled automobiles, yaks, and portraits of 'Uncle Ezra' on the walls of rooms.
There was also a cast of frequently recurring secondary characters who starred in background gags of their own, including a bearded old gentleman (occasionally referred to as "Argylle"), who wore pince-nez glasses, a striped blazer and either a deerstalker hat or a straw boater - and who sometimes appeared carrying a euphonium, driving one of the above-mentioned three wheeled cars, or, more often, on stilts; and a seedy old drunk in a battered brass fireman's helmet. Mercier even occasionally appeared as himself in his own cartoons, usually in a self-deprecating role.
Mercier also had a naughty 'Gallic' sense of humour, and would often include double meanings in his jokes. His cartoon 'My wife's swallowed a bishop!' shows a woman who appears to have accidentally ingested a chess
-piece, but the allusion is to fellatio
. In another, a crow is showing another crow several golf-balls among the eggs in her nest, complaining that '... my husband has a detestable habit of leaving his balls lying all over the place!' (I'm Waiting For an Earthquake, p. 52)
While on the staff of Smith's Weekly
, Mercier contributed a cartoon which included a cat in the foreground. Mercier added a cross under the cat's tail, representing its anus
. The Smith's Weekly art editor rejected the cartoon and gave Mercier an angry lecture about including 'smutty gimmicks' in his work. Mercier then drew a down-drawn Holland blind under the cat's tail, which hid the cat's anus but emphasised its presence, and re-submitted the cartoon.
Cartoon comic-book characters invented by Mercier include:
Emile Mercier's works make up part of the storyline of Australian pop fiction author, Robert G Barrett's book, Les Norton and the Case of the Talking Pie Crust http://www.harpercollins.com.au/robertgbarrett/bobs_letter_1106.htm
Mercier illustrated the Mark Vizzers novel She'll do Me! as well as several collections of yarns by Australian folklorist Keith Garvey.
Other works by Emile Mercier:
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n cartoonist.
He was born in New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
and settled in Australia after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. His popularity reached its height during the 1950s. Emile Mercier died in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
from Parkinsons Disease.
Mercier's work was aimed squarely at the lower-middle class Australian reader. His daily single-panel newspaper cartoons were often topical, and mildly satirical. His humour took a neutral stance in politics, preferring to poke fun at politicians in general, rather than any recognisable figure. Generally, Mercier encouraged his readers to laugh at the vicissitudes of daily life. Some of his regular targets included drunks and tramps, fads and fashions in dress or house design, horse-racing, golf, food prices and motoring, all of interest to 1950s Australians.
Mercier enjoyed including strange words in his cartoons, like 'ETAOIN' and 'SHRDLU'; nonsense words formed by the first two rows of keys on the old Linotype
Linotype machine
The Linotype typesetting machine is a "line casting" machine used in printing. The name of the machine comes from the fact that it produces an entire line of metal type at once, hence a line-o'-type, a significant improvement over manual typesetting....
machines; words which sometimes - to Mercier's amusement - were accidentally included in real-life newspaper articles. 'CMFYP', the third line of keys on the keyboard, was sometimes used by Mercier as the name of a fictitious politician; the Honorable C. M. FWYP.
Mercier also found the word 'GRAVY' humorous and included it a variety of contexts, including a trio of racehorses who were named 'GRAVY BONES', 'GREY SHRDLU' and 'CURLAMO' on signs above their stalls. Other Mercier's whims were depicting buildings, footpaths on floors supported by bed-springs, eccentric three-wheeled automobiles, yaks, and portraits of 'Uncle Ezra' on the walls of rooms.
There was also a cast of frequently recurring secondary characters who starred in background gags of their own, including a bearded old gentleman (occasionally referred to as "Argylle"), who wore pince-nez glasses, a striped blazer and either a deerstalker hat or a straw boater - and who sometimes appeared carrying a euphonium, driving one of the above-mentioned three wheeled cars, or, more often, on stilts; and a seedy old drunk in a battered brass fireman's helmet. Mercier even occasionally appeared as himself in his own cartoons, usually in a self-deprecating role.
Mercier also had a naughty 'Gallic' sense of humour, and would often include double meanings in his jokes. His cartoon 'My wife's swallowed a bishop!' shows a woman who appears to have accidentally ingested a chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
-piece, but the allusion is to fellatio
Fellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
. In another, a crow is showing another crow several golf-balls among the eggs in her nest, complaining that '... my husband has a detestable habit of leaving his balls lying all over the place!' (I'm Waiting For an Earthquake, p. 52)
While on the staff of Smith's Weekly
Smith's Weekly
Smith's Weekly was an Australian tabloid newspaper published from 1919 to 1950. An independent weekly published in Sydney, but read all over Australia, Smith’s Weekly was one of Australia’s most patriotic newspaper-style magazines....
, Mercier contributed a cartoon which included a cat in the foreground. Mercier added a cross under the cat's tail, representing its anus
Anus
The anus is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, unwanted semi-solid matter produced during digestion, which, depending on the type of animal, may be one or more of: matter which the animal cannot digest,...
. The Smith's Weekly art editor rejected the cartoon and gave Mercier an angry lecture about including 'smutty gimmicks' in his work. Mercier then drew a down-drawn Holland blind under the cat's tail, which hid the cat's anus but emphasised its presence, and re-submitted the cartoon.
Cartoon comic-book characters invented by Mercier include:
- Tripalong Hoppity (a parody of Hopalong Cassidy);
- Wocko the Beaut;
- Supa Dupa Man (a parody of Superman);
- Mudrake the Magician (a parody of Mandrake the Magician);
- Speed Umplestoop (a parody of Flash Gordon);
- Three Gun Ferdie (a cowboy who carries an extra gun in his chest....);
- Yes, What? (a popular radio comedy show of the 40's);
- Doc McSwiggle;
Emile Mercier's works make up part of the storyline of Australian pop fiction author, Robert G Barrett's book, Les Norton and the Case of the Talking Pie Crust http://www.harpercollins.com.au/robertgbarrett/bobs_letter_1106.htm
Mercier illustrated the Mark Vizzers novel She'll do Me! as well as several collections of yarns by Australian folklorist Keith Garvey.
Works by Emile Mercier
Mercier's newspaper cartoons were published in several collections:- Wake Me Up At Nine! (Angus and Robertson, 1950)
- Sauce or Mustard? (1951)
- Gravy Pie (Angus and Robertson, 1953)
- Hang on please! (Angus and Robertson, 1954)
- My Ears are Killing Me! (Angus and Robertson, 1955)
- I'm Waiting for an Earthquake! (Angus and Robertson, 1956)
- Follow That Wardrobe! (Angus and Robertson, 1957)
- My Wife's Swallowed a Bishop! (Angus and Robertson, n.d. circa 1958)
- Is my Slip Showing? (Angus and Robertson, 1959)
- Hold It! (Angus and Robertson, 1960)
- Don't Shove! (1961)
Other works by Emile Mercier:
- Pippy. Sydney : Frank Johnson, [1944]
- Osker. Frank Johnson, [1944]
- Tibby Tims. Sydney : Frank Johnson, [1944]
- The new big hit comics. Frank Johnson, [194?]
- Mudrake and the plotters of Skroomania. Frank Johnson, 1945
- Krazy kracks. Guest writer, George Blaikie. Frank Johnson, 1941
- Supa dupa man : the big curl. Frank Johnson, [1945]
- Tripalong Hoppity the fearless Texas Ranger. Frank Johnson, 1945
- Wocko the Beaut and the smugglers of Bindie Eye Bay. Frank Johnson, [194-?]